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February 2008 - Posts
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By Jake Newby
 Now into its fifth year, M on the Bund’s Shanghai International Literary Festival kicks off this weekend and once again has an impressive line up featuring a string of famous names and expert figures from across the book world. Running for the next three weekends, the festival offers Shanghai’s literati the chance to see some of the best Chinese and international writers. With so many great events to choose from (you can buy tickets and view the full line-up here) it’s hard to select highlights, but below are Shanghaiist’s picks from this weekend’s guests…
Lynn Pan – Today, 11am
Launching her first book in a decade at the festival – Shanghai Style: Art and Design Between the Wars – Lynn Pan will offer an intriguing insight into Shanghai’s artistic development in the first half of the 20th century.
Jancis Robinson – Today, 7:30pm
As a Master of Wine and editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine, Jancis Robinson knows a thing or two about the drink and will guide you through a selection of wines as part of this dinner and speaking event with all proceeds going to Room to Read.
Kerry Brown, Duncan Hewitt, & Paul French – Tomorrow, 11am
Experienced China writer Kerry Brown, former BBC China correspondent Duncan Hewitt, and business writer Paul French combine to offer their views on 21st century China.
Colin Thubron – Tomorrow, 5:30pm
English travel writer Colin Thubron has spent the past twenty years writing about central Asia and Russia, including two books on China (Behind the Wall and Shadow of the Silk Road), and has picked up a host of awards for his works along the way.
More information here
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By Jakob Montrasio
A new film on the life of John Rabe (November 23, 1882 – January 5, 1950), the German businessman whose Nanking Safety Zone sheltered some 200,000 Chinese from slaughter during the Nanking Massacre, is coming out very soon.
Photo by Majestic / Jörg Gruber
German academy award winning director Florian Gallenberger helmed the principal photography of John Rabe from October 2007 until February 2008 in and around Shanghai. John Rabe features stars such as Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi as well as rising Chinese star Zhang Jingchu (张静初). The movie is set to be released later this year.
Majestic Film Verleih, the company who will bring the movie to German cinemas released 8 official press pictures who show the stars in action. Also, German broadcasting agency 'Deutsche Welle' released a clip on YouTube with a report about the shooting in Shanghai. But first the pictures...
Dr. Robert Wilson (Steve Buscemi), the Nanjing hospital chief, fights tirelessly for the survival of the people:
Photo by Majestic / Tomoko Kikuchi
Dr. Georg Rosen (Daniel Brühl), employee of the German embassy, tries to handle the threat in regard of the Chinese civilians in diplomatic ways:
Photo by Majestic / Ruggero Rossi
Valérie Dupres (Anne Consigny), leader of the International Girls College, can’t enjoy the festivities - she’s worried about her students:
Photo by Majestic / Tomoko Kikuchi
Nazi Werner Fließ (Mathias Herrmann) is supposed to take John Rabe’s (Ulrich Tukur) place as the leader of the Siemens branch in Nanking:
Photo by Majestic / Ruggero Rossi
The members of the international committee for creating a safety zone (Ulrich Tukur, Anne Consigny, Steve Buscemi, Christian Rodska, Daniel Brühl, Shaun Lawton) don’t know how to handle the rush of 250.000 people at once:
Photo by Majestic / Ruggero Rossi
Dora Rabe (Dagmar Manzel) tries to convince her husband John (Ulrich Tukur) to leave Nanking:
Photo by Majestic / Jörg Gruber
Schoolgirl Langshu (Zhang Jingchu, 张静初), a student of Valérie Dupres, takes pictures of the Japanese war crimes in Nanjing:
Photo by Majestic / Tomoko Kikuchi
And now the video report by Deutsche Welle: The John Rabe part is in the first half:
The scene with the dancing people in the report was shot in the Shanghai Science Hall. This contributor worked on the movie as an on-set VFX assistant, appearing as extras in the movie along with his wife. Watch out for the full-length official trailer soon!
Cross posted on Jakob Montrasio's Net.
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 Shanghai will always be a step ahead of the capital, Beijing, when it comes to some things. Like freeways — Shanghai got the Huning Freeway first (back in 1988!). And now, wifi freeways.
Jiading Wireless City will be reality no later than May 2008. Mesh Wi-Fi and WiMAX technology will make this part of Shanghai just that bit more wireless. And the good thing is — this is free. Want to get online now in Jiading? Head for the government buildings or Bole Square.
Beijing and Tianjin are next; over 1,500 wifi cities will be reality by around 2010.
Ah… the feeling of being productive in the dead middle of nowhere! But there is hope yet. Latest news has it that next to go wireless are the Nanjing Lu and Huangpu areas.
Related links
Xinhua: 上海嘉定将实现全区室外无线上网
Xinhua: 南京路步行街“无线城区”项目启动
Shanghai.gov.cn: 黄浦区举行“无线城区”项目战略合作协议签约仪式
Photo from Slow Boat to China. Cross-posted on techblog86.
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 Here, Shanghai, were your favourite stories for the month of February:
Most Voted:
1. Edison Chen, Bobo Chan, Gillian Chung and Cecilia Cheung embroiled in Hong Kong's biggest sex photo scandal ever
2. The Edison Chen sex scandal rages on with more pictures released by mystery man
3. Jolin Tsai, Maggie Q, Vincey Yeung sucked into Edison Chen scandal; Gillian Chung admits involvement
4. ShanghaiExpat.com reported to the Shanghai internet police?
5. From Hong Kong with Love: Sex education dolls
Most Commented:
1. Spielberg boycotts Beijing (Gebrselassie, too?)
2. ShanghaiExpat.com reported to the Shanghai internet police?
3. Winopete: Price rises, rye whiskey and more
4. Edison Chen, Bobo Chan, Gillian Chung and Cecilia Cheung embroiled in Hong Kong's biggest sex photo scandal ever
5. The Edison Chen sex scandal rages on with more pictures released by mystery man
Most Viewed:
1. Edison Chen, Bobo Chan, Gillian Chung and Cecilia Cheung embroiled in Hong Kong's biggest sex photo scandal ever
2. The Edison Chen sex scandal rages on with more pictures released by mystery man
3. Jolin Tsai, Maggie Q, Vincey Yeung sucked into Edison Chen scandal; Gillian Chung admits involvement
4. Edison Chen sex scandal: Witchhunt hits China
5. Edison Chen stuns Hong Kong by quitting showbiz
Hmm.... see a trend?
Photo from Sypro.
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by Ryan Pollack
 Are you starved for techno? Real, honest-to-gosh techno? Well, Shanghai's Void crew has you covered. Several times a month they fill up LOgO and The Shelter to bring you the foot-tappinest, head-noddinest, neck-snappinest techno you ever could lay ears on. They've showcased both DJ Nomadico and Jason Hodges in Shanghai, and this Saturday March 1st they bring a little bit of Detroit and Berlin to The Shelter.
We sat down with ex-Shanghaiist contributor and Void cofounder Cameron Wilson, also known as DJ Shanghai_Ultra and picked his brain about the philosophy behind his crew and what it has to offer the city.
What is Void?
Void is basically just me and Nat Alexander, who are two British guys, and Fish and Ben Huang, two Shanghainese DJs. We're just about playing real techno music and some house music too. We've got a monthly at The Shelter, and we do every two weeks at the LOgO bar. We book techno and house DJs and bring them to Shanghai. We try and bring international DJs here who people probably haven't heard of. But back home in their underground scenes, in Europe or the States, there probably will be a lot of people who've heard of them.
For the first two guys we brought here, DJ Nomadico of Underground Resistance and Jason Hodges, this was the first time they'd been here. They both played really good shows, and people were like "Wow, how can these guys have such a good show when these guys aren't listed as the Top 100 DJs?" Well, that's what it's all about - Void is just about bringing quality electronic music. But we're also trying to build up a proper scene. There's so much misinformation and a lack of knowledge about what electronic music is. We hope to fill that void of knowledge.
What is proper electronic music?
Well, that's a really hard question. The whole point of electronic music, in my opinion, is to innovate and make music in a different way from the music that came before. Otherwise, we'd still be listening to what Mom and Dad did, right? Having said that, if you're having any kind of party where music is being played, people need to have a good time and dance. Super-experimental electronic music is not always gonna be fun to dance to. So what we're doing is kind of a trade-off between keeping the beat going, keeping the 4/4 pumping rhythms going, and also keeping it fresh and bringing in stuff like the Detroit techno, stuff which captures the spirit of that music. Stuff which is kind of still trying to be different and clever without using all the obvious tricks and techniques that a lot of more commercial dance music uses.
Why is it important that you bring proper electronic music to Shanghai?
Because I think there's a lot of bullshitters in Shanghai who present a particular genre but don't appear to know what it is. For example, they'll say it's a techno night and they'll play "Put Your Hands Up for Detroit" by Fedde le Grand. Well, that's not a techno track - that's a commercial track that is intended for an undiscerning audience. It's quite a tired and cheesy sound, very sugar-coated. And I think that's part of the problem in Shanghai and China.
We don't expect Chinese clubbers to have an awful lot of knowledge, because [techno] is quite a new thing here. The thing that irritates me is that there's people taking advantage of this. They'll think "Oh wow, let's take these themes and concepts that exist in Western culture and recreate them here to make money." But they're just doing it to make money - they're just using the ideas and imagery of electronic music, or hip-hop or house whatever, to take advantage of the lack of knowledge in the clubbers. I think that happens a lot here.
How did Void get started?
I came back to Shanghai two and a half years ago, and I was really inspired by the place. I was first here in 2000 for a year, and during that time, there was a lot of exciting stuff happening, a lot of energy and dynamism. And it definitely still has that, but in some ways, a lot of the creativity here is crushed by the overwhelming need for things to generate as much profit as possible. There's very few exceptions to that.
To demonstrate, there are so many new clubs opening in Shanghai, every weekend almost, that most of the investment is aimed at the top end of the market. I think there are a lot of Taiwanese and Singaporean businessmen who come to Shanghai for a couple days who see people drinking Tsingtao for 50 RMB. They say "Hey, we can buy Tsingtao for 2 kuai from Lawson's, open up a pub next door, put some fancy lights in it, put on some shitty fucking crap rubbish electronic music, have everyone shake dice, have no dancefloor, and we can sell Tsingtao for a 48 kuai profit." That makes money, and that's all they fucking care about. That's all they want to do.
The upshot of this is, because there's this huge influx of investment, this huge amount of cash into the clubbing venue sector, it artificially inflates everything to a higher level. The guy in the middle, the cheap bar, is thinking "Why am I working my ass off seven days a week, not getting to bed until five in the morning, and only making 10 kuai on Tsingtao?" So basically pretty much the entire market is aimed at the people with a lot of money, people who think having a good time means being seen spending money, or wearing Prada or whatever crap *** poseur soulless *** labels, and fake crap empty annoying places where people just have no fucking idea about how to do anything other than look cool and spend money. And they think that's cool.
 So that's the situation in Shanghai. And that's fine - every city has this kind of tension. Every place in the world is like this. Where Shanghai is different is that it doesn't really have anywhere catering to people who want something a bit more genuine and authentic. There's been a lot of people trying to make it happen for quite awhile, but only in the past year has it actually started to happen, mainly because of a lack of venues for it to happen in.
There's two reasons why Void started. One reason is, I met Nat [Alexander] a year ago, and we have similar backgrounds. We grew up going to techno and house nights in the UK. There's no other country in the world that has a richer dance music culture than the UK. In Germany, it's pretty much the same. The States doesn't have that in the mainstream way, but a lot of the music came from there. We're not saying we're better than anyone - we're just saying we're lucky to have grown up in that fantastic environment and culture.
Nat and I are like peas in a pod. He's a guy who really knows his music. He's a fantastic DJ, a vinyl addict. I'm more of a producer. Basically we got together with similar tastes in music, backgrounds, and a mission. That mission is to bring Shanghai not only the quality electronic music, but also that mad, adrenaline-filled, crazy clubbing experience that we experienced in the UK. In Shanghai that hasn't happened anywhere yet. Only a few people in Shanghai come close to it. [DJ Siesta's] drum and bass nights get close to it. Antidote is very diverse and at times they've done some nights that are crazy. But I think all the promoters in Shanghai would probably agree that the general atmosphere of clubs here is not as good as wherever they're from, be it Europe, North America, or wherever. And that's not a slight at Shanghai; it's just not very well developed.
Have you seen any changes in Shanghai's electronic music culture since you've been here?
I think the scene has gotten better because places like The Shelter have opened. That's basically a place that could've opened a couple years ago, but everyone was too busy chasing the big bucks of the big glitzy clubs. It's only been recently, because there've been so many failed clubs, that other clubs are thinking "Oh, the only way to survive is to offer something that no one else is providing." And no one was providing a good solid venue for electronic music. And so far The Shelter has proven to be that venue. The scene is really related to the venues, because a scene can't exist without a place to have it in, and that's been a problem here.
But in terms of the scene itself, it's just still too lao wai. It's a bigger problem for Void than it is for anyone. There's no point in us doing a party for only foreigners. If that is the way our parties are, I would regard them as a failure. And there's a million reasons why there's not more Chinese people coming to events. We could probably do more to attract a bigger Chinese crowd, but it's a matter of development and people becoming familiar with the types of music and people having access to information about all this different kinds of music out there. Right now China's been absolutely saturated with meaningless mass-media corporation propaganda about MTV, bling, hip-hop, and all that meaningless rubbish. Chinese kids have no real good sources of information about anything other than Western pop music. Everything in Shanghai and China is about making money, and nothing else. Culture, youth culture, is neglected because I don't think the value of it is realized here.
I think most Chinese kids, when they leave school, and if they're smart and their parents have enough money, they go to university. Their parents will tell them, "Okay, study really hard and work really hard, get married as soon as you can, have kids, and then have them look after you." The way Chinese society is, [the parents'] ideas of leisure are different; the older generation doesn't really understand the alternatives that the younger generation now has to enjoy themselves. Because of that generational gap, I think that there's not as many Chinese kids going out and listening to cool music as there could be, if there wasn't that gap.
What are your goals with Void?
To re-create the wonderfully fun and communal experience all dancing as one, locked on to the DJ's sound, going crazy together. That's one of the goals - the second goal is to establish an indigenous electronic music culture here. And I think that's kinda happening. It's not just us trying to do that - there's a lot of people making very praiseworthy efforts to do that too. That's an aim of ours. We'd also like to encourage Chinese youth to make their own electronic music, to inspire them or show them, whatever way we can do it. I've been a producer, an amateur one, for 15 years. And just to bring everyone together under one roof to dance and has fun. It doesn't matter where you're from - when people come to Void, everybody is Void partygoer, we don't care where they're from. I mean, I'm an amateur guy. This is just a glorified hobby for me. I'm not trying to say I'm a talented super DJ waiting to be.
What's the most difficult part about promoting techno in China?
The lack of awareness of all the different musical genres. And in some ways, that's not even unique to China. We could easily be having this conversation back home, in New York or Austin, Texas. But specific to China - I think there is a growing awareness of musical genres among the Chinese people who do go clubbing. But unfortunately, there's things like the Top 100 DJs list which I think is just an absolute piece of ***. I think it's the biggest load of rubbish ever. It's a thing which is designed to create pop stars out of a type of music that does not readily lend itself to personalities and characters. For me, the reason I like techno is because, in my opinion, it's quite a pure form of music and culture. It's an intellectual form of music. It's not about the heart really - it's more for the head. It's not about if the guy making the music was fucking some sexy actress last night - it's not about that. There's not really any egos or big personalities in it - it's traditionally been very faceless.
The Top 100 DJs list is trying to create personalities out of this culture, to make it more accessible, so they can make money off it. The list is published by DJ Magazine, whose aims are not primarily to inform people about dance music culture. Their primary aim is to make money. To make money, they need to sell advertising space. To sell advertising space, they need to attract a certain demographic. To attract a certain demographic, you need to seduce them with these glamorous images of DJs posing, wearing clothes, fashion, all that stuff. Which is fine, I mean, there's nothing wrong with that - but with every step you get further away from what it's all about. For me, for Void, it's about music.
Do you see the Top 100 DJs list as an obstacle to Void?
Yes, because you could infer that anyone not on it is not worth booking, which of course is utter bullshit. Now, the advantage of it is that it does bring people into electronic music. To that end, it does serve as an accessible entry point. But I think we'd be better off without it, because people will find electronic music anyway. In terms of the culture itself, I think the Top 100 DJs list encourages people to conform to whatever style is popular today, to get on the list and get more bookings. In terms of music diversity and cultural development, that's not healthy.
In many ways, these problems are exacerbated in China because Chinese don't know better - there's no alternative information, so they have no reason to question the Top 100 DJs list. And Chinese people don't really question what they're told anyway, because that's how they are. I think some of the Confucian philosophy dictates that you should always respect your elders, never question them, and either help them hide their mistakes or ignore them. They don't have a questioning mentality. So if you bring in someone on the Top 100 DJs list, which says these are the best DJs in the world, the Chinese will say great! Let's do it!
Void is attempting to destroy the soul-suckers and capitalist cunts who are only out to make money out of electronic music culture. If we don't succeed, I hope we can at least kick them in the balls and have everyone see that and say "Hey, these Void guys have got a point. What are they about?" But you're more likely to see the Pope masturbate on public TV than to watch me sell out and be a hip-hop DJ or ever be on the Top 100 DJs list. [laughs] I'm not good enough to be there, but even if I was, it wouldn't happen. I don't kiss anyone's ass. I'd only kiss my own ass, but I can't reach it.
What's your favorite part, then?
The most fun part is just playing lots of records you like and seeing people enjoy them and dance to them. Pretty simple. I also like watching people, who don't like electronic music, screw their faces when I play some really twisted, fucked-up techno record. [laughs]
 If you're not using the Top 100 DJ list, how do you decide who to book?
Jason Hodges and Nomadico are both very good examples of what we regard as good techno and good house. Obviously, Underground Resistance (UR) is one of the biggest names in techno. Anybody who knows techno knows that UR is the ***. Furthermore, they're social activists, and they came to Shanghai for much less money than a Top 100 DJ would - in fact, exponentially less, because they didn't come here to make money. Of course there's a fee, everyone's got to make money, that's cool.
But for us, the main reason for booking UR was a statement of intention for [Void]. There's so much mediocre electronic music here, and we wanted to show people the real ***. That night, someone in the crowd gave Nomadico a piece of paper that said "I've been in Shanghai eight years, and I've never heard music like this before. Thank you very much." And that was just the first party.
Basically, we bring over people who we think are great DJs, true to their vibe, and they're not about making money. They're following the original spirit of house and techno music, which is to make music.
Who are your musical heroes?
Derrick May, Joey Beltram, Juan Atkins, Jeff Mills, Rob Hood, Neil Landstrumm, Cisco Ferreira (The Advent), and Carl Craig.
Who would you like to bring to Shanghai?
Rob Hood, but he's coming, he's confirmed! [laughs] And some other people, but we don't want to let the cat out of the bag in case someone else books them. I'd like to see Joey Beltram here. Technasia, I'd like to bring them. All of the original Detroit guys. Mad Mike. I also like Japanese techno, like Fumiya Tanaka and Shufflemaster - fantastic.
Any last words for the crowd?
I wanna thank my girlfriend Jade for inspiration recently.
==
Saturday 3/1: Fish, Nat Alexander, Shanghai_Ultra, James Westwood, "Void:Detroit - Berlin". 30 RMB. 5 Yongfu Lu, near Fuxing Lu.
More information at:
www.void-shanghai.com
All photos by Void.
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We've been here before so don't get too excited, but it seems that blogspot sites are once again accessible in Shanghai.
Photo from China Daily
Good news for Olympic athletes who have recently been (sort of) granted permission to blog (but not podcast) at the Olympic games by the IOC.
Any media-savvy athletes however, will be registering their own domain names in order to avoid a blanket ban. We notice that www.LiuXiang.com has already been snapped up.
[Thanks to WoAiZhongGuo for the tip!]
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In tribute to our city's place at the cutting edge of technology, AMD have decided to name their latest processor "Shanghai".
Photo by Stelzer
Recent reports suggest that the tiny 45-nanometer quad-core microprocessor "Shanghai" will use less power than its competitors whilst achieving similar speeds, and could be out as soon as the third quarter of 2008.
"Shanghai" is, of course, developed in India.
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By Jake Newby
 Dr Zhao Baige (vice-minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission) said yesterday that there was a "very serious process" currently taking place regarding the review of China's infamous one-child policy. Her comments were typically tentative but the admission that the policy is under scrutiny from high level officials has been taken by many China-watchers to mean that a gradual relaxation of the rules could be on the cards.
"I cannot answer at what time or how [we will decide]", Zhao was quoted as saying, "but this has really become a big issue among decision makers". China's population woes have been well-documented - particularly the continuing male bias amongst Chinese families - and Zhao stated that the government was currently looking into the social, economic, and environmental implications of the family planning rules introduced in the 1970s. Currently limiting urban families to one child and rural households to two, the rules can be bypassed if large fines are paid but in some areas this has exacerbated tensions over China's growing wealth gap and Zhao's comments could signal the government's intention to loosen the existing laws as they attempt to head off the country's population timebomb.
That said, any changes would certainly be gradual and may not be for some time yet. Indeed, although this is a significant admission from a well placed official, we have been here before. When it was announced in the early 1980s that relaxations in the much maligned policy were being discussed, this led to a baby boom and officials quickly back-tracked. Fears over repeating such an unwanted population explosion will mean that the government will be very cautious about releasing any definite decisions to the public.
More on this story
China Considers Ending One-Child Policy
An End to One-Child Families in China?
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Photo of the Shanghai Grand Theatre with the JW Marriot in the background by Sypro
Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.
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... and tackles the harmonica with his mouth simultaneously! Okay, now, someone teach him to play a proper tune please...
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- A minibus explosion early yesterday morning in Pudong's Nanhui industrial zone killed one and injured four.
- Maglev activists have applied for approval for yet another demonstration slated for March 1 but the Public Security Bureau has rejected it. We are assuming that means the protest will go on anyway.
- A student who was accused of theft and subsequently jumped from a third-floor window has taken seven of her classmates as well as the school to court, demanding 335,000 yuan (US$47,103.49) in compensation.
- For those of you into flowers, the Plum Blossom Festival will open on Sunday on Meichuan Road in Putuo District and run for a week.
Photo from Ryan Pollack
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By Jake Newby
 ...and we don't mean playing the role of a teacher in a film, we mean an actual teacher. No, really. Most of us know Jay Chou (周杰伦) – the mumbling Taiwanese R’n’B superstar – as that guy who stares blankly at us from Meters Bonwe adverts on the metro, but if you thought he was just another vacant celebrity then a reappraisal may be due, as Jay will soon take up the post of lecturer in our fair city.
Well, sort of. He’s been appointed as a guest lecturer at the Shanghai Institute of Performing Arts where it seems they have a fairly liberal definition of the term “teacher”. Apparently Mr Chou will be asked to give the odd lecture about his career as a performance artiste whenever he’s in town. The Fudan University associated Institute – which also counts Ang Lee as an honorary lecturer – will not require him to do any preparation for these “lectures”, nor will it ask him to complete a minimum number of classes in a term. In short, nice work if you can get it.
Still, some students are clearly pretty excited about having the fop-haired pop star standing at the front of their classrooms. From Shanghai Daily:
"It's really cool to have Jay as our teacher, we'll be lucky to have more face-to-face communication opportunities with the idol," said Ye Chen, a sophomore student.
Hmm. Unsurprisingly, his appointment hasn't exactly received ringing endorsements from the academic world, as Fudan Professor Wu Zhaolu's comments (also in Shanghai Daily) show:
"The employment itself seemed to be a show. It's really hard to say what actual educational contribution these stars can bring."
Ouch. We hope the professor is not suggesting that the star of Kung Fu Dunk doesn't have the intellectual clout to cut it as an academic, that would be scandalous.
Related video after the jump.
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Beijing Capital Airport's spanking new Terminal Three opens this Friday. The Norman Foster-designed building is being touted as the largest building in the world. And it is colossal. To give you an idea of just how big it is, the terminal is the size of 170 soccer fields put together, and that is 17 percent more floor space than all of London Heathrow's five terminals put together! The terminal is shaped like the character 人 which means people, and its design reminds one of the dragon, complete with 'scales' oriented south-east to capture as much of the winter sun as possible.
Thanks to the Olympics, this year will see Beijing being catapulted into the league of the world's busiest air hubs, alongside Atlanta, Heathrow, Tokyo Haneda and Chicago O'Hare: Skyrocketing demand for travel in China on the back of its saw the airport handle 48 million passengers last year, far above its capacity of 35 million. This summer's Olympics are expected to boost this number to 64 million, out of a capacity of 76 million... Still that is unlikely to meet with demand for the next few years. A second airport is already being planned for Beijing.
Related links
AFP: Giant new airport terminal set to open in Beijing: official
The Independent: An Olympian construction: Beijing's new departure in air travel
The Age: Sleeping dragon awakes — at world's newest airport
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 In an unexpected turn of events, China has announced that is willing to throw face to the wind and reenter human rights talks with the USA.
``The Chinese side is willing to keep contact with the U.S. in all areas,'' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said today at the end of a Beijing press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, neither elaborating nor giving her the chance to respond. ``We're ready to resume the dialogue.'' Now we know that America's own record when it comes to human rights has been called into question on numerous occasions in recent years, but the willingness on the side of the PRC to reevaluate its policy with other international bodies can't be such a bad thing. Such talks had been declared officially off-limits since 2003. Whether this indicates an actual shift in policy or just pre-Olympic posturing remains yet to be seen, but until we have evidence to the contrary we will remain cautiously optimistic.
Photo by Mattias Berg
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Sorry to be giving Edison a bit more air time than he deserves, but we just COULD NOT pass this one up. Just when we were wondering when it would happen, some entrepreneurial chap in Hong Kong has already gone ahead to design some Edison Chen t-shirts, created a MySpace page for it and an online store! The t-shirts cost HK$170 a pop (not sure if they'll deliver to Shanghai) and come in 3 designs each for men and ladies, with captions that read "Edison shot me too!", "Be my friend and I'll share the other 1000 photos!" and "Edison made me naive and silly!" Ingenious, and the t-shirts aren't bad-looking at all! Now, why oh why, weren't we the first to think of this idea?
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By W.E.B Lowery
 When you’re a musician who’s lived in/contributed to the scenes of storied musical cities such as New Orleans, New York, London, or Melbourne, seeing live local music can pretty much define who you are. Those of you who’ve been here awhile understand how this causes a major inner confliction, because we do love living in Shanghai. It’s just that for us, an underground music scene is something out of the tales of yore, only existing in far distant lands.
Last Friday night, some 200 people met at C's Bar to Get In The Van (4 large buses, really) and headed off to the Live Bar, to see some local rock bands. Perhaps this was a rare, well-organized event, but if you put some 300 people in the Live Bar, things seem far from desperate!
And the music was great, too. First up was Boys Climbing Rope. This is not a band indicative of a dead scene! They freakin’ rocked! First of all, having two lead singers can always provide a nice change of pace, provided neither are tone deaf. When the girl sings, (we know no names here) it reminds us of Sonic Youth. She has a sultry voice, and the band reaches into noisy, yet moody indie rock terrain. Whilst the guy singer brings an anthemic, shout-along-with-me vibe that brings to mind another (and more current) great indie band, the Arcade Fire. Maybe there’s some sort of Canadian thing at work here, either way, their set got us all jacked up. (Side Note: Bands rightfully hate hearing who they sound like, because the reviewer usually gets it wrong anyway, but people do need reference points when being encouraged to support something they’ve never heard of.) See these guys, and girl, if you like good, adventurous music.
Next we were treated to a set by The Rogue Transmission, different than Boys Climbing Rope, but just as fun. These guys play that classic brand of music known as Kick-Ass-Rock-And-Roll. This genre is easily distinguishable by its bad-ass riffs, and rock out with your c*** out vibe. The front man definitely knows what it takes to lead a band like this. He’s got tons of moxy, while the band is made up of very capable musicians, who’ve all listened to their Motorhead, QOTSA, and MC5 records. Definitely a raucous set that got the crowd pumped, even though at this point the club was so packed that patrons lost more and more ground each time they inhaled.
Up last was Banana Monkey. They are proof that this scene won't be built purely by Westerners. Chinese kids playing vintage sounding garage rock? C'mon, who's NOT for that?! By this point in the evening, The cozy Live Bar was stretched to its capacitorial limits, and paranoid pangs of claustrophobia started creeping in for many. But Friday wasn’t about being freaked out by a large crowd. It was about a large crowd gathering to see LOCAL rock in Shanghai! It may be under the radar, but something is a brewin’ here. Rock lovers can’t wait till it overflows.
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Diving queen Guo Jingjing (郭晶晶) has been slammed left right and centre for her less than stellar behaviour at a press conference after taking home the silver for the women's 3m springboard final at the "Good Luck Beijing" FINA Diving World Cup where she was edged out by team mate Wu Minxia (吴敏霞).
Guo was described by the media as highly "inattentive" at the press conference attended by over 100 local and foreign journalists, looking down for most of the time, fiddling around with her fingers and working on her little bracelet. She gave short, curt answers to the questions that were posed to her, and is said to have flared up when asked about her lacklustre performance (this is after all a two-time Olympic champion). When asked who would be her strongest competitors at the Olympics, this was her response: “俄罗斯的帕卡琳娜和加拿大那个胖子。”
Russia's (Julia) Pakhalina and that fatty from Canada (referring to Blythe Hartley).
For her "fatty" remark and rude behaviour, national coach Zhou Xuhong (周继红) came to her rescue: “郭晶晶其实还是个孩子，做不到事事都表述得非常完美。比赛发挥得不好，她心里也是很难过的。但有时候队员内心的很多想法，也会有想说或者想保留的时候，所以不可能每次都是敞开心扉、谈得很彻底。”
Guo Jingjing is just a child, and she can't perfectly express herself in many ways. She is also feeling bad because she didn't perform too well. There may be many thoughts within the heart of an athlete. Sometimes they would feel like talking and sometimes they would feel like holding things to themselves, so they can't be expected to talk with an open heart all the time.
The coach's comments failed to appease the media, some of whom are now criticising him, saying that it was him that spoilt her and that more would be expected from a 28 year old member of the national team. This would not be Guo first brush with the media. In 2005 at a Chonqging meet, Guo rubbed up a journalist the wrong way when she told him off with a "I don't need to answer your question" and a "Do you have any understanding of diving?".
Related links
Reuters: Diving queen Guo slammed for snubbing China press
Reuters: Prima donna or diver under pressure?
The Times: Diving princess Guo Jingjing enters love’s troubled waters
Southern Metropolis Daily: 郭晶晶引来口诛笔伐
EastDay: "跳水皇后"耍大牌? 周继红:郭晶晶还只是个孩子
Yangcheng Evening Post: 谁宠坏了郭晶晶？
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 Shanghaiist reader Jeff sent us this email sharing with us the horrendous experience he and his wife were put through recently when they tried to give their beloved rabbit a proper cremation:
Just wanted to share an experience: My wife's rabbit died a few days ago. Even if he used to pee and poop everywhere and the odor can be quite strong, she still loved him deeply. Unfortunately, he got an eye disease and never recovered.
Now came the problem of disposing of the body. My wife called 114, info service. They said that there is only one place in Shanghai that can do this (I was quite amazed by this). She called to get more info. They told her it was 500 RMB for a group cremation, 1500 for individual. She decided on individual, so be it.
We make the call, they come and pick us up and drive us to Pudong, close to the airport. For some reason, I was expecting a nice place, and people there would behave with class. I realize it's just a pet, but it easy to get attached to them, isn't it?
So we get to the place, and we get off in this little field where two guys have a big stove with an electric fan. When it was time to cremate the animal, they all but grabbed it from her arms and swung it in the stove. I was shocked. Here he are, in the middle of nowhere, outside, in the rain, next to a stove that has our rabbit inside.
As time passed, my wife stopped crying and realized that we were being conned. 1500 RMB for this? A stove in a field?
So she started to ague with the guys. They called their boss and the traditional "mei ban fa" was said many times. At one point, they threated to take the rabbit out of the stove and toss it back to us.
So, my wife and I gave up the fight and we let them finished the job. At the end, to get the ashed back, the tossed the still hot coal on a slab of concrete, and starting to pick out the remains of the rabbit with chopsticks. Chopsticks. They then transferred it to a half-ass urn and send us on our way.
In 3 years here, it was the most awful experience I ever lived. They just didn't care that someone could be sad for a pet. They took advantage of us, and who know how many others. Surely, there is a better way to solve the problem of a dead pet?
Now, just where does one go to give his/her pet a proper cremation or burial here in Shanghai? Does anyone out there know?
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 China currently has no privacy laws, but that may change, if lawyer Yu Guofu from the Beijing-based Internet Society of China has his way. In an interview with the China Youth Daily 《中国青年报》, Yu made the following comments:
There is no privacy protection law in China so far, nor is there a single item in any laws and regulations that covers privacy protection... The only mention of privacy is in a judicial explanation by the Supreme Court of China that focused on the protection of the right of reputation... Moreover, there had been scarcely any research on the right of privacy for a long time in China... He also goes into the "Oh, let's protect all the little children" argument: "And let's not forget the bad influence those pictures have exerted on Chinese Internet users which include not only adults but children too," he said, saying that the picture would do "unredeemable damage" to children...
"Anyone could be the victim in the next photo scandal without a privacy protection law," he said.
Yu advocates drafting China's first law on privacy protection "as soon as possible" because a strong privacy law could have "prevented the circulation of pornographic photos of leading Hong Kong celebrities having sex with each other". Look, we are all for the enactment of a privacy law but to say that such a law would have prevented the circulation of those pics is to stretch the truth a bit. Clearly, this guy knows nothing about the nature of the Internet, or the nature of porn, or both.
As you can see, the incident has opened a legal can of worms both in Hong Kong and China, and while the Special Administrative Region has its own privacy law, it has been powerless to protect Edison Chen and his bed buddies. Meanwhile, the man at the centre of it all is now invoking another law with an even bigger stick in the territory: the copyright law. Edison is now demanding that the authorities carry out a criminal probe to see who infringed on his copyrights. We hope he strikes a windfall with his copyright claims!
Now let's take a look at what the Hong Kong copyright law says: Hong Kong law prescribes that people can get up to four years in prison along with a fine of HK$50,000 (US$7,611.74) if they are found to have copied art work for sales or renting without the producer's consent, the report said.
That means, ladies and gentlemen, if you've been sending the said pictures to your friends in a zip file via MSN (without having your friends pay you for it of course), by all means continue to do so because you haven't run afoul of any law! The police coming after you for what you do on MSN would be an invasion of your privacy of course, but then again, the privacy law hasn't been enacted in China yet.
And by the way, after Edison turned over his pink laptop to the Commercial Crime Bureau, the bureau has made the shocking revelation that there is yet another set of obscene pictures (possibly including intercourse) that hasn't yet made its rounds on the internet. The pictures feature other female celebrities not currently named in the scandal. We hope the detectives will send us those pictures soon respect the privacy and copyrights of all involved and not circulate the pics. The mystery man, "Kira", it is rumoured, has either been silenced with a big fat bribe of HKD5 million or brutally exterminated by some triad.
Photo from sunside.
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Chinese television actually isn't as bad as most of us are inclined to think, we've chanced upon informative talkshows and documentaries on interesting subjects sometimes. But the rest of the time, horrendous TV commercials are on hand to remind us why we're better off watching bootleg DVDs or Project Runway on Tudou.com.
Should anyone think nothing can be more jarring than Mr Whipple, then they haven't seen the latest TVC by Shanghai-based wool clothing brand, Hengyuanxiang (恒源祥). Most TVCs in China succumb to the cheap tactic of brand salience by repetition – not only are TVCs re-run to death, each broadcast is typified by jingles/slogans that are looped 2-3 times at the end.
Hengyuanxiang's TVC definitely takes the cake when CEO Liu Ruiqi thought he was adding a funny twist to the brand's catchy "Hengyuanxiang, Yang Yang Yang!" (恒源祥,羊羊羊!) slogan by looping it 12 times for every animal in the Chinese Zodiac. Hardly surprising that the TVC ignited a public furore and eventually got pulled.
More surprising was the rosy account of the controversy painted on the company's official website which praises the success of the TVC. In a Feb 21 news release by Hengyuanxiang's Party Committee Propaganda Bureau (恒源祥党委宣传部), the TVC was claimed to be a resounding success:
… Generating much interest among netizens within a short period and "Hengyuanxiang Chinese Zodiac"-related phrases topped at least 2,800 links on Baidu search engine…. In welcoming the Year of the Rat, Hengyuanxiang Chinese Zodiac TVC has managed to make use of a catchy jingle in a simple and meaningful format, generating a flurry of debate and bringing festive cheer to the New Year.
Riiight. For the good of Chinese advertising, we hope that was only a face-saving formality and in fact Hengyuanxiang executives are already scurrying about looking for a competent ad agency behind the scenes. We wish them luck.
** The original black sheep is of course better known for its notable advertising campaigns, and not in any way related to wool processing companies, in China or elsewhere.
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By Jake Newby
 This Shanghaiist isn’t a massive fan of travel writing. As interested as we are in other places and in travelling, we’d rather experience these places ourselves – we don’t like someone else spoiling all the surprises for us. We’ve also become a bit tired of reading work by Westerners “experiencing” China, given that these pieces often tend to say the same shallow things: China is currently in the midst of rapid economic growth (gasp!); the Chinese eat all sorts of crazy stuff (shriek!); they openly spit in public (run for the hills!).
Colin Thubron’s Shadow of the Silk Road – a travel book which spends roughly half its pages focusing on China and is written by an Englishman – may therefore seem like a strange choice of book to read, but it came to us as a Christmas present and highly recommended by our mother, so who were we to argue?
As the title suggests, the book sees Thubron following the path of the old Silk Road, beginning in Xi’an and winding his way across China and through several central Asian states before reaching his journey’s end at the shore of the Mediterranean in Kurdish Turkey.
Having written his first book about China – Behind the Wall – during the 1980s, Thubron inevitably comments on the vast and sweeping changes that are taking place in modern day China, but he does so in a refreshing way. Touching and amusing anecdotes abound as he threads his way along the former Silk Road trail, revisiting old haunts and old friends, and it is these individual and informed viewpoints on what is happening that set this work apart from the jaded, formulaic writing on China that you may find elsewhere.
In addition to displaying a substantial amount of knowledge and understanding about the areas through which he travels, Thubron writes in a way that humanises the country – something that other Western writers sometimes fail to do. Indeed, in many ways, the book is more about the people he meets rather than the places he visits. Whether it’s a naïvely optimistic businessman in Xi’an, an angry, nationalistic Uighur in Kashgar, or a poor farmer in a village in Gansu who believes he has Roman ancestry, their tales are at times heart-warming, at times heart-breaking, but are always delivered in an honest way that neither patronises their subjects nor seeks to use them as a basis for sweeping generalisations about the country as a whole.
There is no attempt to portray their stories or their lives as revelations that he alone has discovered despite the fact that he visits some fairly remote locations – Thubron merely offers these individual insights into the well-documented changes occurring within China’s borders as human interest stories that provide a personal viewpoint on the struggle for identity in the midst of enormous economic and social upheaval. If anything, Thubron uses their tales to show what a diverse and fragmented country China is, rather than taking their tales as indicative of all Chinese.
Another reason that Shadow of the Silk Road presents a refreshing reading of China’s transitions is Thubron’s mastery as a writer. An accomplished and broadly experienced travel writer, Thubron is also an award-winning novelist and this is evident in his narrative – the account of his travels at times reading like a work of fiction, brimming with rich descriptions and colourful characters. The pace of the book is measured without dragging and provides a suitable amount of depth whilst retaining a page-turning quality, but every sentence, every word, appears carefully chosen and paints a vivid picture or makes a salient point.
Whether you are a newcomer to China or have lived here for years, Thubron's writing style and the stories contained within combine to make Shadow of the Silk Road a thoroughly worthwhile read. Moreover, Thubron’s fascinating career, that has seen him travel extensively throughout central Asia and Russia, together with his understanding of China, should make his appearance at M on the Bund this Sunday one of the highlights of this year’s Shanghai International Literary Festival.
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The curved road ramp on the Yan'an Highway by the Bund is getting torn down in an operation that will take 120 days. It is a part of a larger makeover programme that will also see the Waibaidu Bridge dismantled, repaired and reassembled beam by beam. Such a pity! We used to LOVE the view whenever we go down there in a taxi. Now we may never get that view again. Coming in its place, according to the Shanghai Daily: Eventually, the elevated ramp will be replaced by a lower ramp linking the elevated road to the tunnel.
The new tunnel, running for 3.3 kilometers, will become an underground artery between Hongkou and Huangpu districts.
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Photo from Peijin Chen
Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.
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Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) has been in the news quite a bit lately, and for all the wrong reasons. Last week, pictures of a woman with an uncanny resemblance to her surfaced during the Edison Chen scandal and this time, she refers to Hong Kong as a foreign country (国外), and talks of how she wants to gain glory for the people of Taiwan (“为台湾人争光"). Her Chinese fans are not finding it funny, and she is getting it big time on the Internet. God knows what will happen to her, but we do know the last time Zhang Huimei (张惠妹) sang the Taiwanese anthem, she was barred from performing in China.
Fans of Gillian Chung wait overnight at the Beijing airport and mob her upon her arrival. Repeated questions by a reporter of whether she accepts Edison's Chen apology go unanswered:
Unconfirmed rumours have surfaced in Hong Kong that at a recent meeting between Nicolas Tse, Cecilia Cheung and Edison Chen at the Four Seasons Hotel (where Edison is staying), Nicolas was unable to control himself and attempted to hit Edison. Cecilia tried to restrain Nicolas and broke down into hysterics, and security guards quickly came to Edison's protection.
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Having soft-opened since February 6th, Lawry's the Prime Rib is ready to put on its best face for Shanghai's beef lovers beginning with its grand opening tomorrow. Shanghaiist was able to do some preview dining and we were left with one distinct impression: this place takes its prime rib traditions very seriously.
 The Xintiandi restaurant is this famed Los Angeles chain's first foray into the mainland, but it is plenty experienced in Asia with successful restaurants in Jakarta, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Taipei. We spent some time with Thomas, the general manager and 30 year veteran of Lawry's who helped open all of its Asian locations, who told us of their plans to open a second China restaurant in Beijing once rents come down after the Olympics. Meanwhile, they have taken the corner location that used to belong to La Maison and introduced an old-school American elegance that is perfect for expense account dining. Most of the details we remember from our lone childhood visit to Lawry's back home appear to have been assiduously transplanted over here, from the attire of the wait staff to to the stainless steel carving carts (4 of them at $30,000 USD a pop) that are pushed around from table to table for diners' meaty observations.
And of course, the menu. Like the decor, the selections are simple and uncomplicated. Starters include lobster tail, shrimp cocktail, crabmeat au gratin, and three choices of superbly made but conventional soups (lobster bisque, cream of mushroom, pumpkin soup), all priced at around 120 RMB. But why be unconventional when convention, in the form of the restaurant's marquee rib roast, can be so delicious? Diners have the option of four different cuts of juicy prime rib, ranging from the 6 oz. California cut (335 RMB) to the heavy-hitting 20 oz. Diamond Jim Brady cut (560 RMB), with cuts at 7.5 oz. and 10 oz. taking up the middle. Each order is served with mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and one of three sides (creamed corn or spinach and peas). The beef, imported from Australia from the same ranch that supplies the Lawry's in Tokyo, was tender and succulent, with even marbling and a perfectly creamy layer of fat that we were loathe to neglect. All of this was washed down with Lawry's very sweet house merlot from their own private reserve which, at 330 RMB, is the most inexpensive item on the wine list.
 All in all, with the pedigree that it has, we expected Lawry's to deliver to expectations for the meat that literally made their name, and we certainly were not disappointed. It takes a lot these days to make it on this prime stretch of real estate, and it appears Lawry's strategy is to dispense with the adventure and stick to what has been working for them: first-rate service and some of the best prime rib you'll ever have. Of course, this is Xintiandi, and we'll need a grace period before we'll be able to afford going again (sodas are 40 RMB a glass, just for reference). Still, we are admirers of restaurants who know what they are doing and do it well, so we are admirers of this one.
Lawry's The Prime Rib - Unit 1, No 22 and 23, North Plaza, 181 Tai Cang Road, Xintiandi (新天地太仓路北里广场181弄22-23号01单元) Tel: 6387 0097, Hours: 11:30am-3pm, 5:30-10:30pm (11pm on Fri/Sat)
Eric Hu is Shanghaiist's Food Editor. Email tips, recommendations, and news and gossip about Shanghai's food scene to food at shanghaiist.com.
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The handsome former slaughterhouse building "1933" is an Art Deco landmark in Hong Kou. which we've written about twice before. Apart from the occasional exhibition, its doors remain closed to the public, so we spent Saturday taking a peek around to see how this new "creative space" is taking shape.
Spread over four levels, the circular central building is as beautiful as a real-life MC Escher drawing. Concrete spiral staircases and curved walkways lead up to a circular glass stage area called "The Theater" which can, and has, su | |
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