Xu Jinglei is an award-winning actress and critically acclaimed director who recently hit newspaper headlines when she launched her own online magazine. But apparently she's not satisfied.

The multi-talented 33-year-old has now launched a handwritten Chinese computer font in conjunction with the leading high-tech organization, the China Founder Group, on Friday.

The actress and director says her father has required her to practice calligraphy since she was a child.

She spent two months handwriting more than 6,700 Chinese characters for the font, while the China Founder Group digitalized the characters and developed the software package.

People can transform ordinary computer font into Xu Jinglei's handwritten characters after they install the "Fangzheng Jinglei Simplified Chinese" program with their Windows operating system.

The package was originally available to download for 10 yuan (US$1.29) at Xu Jinglei's official website. It received hundreds of hits the first day it was launched.

Hackers stole the code shortly after the launch and the program can now be downloaded for free. Critics say this has not hurt Xu Jinglei because she helped to create the software for promotional purposes, not profit.

Link to download "Fangzheng Jinglei Simplified Chinese"

(CRI.cn April 30, 2007)