The Second Age Of Modern China’s Enlightenment: The New Wave Movement, Reexamined

Dream of Sea by Chen Ren
Our friends at Beijing Today will be swinging by now and then to introduce art and culture around the city. This week, get acquainted with modern creations as the National Art Museum of China reexamines the New Wave movement of 1985, which began with an essay and series of pictures by graduate students at the Zhejiang Art Academy (now the China Academy of Art). They ran wildly counter to the Chinese mainstream at the time, emphasizing a deeper perspective on humanity – one that respected individuality and free expression. Read more »

Dispatches From Xinjiang: Rap vs. Folk

Dispatches from Xinjiang - Rap vs Folksong featured image
In the film The Silk Road of Pop a classically trained Uyghur tambur player tells viewers that Western music such as hip-hop and jazz does not carry the same feelings of love, tradition, and family as Uyghur traditional and folk music. He says he hopes that Uyghur musicians coming of age today do not forget their past. This tambur player, a member of studio musicians who often accompany the King of Uyghur pop Abdulla, is repeating a refrain heard frequently by performance artists trained under the Maoist regime. Read more »

A Reminder To Register Your Motorcycle And Don’t Run Into Anyone

Motorcycle accident in Beijing
A foreigner who knocked down a woman with his motorcycle in Beijing on December 2 -- he's pictured above being grabbed by the victim -- apparently was working "without a permit" in Beijing and has been deported. Talk about escalating fast. Also, he had been driving the motorcycle without a license, so he was fined 5,000 yuan. Oh, and his father was deported as well for working without a permit. What did either of them actually do? Read more »