The ARJ21...

[cancidas]

...looks a LOT like a B717!!

1817422

[Zee71]

Engines look like they're very compact.

[flyboy 28]

Looks like the lovechild of a CRJ-200 and 717.

[DHG750R]

The Chinese built the MD80's & MD90's under license to McDD years ago, it seems that may be behind the similarities of the "new" ARJ21..

Link to the McDD's press release http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/mdc/96-180.html

here is a quote from Aviation week's website from 2007

...But with opportunities, there are also challenges. China's two aerospace groups, Avic I and Avic II, already have long experience making parts for western manufacturers, but the industry failed in its first attempt at sustaining a domestic assembly line for a western commercial aircraft, the MD-90 of the DC-9 series (and presumed origin of much of the technology in the ARJ21). ....

[Art at ISP]

I don't know, but why do the engines remind me of the work Yak?