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Video: Ice Skating in Beijing
In the spirit of the season, here is a link to a beautiful video the Guardian produced of ice skaters on a Houhai lake in Beijing. Enjoy!
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- January 7, 2010 2:37 PM
An Orthodox View
Global Times has a report about the small but active Russian Orthodox community in Beijing:
Set amid the spacious greenery of the embassy, the church, which dates back more than a century, has recently been restored to its former glory. Cleaned and repainted, the church was being used as a garage during much of the Soviet period. Given its compact size and onion dome, its grounds resemble a village church in Crimea or Volgograd. But this is Beijing and the church hopes to give China’s small Orthodox community a place to continue growing.
Pozdnyaev estimated that his Beijing flock is nearly 400 strong, and that at least 50 regularly attend Sunday service, which are usually conducted by laymen. The figure swells by several hundred more when a festival like Pashca (Orthodox Easter) occurs, even though local law forbids locals from attending services on foreign diplomatic properties.
Given Beijing’s influx of Russian traders and students, the numbers filling Beijing’s only functioning Orthodox church have been steady. Last year more than 300 marched as part of an Easter procession on the grounds of the Russian embassy in Beijing.
Apart from Russia and Greece, the Eastern Orthodox church has a significant following across Eastern Europe, but its following in Beijing, explained Pozdnyaev, is very international. Most are Russian “but there are even French, American and British people.” Multi-national worshippers brought dyed Paschal eggs for blessing during a recent nighttime Easter procession.
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- January 5, 2010 11:47 AM
Chinese Man Sets Himself on Fire to Protest Eviction
Xi Xinzhu, a Beijing resident, set himself on fire after protesting the demolition of his home. Earlier this month, CDT also reported the death of Tang Fuzhen, a Chengdu resident who also resorted to self-immolation in a property dispute. From Telegraph:
In the second incident last weekend, a Beijing man named in local newspapers as Xi Xinzhu set himself on fire after he refused to leave his home in a north-western suburb which had been earmarked for demolition under a village “improvement scheme”.
According to a report in the Beijing Times, Mr Xi had already suffered a fractured leg when he was beaten by “unidentified men” – violent intimidation is commonly reported in such cases – and was lying on a sofa when the officials entered.
After pouring petrol over himself, Mr Xi took out a lighter and threatened to ignite himself. “Neglecting his warning, the relocation people even said ‘go ahead, light up.’,” his wife told the newspaper.
Although the flames were swiftly put out, Mr Xi suffered 10 per cent burns to his face, hands and body and is in a critical condition in a Beijing hospital, the report concluded.
Xi Xinzhu holds a U.S. green card, and his wife and daughter are both U.S. citizens. They have decided not to seek counsel from the U.S. Embassy. From Global Times (h/t Danwei):
A Chinese-American whose husband set himself on fire protesting the demolition of their home said that she is unwilling to seek assistance from the US embassy, believing that Chinese law should handle this domestic matter.
Long Shufang, a US citizen, said her husband, Xi Xinzhu, who holds a US green card, is still in critical condition and is unable to move or speak. Their house was demolished right after Xi was taken to the hospital.
Now the other four family members are living in four different temporary shelters. “Our family was basically torn apart,” Long said. Despite her citizenship to the US, Long does not plan to seek help from the US embassy.
Long said she refuses to seek help from the embassy because she does not want people think she takes the advantage of being an American citizen simply to solve a domestic issue.
Xi’s daughter is also a US citizen. She immigrated to America when she was 9 and is now in her 20s.
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- December 17, 2009 11:12 PM
Video: Scenes from a recent snowfall in Beijing, by Janek Zdzarski
Scenes from a recent snowfall in Beijing, by Janek Zdzarski
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- November 15, 2009 7:40 PM
Photos: Beijing Blanketed in Smog
As anyone living in Beijing (or anyone following the Twitterstream of those who do) knows, the past few days have seen dangerously high levels of air pollution in the city. The following photos were provided to CDT by an American resident of Beijing. The pictures within each collage were taken at the same time of day (within 30 minutes of one another) on the dates indicated. The two air quality information insets on the photos are taken from China’s ministry of environmental protection (top) and from the US Embassy in Beijing’s Twitter feed.

NASA captured the pollution cloud above northern China:
:
Thick haze and fog settled over much of China on October 28, 2009. In this photo-like image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, the thickest of the gray-brown haze conforms to the low-lying contours of the Yellow River Valley and the western half of the North China Plain near the Luliang Mountains.
As one Twitterer asked last week, “Anyone care to bet about whether Beijing will make it rain before Obama visits?” (It apparently did rain and snow last night, though there has been no indication that the storm was manufactured.)
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- November 9, 2009 1:03 PM
Video: Beijing Punk
A new documentary Beijing Punks by Australian filmmaker Shaun Jefford follows the underground music movement, which has also been documented recently by photographer Matthew Niederhauser. A trailer for the film:
And a longer clip:

And an interview with Jefford on SPIN Earth, in which he says, “Beijing remains for me the land of great music, kindred spirits and unspeakable hangovers”:
How did you go about choosing the bands and music scene experts interviewed in the film?
A Punk in China? Not the first association you make so a lot of it was me charmed by the punks and them laughing at me laughing at them. But what really cemented the friendship, I think, is that I am a writer and I am a lyric person. I chose bands whose lyrics I was interested in and who said things that rang true to my sense of truth. And there is a lot of strident truth being sung in Beijing, let me tell you.
Demerit particularly is saying some heavy things, positive but heavy, punk and deep. The lead singer Spike has a hard core opinion in a police state. Songs like “Fight your Apathy”, “Voice of the People” and particularly “Live or Die” really make you think; “would I be singing this song and putting this CD out in China?” That takes brass balls. I really dig that Spike and Demerit are living the punk life and not just wearing it.
More information and clips about the film can be seen on the Beijing Punk site.
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- November 2, 2009 9:57 PM
National Day Parade in 360 Degrees
Xinhua has posted an amazing 360 degree image of the October 1 National Day parade. Drag your mouse to navigate through the whole image, which can be seen here.
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- October 24, 2009 5:28 PM
A Foreigner’s Life in a Beijing Jail
Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei posts an account of a foreigner’s seven month stint in a Beijing jail:
If I were a Chinese person and not a foreigner, a crime like mine would have been dealt with on the “city district” level, as opposed to the “municipal” level which is much tougher.
The other people incarcerated at Beijing No. 1 Detention Center were all facing life sentences or death sentences, at least as a possibility, so it’s not a place where detainees are given a lot of slack. It’s the site of Beijing’s newly constructed hi‐tech lethal injection chamber.
It was boring as anything, and the rules were strict.
Thankfully, foreigners are housed in a section where we were mixed with big‐time white collar Chinese criminals, who are a better sort than the murderers and cannibals and rapists housed in other parts of the facility. Many of the Chinese people I was in close contact with were college educated, and many had been in positions of high responsibility. The CFO of Gome was in my cell; Huang Guangyu the CEO – formerly the richest man in China – was down the hall. I often saw him walking in the hallway heading downstairs for investigation.
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- October 23, 2009 1:25 PM
Beijing’s Air Is Cleaner, but Far From Clean
A nuanced look at Beijing’s air, from Michael Wines at the New York Times:
No, the surprise is this: Beijing’s air is actually getting cleaner.
China may have a hard-earned reputation for long-neglected and fearsome environmental problems, from poisoned rivers to chemical-belching smelters. But the nation’s capital, Beijing, is trying hard to clean up its dirty air.
The results show up not only in recent pitch-perfect October days, but in the data that for years have presented a bleak picture of pollution here.
Through September, the government counted 221 days in which the 0-to-500 pollution index — the lower the number, the better — was below 101. It was the greatest number of “blue-sky days,” as the city calls them, since daily measurements were first published in 1998.
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- October 17, 2009 10:54 AM
China’s Fans Get Red Card for Soccer Violence
Australia’s AM Radio produced a report about Chinese soccer (football) fans as the competition between Beijing and Tianjin heats up. Listen to it here:
In China’s soccer competition Beijing is on the verge of winning the new national championship for the first time and this is due in no small part to the contribution of two brothers from Australia who’ve become stars in the Chinese capital.
But as Joel and Ryan Griffiths discovered this week, playing football in China can be a dangerous business. The local competition is not only rife with corruption but increasingly fans are becoming violent as they copy the behaviour of supporters in other parts of the world.
China correspondent Stephen McDonell went along to a local derby that turned ugly.
Meanwhile, FIFA has released the ranking of the top 100 men’s soccer teams. China does not appear on the list (it ranks 102).
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- October 16, 2009 10:46 AM
Explosion Occurs at Restaurant in Downtown Beijing (Updated with Photos)
A very brief Xinhua news report was posted on CRIEnglish.com:
An explosion occurred at a restaurant in downtown Beijing Friday morning, witnesses said.
A local resident surnamed Sun said he heard the explosion. Another surnamed Qiao said the restaurant at Xinjiekou collapsed after the explosion, burying some people in the debris.
AFP has a few more details:
A policewoman in the Xinjiekou area of the Chinese capital told AFP that the initial investigation indicated the blast was accidental. She said she did not yet know whether anyone had been injured.

Above photos are from twitpic.com, the site is already being blocked by the Great Firewall.
The restaurant is located here. The updated Xinhua report has said it was gas cylinder explosion.
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- September 24, 2009 9:01 PM
Tourist Hurt in Beijing Attack
A French tourist was stabbed in the Dashilan shopping district in Beijing today, in the second knife attack in that neighborhood of the capital in two days. From Straits Times:
The woman was slightly injured and was taken to a hospital, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It did not identify her.
China’s capital has been tightening security ahead of the country’s Oct 1 celebration of 60 years of Communist rule. Just hours before the attack, the area had been shut down for a military parade rehearsal, with armed tactical police units and paramilitary police lining avenues around the square.
On Thursday, another knife-wielding man stabbed two guards to death and wounded 14 in the same area.
There was no immediate indication the two attacks were related.
See also reports from AFP and Xinhua.
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- September 19, 2009 10:24 AM
Beijing Shut Down for National Day Rehearsals
Much of Beijing is being closed down for rehearsals of the highly secretive and elaborate ceremonies for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. AP reports on preparations:
Patrons and employees spilled out on to the streets from offices, shops and restaurants shortly after lunch, hustling to subways and buses to meet a curfew in all-but name. Tactical police units with automatic rifles and paramilitary police lined thoroughfares as camouflaged tanks, trucks bearing intercontinental ballistic missiles and parade floats with models of the Great Hall of the People rumbled toward Tiananmen Square for the late-night practice for the Oct. 1 parade.
There were no crowds to cheer. The convoys passed sidewalks empty except for security. Notices went out earlier in the week politely suggesting that people working in the no-go zones leave by late afternoon and people living there stay home.
Still, the curious craned from side streets for a glimpse, sometimes in frustration. “We can’t watch. They won’t let us,” said Yang Weiying, a waitress at a restaurant, pointing to a line of police and orange-vested civilian volunteers down the street. “It’s very upsetting.”
And from Reuters:
The relentless security has grounded pigeons, lined streets with grandmothers, prompted warnings to stock up on food and left harried residents wondering who the festivities are really for.
The authorities are pulling out all the stops to ensure that when the world’s third largest economy celebrates six decades of the People’s Republic with a massive parade on October 1, nothing disrupts the party — certainly not ordinary spectators.

CCTV details expected coverage of the event of October 1:
On October the 1st, China Central Television’s only English Channel, CCTV-9, will provide a live broadcast from 8 am local time. The special live show will run for 16 hours, beaming China’s big day to the rest of the world. Meanwhile, CCTV’s other channels will also hold their own special programs.
Wang Hao,director of 60th National Day Celebration Broadcast team, said, “The whole activity is big news. We will record every detail of this great event. We will also emphasize the change in China. We will try to make the whole celebration look respectful, graceful, and simply perfect.”
See photos of a past rehearsal via cnreviews and via YouTube:

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- September 18, 2009 9:26 AM
Roaming Beijing’s Alleys, Shouting Vendors Sow Echoes of the Past
The New York Times visits the vendors who ply their wares in Beijing’s disappearing hutongs:
With more emphasis on song than lyric, they are the marketing jingles of itinerant fruit vendors, sellers of roasted duck and stooped men who have mastered the art of resuscitating blunt kitchen knives. Like the familiar whine of cicadas in August, their garbled calls are the soundtrack of the Beijing summer, and many residents look forward to the return of the hawkers’ glutinous rice cakes, mismatched crockery and pet crickets that sing.
Even more numerous than the hawkers are the recyclers, sun-scorched migrants from the countryside who survive by collecting yesterday’s newspapers, spent computers or tattered cotton blankets that will be spun into next winter’s comforters.
“If you can’t yell loudly, you’ll starve,” said Chen Lin, 37, a bony, animated man who earns about $5 a day salvaging dead appliances and anything else containing metal. “No one really knows what I’m yelling,” he said, “but they remember my song and this brings them out of their house.”
The singing hawkers and recyclers are reminders of the days when Beijing was a thickly populated maze of hutongs, or alleys, that crept outward from the grandiose imperial quarters occupied by China’s emperors and the officials and artisans who served them.
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- September 12, 2009 4:21 PM
An Iron Bar, Three Chords & the Truth
Global Times (English) reports on the work of the New Worker Art Troupe in Beijing, founded by migrant workers in 2002:
A few times a year since 2002, Xu Duo, a 32-year-old migrant worker-turned-singer-songwriter, has staged shows with friends at construction sites around Beijing. The troupe released its first album Workers Are in the Same Family in September 2004, including Xu’s “City Life”, in which he sings:
“Through the finger sliced off by a machine like a falling leaf. Through the miners in the dark pit risking their life at any moment. Let all hypocrisy and injustice get out of the way.
“Vendors selling us the European lifestyle. Selling us lottery tickets and illusions like Super Girl. Selling us desires in fancy packages. Selling us workers like cheap and durable goods.”
http://special.globaltimes.cn/2009-09/466090.html
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- September 10, 2009 2:57 PM