The Bookworm Literary Festival Authors | MARCH 2016 | 5 CITYCITYTHE BUZZ
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Follow us on WeChat Now THE Advertising Hotline 400 820 8428 BOOKWORM 城市漫步北京 英文版 3 月份 国内统一刊号: LITERARY CN 11-5232/GO China Intercontinental Press ISSN 1672-8025 FESTIVAL The Writers, In Conversation MARCH 2016 主管单位 :中华人民共和国国务院新闻办公室 Supervised by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China 主办单位 :五洲传播出版社 地址 :北京市海淀区北三环中路31 号生产力大楼 B 座 602 邮编 100088 B-602 Shengchanli Building, No. 31 Beisanhuan Zhonglu, Haidian District, Beijing 100088, PRC http://www.cicc.org.cn 社长 President of China Intercontinental Press 李红杰 Li Hongjie 期刊部负责人 Supervisor of Magazine Department 邓锦辉 Deng Jinhui 编辑 Editor 朱莉莉 Zhu Lili 发行 / 市场 Distribution / Marketing 黄静,李若琳 Huang Jing, Li Ruolin Editor-in-Chief Oscar Holland Food & Drink Editor Noelle Mateer Staff Reporter Dominique Wong National Life & Style Editor Marianna Cerini National Arts Editor Andrew Chin Designers Li Xiaoran, Iris Wang Staff Photographer Holly Li Contributors Mia Li, Trevor Marshallsea, Sophia Pederson, Ned Kelly, Aaron Ma, Earl Robertson, Jennifer Peart, Jens Bakker, Kate De Silva Urbanatomy Media Shanghai (Head office) 上海和舟广告有限公司 上海市蒙自路 169 号智造局 2 号楼 305-306 室 邮政编码 : 200023 Room 305-306, Building 2, No.169 Mengzi Lu, Shanghai 200023 电话 : 021-8023 2199 传真 : 021-8023 2190 (From February 13) Beijing 广告代理 : 上海和舟广告有限公司 北京市东城区东直门外大街 48 号东方银座 C 座 9G 邮政编码 : 100027 48 Dongzhimenwai Dajie Oriental Kenzo (Ginza Mall) Building C Room 9G, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100027 电话 : 010-8447 7002 传真 : 010-8447 6455 Guangzhou 上海和舟广告有限公司广州分公司 广州市越秀区麓苑路 42 号大院 2 号楼 610 房 邮政编码 : 510095 Room 610, No. 2 Building, Area 42, Lu Yuan Lu, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, PRC 510095 电话 : 020-8358 6125, 传真 : 020-8357 3859-800 Shenzhen 广告代理 : 上海和舟广告有限公司广州分公司 深圳市福田区彩田路星河世界大厦 C1-1303 C1-1303, Galaxy Century Building, Cai Tian Road, Futian District, Shenzhen 电话 : 0755-8623 3220, 传真 : 0755-8623 3219 Operations Manager Ning Zhu Sales Manager Henry Zeng Sales Emma Cao, Clara Li, Daisy Lu, Jessica Zhou Marketing Manager Justin Culkin Marketing Assistant Vivid Zhu CEO Leo Zhou Sales Project Director Henry Zeng Editorial Director Ned Kelly Financial Manager Laura Lu HR/Admin Director Penny Li Digital Projects Manager Vickie Guo Digital Content Manager Bridget O'Donnell Digital Timi Shi, Sybil Zhang, Joseph Liao General enquiries (010) 8447 7002 Editorial (010) 8447 7069 [email protected] Events (010) 8447 7069 [email protected] Distribution/Subscription (010) 8447 7002 [email protected] Marketing (010) 8447 7603 [email protected] Advertising (010) 8447 7073 [email protected] 广告经营许可证 : 京海工商广字第 8069 号 法律顾问 : 大成律师事务所 魏君贤律师 Legal Advisor: Wei Junxian, Dacheng Law Firm 国际标准刊号 ISSN 1672-8025 国内统一刊号 CN 11-5232/GO 定价 : 25.00 元 邮发代号 : 2-930 部分非卖品 , 仅限赠阅 2 | MARCH 2016 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM EDITOR’S DEALS NOTE We're giving away tickets to some of MARCH the very best Beijing I HAVE ALWAYS HARBORED A DEEP DISTRUST FOR KINDLES. THEY ARE SOULLESS DEVICES. parties, openings, yourself If you find that a small pile of rectangular paper is too heavy or inconvenient to carry around,- shows and talks all then you should be questioning , not the book. As the editor of a print magazine, it’s perhaps no surprise that I value the idea of read month, alongside ing something tangible. But physical books have irreplaceable character – as do the stores that stock them. So it is with great pleasure that we dedicate this month’s cover story to The- free meals, drinks, Bookworm Literary Festival. As an independent bookshop, The Bookworm relies on the community to support it. I im plore you to do so. The festival organizers have put together a fascinating program, and we discounts and were lucky enough to speak with nine of the authors who are scheduled to talk. While I am painfully aware that three of our interviewees are white guys called David, I like to think that giveaways. All you we’ve included a diverse mix of people, topics and opinions. Speaking of Davids, I’ll be moderating one of their talks – David Leffman’s on March 26, to have to do is scan be specific. Please feel free to come down and heckle me as I try to stop pretentious audience members from using the Q&A as an opportunity to show off their opinions without actually- asking any questions. the QR code below, Elsewhere in the magazine, we continue with a very loose theme: the rejection of unfet tered modernity. On page 10, Aaron Ma meets a self-sufficient ascetic who has barely bought- follow us on WeChat any material goods for the last 17 years. Meanwhile on page 28, I speak with New York veteran DJ Spinna, who claims to own 60,000 vinyls (although, for the record: I’m emphati and keep an eye out cally pro-MP3). Unrelated – though I hope equally interesting – Marianna Cerini wonders what it takes for your chance to for Chinese fashion houses to make it big in the West (page 20); Andrew Chin finds out what the country’s best record labels have in store for 2016 (page 34); and Noelle Mateer eats her way through some rather obscure cuisines as she recreates the path of New Silk Road, before win. You'll get some bringing you her characteristically irreverent take on the latest food and drink openings (from page 52). other great stuff on Happy reading, your phone too. Editor-in-Chief Oscar Holland FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Thats_Beijing twitter.com/ThatsBeijing facebook.com/ThatsBeijing WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | MARCH 2016 | 3 QUOTE OF THE ISSUE “For me, the meaning of life is to create. But if you don’t use your heart, everything will go back to being boring” Writer A Yi gets deep and meaningful on life’s big questions, page 42 6 CITY 7 NO REFUGE We ask a Laobeijing’s opinion on the8 FOOTY Syrian refugeeFEVER crisis The Chinese Super League spends big9 CROOKED on foreign talentNUTS 8 waiguoren The slang term that sounds like 16 LIFE & STYLE 18 SNEAK ATTACK Fresh kicks to get you pumped up this20 JOURNEYspring TO THE WEST Chinese fashion designers are on the23 movePORTRAIT OF CHINA 20 We get the lowdown from a young Chinese girl 26 ARTS 30 DANCING QUEENS South Acid Mimi Dance Team are keepin’32 HOUSE it real V ELECTROCLASH Etienne de Crecy and The Hacker go34 head-to-head DON’T STOP THE MUSIC 30 The 411 on China’s biggest and best music labels 52 EAT & DRINK 58 MIFAN / MAFAN We tell you if the rice is worth the hassle59 XI DING A dumpling restaurant that plays60 HATCHERY exclusively Rihanna 59 An incubator for culinary concepts, not chicken eggs 4 | MARCH 2016 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM THE WRAP 10 LESS IS MORE A self-sufficient man living off the fat of the land 54 ON THE SILK ROAD One road, one expanding belt around our food editor's belly 38 LITERALLY LITERARY Featuring a selection of The Bookworm Literary Festival authors WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | MARCH 2016 | 5 CITYCITYTHE BUZZ STICKY BALLS Workers at the Beijing Daoxiangcun Food Co., which operates 24 hours a day producing glutinous rice balls in the lead up to Lantern Festival. Output in 2016 is expected to be 8 percent higher than last year. A RARE SIGHT RANDOM NUMBER 10,000 A flock of Jankowski’s buntings (Emberiza jankowskii) was recently spotted at Miyun Reservoir, 75 years after the endangered bird was …is the number of new public bicycles that the Beijing Commission last seen in Beijing. Xing Chao, a university student and member of of Transport plans to roll out this year. There were already 50,000 the bird-watching group ‘Beijing Feathers,’ reportedly photographed public bikes in use last year, which was five times the amount the bird. The rare species, of which there are now fewer than 1,000 introduced in 2012, when the scheme was launched. The Commission in the wild, was last seen and collected in 1941 at The Summer also plans to build 50 kilometers of roads purely for buses, according Palace. Native to the temperate shrubland and grasslands of China, to Spokesperson for the Commission Rong Jun. Low-emission North Korea and Russia, the species’ rapid decline over the past few transport options are favored as solutions to environmental concerns, decades has been attributed to habitat loss. like pollution, which have grown due to the city’s rising population. 6 | MARCH 2016 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM Edited by Dominique Wong / [email protected] QUOTE OF THE MONTH ASK A LAOBEIJING “One can be a good youth We met Zhang, 56, taking an evening stroll down Wudaoying Hutong even when single. Spread Should China accept Syrian the positivity of being a refugees? singleton” … reads the text on a poster that popped up at Dongzhimen subway station during Spring Festival. The advertisement urges “father and mother” not to worry about “I think that the events in Syria were somewhat brought their single child, as there are many different about by American provocation, so it doesn’t really ways of living. The campaign was created by concern China or Chinese interests. We didn’t participate a group of singletons who were fed up with in these affairs – nor should we. The countries that the constant pressure they received from are responsible for these events should bear the family members to get married. May it serve responsibility for the effects of their actions. as a reminder that yes, even unmarried China already has such a large population, so I don’t youth can be good people too. think we should accept refugees. Sure, China covers a large area. I guess if we did accept refugees they would have to settle in Xinjiang and Gansu.