Recording Beijing

Most households in China are able to receive transmission of over 50 TV channels. If you happen to be one of the unfortunate digital TV subscriber, you get 200 more. Too many choices? No, you got only 3: copycat entertainment shows, no brain TV dramas, and propaganda law programs. Apart from identical news broadcast and outdated films that I don’t want to talk about, the above 3 types of TV are pretty much what we get. Continue reading and find out why they are so boring.

Copycat Entertainment Shows

Whenever an overseas entertainment show becomes popular, the TV producers first make sure that the form of the program can be accepted by the officials and not against any existing protocols, and then copy it without asking. If the audience finds it funny and some how new, the rest of the local channels will soon follow. Similar shows will start airing during the after-supper time frame and compete for ads revenue. Once the audience get tired, they immediately switch to the next one to copy. One of the most successful examples should be the Happy Dictionary copied from the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire show. Even the style of the hostess is the same.

No Brain TV Dramas

The screen play writers and directors seem never tired of making stupid TV dramas. Being the elite members of the nation, they play cool and act knowledgeable during interviews, but their works are always unbelievably low in quality.

Most of the stories have nothing to do with the reality, the acting is superficial, the dialogue is either foolish or has no life, and the shooting lacks aesthetic beauty. I guess the audience are all fools in the producers’ mind. They are afraid that we are unable to comprehend what’s in their head once they become serious.

The latest of such shows is Magic Mobile Phone, in which a girl named Sha Niu (meaning “foolish girl”) is actually a type of mobile phone invented in 2060 with the capabilities of remote control, self defense, gene recombination, and time travel. She accidentally comes to present China and becomes friend with a guy who accopanies her fighting against monsters from ancient times.

Propaganda Law Programs

Law programs can be seen in almost all the free channels. These programs can be fun to watch because of the live recordings of criminals being comprehended or chased around. But the hosts always attribute the causes of crimes to criminals’ ignorance of law and lack of proper education. They then start educating the audience, reading law articles, and warning that the police will comprehend every single criminal in every corner, dispite the fact that around 10% cases remain unsolved every year.

Lack of originality is one of the most apparent reasons why TV is boring in China. It has to do with SARFT’s (State Administration of Radio, Film, and TV) strict regulations and censorship, and also the media industry practitioners’ lack of passion, creativity, and care for the reality. Come on man,you would say, at least they got creativity some where. Yes, in the commercials!

Commercials last longer than the actual programs in most local TV channels. Some broadcasts toilet paper ads during dinner times, some repeats the same ad 3 times in a row, and some tricks you into watching all the commercials before showing you the “see you next time” message. That’s some creativity for sure.

Super Market, founded in 1997, is the first Electro band in China. Their second album, Seven Weapons released in 1999, officially started the electro era of Chinese Rock n’ Roll.

Check out their performance at the 1st day of 2008 Modern Sky Festival and stay tuned for their new album Music Concert.

Daily visitors at the Olympic Green, in which Bird’s Nest and Water Cube are located, exceeded 200,000 during the 7 day “golden week”.

Standing under the Bird’s Nest gave me a feeling of tightness and pressure.

The Water Cube.

Boy can’t hold it. Too much Cocacola.

Interesting poses:

People were really having a good time.

The following 3 videos cover most part of Super VC’s performance at the festival. It’s my first time watching them live, but I gotta say that they really know how to stir things up, and now I’m a big fan of them!

Enjoy:

Check out Queen Sea Big Shark’s performance at the festival.

The following 6 video clips pretty much cover all Zhangchu’s performance during the 2008 Modern Sky Festival. After many years of silence, Zhangchu has returned to stage and is preparing for his new album. Check out 2 of his new songs in the videos.

I’m sorry for not updating for several days. I spent the past 3 to 4 days messing up with Adobe Premiere. Guess what, I really messed it up.

A lot of problems occured and I had to call for help from a friend of mine. Now problems are solved, I promise the videos will be ready no later than tomorrow.

Stay tuned and thanks for your patience!

I must apologize that I didn’t make it to the last day of the festival. Have a look at the pictures and videos I gathered from the web. It was such a regret not having been there.

Lead singer from Faces, one of the most popular metal bands back in the 1990s.

The new army of dark metal or whatever it should be called, Voodoo. Lead singer is a firm believer and follower of the religion. They’ve got a Mongolian fiddle player who also performs great Khoomei.

The security guards seemed really disturbed by the noise.

But the audience just couldn’t get enough of it.

The lead singer Li Nan quietly sitting in a corner before the performance.

Joyside.

Babies Underground. The boys really made a stir in the 1990s when they were young. Glad to have them back on stage.

New Pants.

Goodbye for now, we’ll be back in 2009!

Here are some video clips:

Voodoo

Carsick Cars

Joyside

Babies Underground

New Pants

Photo Source: http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/08modern/p/8.html

Surprisingly, it only took approximately 20 minutes to get into the site on the 2nd day of the festival. Maybe the majority audience was put off by the 1st day’s waiting, or they just got clever and got up really early. I gotta say I did a better job today shooting the pictures and recording the video clips because I got some help that really saved me from dying at an early age.

Pictures first.

A performing artist near the entrance. Milk was kind of coming out from his eyes. Undoubtly it’s about the poisonous milk incident.

Lead singer of Life Journey, creator of some nice cheesy milky sound. It’s getting a lot easier for similar bands to surface since Indie and Brit-Pop is getting really popular among young rock lovers.

Lead singer of one of the most popular Heavy Metal bands, Suffocated. It was like a volcano eruption even when he was just talking. “Your body is the hardest metal”, he said, so true and so powerful.

A girl standing beside me was being really haunted by the idea of finding out what kind of hair shampoo the guitar player uses.

I guessed he uses Hair and Shoulders.

I like it when band memebers stand closely together and move strictly according to the same rhythm. It’s like they are holding their guns and marching to the war zone. It always make my blood boil.

You know why rockers or guitar players in general are more attractive to girls? My guess is that guitars act like male genital organs in the girls’ subconsciousness. Holding a rifle (if you are in the army) or a camera with a relatively long lens works the same way.

Who’s she? A middle school girl puzzled by a math problem?

NO! It was the one and only, unprecidented, from outer space, extremely cute, dangerous, and explosive drummer of Hedgehog-A Tongmu!! You’ll fall in love with her instantly when she performs, no matter if you are a guy or a girl.

Really quiet before the storm.

The “unhappy” lead singer of Hedgehog, A Tongmu’s boyfriend. Come on man, why do you feel unhappy when you got to hang out with one of the cutest girls on the planet?

Here comes the storm. You see what I mean?

“The purpose of Rock n’ Roll is to destroy yourself, discover yourself, and release yourself…” A Tongmu said during the performance. Man, my life is so wasted. I’m 28 years old and still can’t figure out what Rock n’ Roll means to me until she said that!

Here comes the Subs!

Subs, similar to Chinese pronunciation “Sha Bu Si”, which means impossible to be killed, really lived up to the name!

Some crazy dance. Note the little rabbit quietly sitting on the amplifier.

It’s not easy to be a qualified camera man!

The surprisingly professional bass player and backup vocalist of The Right of Statues (which I think should be The Right to Rebuild an Idol).

Can you believe the lead singer and lead guitar player, the soul of the band, just started to learn playing guitar 2 years ago when they started the band? I’m so ashamed of myself!

Some say they are like B-52. What the heck. We all originated from monkeys!

The Saxphone player was being really creative with the instrument.

Now, the legendary, one and only He Yong! Another forefather of Chinese Rock n’ Roll. He’s put on weight. But what the hell, it was hard to see what’s under his pajama.

The heroic guitar player Ou Ge, who accompanied He Yong during the revolutionary performance in Hong Kong in 1994, which marked the mile stone of Chinese Rock n’ Roll after the era of Cui Jian.

Some Jimi Hendrix style shreding.

“Hypocrisy is like an underwear. Everybody wears it, and you gotta change it once it got dirty”, said He Yong.

He Yong and his father, He Yusheng. Being an Sanhsian (a kind of traditional instrument with 3 strings) player, He Yusheng also accompanied He Yong during the Hong Kong concert in 1994. He is the same legendary as his son and being respected by the whole nation.

Near the end of the classic “Zhong Gu Lou” (Bell and Drum Tower, one of the most important historical buildings in Beijing, where He Yong was born).

He Yong once had been banned by the Ministry of Culture for the political implication in his songs after the performance in Hong Kong in 1994. He stayed silent until recent years. Like all the other “banned” artists, the government was being hypercritical.

The officials now are being actually supportive in such performances. But there’s always a limit. Thanks to Bjork, her ignorant declaration about Tibet during her performance in Shanghai made it even harder for overseas artists to perform in China.

Stop acting as savoirs of the Tibetan people you so-called rockers! The British invasion army had slaughtered tens of thousands of Tibetan people in the 1950s in order to take control over the place (everybody knows how significant Tibet is in terms of military importance)! It’s either you or me! Calling for the independence of Tibet is just an excuse! Stop showing off your so-called attitude and acting stupid I ask you.

We just want music, not politics!

The first day of the 2008 Modern Sky Music Festival was not exactly what I have imagined.

It could have been really better if the audience didn’t have to wait in the queue for 3 hours before buying a ticket and entering the site. I missed at least 3 bands, including one of my favourites, AK-47.

However, I still managed to take pictures and record video clips of the remaining 4, which, I should say, worth the waiting.

The exceptionally cool and sexy bass player of Super VC.

Note the movement of the camera man in the next 5 pictures.

A security guard. The young lads are mainly from the rural areas of China where their parents, farmers in the villages, struggling to make a living from the land. Most of the kids come to the big cities to find a way to leave the farms and their parents’ life style. They all end up working extra hours in restaurants, hotels, or as a security guard living on around 1,000 RMB (150 USD) per month. They always feel aliented by the city around them. Rock n’ Roll is one of the “big city thing” they find hard to understand. But, it is never hard to spot their Rock n’ Roll spirit in their eyes.

Another young security guard.

Supermarket. The first electro band in China. Now they are old and seemed not confident in their music.

Zhang Chu, one of the forefathers of Chinese Rock n’ Roll, a sad and lonely man, a true poet, gave his first performance in Beijing after so many years of silence. The whole audience went back to their adolescence in his master pieces.

Zhang Chu, still the same, small, thin, plain, simple, down to earth like a farmer, and clumsy with words. He’s the hero of a whole generation.

More to come tomorrow and videos coming soon…