He’s been a star onstage for thirty-odd years now, so it’s only reasonable that Cui Jian, the inventor of yaogun, would opt to join the action on other sides of the stage. And the action in question is not his film forrays: in 2009, he was one of three directors that contributed segments to Chengdu, I Love You (which, by the by, debuted at the Venice Film Festival); his 3D concert film came out earlier this year; and his full-length directorial debut, Blue Bone, which tells the story of a young musician, is set for a 2013 release. No, Cui is looking to branch out into another place altogether…
Author: admin
Microblogging: 1, The Man: 0; Yaogun: ?
Big ups to China Music Radar for this juicy tidbit, in which we are told of how Weibo, China’s Twitter, helped Chengdu, Sichuan rock band Mr. Chelonian emerge victorious over AMC Group, the company behind a Tiger Beer Battle of the Bands competition that had refused to pay the fee the band was promised.
Bring Culture to the Party
The Big Party just wrapped up in Beijing has meant many things to many people. “Sparta” (si ba da or 斯巴达), as the Sino-weboverse has dubbed the 18th Party Congress (shi ba da 十八大) in order to refer to the otherwise unreferrable-to, has taken over. Sure, there’s a transition of power, but what seems to be clearest in all the transitioning is that daily life for your average capital-city residents has been made difficult – to say nothing of what it’s done to the city’s pigeon-flyers and ping-pong-ball distributors and to taxi passengers driven by less-than-fragrant drivers. Beyond the Middle Kingdom, the world waited in anticipation to hear who would step up as the country’s CEO and who would be on the Board of Directors. The world’s media seemed transfixed, breathing with bate, as the world watched, carefully, who helped whom sit where, who strode up to the stage in front of whom, and, you know, other matters of international concern.
Among all the transitional talk comes reflections on China’s relationship with various nations; how the new boss(es) will do on that front. But here’s what nobody seems to be talking about: Culture.
Update From the Road, One Last Time…
Greetings from Singapore, where the Singapore Writers Festival is in full swing… Some geography and chronology to update you all on…
The Coverage Down Under
Wherein the blogger toots a few horns of his own, because the amazing interest in yaogun Down Under was deemed worthy of a wrap-up, particularly now that he finds himself ensconced in a lovely bachelor pad (thanks to the kindness of a friend who rocks) on the Isle of Lantau, back in Hong Kong, after a whirlwind week in Australia talking to all who would listen (and some, yes, who would snooze) about the way China rocks.