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Chinese Premier Visits Shakespeare’s Birthplace

LONDON (AP).- Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, reportedly a big Shakespeare fan, made a pilgrimage to the Bard’s birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon on Sunday. Wen is in Britain as part of a three-day visit intended to reinforce economic links between the two countries. Britain, like other European nations, is hoping to tap into the emerging economic superpower to help drive its own recovery — a sentiment that was on display as Wen browsed the treasures of the town’s Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. While Wen saw extracts of “Hamlet” and examined a 17th-century folio of the Bard’s famous plays, British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was enthusing about the visit’s potential impact on the U.K. tourist industry. “I am hoping that a billion Chinese might see some pictures on their TV of their premier coming and visiting the birthplace of Shakespeare, and thinking: ‘Well, I’d like to go there as well,'” he told Sky News television. Wen