Planet China Vol. 06

06

This free ebook includes interviews with artists, writers, entrepreneurs & thinkers

China-underground.com and CinaOggi.it are two web magazines curated

by Matteo Damiani and Dominique Musorrafiti (DMSL.co) dedicated to Chinese culture. Since 2002, China-underground has organized cultural events, festivals, and created documentaries, photo reports, and magazines.

BADIUCAO Political cartoonist, and rights activist

Content & Design Dominique Musorrafiti dominique@cinaoggi.it Matteo Damiani info@china-underground.com

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MARGARET SUN Author of ‘Betwixt & Between’

HAO WU director of ‘People’s Republic of Desire’ and ‘All in my family’

ELSBETH VON PARIDON China fashion design and urban culture groupie

YAFEI QI Artist, and videomaker

HANNAH LI Illustrator

ERIC FISH Author of ‘China’s Millennials’

SONG WEN Director and co-founder of FIRST Festival in China

ZHANG YANG Director and screenwriter

MICHAEL PETTIS Founder of the music label Maybe Mars

Hao Wu is the director of the awards winning ‘People’s Republic of the Desire’ about live streaming phenomen and of the documentary ‘All in my family’ produced by Netflix Interview by Matteo Damiani Photo courtesy of Hao Wu

HAO WU director of ‘People’s

republic of desire’ and

‘All in my family’

HAO WU is a Chinese-American film director, producer, and writer, director of People’s Republic of Desire, about China’s live-streaming phenomenon and the documentary ‘All in my family’, a Netflix Original Documentary launched globally in May 2019.

Technology executive-turned-filmmaker Hao Wu takes a raw and human approach to story-telling in an era when culture evolves online and across cultures. Wu previously held management roles at Alibaba, TripAdvisor, and Excite@Home. His award-winning documentary films have received support from Ford Foundation JustFilms, ITVS, Sundance, Tribeca and international broadcasters.

When did you start thinking about making a documentary on live-streaming phenomen?

Back in 2014 in the summertime I went back China to start researching my new film project, and just randomly one of my friend who is a financial analyst at that time asked me “since you work in tech for so many years, have you heard of this company called YY, it’s listed on Nasdaq, can’t you tell me a little bit how did they make money?” I was immediately intrigued because for so many years I worked in the tech industry in China, but then I asked around about them with my friends and very few of them have heard YY. So I started really researching it, “how can a tech company that even the tech people in the big cities don’t know about it, can be listed on Nasdaq?” So that was the first input to start researching it.

I was particularly impressed by the considerable effort of migrant workers to support their host. What kind of comfort to migrant workers can be provided by this kind of content? What are they looking for? Why are followers willing to invest so much money in a platform like YY to follow their idols?

Many of these migrant workers do not have much and lead lonely lives. This media unlike other unidirectional media like television or movies offers the illusion of interacting with one’s idols.

Many of the users participate for free, while others spend small amounts of money to get a sense of involvement. I was intrigued because the hosts online attract all these digital gifts that cost so much money, and as soon as I realized there a lot of “reach patrons” and diaosi, the losers, all getting together in a showroom to worship them. It’s fas-

cinating because in the real world the reach and the poor don’t get together, but online, in this community, they are together.

Over the past few years, we have seen several crackdowns on the content of video streaming or video game streaming platforms in China. What is the government’s attitude towards YY?

How widespread is this phenomenon really? Are there other similar internet The Chinese government is very senphenomena of this size? sitive towards these platforms mainly because they touch on some more In China, practically all people have sensitive issues such as sexuality. In tried a live streaming platform at least addition, huge amounts of money are once. It is a very widespread phenom- invested in an uncontrolled manner. enon that has experienced its peak between 2014 and 2016, and which is now What is the fate of a host on his way threatened as popularity by the new out? What prospects can he have? short video platforms, like TikTok, but is still very popular. With live stream- Virtually none. Many hosts try to coning you really need to spend at least tinue their careers as much as possian hour every night watching, so who ble because outside of that they don’t does appeal to? People who are lonely, have much. people who don’t have friends, people who stay at home, who don’t have an Did the protagonists of the documentaincome. The short videos instead are ry see it? What did they say? kind of funny, you can spend how much time you want on it, so no wonder why They saw it and said that it is particushort videos’ popularity overshadows larly accurate in painting this world. live-streaming. However, the audience appears to be very different.

Will the documentary be shown in Chi- between complexity and simplicity, bena? Did you face any problem while tween portraying this virtual communishooting it? ty, versus the character stories, their feelings as their fate goes up and down, We had no problem shooting it, also how they feel about the relationship because the documentary address- with their families, how their real-life is es social and non-political issues. The impacted as their online fame grows. documentary was presented in China at FIRST FILM FESTIVAL and I saw a lot China from an external point of view of interest from Chinese companies. offers the possibility of having a look The editing took a long time, took a at the near future, being literally a sort year and a half, because I had to por- of huge laboratory for a pervasive intetray such a complex ecosystem, the gration of technology in our society. Is business rules, how they replicate the this towards which the whole world is social status, and how the agencies try heading? to promote the live streamers, and the different levels of relationship, it’s so All this is already happening, even if in complex, so it took me a long time to a different way. Just think of the globstreamline the story enough, so the au- al success of a platform like TikTok, dience could potentially understand it, whose success is global. However, the but at the same time to really retain the live streamer market has now reached complexity. Because what is fascinat- its peak in China, and new visitors ing is that we can replicate real-life on- come from other emerging markets line in this fantasy world. So that took in Southeast Asia or developing counme a year an half, to find the balance tries. It is not very different from you-

tubers. V-logging has never taken off in China for various reasons, but then live streaming took the role of V-logging in the country. If you take a look to the internet celebrities on Youtube, that type of content, how they produce it, how they rely on stunts, controversy to generate popularity, it’s very similar to live streamers in China.

“All in my family” is a very personal and just the emotional honesty and the intimate project. Why did you choose depth of honesty has surprised me. this particular topic?

How society in China is changed in the acI and my partner were going through ceptance of the LGBT community from the surrogacy process which has so when you left the country the first time? many friends both straight and gay asking us about how surrogacy works. It’s definitely very different now.

We just realized there might be some I mean nowadays before the recent interesting story. Originally I had crackdown on anything like LGBTQ in planned just to do a film about how the media space which happened that the surrogacy process. What kind of started happening two or three years effort it would take for a gay couple ago so far while not just the internet to have kids. So that was the original but in mainstream media there was a intention of the film. But later as I go lot of discussion or a lot of mentioning through the process and dealing with at least of LGBTQ issues and characmy family myself, it’s kind of gradual- ters. So I think compared to when I left ly shifted to an exploration of me and the country there is a lot more awaremy parents’ relationship. We just real- ness of the existence of LGBTQ indiized there might be some interesting viduals and the community and that’s story. Originally I had planned just to one major difference. The second do a film about the surrogacy process. thing is that with the help of Internet What kind of effort it would take for a and with the help of the queer comgay couple to have kids. So that was munity forming in big cities because a the original intention of the film. But lot of people migrate into the big city later as I go through the process and now, it’s a lot easier for gay queer peodealing with my family myself, it’s kind ple to meet other queer people in the of gradually shifted to an exploration cities or online. Internet is a big thing. of me and my parents’ relationship.

Will your next project be a documentaDid you face any unexpected moment ry or a feature film? And will it be shot while shooting it? in China or the US? Yeah. I think as any family, it’s just rare for a family member to really be sitting down talking about things even before we experienced the same thing together. Like I never understood how much my coming out had hurt my family, my parents, I never understood it.

So I think doing this documentary is a really nice time and a nice opportunity for me to have an in-depth conversation with my parents and to understand and for the first time how much pain they had to suffer through. It’s

Yeah, I’m developing both documentaries and narrative features and this moment. I’m working on just to remake all my family into our narrative feature.

I’m exploring both in the US and in China right now. Just see which project takes off. Because it takes a while for a project to go to be ready to go into production.

Political cartoonist, and rights activist

Badiucao

BADIUCAO is an appreciated Chinese political artist and rights activist.

The name Badiucao was adopted to protect his real identity. Badiucao uses satire and pop culture references as tools for his criticism of the regime, overturning the stereotypes of Chinese propaganda against the status quo. Criticism of the regime and the crackdown of Chinese society find a very important place in his art. Over the last few years, his artistic production has attracted the attention of international media. On November 2018 news website Hong Kong Free Press announced that the art exhibition ‘Gongle’ was canceled out of safety concerns because Badiucao’s real identity was compromised by Chinese authorities and his family was threatened.

What happened in Hong Kong last year before your exhibition? Why it was canceled?

Well, it’s very simple. I found out my identity was compromised, the police found my family there, they get my relatives to the police station, they send via family member messages to me, they wanted the show to be canceled, otherwise they had to do things to me and to my family, they also said that “if you choose to continue the show, we will send policemen to the opening in Hong Kong”. Of course, I shared all the information with the local organizers and the people who were helping. So, unfortunately, we decided that there was just too much of a risk to do. And it was dangerous for me and for anyone who was helping in Hong Kong as well.

So we just decided to cancel the show.

Interview by Matteo Damiani Photos & art courtesy of Badiucao

In documentary China’s Artful Dissident you took off your mask and revealed your real identity. What do you think will be the consequences of this act?

The consequence has happened because since this documentary have been released I have experienced cyber-attacks, following harassment in Australia. One time I got followed by four people, Asian males, with similar dressing and with Bluetooth earphones plugged in, but I got off the bus to a supermarket. And in another occasion, the same thing, on the public

traffic system, suddenly two guys have been seen to follow me on my way to a private screening of the documentary.

It’s happened not to just me, also the film director has experienced similar encounters with strange Asian looking people. So this is a consequence that I’m facing. I don’t know how far the Chinese government will go. Definitely, according to other examples, there are all the possibilities laid out there, it could be life-threatening, it could be just intimidation to make me stop, and by showing my face, basically, it just makes easy to know how I look like.

Art for Liu Xiaobo However, you know, they know my real identity, I have to accept this fact and I have to arrange my life and art with this new reality. I believe that the more that I expose myself, the more I engage in public life, the more interviews I do like now will put me under the lights. And only being that I probably will be safer than I’m just in the dark. So yeah that’s the afterlife, after showing my face.

Do you think China is happy with Carrie Lam’s handling of the situation in Hong Kong?

It’s very hard to tell because I guess the logic of this question is based on how much Carrie Lam is really behaving by herself. If she is totally a puppet of Beijing then it’s predictable that every move she did is actually approved by Beijing. So it’s not really her fault but it was a miscalculation from the Chinese government, but I really don’t know how independent Carrie Lam is from Beijing. I’m more suspicious that’s ac-

tually Beijing is closely monitoring and also directing. So how angry can you be with your puppet that you manipulate by yourself? The only one you can get angry with is yourself. But, there is possibility Carrie Lam might be the scapegoat. They may say she failed Hong Kong people, and it’s her problem, not Beijing’s problem. Maybe they’ll sacrifice her at some stage but who knows.

The prisoner of umbrella Joshua Huang

Will China retaliate?

I think again it’s very hard to predict but I guess it’s the same thing. The strategy that the Hong Kong government or the Beijing government is to wait it out.

So their strategy is to wait is till the city and all the protesters will lose their patience. When our movement ends then the government strike. They even are more patient because just recently, I think it was the beginning of this year, those leaders of the Umbrella Movement got persecuted and sentenced to prison. In China there is a saying

that goes ‘qiū hòu suàn zhàng’ (literally settling accounts after the autumn harvest; to bide time for revenge). It means they only avenge you after the autumn. They will carefully and patiently wait months and months until everything is quiet down to do the cracking down or revenge. I assume they wouldn’t really have the balls to repeat another massacre at this stage, however they are always seeking possibilities or opportunities for revenge.

I mean they would persecute those brave young protestors, they will find a way to intimidate them in the future for sure.

What is your next project?

I am working on my next exhibition, I’m still looking for a proper venue to do that, because the Hong Kong incident of last year created a very big problem for my art career, because usually if you want to apply for another show, it means you have to plan half year or one year in advance. So I was kind of relying on the show, however, because of that doesn’t happen, so it didn’t leave me really enough time to arrange another show with the regular schedule. So a lot of new projects will be around Hong Kong scene and also around my own identity since now I can rebuild my face. I can share my life. I also want to use my art to address those issues and those are my next projects. The one that I’ve already started is actually a campaign against Twitter company, urging them to act on my proposal to create an emoji on Twitter

about Tiananmen Massacre, with the image of Tankman. This year is 30 years anniversary, about two months ago I contacted Twitter company and I proposed that they should create a special hashtag, an emoji for this important anniversary. After a very long waiting, Twitter contacted me saying they refused the proposal because they don’t have enough time to do that because of the limited resources of Twitter, they couldn’t make it in time. I’m not really buying the answer. I think the real concern of Twitter is losing advertisements and profits from the Chinese market. So what I’m starting now is an art campaign to encourage people to take a selfie with my design of the emoji for the 31st anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre or to draw their own version of the tankman to ask Twitter to create a special emoji for the next year’s anniversary. So far I have received a lot of support from my fellow cartoonists and artists on Twitter. I have seen a lot of people drawing their own version of the tankman and then sending it to a Twitter company. And this is still going on. So now we are giving them a whole year to achieve this thing.

When and why did you start to make political cartoons?

I think I started in 2011 with a bullet train incident in China (the Wenzhou train collision). So it was like triggered by the crash of two bullet trains. By the time I was just starting to use Twitter, and the Chinese version of it, which is called Weibo. That incident sparked huge discussion on the internet besides China, about why this happened.

The Chinese government tends to cover the story by telling a lie or they’re making stories instead of reporting the

China’s Artful Dissident is a documentary produced by ABC and follows Badiucao in exile. Through his satirical art, he clandestinely protests China’s human rights abuses. fact. But people online were trying to confront the official narratives so by the time I was really moved by this and the atmosphere in China with people starting to express their own ideas on this new intact platform. I was thinking I should just use it at my advantage. It’s a way to express myself and after that, it all just began Are your works available in China?

Well, yes and no. The reason why I say yes is I do know some people get access to my work from my social media like Twitter, or from the media where I post my work like Hong Kong Free Press or China Digital Times. People will download my work and they will post it in China. Most of the websites I’m using now are forbidden in China. The people are using VPNs or other methods to get access to the information, or to go around the Great Firewall which is the Chinese censorship filter. So yes, technically nobody in China is allowed to actually get access to my work. I mean even my website is blocked, my personal artist website is blocked, but in the real world, people will find a way around to see my work. Recently I’m really just trying to expand my practice beyond the internet worlds, so I started doing like internet campaigning for performance or for street art and I have

a lot of positive feedback from those campaigns. There are even people inside of China joining the campaign as well by printing out my work and placing it on the street, by doing the performance in public and taking photos and videos and then uploading on social media. There are people in South China that have access to my work.

ing them as well because you know inside of China almost no one can have the freedom and safety to express the same way as I do. So maybe they will be shocked. It’s the first time they see something like that, they wouldn’t think “it is okay to mock the leader in China like Xi Jinping or people like that”.

I think it is necessary even if they are shocked or feel they want to keep disWhat do ordinary Chinese people think tance with my work but by continuing when they read your comics? sending the work back in China it’s also a way to encourage people to express I think they feel is funny, because themselves and accepting criticizing. they know what I’m talking about. We have effective communication, it’s not like if I’m joining something and they don’t understand. It’s very easy for them to understand because all the work is carefully observing the internet inside of China and try to use the internet culture to present it, so even the people inside of China would understand what I’m trying to express.

I think sometimes it can be confront-

How do they share your comics in China?

I think most of them are using VPNs, so they can get access to Twitter or to those media platforms. Then they will download my work and then they repost them on the platforms inside of China like WeChat or Weibo or even just sharing with friends, one by one, so that’s kind of indirect but it works sometimes. I also always have feedback from other Twitter users. They will say “ok my post on Wechat of your cartoon has already being deleted” or “you know, I put your work upside down then I can post it again”. So I had a lot of scenarios like that, people telling me how was the reaction to the work inside of China, how’s the government react to them, whether they deleted or they try to censor. Some people lose their accounts because they’re posting works of mine. So the accounts can be suspended or deleted after posting like

MARGARET SUN Betwixt & Between

A book, full of annotations and anecdotes, which succeeds in framing stories and personal events in a broader historical context, throughout the course of the history of modern China.

Interview by Matteo Damiani Photos courtesy of Margaret Sun

The autobiography of MARGARET SUN traces intertwining personal events and epochal historical events, the recent history of China, from Shanghai before the Japanese invasion, to the Xinjiang of our day, passing through the civil war, the liberation of 1949, the Cultural Revolution, and China of Deng Xiaoping. All the great events inevitably intersected and changed the writer’s existence like that of millions of other Chinese leaving deep and indelible traces.

What method did you use for writing the book? Was it difficult, or painful, to go over so many memories?

I know of no ‘method’ but just combed my memory chronologically as thou-

gh I were telling someone face-to-face about my life. Yes, it was painful at some point when life was difficult.

I think in English, always have since I can remember, but have had limited formal education I guess my ‘method’ was simple and easy to understand. I admit it wasn’t possible to remember everything since memory is selective.

How has life changed with the arrival of the Japanese in Shanghai?

Was too young to notice much change, but the August 13 Incident of 1937 did make us ‘refugees’ when we had to leave Hongkew to settle across the river where we stayed thereafter. The sight of Japanese soldiers with guns and bayonets were inti-

“With husband, ca. 1985, Xinjiang U. Resident area. Bldg. 23, 2nd floor, after a stretch in a hospital due to very low heart rate. I was assigned to the 4th floor, but the Dean of the Math Department (now in Xiamen University) was kind enough to offer me his 2nd-floor one because I had trouble climbing stairs.”

midating, but they never bothered “One with permed hair was taken in 1954 us as we were law-abiding citizens. or thereabout, in blue seersucker cheongsam. The other was taken in 1958 or ‘59 With the arrival of communism in 1949, in Hami when I had gained a lot of weiwhat happened to the Shanghai so- ght due to overly enjoying ‘keptirgan kaiciety? What happened to the whole eli- mak (Kazakh), lamb and nan. I had alrete of that society and all the micro-sto- ady been in Hami for over two years and ries and social relations dating back to was about to ask for home leave.” that period?

The transition of Liberation was smooth in the sense that power, water supply, and all the necessary things of life were not cut. I think my awareness of the change came a little later when our school principal was denounced, and new teachers came. Also being taught North Korean, East European songs and see Soviet movies and so on. It was in later years when the political movements came one after another and the witnessing of suicides that really was disturbing. Also, my father’s predicament left me much unsettled because I

could see myself in his role as time progressed. Also, the residents’ committee had some ‘progressive elements’ which went elbowing their way around the neighborhood, and since it was no secret that we always had foreign visitors like the many aunties and uncles who sometimes came, and that sort of made us ‘different’.

“Taken around October 1945 by a G.I. who passed by me every day on his way to the Navy Y a few steps away. A similar picture was confiscated when our home was ransacked in one of the earlier political movements in 1952 or thereabout. I came across this one at a friend’s place in Richmond, Va. at Christmas 1986 when he showed me his old album, and I saw this old picture that my father had sent him in earlier correspondence. See my father’s writing on the back of it.”

“Taken around October 1945 by a G.I. who passed by me every day on his way to the With Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug outside a winery somewhere north of Urumqi, Manas, if I am not mistaken. He came at the invitation of the Ministry of Agriculture with two other scholars, Dr. Tso, and Dr. von Osten of the World Bank’s Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and came to Xinjiang for a week-long or 10-day survey. We visited agricultural areas from Urumqi all the way to Kashgar. I was assigned their interpreter and was with them from beginning to end.”

How did you manage to train your En- day, a word, any word, could always glish in the years of China isolationism spark up the line of a song, chorus, or of the mid-20th century? hymn. In a word, anything with a tune just stuck in my mind.

I have had limited formal education.

The English I know is mostly from chur- How has China changed since you were ch (Sunday School and Young People’s a girl?

Group) and from much reading in later years (before ‘56), and after I came I think it has become materially advanto this school end of 1978 I have tried ced but morally decayed. to read as much as I can to upgrade my ‘education, and since I always think How did your family react to the book? in English, so it just had a permanent Were they aware of all these stories? nook in my think box. I think I did a lot of ‘rehashing’ of what I know of the lan- No one in the family except my brother guage during the years from ‘56 to ‘78 in Beijing (who came to visit today) and helped to ‘solidify’ if. Even to this knows about the book, when I sent him

“In 1995, on the 40th anniversary of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, I was made an Advanced Worker (equivalent to Model Worker for blue0collar workers). There were two people selected, one an ethnic person, one a Han, and a man and a woman, according to the rules. Each faculty and office of the U. had to submit two such persons to hand into the panel of the U. leadership. My Dean submitted my name and the required accompanying material

a copy, but he has trouble reading it because he has to refer too often to the dictionary. You see, none of my siblings know English. My daughter did not know of it until after I had sent Graham Earnshaw the manuscript. She does not know sufficient English to read it.

In fact, no one, except one or two close friends and former student in the US knew about it.

since all our work is quantified. I made the short list first, then the finals. I think it was more for the quantity of work than for quality. With that honor, I received an 80 yuan increase in my pay each month and other minor benefits whereas blue-collar workers who made the list received a 1,000 yuan award and that was all, in other words, I have been drawing this 80 extra yuan for the last 24 years.�

Interview by Dominique Musorrafiti Photos courtesy of Elsbeth Von Paridon

Elsbeth van Paridon, China fashion design and urban culture groupie

ELSBETH VON PARIDON

TEMPER MAGAZINE

ELSBETH VON PARIDON is Dutch, grew up in Belgium, went back to The Netherlands to study Sinology at Leiden University, resided in Beijing for 6.5 years and most recently obtained an MA in Journalism. She is the head of Temper Magazine a publication about the new Made In China fashion, design and urban culture. She also work on China Under The Radar, a cultural project, that exploring China’s urban lifestyle and underground.

You are a sinologist and China fashion journalist. Where does your interest in China come from? How did you develop your interest in fashion? What inspired you to start working and focusing on Chinese fashion and style?

Disclaimer: Before I forget. Yes, I have recently obtained an MA in Journalism, but one degree does not a pro make!

Real, actual, news(paper)-reporting journalists are required to “take the bar” in order to keep their journalistic

F.I.T. in N.Y.C. Van Paridon With The Either founder and composer Zong Li. Photography by Wang Ping. All rights reserved license on a regular basis and I have done no such thing. Nor do I intend to at the moment hehe. I suppose it’s that crossroad where education meets inspiration and creates passion – a favorite word of mine in any language, just another random fact du jour from / on yours truly. Growing up in 1980s Antwerp, Belgium, I (the old-fashioned orange- and bitterballen-loving Dutch one) was exposed to colorful pop culture icons such as Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Prince, etc., from my earliest childhood onwards. These boundary-breakers had taken fashion into cutting edge new directions. The ways in which they played with their clothing proved fascinating and captivating from the start – and remains an inspiration to this day. Decades went by (slightly exaggerating here) and it was

precisely through my studies in Sinology (Leiden University, Netherlands) that I came into contact with then upand-coming (and now bonafide catwalk crushing) Chinese designers such as Xander Zhou, whose innovative ideas triggered an intense interest for the pioneering fashion scene within China.

The China Fashion scene is more than your mere covershot; it’s the visualization of a changing social landscape. It is the academic background that equips one with a deeper understanding of a nation – not just on the linguistic level, that for me is a given, but on the historical, political and social levels too. Education is empowerment. In order to understand the movement forward, and to move forward in se, you have to go back to the beginning. Put in fashion lingo… As is the case with any wardrobe, from capsule to couture-committed: Know your basics.

What about your first time in China?

What inspired you most?

I first came to Beijing in 2007 to complete one year of language studies at Beijing Language and Culture University on a scholarship awarded by international education organization NUFFIC (The Hague)– as a part of the Leidenbased Sinology program. I returned to the city of all that is mighty in 2010 – to work as an English news editor and fashion author for China International Publishing Group. After 6.5 years of living there, I chose to pursue a Master’s in Journalism back home, in Europe, and now (having recently wrapped up that academic endeavor) spend my time Model Jennifer Liu during a shoot for Temper Magazine’s “The R-Rated Issue” – coming to global audiences in June 2019 – in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NTC. All rights reserved

between New York City, Europe and China. All in the name of China fashion, Design and Urban Culture.

Can you tell us about your Chinese fashion publication Temper Magazine and cultural project China under the radar?

Temper Magazine sets out to help promote the still largely hidden, yet dynamic, fashion, design and urban culture scene sprouting within Beijing, Shanghai and China overall. From streetstyle to budding photographers, established designers and the latest updates: They are present. Temper offers readers a sec yet sexy look at contemporary China through a fashion-focused lens. Often paired with a deep devotion to the nation’s underground scene. The term “Made in China” is undergoing the ultimate 21st Century makeover. This rapid change is a unique phenomenon which goes beyond the mere Summer/Au-

Van Paridon and Able Activist Garrison Redd during a shoot for Temper Magazine’s “The R-Rated Issue” – coming to global audiences in June 2019 – in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NTC. All rights reserved tumn collections; it waves the flag for the social changes vibrating within China’s society-at-large today. Escorted by the increasingly strong influence of a new thinking among China’s younger generations regarding individuality and the expression thereof, the fashion scene in the Middle Kingdom is exploding. And it stretches far beyond what meets the eye. High-end appliqué, one might say: The New Made In China — patent on that one. In sum, if it fares and flares in the realm of China Fashion and Design, Temper is there. “Chasing the fashion dragon” — patent on that one too, – if you will. The urban under-

“New Youth�.

Photographer Tom Selmon shoots for Temper Magazine.

All rights reserved

ground is where the beat of the new social drums begins. It is below the surface where the core of the Earth starts to shake and shock the aboveground levels. “Sub-” Is Super. Trending-wise: China is all about young, intoxicating and congenial urban rebellion. China’s post-95ers, especially, are setting the pace for the nation’s rejuvenation.

Their styles and artistic behavior or mannerisms capture and highlight in unbridled fashion the different traits of all layers in Chinese contemporary society. From that rebellious and unruly bad boy to your classically poised girl, how very “Breakfast Club”, everyone has their own exclusive socio-cultural temper. About to rage — not against the dying of the light, but in pursuit of a new dawn rising. Flying under the radar, China’s urban underground expands the minds of those post-80 and -90s traveling and reveling in it. Their tempers flare and in manners almost invisible to the naked eye spring to the surface of society. It’s the coming out

NYC-based brand The End Lingerie, founded by Taiwanese model and Parsons’s fashion MFA grad Beikuo, 2019. All rights reserved of China’s creativity.

How Chinese fashion appeared to you when you started to work in China? How is Chinese fashion changed?

It’s a tale of economic development.

When you look at South Korea in the 1960s and 70s or Japan throughout the 1980s and 90s, you can spot the pattern. A nation decided to alter its political system in order to open up and become more appealing to the outside world – and thus becomes more susceptible to global influences. Economic development, often capitalistically styled (aka “a means to an end”; ahem), ensues and in turn sparks an evolution within society. Once a middle class is in place, the urban landscape changes

into a shopping Walhalla and we reach the final step of development: That of the individual. Here, fashion comes into play – and plays its finest tunes.

Here, personal style is created. Here, the individual starts using clothing as a means of communicating with the outside world. Here, the perception of a society and a nation at large changes.

We have traveled from the omnipresent Minnie Mouse ears and FCUK ME, I’M CINESE (forgive me, I’m Dutch) Tees back in 2007 to the sleekly styled slick that is hardcore designer “stuff” in 2019. LGBTQ- or Feminism-inspired brands boasting OTT androgyny, sustainable designers dancing to the tunes of tecno felt fabrics, crazy cool Breakfast Club kids venturing out into street-photography and creating their own street-style and -photography WeChat platforms to support the bud-

ding talent out there in urban China, tattoo artists defying both social gender and political censorship taboos, visual artists capturing the politics of a society changing at the speed of light and its implications for urban humanity, …

You name it, they bring it. Final funny yet fashionable detail on the socio-cultural side of things: China’s female foray into lingerie. Shanghai and Beijing now stand at the forefront of a lingerie movement as Chinese women explore their femininity, sexuality and true self via their undergarments. From artisanally bespoke traditional (imperial) inspired lingerie designs by Pillowbook (designer Irene Lu) or (on the kinkier side of things) The End Lingerie (by Taiwanese model and FIT NYC grad Bei Kuo) to the likes of Victoria’s Secet and Dutch Hunkemoller retail hardhitters.

China’s single women are becoming in-

Chen Peng.

All rights reserved

dependent and confident. Celebrating their bodies, both inside and out.

Fashion is influenced by the environment surrounding us and fashion influence the environment. What’s your perception of the Chinese Fashion industry?

Do you believe that the global impact can be a topic of significant interest for some Chinese brands? What do you think will be the future of the Chinese fashion market?

China Fashion and Design… From that old-school “Made In China” label battered by product scandals and haunted by a cheapo-heapo copy-paste mentality to the New Made In China tag embodying exclusive niche design. A little artistic ‘n historic inspo to get things going: After Mao Zedong declared the People’s Republic of China “open” in 1949, all artistic activity was institutionalized. Come 2019, it’s becoming individualized. The new legion of post-80

Yeti Out. All rights reserved and post-90 Chinese fashion artists too reflect a shift in China’s cultural Zeitgeist. Many of them have enjoyed a profound and renowned education (talent alone won’t cut that cloth!) in design abroad (Paris, London, NYC) and thus their creations offer the best of both worlds. It is the merging of culture and education that makes for a revolution in motion. Speaking of fashion x environment, I’d like to put a spin on this and briefly highlight the concerted sustainable efforts coming in from the Middle Kingdom and its new designing army.

China has forever been a mass producer of clothes; some estimates suggest 50 percent of the world’s clothing is manufactured in the country. In return for the cheaply made Chinese gear, serious environmental impacts have occurred over the years, such as waste

water, making the clothing industry the second largest polluter after oil.

Nevertheless, sustainable fashion is finally shedding its hippie-hemp covered image and it’s becoming ‘cool’.

It seems that “The New Made in China” label is about to add a shade of green… Clothes swaps are one-way China is tackling the sustainable fashion agenda and they’re in full swing. In major cities, swaps are being hosted by charities, shops and through social media. Live with less, a Beijing-based project, holds court quarterly and folks roll up in droves to swap their clothes, reducing excessive consumption. One simple idea, one big impact. Secondhand clothing was frowned upon and deemed “inferior” in the eyes of traditional China, though nowadays there seems to be a new holistic buzz surrounding the concept of clothes swapping as citizens snap up unique, second-

hand garms/ gems. Millennials too are finding new ways around the shortage of quality designer clothes. Many young people lack the funds to constantly update their looks, Chinese clothing-rental startup YCloset have tapped into this. Typically, a country of fast fashion, China now bears witness to the rise of brands being built on the grounds of sustainability. Zhang Na of Fake Natoo has created Reclothing Bank, a lifestyle brand that considers sustainability across the supply chain. What makes these clothes unique, is the fact they are made from second-hand apparel.

During Shanghai Fashion Week in April of 2018, Zhang’s “everyday” models wore a mix of recycled fabrics and old clothing, along with natural, organic fibers. The clothes were also apparently The Temper Magazine Series. #staytuned

made by a group of women who lost their jobs. It’s wonderful to see more designers giving eco-friendly fashion a chic branding. Even more, it is particularly refreshing to see the outfits on the catwalk in often image-conscious city Shanghai. Sustainable fashion promotes a new way of thinking for China.

As the government promote their new ‘green’ policy for clean air, less coal use and better regulation, we say the fashion industry is just as important. As the idea becomes more mainstream and demand rises, Chinese consumers may realize it’s actually worth paying that bit more to save our planet (or one can only hope they do). Sustainability in China is on its way to being cracked. And trending on the long term. Summing up, I think the future of China Fashion will combine the latest in technology with hardcore designer views subtly addressing socio-politico topics. Thus creating both a new socially as well as fashionably sustainable collective.

Did social media change fashion habits in China? How do you feel social media influence now vs. the past? What makes China a unique place, for fashion, compare to others?

From the earlier mentioned kids setting up WeChat platforms and thus setting on fire China’s urban impromptu street photography scenery to the latest in clothing swap(p)ing… The Middle Kingdom’s social media proudly stands in a league of its own. What does that mean? Con: Everybody and anybody can call themselves a designer and set up their WeChat platform/ Mini Program and shop; Pro: Everybody and anybody can call themselves a designer and set up their WeChat platform/ Mini Program and shop. We’re now facing an

tsunami-styled overload of design and art, bringing along both treasures and trash, thus forcing us to become more particular and pickier about the niches we choose to tackle and/ or target.

From a personal perspective, it’s about separating the wheat from the chaff – according to personal taste and topic.

Before we get to that final bottom line, then, a little faddy party “did you know” fact! The Chinese word for “fashion” (shíshàng) only came into being after the creatively dire, “deconstructivist” days of the nation’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976; wénhuàdàgémìng in Chinese) were done and dealt with. China Fashion and Design has now come a long way, baby. From a coerced creative and cultural wasteland to storming the vested houses of design, the New Made In China artistic collective embodies the explicit depiction of an insatiable lust for that ultimate seductive mix between the fashionable and wearable. Comparing China’s emerging culture of youthful (in every way) urban style and individuality, would undermine the assessment of this unique evolution and rebellion in its own right.

In life, who does not physically cherish the springtime of youth through art and design? A young brand to its wearer should be like a thread to a needle.

When it comes to your wardrobe, it should be about love and lust, top to bottom. About throwing caution to the wind. And that’s what The New Made In China tag is all about.

YAFEI QI Generational gap,

Environment changes, Social expectations Focus on young Chinese Artist and Videomaker Yafei Qi

Interview by Dominique Musorrafiti Photos courtesy of Yafei Qi

YAFAEI QI, born 1987 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, lives and works in Berlin. She majored in Film and Video Art with a BA in China Central Academy of Fine Art and graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Bergen Academy of Art and Design in 2016. Her art video works explore themes of family and generational gap, industrialization and environment changes, isolation, and social expectations. Her 2016 video “Wearing the Fog” won the award for “Best Experimental Film” at the Broadway International Film Festival in Brooklyn and Honourable Mention at The First International Film Festival.

In 2017, her videos performances “Life Tells Lies” and “I Wonder Why” received international acclaim. The artist recently has her first solo exhibition in Germany. Yafei Qi is now painting editing and working on her new December exhibition.

How and when did you get into art?

What motivated you?

I felt bored in middle school and I was very bad in math and chemistry and those regular courses. I tried to run away from boarding school once. It was a raining night, I hid in the rose garden

“She express her ideas creating video as installation and her minimalistic multi-screen moving images express personal human emotions giving to time a multiplicity content.”

outside of the dormitory, I waited the door lady turned off the lights, then I climbed over the school wall. I guess I was seeking other possibilities in life, I thought the world outside of school is full of mysterious and bustling, so I left school with big ambition for my new life. Of course, my father found me on the second day, I was like a drowned rat in the street and he sent me back to school immediately, my ambition was damped down by reality. So look, I didn’t like school and there was no way to walk away from it. After that I found drawing and oil painting, I felt making a painting is something fun to do, I didn’t

think about what art it is and what it means to me. In another hand, that was the way of running away from my school life. Talking about motivation, I think it was the desire of running away from life when I was 15 years old, my grandma was the one made it happen after, she paid my tuition fee secretly behind my parents when they didn’t agree with me on going to an art school to continue my art study.

You make videos and you are also a painter. What does painting mean to you? Which art medium most represent you?

Painting is more personal for me. It shows what we cannot describe and

we cannot see in reality. I gather the thoughts from my daily life experience into painting, it always shows up with a feeling or emotion of a certain moment. I guess I need that kind of quiet and lonely time to stay in a studio and to see what would show up on the canvas, sometimes it shows up with good surprise. There is more random space than video making. Video is linear, based on time. Everything shows with video is in a form or structure of time, the certain moment, emotion or story can be shaped by acting, movement, lighting, sound, montage, space and so on. It has its multiformity to play with and it needs more arrangements and pre-planning before you get the

camera rolling, most of my videos are teamwork. Painting and video are both my tool or weapon against time and my own life.

Where did the idea for “I Wonder Why” come from? Is it related to a particular experience?

“I wonder why” is related to my personal experience. I went through my first breakup after I spent 11 years with my ex-boyfriend. In my case, what made me more confused was that the reaction of the surrounding society, my friends, family, colleagues had strong opinions of our breakup, most of them were against my own ideas. It was the suggestions drive me to think

The dynamics of family have been central to her art videos “Wearing the Fog” and “Life tells lies”.

about what is the social expectations for an individual person in China? Actually, It was a four and a half pages of text work, in the beginning, the text I wrote was more dreamy and sad. Then I decided to do it in a physical way and hit the point more directly, to show the psychological impact of when the individual goes away from the normal standards of the social expectation and how the society punishes a female betrayer.

Can you tell us about “Wearing the Fog”? What is the idea behind?

Wearing The Fog is a double-screen video with a non-linear narrative structure. It centers around the coldness of the industrial world in China and the indifference of a family. All the actors are my family and the shooting location was in my parent’s apartment. I used a double screen to express the gap

between the two generations, as well as the relationship between individual and society. The story is related to my personal growth environment and life experience. In the city where my parents are living, air pollution is very serious in the winter time. It caused a surrealism scene in that city, people have to communicate with each other through the obstruction of gauze mask and fog. The whole city is in clouds and all the people live in a dream. My family own one clothing factory at that time, the factories are one of the sources which cause air pollution. We play both the victim and perpetrator of the environment. At that time, I have a communication problem with my parents. whatever how hard we tried to solve this problem, it always end up with an argument. China is developing so fast, so the growth of the environment between my generation and the last generation has a big difference, which causes a great generation gap. What the last generation has been through is incredible. For them, it’s also difficult to understand what we are thinking and doing

nowadays. That is one of the problems when a country develops rapidly, bring to a single family. What the last generation and the city suffered today, is the results of other things continuation and development. Just as like the environment where I live, we play both the victim and perpetrator for our generation too. The process of working on this piece has become the process of solving my practical problem as well.

In the video “Wearing the Fog”, we see the signs of modernization and well-being, but the dialogue where the mother concern emerges is equal to the concerns of the past when the Chinese society was economically different. This indicates a strong cultural component.

Do you think Chinese parents abroad have the same concerns or are these feelings stronger in the mainland?

“Wearing the fog” cannot present the whole image of generational conflicts, traditional role-models and the impact of environmental changes on modern Chinese culture in China. It’s a window

“Yafei Qi is a performance video-artist with a background in filmmaking and painting.” to glance sideways at China, especially in those secondary cities. But I believe that generational conflicts are common in every corner in the world since people are changing as the world is changing. It’s hard to say if the Chinese parents abroad have the same concerns or not. I think it depends on person-to-person, family-to-family. But yes, these feelings are stronger in the mainland.

expectation for an individual person, more specifically what is the social expectation for me.

All the plots in that work are adapted from my observation of the survival state from my grandma and mum’s life, who chose to meet the public expectations, and the video also shows the imagination of my own future. I’m trying to weave a seemingly conforming woman’s life to social expectations.

In the video, the four generations of women’s lives are going in a circle, from birth to middle age, marriage to death. such as a collage of life. It tells what my life would look like with social expectations.

“Life tells lies” touch very personal in- What were the biggest challenges you ter-generational relationship. What do encounter in the realization of your vidyou want to tell with this video work? eos?

“Life tells lies” was made at the same There are many challenges during the time of “I wonder why”. It’s an ex- process. How to converting the ideas tended expression of what is the social and thoughts into an artwork is the

most challenge thing. Art is a form to shape and extend the thoughts which I collected from daily life, otherwise, the thoughts are just fog or a piece of jam.

How was to directing your parents in your videos?

day, as long as they got used to being filmed and to be familiar with the camera, the filming process would be more smooth. They are not professional actors, in some scenes, we only can go over once, in case they will be got lost in struggling on how to act. SomeIt was fun, my parents were 100% sup- times we do practicing before the day ported and helped me with it. In addi- we film. They were very collaborative tion to that my father thought he was during the whole process. going to be a movie star and he was very excited about to start. Of course, the movie star thing didn’t happen.

I stayed with them for 2 weeks before filming, during that time I used a small camera to record them every

Can you share with us a story from the Can you tell us something about your backstage of one of your videos? next projects?

During the filming of “Wearing the fog”, I ordered a whole package of face masks with 50 pieces inside, which is for everyone who was working on this project. I collected several of used filters from the masks when the shooting process was finished since I was shocked by the heavy air pollution. I know the Chinese government is really trying hard to solve the problem of environmental pollution, I hope that day would come sooner, so I can just throw those mask filters in the garbage can.

I was inspired by the book “Existentialism”, with texts selected and introduced by German writer Walter Kaumann. This book led me to think about “existence” in many ways. I am hoping to complete the next creative project in Berlin and start from everyday concerns, using daily life existence as the main theme and the influence of natural light on the environment, to create a video work without specific characters. In order to emphasize that those living in a foreign country can hardly measure where they are standing and the feeling apart of the “incompatibility” of their identity. The concept of this video work is a question of contemporary human living condition and identity issues based on the research of immigrants in Germany. In the same time, I’m also working on a series of paintings which are related to the same topic. it will be shown in Iceland in December 2019.

The struggles, and disillusionment of a generation through the story of Chinese Millennials Interview by Matteo Damiani Photos courtesy of Eric Fish

Eric Fish

CHINA MILLENNIALS

ERIC FISH is currently working on his next book, dedicated to Chinese students studying in American universities. The struggles, and disillusionment of a generation through the story of Chinese Millennials Why did you decide to write a book about Chinese young generations?

It kind of started with an article I wrote in 2011 on the annual junxun 军训 military training that all incoming college freshman have to do. The training went large-scale after the 1989 Tiananmen Movement and massacre, and I was intrigued by the messaging it appeared to be trying to send to the students: be collectivist, patriotic, loyal to the Communist Party, and obedient to authority. And I was equally intrigued by how some of that messaging seemed to stick, but how much of it was subtly (sometimes overtly) resisted by students.

Doing that article got me interested in Chinese youth and their relationship with the Party more broadly. Chinese millennials (born from around the mid80s to the mid-90s as I defined them) were either in diapers or not yet born when the events of 1989 happened.

Though most don’t realize it, those events had a pretty profound influence in shaping the world they grew up in. After the events, the national narrative—and the Communist Party’s justification for maintaining power—shifted from just using socialist ideology to pushing a much more nationalistic narrative of historical exceptionalism, victimhood, and then finally “national rejuvenation” led by the Party. The other big thing to transpire after Tiananmen was the rapid privatization and international integration of the economy in the 1990s-2000s, which

This generation is also on the losing end of one of the world’s most extreme demographic imbalances, thanks to the “one-child policy.”

yielded incredible growth, the collapse of the danwei 单位 work unit system, the retreat of the state from the private lives of its citizens, and a massive influx in outside information and influences. A tacit bargain emerged between the Communist Party and the people: We’ll give you unprecedented social and economic freedom, as long as you don’t push for political freedom. For the book, I wanted to look at the generation that was born into that bargain and that national narrative to explore whether it can continue to hold among youth who grew up taking economic stability and personal freedom for granted. I don’t attempt to definitively answer that question—nobody could— but I tried to tell the stories of a lot of diverse youth from around China to try to give some food for thought. What I came away with was a story much more complicated than one of a generation pacified by nationalism and materialism—which is how they’re often portrayed.

study hard, make a lot of money, buy a house, get married, and have children It seems that slowly as soon as possible to secure their (and but surely, many young their parents’) future. But that’s becoChinese are again ming more difficult—hopeless even— showing a willingness for many. And this comes at a time when young people are wanting and to stick their necks out expecting more out of life than pure for social change. economic security; they’re increasingly wanting a sense of meaning and spiritual satisfaction. But when it’s getting harder to meet even basic needs and What are the main challenges facing desires, that’s a recipe for disillusionChinese youth? ment and heartbreak. I think that’s one of the biggest challenges facing ChineWhere to begin? They were promised se youth—and the Communist Party that surviving the spirit-crushing gathat’s trying to govern them. okao 高考 college entrance exam and getting an education would open doHas the 1989 movement left any trace ors, but every year the employment in the memory of young people? landscape for graduates becomes bleaker and bleaker. And for those from I interviewed in-depth somewhere in rural areas, discrimination, nepotism, the neighborhood of 130 young Chiand the government’s hukou 户口 renese in the course of researching the sidency system continue to limit edubook—in addition to countless more cation and employment opportunities; informal chats—and I was surprised by in many ways those inequalities are behow many actually did express some coming worse. This generation is also knowledge and opinions about 1989 on the losing end of one of the world’s once I’d spent some time building rapmost extreme demographic imbalanport with them. Opinions ran the gaces, thanks to the “one-child policy.” mut: some thought it was an unmitigaThey’re an artificially small population ted travesty, some thought the victims bottleneck now tasked with suppormust have done something wrong if ting the artificially large Mao-era Baby they got themselves shot, some didn’t Boomer generation as it rapidly ages. really care enough to have an opinion.

The family planning policy, along with Then there were some who thought it’s sex selective abortion, has also yielded a shame so many died, but that the detens of millions of surplus young men cades of “stability” the massacre bouthat will never find a female partner, ght justified it in the end. Most were and about a million more join their ranpretty sketchy on the details of exactks every year. Then there’s the housing ly what happened though, and there’s problem: buying even a modest home little direct emotional connection to in a second or third-tier city can cost the events among a generation that didecades of an average income. Comdn’t experience them directly. I’ll add bine all these things, and it results in though that the bulk of these interhuge pressures on young people to views were done around 2011 to 2014. I

do get the impression that knowledge of the events is fading more each year.

It used to sometimes be touched upon in schools, if only to point out how misguided the protestors were. But under the present political environment, that seems to have all but disappeared. I’m now working on a project about Chinese students in the United States, and when I interview 18 and 19-year-olds here, I’m finding it pretty common that they knew next to nothing about 1989 prior to coming overseas. But I think there’s a side-effect of this historical “amnesia” that’s often overlooked.

The whole point of the massacre was to stop in its tracks the boisterous protest movements and challenges to the government that had been building up from around 1985 up until 1989. The Tiananmen Movement could have been stopped with non-deadly force—as many protests before it had been—but Deng Xiaoping allegedly rationalized a massacre, saying, “Two-hundred dead could bring 20 years of peace to China.” He got almost that. It wasn’t until 2007 that the next large demonstration involving tens of thousands of people happened: an environmental protest in Xiamen. Since then, there have been several movements—many online, some on the streets—driven by youth that suggest the instinctive fear of protest that the 1989 massacre was meant to instill is ebbing. The most recent manifestation of that is the self-professed Marxist students who have been demonstrating on behalf of workers.

It seems that slowly but surely, many young Chinese are again showing a willingness to stick their necks out for social change. I think the huge ramp-up in repression the past several years has been partly a reaction to that.

Without economic growth, the only tools the Party really seems to have left are nationalism and raw coercion, and both of those can backfire spectacularly

How have Chinese youth changed since that of the eighties?

Chinese youth of today are certainly more educated overall, more individualistic, and, as counter-intuitive as it seems, probably less nationalistic. As much attention as there has been on the “Patriotic Education Campaign,” I think a raft of sociocultural influences ranging from Hollywood and K-pop to Weibo and online countercultures have left a bigger mark in shaping young people’s worldviews and identities. It’s ok to be different, weird and explore alternative lifestyles, beliefs, and sexualities in a way that it just wasn’t back in the 80s. I also don’t buy the idea that this generation is any more apathetic or materialistic than youth in the 80s.

There were a lot of political and economic factors—and some totally random events—that yielded the Tiananmen Movement. There are likewise a lot of things preventing a similar event from happening today, but I wouldn’t assume that the attitudes of youth are one of them. I always remember UC Irvine Professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s story of going to China in 1986 with an interest in studying youth movements.

He was told it was too bad he’d come

at such a dull time, because students were supposedly “too focused on frivolous things and concerned with getting ahead to engage in any sort of idealist collective action.”

Do Chinese millennials have a political conscience? Do average young people care about human rights?

It’s so hard to generalize. But if you ask, most young people in China will probably say they don’t care about politics.

But when you probe deeper, it seems a lot care a lot about things that seem pretty political to me: wealth inequality, social injustice, international relations, Taiwan, gender equality…you name it.

“Human rights” tends to be a loaded concept in China. It’s been pretty successfully portrayed in state-controlled education and media as an instrument of hypocrisy by Western countries— particularly by the United States. The Communist Party has presented itself as a champion of human rights by crediting itself with “lifting” hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, “civilizing” outer regions, and developing the country economically—and it seems that message has been somewhat well-received. Some of the young people I interviewed said things along the lines of “Sure, the rights of some individuals had to be trampled to make it happen, but the collective country is better off for the way the Communist Party has ruled. Look at how much better off we are than the democracy next door in India.” It seems a lot of people abroad can’t accept the idea that many—probably most—young Chinese are fundamentally ok with the overall political system the way it is now, although many would like to see substantial reforms within that system. It’s

I also don’t buy the idea that this generation is any more apathetic or materialistic than youth in the 80s

true that the picture would likely look very different if there wasn’t such tight censorship and repression of dissent, but there are a lot of very well-informed non-brainwashed young people who nevertheless support one-party rule.

So far, it has indeed delivered consistent growth and the “stability” that’s so valued in the country, and has been so rare throughout its history. The million-dollar question though is whether that support will continue if the economy takes a sharp dive. Without economic growth, the only tools the Party really seems to have left are nationalism and raw coercion, and both of those can backfire spectacularly. Nationalism has directly fueled almost all of China’s past youth movements when domestic leaders were seen to be failing to defend China’s interests. And as the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement showed, attempts to forcefully disper-

se protests can actually help to rally more sympathy and support for them.

There are a lot of very serious social, economic, and environmental issues brewing, and I don’t think it’s at all farfetched that conditions could align in a way that yields another major youthled movement at some point. That’s not to say the Communist Party wouldn’t survive it, or that people would go so far as to call for its overthrow, but youth movements can crop up pretty quickly and seemingly out of nowhere.

Is there any story that particularly impressed you?

One of the most interesting stories I found was that of a young civil servant. She had been a brilliant student, was once very idealistic, and had wanted to go into law. But once she began studying the field in college, she got really disillusioned. “It’s ridiculous to talk about law in China,” she told me.

“What determines the winner of a case isn’t the law.” She ended up taking the civil service exam instead and got a much-coveted job in the Beijing customs bureau. She was essentially a paper pusher, but the benefits were good and the “golden rice bowl” job was seen as very secure, with lots of opportunities for “supplemental” income. There was all kinds of corruption, nepotism, and sketchy favor-trading around her at the bureau. She refused to partake, which she felt meant she’d be shut out of the various office cliques and she’d never get promoted. Before long, she had become totally disillusioned, not just with her work, but the country around her.

“The more idealistic you are, the more painful it is,” she told me.“ Some people don’t want to change society because they benefit from it. I don’t like society

and do want to change it, but I can’t, so what’s the point of thinking about it?”

Eventually, she was lulled into complacency. On one hand, it seemed hopeless to change anything or live out her ideal career, and on the other, she could just keep punching in to a ridiculously easy job for a good paycheck and great benefits. I thought her story was so telling about how the Party keeps some of the best and brightest in the country from stirring the pot. After a few years, this brilliant, once idealistic aspiring lawyer had been almost completely co-opted by the system and given an incentive to perpetuate it. She told me: “I used to worry about losing my job because of the regime changing. But the chances of that are small. Maybe the Communist Party won’t collapse, but maybe China will become really good and no longer need this ridiculous job.”

Interview by Dominique Musorrafiti Photos courtesy of Fortissimo Films

ZHANG YANG

UP THE MOUNTAIN

Zhang Yang ‘Up the Mountain’ is a documentary film about the Chinese painter Shen Jianhua and his apprentices with a focus on the simple rhythms of life in a remote mountain village.

Born in 1967, ZHANG YANG grew up in Beijing, studied until 1988 at Sun Yatsen University in Guangdong, from which he graduated with a degree in Chinese literature, and then went to the Central Academy of Drama, graduating in 1992. After graduating, he entered the Beijing Film Studio and start to work as a director. His feature films premiered and won awards at acclaimed festivals. In 2015, Zhang Yang has moved into documentary filmmaking, with Paths of the Soul, his first feature documentary. Up the Mountain (2018) is his latest documentary: a meditation of the beauty in simplicity. Artist Shen Jianhua moved from Shanghai to a mountainous village, near Shuanglang, Erhai Lake region, with his pregnant wife and teenage daughter. His home is an open house for his painting guests, where he offers drawing lessons. The master painter has made an impact on community villagers that come to ask for his advice. Grannies from Bai ethnic

minorities, in their sixties to eighties, become his apprentices. They produce in their colorful canvases nature, traditional way of life, capturing and creating for the joy of creation. The village in Yunnan province, in the southwestern part of China, is geographically far away from the rest of the country.

This allows Zhang to show a different angle of view, a fast-disappearing way of life, remote from the growing economic power of larges Chinese megalopolis. Ancient traditions, rituals, seasonal ceremonies, give guidance on everything in their daily lives. Artwork flows from the imitation of nature and life. Their living style is minimalist, slow. Simple gestures, poses, and faces, in the entire film, are presented like a painting in a square-framing style: portraits of intimate portraits. Zhang environment idyllic warmth portrait create a sense of intimacy that makes everything particular but also universal. Up the Mountain infuses a sense of human connection.

How the idea of making a documenta- The choice of the themes of your latry on artist and teacher Shen Jianhua est works “Paths of the Soul” and “Up came to life? the Mountain”, differs from the aspects that make China famous nowadays. The I’ve known Shen Jianhua for ten years, locations are linked to tradition and to that is, since he and his family moved the rhythms marked by the relationship to Shuanglang, in 2009, and in this de- between man-faith-nature and man-nacade Shuanglang has experienced its ture-art. Why you chose these themes? fastest development. During my stay in the area, I was able to deepen my China is experiencing really fast develknowledge of the life and culture of the opment. In the cities, most of the monBai people. I always wanted to make a ey is spent on keeping the family. The movie about Shuanglang. Shen Jianhua competition is aggressive. Money over and the Peasant Painting Society are time has become a kind of belief, and those who can best show the change people have become indifferent. Howand culture of the area over the past ever, China is very large, and outside decade. the big city centers, it is still possible to find relatively traditional or preserved

“To restore life through the lens. Record the changes in a small village from an anthropological and sociological perspective.”

places, such as Tibet or the place where the Bai people live. Because of this imbalance in the development, they have maintained something more traditional. People in this region seem to have a slower and simpler lifestyle, but they feel that their spiritual life is very rich, they have their beliefs, a way to measure their own happiness, and their happiness comes from the richness of their spiritual life.

“Up the Mountain is a reflection on slowpaced life, art, and culture of a village in Dali, Yunnan Province.�

You made films that were very close to Chinese people’s lives, films that focused on relationships and feelings. Do you think young Chinese can identify with the thematic of “Up the Mountain”?

First of all, I believe that that reality is very powerful, so in the last few years, I have tried to collect real-life moments using the comparative documentary method. Although most young people are rushing into cities in search of opportunities, there are also many young people who flee the city and go to the countryside to discover another kind of life. No matter where you live, in the cities or in the countryside, people’s emotions are connected. The wealth of the spiritual world is probably the highest goal that everyone tries to pursue.

Therefore, the life and values shown in the film could attract these young people. People will look at it and share the message.

What has changed for you after “Up the Mountain”? What do you hope the audience understands?

After shooting the film, I gained a new understanding of “Up the Mountain”.

I hope I can spend more time slowly observing and understanding life, presenting life. My aim is more to introduce the public to real life, through an objective narrative, not to try to teach the public, but to allow the public to find the answers for themselves.

“Zhang Yang is one of the most active Chinese directors, that uses a realistic style. That made him garnered critical acclaim domestically and abroad.”

“Getting Home” was shot in Yunnan, and the beginning on the journey to Lhasa in “Paths of the Soul” too. Yunnan is the same Province of “Up the Mountain”. Do you have a particular connection with this Province?

“‘Up the Mountain’ premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).”

I have been enjoying Yunnan for about twenty years now. In the past, I generally went to Dali two or three months each year, or to other places in Yunnan, or traveled to Tibet. Since I liked Yunnan, and I liked the simple style of rural life, I moved with my family from Beijing to Dali seven or eight years ago.

Life has become simpler, more in contact with nature, while another culture has nurtured me, and inspired me to create. This is why many of my films are related to Yunnan or Tibet.

Can you share with us any story that happened behind the scene of “Up the Mountain” that has influenced the development of the documentary?

The whole film is shot in an informal way, without a script. There are some things you can predict in advance, but other difficulties are completely unknown, so we have to wait for things to happen, and then you have to try to shoot.

Fading traditions and the impact of a rapidly changing modern China was a key in “Shower“. The remote mountain village where Shen Jianhua moved appears as a bastion of the traditions of the past, carried out by the Bai women that following art classes. Do you believe that in China there will continue to be areas far from global capitalism, where the relationship between landscape and people remains a fundamental element?

“Zhang with precision explores the value of the details through observation and interaction with nature: the rhythm of life follows the rhythm of nature.”

Globalization and modernization are a general trend throughout China, but in remote areas where roads do not arrive, or where communications are relatively underdeveloped, traditional lifestyles and work can still be seen. And the people who live in these regions are the heirs of these local cultural traditions. At the same time, more and more attempts are being made to protect these traditional cultures including the protection of ethnic minorities.

Moreover, in this process, the tradition itself is revitalized.

From the time since you did your first work, until now, what do you think are the main difference and changes in relationships and traditional sense of human connection?

Although we can say that interpersonal relationships have become more materialistic and more indifferent, however, the essence of people has not changed so much. China is still a society built on family relationships and with neighbors, colleagues, friends and other people. This is a difficult thing to change.

HANNAH LI Her works explore and combine a delicate way between digital and traditional tools

Interview by Dominique Musorrafiti Photos & Illustrations courtesy of Hannah Li

Born in Changsha, China and now residing in the United States, HANNAH LI is a freelance illustrator. She has a background in Oil Painting and Printmaking that subtly influences her illustrations and give to her digital artwork a fine art feel.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Who influenced you as a person and as an illustrator?

I was born and raised in the southern part of China where the weather is humid, and people are always carrying warm hospitality. My parents are both artists. They have been showing their endless encouragement for me to create things growing up. I spend lots of my childhood with my nana too; she is such a fantastic role model, and I admire her open-minded and wise heart.

She taught me to be kind, be real, and be brave. My childhood is complete because I grow up in such a healthy atmosphere with my loving family members; it helps me become the person with a positive mind today. Lots of my work especially these children’s book orientated projects I create reserved somehow my memories and feelings of my childhood.

The fourteen page Illustrations The Walk builds a story of a little girl, and her guardian who went on a walk into the wilderness, to the grasslands, to the forest, to the imaginary world.

What illustration impressed you the doodling as well. I probably have a dozmost in your childhood? What are your en sketchbooks done before elemenbest childhood memories? tary school. I like to draw human being uniquely female characters- girl astroLike lots of children born in the late naut warrior, ancient princess, female ’80s, I grew up reading a bunch of com- creatures‌etc. The very early drawing ics and graphic novels, cartoon, etc. I do recall is that me drawing myself as Also since my dad is a painter and print- a feline girl with a tank or some sort of maker, I get to see lots of his working armaments aside. It is interesting to see process as posters, sequential books, my feminine traits through my sketchand paintings in my growth. All that book when I was a kid. impresses and stimulates my creative Have you always had clear your career mind. I had lots of warm and sweet as an illustrator since your childhood? memories of my childhood, but the first thing pop into my head is the time When I was a kid, all I know is I love when Nana and I raise pets together, drawing. I keep my sketchbook up and we had a white and a grey bunny, two never feel tired about it. When I am getducks, and two hamsters. ting older and start to get questioned about what I want to do in my life, I Do you remember your earliest draw- couldn’t think of anything else rathing? What was about? er than art. I guess I am destined for a career in this field. I mainly focused on Most of my vivid childhood memories fine arts form and went back and forth were sitting in front of my desk and trying out different media in the four

years of academic training in college.

Stepping into communication arts like illustration now, at this stage of my life, fits the way I want to talk to this world.

I consistently feel lucky to get to do what I am passionate about for my job.

What are some of your favorite subjects to draw? What keep you inspired?

I love to draw humans, creatures, and all different kinds of existence. Movies, Music, Books, Arts, surroundings or any little things in life act like a trigger to

Hannah Li bringing her stories to life, with original and dreamy illustrations.

stimulate my inspiration. Moreover, of course, I have such a long list of favorites artists, such as Henri Rousseau, Frida Kahlo, RenĂŠ Magritte, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mark Rothko, and so many others. They kept me inspired by the ways they build narratives.

on a character and feel pretty happy about it, sometimes I keep going back and forth can’t stop from refining, and I found it comfortable too. I wish I could have more time spend on my sketchbook like when I was a kid.

Sketchbook is acting as a very personal channel of my thoughts. I draw whatever I see or image at the moment. I feel like it is hard to put on the calculation, sometimes I spend a few minutes

I would feel narcissistic and questioning at the same time when I see my work. I guess lots of artist does feel this way too, and it is also driving us to keep thinking and getting advance to the

What do you love most about your Do you have a sketchbook? How many work? What are your sources of inspitimes do you tend to draw a character ration and what is the creative process until you are happy with it? behind your illustration?

higher level of satisfaction of our work.

My illustration process often depends on the topic I got from my clients, and I would pick what technique works the best with the concept. Many of my recent projects are done by digital with various textures I made by hand. I love to explore ways between digital and traditional tools to bring unique touch-

es to my image.

Are there any of your work related to a moment that marked a significant moment in your life?

My recent personal project, The Walk, about a little girl with her guardian’s adventure, is due to my strong family

bond with my nana. I’m trying to describe the relationship between her and me. My happy childhood times with my granny are the one most significant time in my life, and I cherish that part of my memories, so now we have this fourteen pages story.

How the USA appeared to you when you moved from China? What cultural differences did you find more particular? What did it mean for your artistic path?

Personally, seeing this world by moving from China to the States and standing from a distance geographically, I developed a different view to learn the world. By the time I was born, our generation is the very first group that witnessed China produces as an international country. The advantage of this era indeed offered our generation better chances to embrace the world, getting a better education, and living in the wealthier conditions. However, I did become aware that there are always arguments between elders and youth regarding learning Chinese traditions.

I never had consciousness growing up about finding self-identity and protecting my heritage. After I moved to the US, I was amazed by how much in common my classmates and me share in our growth even though we live on different continental plates, and when they ask about the story of history and culture I grew up in, I frequently feel that I do not have a precise answer. I do feel the culture deficiency, but I do not see this phenomenon as a negative now.

Widely acknowledged in international studies doesn’t mean a replacement of local traditions by foreign influences.

The reason for the cultural deficiency may urge me to go overseas and study,

but it further helped me in my achievements in art and fulfilled my art.

Does living outside Asia have influenced your way to illustrate and life?

I found it fascinating that moving to a different country, by standing from a distance geographically, I learn more about Asia with a comprehensive view.

Like the culture deficiency I had when I was a kid, now acts like an encouragement that urges me to explore more about my roots, and then combine it to the international experience I have, the thoughts, the feels, and the ideas would just naturally flow and effects into my work, especially in editorial illustration.

You also work as children’s book illustrations. How can we encourage children to understand that it is important to keep connected to books in the digital era?

I see the digital era has become and seems like this is a new trend for the future. However, I wouldn’t think that paper book would die cause paper book is innovating fast too; I have confidence it will keep going in the long run. The value of picture books nowadays is beyond the limitation of their topics and forms compared to the earlier time, and it has evolved into a more precious interactive art form within its structure. We should keep supporting paper book, and it would keep surprising us on developing with its diversity that continually challenges and invites various experimentations to the kids.

The Enigma of Arrival is a drama about the disappearance of a girl and the tormented fate of her young friends

Interview by Dominique Musorrafiti Photos courtesy of Fortissimo Films

SONG WEN director and co-founder of FIRST Festival in China

Song is co-founder and president of the FIRST International Film Festival, the most important Chinese independent film festival.

Wong Kar Wai was jury presidents in past editions.

Writer and director Song Wen is co-founder of Xining FIRST International Film Festival which, celebrating independent films and emerging filmmakers. In 2015 he started his career as a producer and director. The Enigma of Arrival is his first debut feature work.

Song Wen’s movie was produced by veteran Chinese filmmaker Xie Fei. Subjective points of views, lack of communication, wrong decisions. Where did the idea for the script of “The Enigma of Arrival” come from?

The story unfolds around the sudden disappearance and death of Li Dongdong and the way in which four friends face this incident, involving us in the story,

trying to reveal the points of view of the various protagonists. Dongdong’s death in the Yangtze caused by Da Si, turns her into a kind of heroin. Is there any subjectivity in her gesture of pushing her? This is the ambiguity of his character. Of course, his fate is to live a distressing existence and become depressed, a kind of punishment. In the film, he has many prejudices against Li Dongdong, prejudices that lead him to push the girl into the river. The central inspiration is that over time, even an unintended event can turn into profound malice.

the protagonist accidentally hit his head with an iron bar that caused a bump. It is a fundamental location for the film’s history, the wound was not serious, but this incident made me realize how important the safety of the staff is while shooting because it can be really dangerous to shoot along the banks of the Yangtze. Due to the limited costs of production, I tried to recreate the style and atmosphere of third-tier Chinese cities of the 1990s, but I still have some regrets. For example, the boats we see in the Yangtze are more modern and recent than those of the time. We had to adapt to what we had.

Did you face any unexpected moment during the shooting? What were some We understand Xiaolong’s feelings for of the biggest challenges of the movie? Dongdong, from his gestures and behavior. After her disappearance, After her While we were shooting the scene of disappearance, he investigates and seZhao Xiaolong holding “Wuyi” under arches for the truth even years later. seizure, the male protagonist must go After many years the lives of the other back and forth through the ship’s hold friends moved on. While Xiaolong’s life several times. Once it happened that seems to have stopped forever at that

night as if he had been trapped. Is his red from our lives, perhaps the girl relove, or has she become an obsession? turned to Shanghai. Obviously, the girl was thrown into the river by a friend is In the original version we shot, in the only a narrative expedient. This story scenes of Xiaolong and Li Dongdong in reminds us of how each of us may have their unique embrace and during the told lies in the course of our lives, and Dongdong scene with the dragon-sha- that these lies are like a bundle, that ped necklace, their feelings were more crushes us and takes our breath away. explicit. In the editing, I hope that the The image of the girl is therefore deemotions of Xiaolong and Li Dongdong rived from an original prototype. And seem more elusive so that when Don- this prototype in our memory is shrougdong takes the photo shoot to save ded in mystery, a fragment of memory Xiaolong, this situation can generate that has become pleasant. I hope one a greater emotional charge. Xiaolong day to be able to meet this prototype, it senses that his good friend Fangyuan will certainly be a very happy moment. is also attracted to Li Dongdong, but at I have a “sense of justice” towards wothe same time feels hampered by his men, and this is a very important thing actions, because he is aware that Fan- for me. gyuan is somehow unstable. Rumors have caused Xiaolong to hide his fee- Can you share with us a story from the lings for Li Dongdong. Xiaolong loves backstage of your film?

Dongdong from the bottom of his heart.

Originally the film had to be titled “ 野蛮 生长”. It took almost two weDongdong, the female protagonist, is a eks to shoot it and I had not yet obtaipositive character. She gets off the bus ned the license to shoot the film. Whifor them. She even gives up the money le we were shooting, I thought about earned from a photo shoot, hoping to the fate of the film. Although the film fix the trouble they’ve got themselves has some chance of being successful, into. She ends up becoming an involun- it was not a good experience. There is tary martyr. Her disappearance is the a scene where there are many young cause of the beginning of the end of the people watching a porn movie in a ciguys’ friendship. She is the pivot that nema, to make the performance more unites but also divides. In the film, she real our troupe has taken the scene is looked at with desire, but also with showing the authentic atmosphere of suspicion and prejudice. Why did you the place. But unfortunately, the scene decide to outline her figure with these was partially edited because erotic pertraits? formances could be seen. In any case, there were real scoundrels among the I remember that for a while there was extras. They thought that this possibiliin our lives a girl who had moved from ty that the crew had offered them was Shanghai, a metropolis, to a third-tier an opportunity not to be missed sincity in a school for boys and children ce there are no porn cinemas in China, of migrant workers. At that time, we they had never seen such a stimulating experienced many moments together, film on the big screen. They had only then, at a certain point, she disappea- seen them on computer monitors.

The four friends spend a lot of time together but don’t have a direct relationship with trust and communication.

This leads them to have no clarification even after many years. These youth are those of the pre-digital era. What do you think are the main differences in the emotional field (feelings, friendship and love) with nowadays youth?

There are many main points of the plot that have variously weakened.

For example, when there is a brawl in the mud of the countryside, this scene showing the emotional sides of the various characters has been edited for some reason. The main difference is that in 1970 people were not controlled on the internet and expressed their emotions relatively implicitly. Today, young people are enthusiastic about virtual worlds, and perhaps they are indifferent to the real world. At the same time we threw away a lot of time between us.

In the last 13 years FIRST has continued to discover the debut work of young directors. This principle has not changed.

We have three main sections: one dedicated to high-quality films by young artists, presenting them to industry and fans; then we have a film market where we connect companies with high quality screenplays and projects, publishers, film festivals, and so on with regard to low budget films that have already been produced. The third point is the education of public, we rely on this path through training sessions, short film festivals, workshops, etc. also giving the practical possibility of shooting feature films or short films. The biggest challenge is that we have gradually evolved from a film festival for short films to a platform for the discovery, selection and cultivation of young talents. 《八 月》 (August) by Zhang Qiankun, 《暴 裂 无声 by Qiankun, and 《我不是药 神》(Dying to Survive) by Wen Muye were selected as representative writers of many Chinese films.

You are co-founder and president of the FIRST International Film Festival. What What are the main opportunities for did motivated you to start this project? new Chinese directors, compared to the past? Do you think that social media can I love cinema. The festivals are used to help emerging authors? give voice to the new film makers and to find the truth in the cinematographic The biggest advantage of social media evaluation. When shooting a movie, I is that they allow jobs of a certain level have to say that it’s like lying, and some to reach a large number of loyal fans. lies have given bad results. Even simple Social media allow you to find the iderelationships between people become al fans for new authors, establish comcomplicated, and this can cause some munication channels, speed up the kind of “growth” or a break, this ma- process. To find new audiences, but kes people less lovable. also for the possibilities offered to their creation works and the film projection How has the festival developed over the cycle. years? How much has it changed since the beginning? Can you tell us about this experience and what brought you?

Interview by Matteo Damiani Photos courtesy of Maybe Mars

MICHAEL PETTIS Professor of finance at Peking University and founder of the music label MAYBE MARS

MICHAEL PETTIS is professor of economics at Peking University and the founder of Maybe Mars, an independent music label started in the summer of 2007 to promote and support talented young Chinese musicians and artists. He has been involved in Chinese music since 2005, when He started and ran the first of his two music clubs. He is also involved in other labels and clubs and as founder of the Sally Can’t Dance music festival, which focuses on Chinese experimental and composed music.

Yang Haisong (right) on stage by Linc

When did you start Maybe Mars? Where did you get the idea?

I started Maybe Mars in 2007 mainly because the music scene in Beijing was exploding in the 2005-10 period and one of the most important bands, Carsick Cars, had spoken to local indie labels about releasing their first record.

Because I felt the the local labels were not taking Chinese musicians seriously enough and failed to understand just what was happening, I approached a friend, Yang Haisong, the leader of

P.K.14 by Wang Luyang PK14, about our working together to start a new label. He had wanted to do that for many years and immediately agreed. We always assumed that we would have a small label that would support a few bands, but so many Chinese bands wanted to join the label, and they were so good that we couldn’t say no, so that within a few years we became the biggest indie label in China. What drew you to the music industry?

Generally because I am a music lover.

When I lived in New York I funded a small indie label and ran a club in the East Village where bands like Sonic Youth and Swans started their careers.

As soon as I moved to Beijing in 2002 I began following the local music scene.

When I started my club in 2005, called D22, I was very soon blown away by the sense of excitement as a group of

P.K.14 at D-22 astonishing young musicians made the club their home and unleashed what may be one of the most exciting musical scenes of the early 21st Century.

How is changed the alternative music scene in China since the early 00s?

In the early 2000s except for a small group of interesting bands (with no following) the Chinese music scene was terrible, mainly, I think, because Chinese musicians had no self-confidence and were never taken seriously by other musicians and young Chinese.

Everything changed, however, and by 2010 Beijing had gone through a musical explosion and had become self-consciously one of the most exciting cities in the world for new music. Since then Beijing and 4-5 other Chinese cities, like Chengdu, have developed very inter-

Carsick Cars at Maybe Mars 5th Anniversary

D-22 stage

esting music scenes with a wide range admired here who quickly understood of music and with each city developing what was happening and became acit’s own style. tive supporters of the Chinese scene.

The support of musicians and critics What is a typical day for you like in the from New York in the first few years world of Chinese independent music was especially important -- Sonic Youth, scene? for example, fell in love with Carsick Cars and took them on tour in Europe There is no typical day, but what the in 2007, and next year Public Enemy’s Chinese music scene has to deal with bass player, Hardgroove, came to Beithat perhaps other alternative scenes jing to produce the first Demerit album do not have to worry about is the dif- -- and even today, for many Beijing muficult political environment that comes sicians, New York is almost a second with such growing visibility. home. This helped us a lot, especially in the beginning when we couldn’t get What’s the biggest problem you’ve had young Chinese who loved indie music to overcome so far? to take Chinese musicians seriously.

In the beginning probably the biggest problem was simply to get audiences, especially Chinese audiences, to take Chinese musicians seriously. Fortunately we were helped by several foreign musicians and critics who are greatly

If you could change anything about the of Maybe Mars, has become by far the industry in China, what would it be? best producer in China: if he were American or English he would be among the It would be politically but I don’t want most famous indie producers and far to discuss much more. too expensive for us.

When you sign a band, are you involved What are some of the differences in in the process of choosing the music how a record would be marketed for an producer, or is the band dealing with indie band versus a pop act in China? this aspect?

Until now there has been a world of We only sign bands with whom we are difference, but we are working closein love and proud to include on our la- ly with Tai He, a major Chinese media bel, and so we work closely with the company, to close the gap. One thing band to help them choose the best pro- that is very important in China is that ducer, subject of course to our money because of the lack of earlier media limitations. In some cases these can in- forms, everything in China has migratvolve well-known producers from the ed to smart phones, and much of our US and Europe -- for example this May, marketing is oriented in that directions.

Chuiwan went to Lisbon with an American producer Rusty Santos to record their third album -- but of course we are always constrained by money. Fortunately Yang Haisong, the president

In early 00s Wudaokou area was turned down and it was renovated. Did this event have some consequences on the local music scene? Did these changes influenced the sound of Wudaokou?

Maybe Mars’ current catalogue includes many of China’s most talented bands and musicians: Carsick Cars, P.K.14, Xiaohe, Snapline, Hiperson, SMZB, White+, Birdstriking, Dream Can, etc

Mainly because D22 opened in Wudaokou in 2005 and hosted what later became know as “the Beijing Explosion”. It could have happened in any neighborhood and in fact Wudaokou turned out not to be convenient, but it didn’t really matter. What mattered was that young Beijing musicians were given a space where they were totally in control, and they responded with an extraordinary outburst of music.

Ricky Maymi, the guitarist from Brian Jonestown Massacre who has been an active supporter and participant in the Beijing scene, explained the feeling when he told an American newspaper that “For the first time in my life I was born in time to catch an historic scene.”

SOUTH OF CLOUDS, documentary on Chinese Ethnic Minorities in Yunnan Province. The documentary shows, without commenting, a China linked to ancient traditions, which nowadays struggle to compete with the rhythm of modern life: villages, customs, music and lifestyles of the minorities Bai, Lisu,

Nusu, Miao, Dai , Hani, Naxi, Yi and Hui, before the advent of Chinese mass tourism and the exodus of young people to the metropolis in search of a job opportunity.

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