Who's in

Big sounds on campus

Pop songs from Taiwan were popular at the Chinese mainland colleges in the mid 1980s. In the mid 1990s, songs by Beijing college students including Gao Xiaosong and Lao Lang launched the second wave of campus melodies.

Now the 2007 College Students Music Festival is in full swing in Beijing and aims to create the third wave.

Jointly organized by Beijing Normal University, Zhejiang TV, Pegasus & Taihe Entertainment International and sponsored by Yili Group, the "My Music, My Taste" festival will run in 100 colleges till the final concert on October 24.

Competitions for singing and song writing will run at all these 100 colleges and each proposes three winners for the national semi-final in Beijing.

For the music students at the conservatories, there will be a composing competition for the theme of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Battle of the bands

Super Girls and Super Boys by Hunan TV or My Hero and My Show by Shanghai Dragon TV are Chinese versions of the American Idol program and all select individual stars.

Shandong TV's China Vision is the only annual televised competition rewarding team-work.

Now in its second year, China Vision is recruiting a new batch of bands.

Since Super Boys and My Hero kicked off their first round competitions in Hunan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Jiangsu and Shanghai, China Vision will run first-round contests in 10 other provinces and municipalities. These include Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Jilin, Shaanxi, Hubei, Fujian and Guangdong.

Those who love singing and enjoy singing in a group, choir or a band, aged between 18 and 30 now could log on www.sdtv.com.cn or www.sina.com.cn/myvision to register.

Organizers say China Vision will concern more on voices and singing talent rather than good-looking. Except for the winner teams, the leading singers of the winner teams will be awarded.

Scuba diving event deepens

The China Dive Exhibition (CDEX) 2007 will come to Beijing in August to promote a new lifestyle under the seas.

The CDEX is the only international trade exhibition, conference, networking and consumer scuba diving event in China and has been held in Shanghai in 2005 and 2006.

Under the slogan of "Diving is a lifestyle," this event is designed as a window into the watery world of scuba diving. From May to August, a Beijing scuba tour will be organized in the city.

Beijing boasts the highest number of outbound dive travelers and the first dive club was established in 1995. It is also the home to 15 million sports-loving people who spend twice as much on sports per capita than any other major city in China.

Musical ode to Mulan of the mountain

Suite of Mulan Mountain, a production to extol the legendary heroine Hua Mulan, will hit the stage tomorrow in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The singing-and-dancing spectacular is divided into four movements including Cultural Origin, Landscape Appeal, Harmonious Land and Soul of the Long March, which include 13 poetry recitals by four pairs of performers. A background screen will broadcast aerial video shots of the Mulan Mountain, a scenic spot of Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province.

Directed by Lang Kun, head of CCTV's Chinese opera and music division, the performance teams up several popular hosts from CCTV, such as Zhu Jun and Dong Qing, as well as a lot of big names in the art community, such as Wen Yujuan, Yin Xiumei and Liao Changyong. The symphony orchestra of the Central Opera and Dancing Company will perform alongside the chorus of the China Symphony Orchestra.

The performance made its debut at the foot of the Mulan Mountain last September. The mountain, named after Mulan to commemorate her bravery and patriotism, is a national geology park. Locals believe it is the birthplace of Mulan, a girl who disguised herself as a man and fought for her people in ancient times.

China Daily

(China Daily 05/16/2007 page18)