3. SUMMERTIME IS HERE!
In this blistering summer, things are hot and sticky and China is as chaotic as ever. Luan Dun is back and it’s embracing the
heat.
Luan Dun is made up of 2 parts: China Snapshot and Pop China. China Snapshot will take you on a lively ride into the heart
of Luan Dun with an extra part featuring new internet slangs. Pop China is an update of what’s currently hot from movies,
music to books.
This month’s featured designer is our freelancer Lu Rui a.k.a ChaiLar Zen, who blends traditional Chinese elements with a hip
hop aesthetic, a combination that Chinese youth are continuing to experiment with.
4.
5. http://www.icome.cn/Newsview/2008-5-22/article_view_29416.htm
While Paul the Oracle Octopus, far from Germany, ascended to stardom in the world after predicting 6 World
Cup games correctly, in China another oracle called “X from the Future” drew a lot of attention.
The forecaster posted a topic on Baidu Tieba in June, titled “ I am from the near future; come on in if you want to
know ”, and claimed that Netherlands and Spain will meet each other in the World Cup Finals and Netherlands
will beat Spain 2-1.
In the beginning, the topic did not catch much attention, but after both Spain and Netherlands advanced to the
final, netizens began following the topic and dubbed the forecaster “Brother Future (未来哥, Wei Lai Ge)”. The
topic now has attracted more than 23million hits and 200,000 comments.
Despite the prediction being unfounded, we can only imagine the possibility of fame from the power of the
internet.
Source: http://hi.baidu.com/%D6%AA%C7%EF%C0%C7/album/item/b54bb081908b869d0cf4d29a.html
http://baike.baidu.com/view/3897650.htm
6. Just north of the Bird’s Nest at Beijing Olympic Park stands the 10-meter
high statue of Transformer’s Optimus Prime. This Optimus Prime is made
completely out of scrap metal and waste materials - five truckloads of car
and truck spare parts. It is the central attraction for the new opening of
Beijing’s “Green Exploring Park”.
The “Green Exploring Park” is the first park in China that features
environmentally friendly attractions designed to get visitors thinking
green. The theme of the park is “Green Creativity, Green Fashion and
Green Life.”
The park used all kinds of waste products to show amusement facilities
and daily necessities. It shows that something made from junk can be
more than junk.
Source: http://setiawanputu.blogspot.com/2010/07/optimus-prime-menampilkan-diri-di-green.html
7. On July 11 at noon, an old man fell onto the ground while riding a tricycle on the Xinghua Yangshan
Bridge. He lay on the ground for as long as 15 minutes, not able to get up. In that period of time,
many people passed by, some even stopped to watch, but not one person gave the old man a
hand.
Why is that? Fear of being framed for their good intentions.
An ‘audience’ at the scene even yelled, “I cannot help him up, he will ‘stick’ to my hands”. This refers
to the habit of people asking for money as compensation in an accident which is very common in
China. The old man lay there helpless before being picked up by the ambulance.
Fear comes before goodwill. This reveals a lack of trust between the people of China. It is the result
of many social problems stemming from wealth divide and unwillingness to take responsibility
when something goes wrong.
Source: http://www.chinahush.com/2010/07/12/elderly-falls-in-the-middle-of-the-road-no-one-helps-because-fear-of-being-framed/
8. Bound by ancient-style Chinese shackles and wearing clothing covered with what look like real 100rmb bills,
Wang Jun, or Brother Renminbi (人民币哥, Ren Min Bi Ge) as he is called by the media, draws crowds as he
walks through the streets of Kunming in the province of Yunnan.
His message: “Money has become a yoke of the present generation.”
It is a common refrain amongst China’s older generation that young people are too money-driven. China’s rapid
economic growth in recent years has caused many to ask the question written in black characters on Wang’s
back: “Is money everything?”
Internet fans of the traveling artist were impressed by his spirited resistance of chengguan, or “urban management”
officials, who tried to shoo him off the street.
Source: http://news.enorth.com.cn/system/2010/07/16/004856418.shtml
9. “Nice! Luodayou (罗大佑, Chinese famous star in 80s), well done. I have been listening to your songs since I was 17 !
My favorite song 《鹿港小镇》(Lu Gang Xiao Zhen) sing it again!” On the streets of Kunming, a man with exaggerated
moves caught the eyes of the people.
This man, dressed in back with curly hair and a guitar, was videotaping himself with two cameras filming from different
angles, as if he was putting on a show for his audience. But he wasn’t really singing, he was merely imitating Laodayou
while lip-synching.
Such craziness caused the attention of local reporters who found that he is a retired man with hobby of making music
videos. He has been making MVs since January this year and has already videotaped 30 discs in different places. “Many
people want to record MVs, but only few can make them. I am different, I do it when I want and then I watch it”, the man
said. “ I am bored at home, so I come out to do something. When I am old, it will be very exiting to watch these videos ”
Source: http://www.dayoo.com/roll/201007/21/10000307_102919986.htm
http://big5.yunnan.cn/2008page/society/html/2010-07/22/content_1272454.htm
10. Xi’an, home of China’s great Emperor Qin and his army of terracotta warriors…
is now under the control of an overwhelmingly large and intimidating toll
collector.
Thanks to the heat (yes let’s blame it on the heat), Auntie Bra or Auntie towel
head, is deemed as the most “niu” collector of China. Niu is a Chinese slang
describing a person’s ability as extreme.
“Are you going to pay up, are you going to pay up?” the woman stood at the
side of a car, asking loudly while using using her heels to hit the car window.
A black Honda owner was unwilling to give money, resulting in this woman
climbing onto the car and using her foot to smash the car’s windshield, and
afterward also threatening ( the owner ) by pounding the car windows.
5 minutes later, the police rushed to the scene. This woman, upon seeing
the police, immediately threw away the towel on her head and with her heels
in her hand, picked up the white t-shirt that was hanging on the fence in the
middle of the road, put it on, jumped over the fence and ran northward and
soon disappeared without a trace.
11.
12. Rent is rising but our salary isn’t, how do I survive and where can I live? There seems to be no
place to go, but actually there is: underground.
This is the last resort for those who are pursuing their dreams in the cities but are struggling to
survive. These group of people, similar to Ant Tribe ( see Luandun April’s issue ) are known as
“The Underground Tribe” who choose places like subways and underpass to make temporary
homes.
“It is very noisy and dark. There is no light, no space, no respect between the people, living
there is like being an animal”, one said on the internet. It seems very inhumane, but it’s a fact,
people do prefer to live like this than to live out in the countryside ( by countryside we mean
farmlands ).
People say that the government should take action and improve the living environment of the
“Underground Groups”.
13. The word“织毛衣”( Zhi Mao Yi ) in Chinese means ‘knitting’. But recently, it has a new meaning on the internet. The new
definition of knitting is to make propositional and critical suggestions on China’s microblog. People think that the government
should let their citizens make critical comments and listen to them.
This word became famous because at the beginning of the year, the Public Security Bureau of Guangdong opened a Microblog
to let people make comments on whatever they want. The Microblog reached 90 thousand fans in the first 100 days. The police
of Guangdong insisted that the Blog should not only be open to the suggestions of the people but should also answer every
question posted by the people. This soon became breaking news on the internet. Other cities in China began following the idea,
even including Beijing.
The police said that this is not only a very good way to communicate with the citizens, but also very good opportunity to rebuild the
image of the police force in China.
Source: http://www.nipic.com/show/2/27/c10e1d7f0e99431d.html
http://baike.baidu.com/view/2248933.htm
14. Let’s welcome a new generation of poverty. In our previous issue, we introduced the term
Second Generation Poor. Now, it has given birth to: Third Generation Poor.
This word became famous because of a post on the internet written by a woman. She said “I
don’t want to have kids with my husband whose salary is only 2500 a month. All my family is
forcing me to have a baby but I don’t want to create a Third Generation Poor”.
The debate soon kicked off on the internet. People started to argue whether poor people should
have kids or not. Some said that lack of money is not an excuse for not having a baby when
others think that having a baby without much money is tragedy for the whole family.
Source: http://blog.huanqiu.com/?uid-46202-action-viewspace-itemid-45269
15.
16. The upcoming talented photographer, Ren Hang’s time is coming.
By uploading his sexually explicit photography on Douban.com,
Ren Hang finally gets the chance to hold his personal exhibitions
in Beijing.
After several exhibitions, Ren Hang released his first DV
short movie named “Saturation”. This movie will be played in
several cities around China. In the movie, Ren Hang used his
friends as models and inspiration to tell a story about teenage
sexual experiment. It’s indie and underground rawess made it
impossible to screne publicly in theaters except in music pubs
and livehouses.
Source: http://www.douban.com/event/12200419/
http://www.douban.com/event/album/29992502/
17. Seven-year-old Fang Deng is enjoying a tranquil summer night with her parents and
younger brother, not knowing that in a few hours her father will be gone and her
mother will make a decision that will haunt her life for the next 32 years.
On the early morning of July 28, 1976, the northern Chinese city of Tangshan is
flattened by an earthquake that measures 7.8 on the Richter scale.
The disaster kills more than 240,000 residents, including Fang Deng’s father. Now,
her mother, Li Yuanni, has to make a decision. Her two children are both buried
underneath a thick cement slab, and saving either one of them will put the other’s life
at risk. Li Yuanni can only hear her son from the debris, and she is running out of time,
so she chooses to abandon Fang Deng, unaware that her daughter is conscious
enough to realize what the decision means for her.
But Fang Deng eventually survives and grows up with adopted parents until another
major earthquake 32 years later brings her back to her lost family.
Source: http://www.dotting.me/
18. The story follows a determined young girl chasing after a handsome prince who has been kidnapped by an evil villain. Trapeezing through underwear, kick-flipping
on a bar of soap, and dodging a toothpick Gatling gun are just some of the challenges the young heroine faces.
What’s really amazing is that the entire film was done by just one student, He Weifeng, who is soon-to-be graduate of Guangzhou’s Academy of Art. It took half a
year to complete from creative planning to production and we can only expect great things from this budding young animator.
Video URL: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTgzMTQ1NjYw.html
19. SUBS recently held its national tour concert named “Queen of Fucking Everything.” And it’s also
the name of their new album. The new album is darker and more demented than ever.
As a rebel punk band, SUBS has a big group of audience. Although this time around she
refrained from spitting on or punching anyone, SUBS lead-singer, Kang Mao never disappoints
an audience with her raucous stage antics and punk-rock magnetism – as expected, the show
was one to remember.
Source: http://edge.neocha.com/zh/music/subs-new-album/
20. Taiwan pop group Nan Quan MaMa has undergone personnel changes again with
the recent departure of Lara and Chase, leaving Yuri and Devon the only remaining
members. With this new lineup, the group releases its latest album in July 2010.
Yuri’s title song “Battling Bach” epitomizes Nan Quan MaMa’s music, fusing
a classical piano-driven melody with a groovy hip-hop beat. Inspired by a failed
relationship of his own and a bottle of vodka, Yuri composed the poignant ballad
“Love You, Leave You”, to which Devon penned the lyrics based on real-life
experiences. The album’s other main cuts include the Japanese-styled soft rock
number “River, Afternoon, I Passed By” written by Jay Chou and Vincent Fang, and
the theme song to Yuri and Devon’s idol drama Pandamen.
Source: http://changelpj.blogbus.com/
21. Absent from the Canto-pop scene for almost three years, Gigi Leung(梁咏琪)returns in an eye-popping wild kitty
image for her latest Cantonese album.
The new work features a feline theme, as the talented Hong Kong star believes that cats are often mistaken to be
cool and lofty, when they too have a passionate side and are actually afraid of being lonely. Hoping to break people’s
misunderstanding of her through the music, Gigi herself takes on the production duty for the album, which lines up
an impressive songwriting crew that includes Hanjin Tan, G.E.M., and Adrian Chow. The main cuts on the 12-track
album are the bossa nova-ish tune “How I Wish”, the Lin Xi-penned ballad “Summer Flower Autumn Leaf”, and their
Mandarin versions.
Source: http://changelpj.blogbus.com/
22. The popular blogger and writer Han Han’s new magazine debuted July 1st
nationwide after lengthy anticipation from his fans. In this magazine, articles
were written by different influential writers, artists and public intellectuals such
as folk artist, Zhou Yunpeng and China’s most controversial artist, Ai Weiwei.
There is also a featured page on Douban.com for fans to discuss.
Sales of Han’s long-awaited magazine have dominated amazon.cn’s No.1
spot since its pre-release on July 1. It sold out in a week.
Source: http://www.rongshuxia.com/group/thread?thread_id=2818
23. Chinese audiences have waited patiently for months
since they first heard that the Chinese version of the
reality Got Talent franchise would be aired in the Middle
Kingdom in July. But having seen the first episode on July
25, some are questioning wheather the hype was worth
it.
The first show featured 12 participants with a variety of
backgrounds, from migrant workers to cross-dressing
to belly dancers. The show’s director Jin Lei explained
to the press during a number of interviews that although
the show is a foreign TV series, “China’s Got Talent is a
platform for ordinary Chinese people with extraordinary
talent.”
Although both “Britian’s Got Talent” and “America’s Got
Talent” have been hits, Chinese audiences are wondering
whether the anticipation exceeded what the show finally
offered.
“It’s no surprise to see men putting on make-up or
cross-dressing for a certain performance,” wrote Jin
Lei. “But for people to start appearing in another gender
altogether, this I don’t agree with, and you can even say
I’m disgusted with it... Can you imagine a flamboyant guy
who transforms himself into a ‘fake lady’, then performs
in front of the audiences on Shanghai’s biggest platform,
and then goes on to become a talent representing China?”
The next show airs on Sunday, August 8 at 9:15 p.m
China time. Source: http://ent.zjol.com.cn/05ent/system/2010/08/02/016810863.shtml
