Zhou Shaomou, the Chinese writer who says the script for the sci-fi epic Avatar was lifted from his novel and who had a 1-billion-yuan plagiarism claim rejected by a Beijing court, is now trying to get in touch with the film's creator, James Cameron.

Zhou has sent METRO an English-language version of an open letter he has written that claims there are astonishing similarities between Avatar and his work, Blue Crow Legend.

"Eighty percent of Avatar's content, plot, events, environment description and even dialogue can be found in Blue Crow Legend," the letter claims.

Zhou listed 10 similarities between the book and the film, which he says proves his work was plagiarized. He points to the fact that aliens in both his novel and Cameron's movie were blue and that the alien worlds in both were depicted as backward societies similar to the Chinese Qing dynasty, where men were identified with big pigtails.

"There are many more (similarities)," the letter said.

Zhou said he wrote the letter "with the purpose of communication and rights protection", but he did not mention the 1-billion-yuan payment he had tried and failed to get from the film director.

"We hope to get in touch with your side through the public media and work together to solve the original works problem between Avatar and Blue Crow Legend. Also, we hope we can get a positive response create a harmonious and win-win result and promote the communication and cooperation of science-fiction works," the letter said. 
                                                                                                 Source: China Daily