The power of four

Cui Jian, the "godfather" of Chinese rock 'n' roll; Lo Ta Yu, known as the "Chinese Bob Dylan"; Tan Dun, one of China's most controversial contemporary musicians; and Yu Long, founder and artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival, gave a crossover talk and performance on Monday night at Sanlitun Village.

It was part of the BMF's urban series, created in collaboration with Swire Properties. The four shared their personal understandings of, and experiences with, music with about 450 people. Cui represented rock. Lo talked from the perspective of pop. And the classically trained Tan introduced his innovations of contemporary music. But all spoke of music's positive influence on people.

Under Yu's baton, the chamber orchestra of the China Philharmonic Orchestra played Lo's trademark song The Story of Time and Cui's signature piece Flower Room Girl. Lo played piano and sang his latest song, 2100, which he dedicated to his newborn daughter, while Cui and his band played Balls under the Red Flag.

The highlight of the evening came when Tan Dun conducted John Cage's most famous and controversial work, 4'33". Yu played drums, which he learned before he turned to conducting, with Lo on piano and Cui on trumpet, which was his main instrument before he became a rocker.

Student directors

Hong Kong film director Peter Chan Ho-sun recently appeared at the first award ceremony for students of Beijing Film Academy's directing department in Beijing.

Ten films were honored after nearly a month of judging 40 films made by the graduating class of 2012. As one of the judges, Chan encouraged the students, saying that their filmmaking efforts are the future of China's film industry. He expressed hope they wouldn't be influenced by market pressure after becoming film directors.

Small-scale plays

The First Small Venue Theater Awards were held in Beijing to honor outstanding plays made for small stages in Beijing.

Shao Jiehui and Huang Ying were among those awarded as "best directors" for their box-office hit plays, such as Leave Before Getting Old and Li Xiaohong, which received both commercial and critical success.

According to Wu Ran, an official from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, small theaters have been developing fast during the past few years.

The bureau has initiated a project calling for stories from small-venue theater companies. Ten stories will be selected and the companies will get funding to produce the plays in 2013.

Food expo in Chengdu

The 8th China International Food Exposition will be held in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, Oct 26-29.

It will have an exhibition area of 80,000 square meters classified into sections for wine and raw meat presentation, food processing and packaging, international food, Sichuan foods, foodstuff, tea, seasonings and raw materials.

A food industry development roundtable, food safety technology and trend seminar, quality food promotion and procurement fair will be staged simultaneously.

Summit on culture

The 2012 (Nanxiang) Cross-Straits Summit on Cultural Industry was recently held in Nanxiang town in Shanghai's Jiading district.

Jointly organized by the Chinese Culture Promotion Society, the Chinese Cross-Straits Cultural Industry Development Society and the local government of Nanxiang, the annual summit aims to boost the local cultural industry's development and serves as a platform.

It's one of the largest conferences of its kind in China, and launched a project called the Nanxiang 50 Plan to provide funding and professional training to 50 selected cultural enterprises to facilitate their growth.

Epic drama staged

The historic epic drama Blue Ocean and Silk Road will be performed at 21st Century Theater in Beijing on Oct 25. Directed by the renowned Chen Weiya, the deputy director of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the show is set in the coastal city of Beihai in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a stopover on the Marine Silk Road 2,000 years ago.

Since it premiered in Guangxi's capital city Nanning in 2008, Blue Ocean and Silk Road has been staged in cities around China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

China Daily

(China Daily 10/25/2012 page20)