Mariah Carey pulls
an Imelda Marcos

Mariah Carey is giving capitalism a bad name in China. The over-the-top diva is startling the locals with her massive entourage, backstage demands and a wardrobe that’s large enough to clothe a small, impoverished village.

Carey landed in Shanghai last week and was greeted by a caravan of eight vehicles — including four cars designated to carry her 60 pieces of luggage.

Carey was booked to stay at the presidential suite at the Hilton, but demanded to be moved to a suite with more feminine wall colors.

She was mobbed at a press conference, but reporters were told they could ask no personal questions and could take no pictures. “The reason, the local organizer said, was that camera flashes and the ‘clicking’ sound of the shutters would put Carey off,” reported the Shanghai Star.

Pictures of Mariah’s mountains of luggage were plastered all over the papers, but the detail seemed to elicit the most interest was the news that Carey reportedly brought 350 pairs of shoes with her. Carey, despite repeated questions from reporters, could not fully explain why she needed 350 pairs of shoes for her concert, and her rep didn’t return The Scoop’s diligent calls. But one paper in China reported: “In spite of her ostentatious and uncooperative attitude to the local media, the tickets for her concert . . . sold out very quickly.”

World traveler
Some tourism insiders were amused that Michael Douglas has signed a massive deal to promote tourism in Majorca — while he’s promoting tourism in Bermuda on his Web site.

Catherine Zeta Jones’ hubby signed the deal — reportedly worth more than $5 million — to encourage people to visit the Spanish island, where he and his wife have a home. But meanwhile, on MichaelDouglas.com, the “Basic Instinct” star is touting Bermuda, where he is part owner of a hotel, the Ariel Sands.

In a link to Bermuda.com, Douglas discusses what a great place the island is to live and visit. “I think Catherine and I make a concerted effort to promote Bermuda in all our interviews and TV, we really do,” Douglas says.

Conflict of interest? The Scoop asked Douglas’s rep. “I don’t even understand how you could think that would be a conflict,” his spokesman said. “Michael has had his house in Majorca for twenty years and he loves living in and raising his children in Bermuda. Is he a roving ambassador? Yes!”

Notes from all over
Gossips are saying that Courtney Love’s lips have replaced Meg Ryan’s as Hollywood’s most puff-up pucker. . . . More than 10,000 angry “Lord of the Rings” fans have signed a petition because they’re upset that a scene involving the wizard Saruman has apparently been cut from “Return of the King.” . . . The increasingly feisty Britney Spears is now saying she doesn’t like the doll based on her. The self-pleasuring singer told a UK interviewer that she doesn’t think the doll even looks like her.

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