Last night’s dismal attempt at rain — whether artificial or manmade — doesn’t seem to have done much: the sky is distinctly overcast, though the air at least doesn’t seem to have the velvety quality it did yesterday.
I’m guessing that right now there are a lot of people a couple of blocks south of me [...]
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Morning, October 1
[Help], [Help], [Help] the Police!
In response to the recent New York Times article about Hip-hop in China (and partly inspired by the execrable Jay Chou/Song Zuying performance on last night’s CCTV gala), I present to you a video that perfectly sums up, for me, everything that’s wrong with foreign attitudes to allegedly underground Chinese music.
A minor digression first: that NYT [...]
John DeFrancis, 1911-2009: You Can't Do That Anymore
The Sinologist John DeFrancis died recently at the age of 97. You can read more about him elsewhere – in the NYTimes obituary or on the memorial site set up for him – but I thought I’d write something, as a student of Chinese, about what he meant to me.
I first heard of John DeFrancis [...]
After the Olympics: What's Next?
Now that the Olympics are over (and how about those closing ceremonies? Those of you who found my comments on the Opening Ceremonies distasteful should count yourselves lucky I didn’t blog the closing ceremonies) everyone is asking what will be next. It’s a good question: I first came here about a week and a half [...]
T+12 – Opening Ceremonies
8:00 – Liveblogging ACTIVATE. Set phasers to MAXIMUM SNARK!
Boy, Jiang Zemin looks old.
Sweet-ass fireworks at the beginning.
Flying apsaras escorting an Olympic logo. Well, that’s tacky, but if that’s the worst of it then –
Hey, time for the singing minority children gathered around the Chinese flag. For fuck’s sake.
And now it’s time for the friendly soldiers [...]
T-Minus 2 Hours: Holy Shit
People are twittering online (via retweets through @gvoolympics) that:
Chaoyang Park and the small parks around Tian’anmen Square are closed for viewing.
There’s heavy security in Ditan Park.
No food (i.e. beer, as @AdrianeQ notes) or sitting on the grass will be permitted at Ditan.
There are SWAT teams in the subway. (Not sure whether or not this is [...]
T-Minus 5 Hours: Crowded and Grey
CCTV 5 — sorry, ‘CCTV Olympic’ or whatever they’re calling themselves — is broadcasting a succession of reporters standing in front of the Bird’s Nest stadium and pontificating into the camera about the Olympic Green, which registers behind them as a murky, greenish grey color, sort of like a cowpat that’s been out in the [...]
1 Day: Crowds at Tian'anmen
Thoughts on the Olympics and the ways in which I’ve collided with it will come in later posts, I’m sure. For now, here’s some footage I shot around Qianmen and [Unnamable?] Square north of there this evening. Sound quality is lousy and transitions are jumpy because I edited in iMovie, which is the worst Apple [...]
Benefit concert for Sichuan earthquake
For Beijing readers: There’ll be a benefit concert at Mao Livehouse tomorrow night from 8:30 on. The Verse, Sand (a fun talking blues-style band), Rando(m), and IC Girlband are playing. Tickets are 50 kuai. Spread the word.
Mao is on the north side of Gulou Dong Dajie, about halfway between Jiaodaokou and the Drum Tower, or [...]