The finals for the China Iron Mic freestyle battle competition took place to a packed house at Yugong Yishan this weekend. Winners of three preliminary rounds in Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan faced off with MC Majun/马俊 from Xinjiang who earned his slot in the final four through a knockout tournament earlier in the evening. Iron Mic is the oldest and most recognized freestyle battle competition in the country. Some of the greatest MCs in China have battled on stage seeking its crown including MC Webber who won the first three in a row and now oversees the proceedings. This year the man to beat was the Beijing hometown favorite MC Dawei/大卫. I documented his skills in a previous post covering the Beijing preliminary round. He is only sixteen years old, and his rhyming is precocious to say the least. However, the man of the hour turned out to be MC Majun. In one evening he battled his way through a host of characters from all over China with his machine-gun-like flow to clinch a coveted spot in the semifinals where he tore apart MC JV from Wuhan. Before facing off with MC Dawei in the finals the entire place went crazy, and despite MC Dawei’s home field advantage, MC Majun won the crowd over and had them chanting Xinjiang when he spit his final verse.

There was a spot of bother in France these past few months when Murakami took over the ornate halls and salons of Versailles with his superflat sculptures. Apparently his playful and questionably subversive installations did not go over well with a handful of descendants of Louis XIV and other royalists who consider the UNESCO World Heritage estate sacrosanct (check The Economist, The Art Newspaper and Culture Kiosque). This isn’t the first time that a contemporary art exhibit at Versailles has been called into question either. Jeff Koons’ giant lobster was met with similar grumblings in 2008. Laurent Le Bon, the curator of the show, seemed very conscious of the foregoing dissent and wrote an almost apologetic introduction to the exhibit. He tries to separate himself from the “clashes” of historical heritage and contemporary work presented at other cultural institutions. Instead he claims Murakami’s fantasy world compliments the paradise created at Versailles and allows the viewer to reassess the nature of its baroque trappings. Murakami himself implores visitors to let down their guard and take on an impish persona for the exhibit: “I am The Cheshire Cat who greets Alice in Wonderland and chatters on as she wanders around the Chateau. With my playful smile, I invite you all to the Wonderland of Versailles.” In my humble opinion, I thought the overall effect was fabulous. I know it was my first visit to Versailles, an overwhelming place in and of itself, but seeing Murakami’s hyper colorful and surreal sculptures placed amidst the intricately painted ceilings and molded walls of Versailles bowled me over. Aside from the forceful visceral nature of the exhibition, I feel that the impetus behind Murakami’s art and Versailles are very much the same. At the heart of both is a drive to cater to the most elaborate and luxurious sentiments of their respective eras. Although the aesthetics of opulence from 17th century France and 21st century Japan differ mightily, Murakami and the legendary team of artists behind Versailles created some of the most grand, over-the-top, pop imagery of their times. No matter what, the controversy behind the “clash” or “harmony” of the Murakami Versailles exhibit will continue to drive up ticket sales before it closes on December 14.

I should have blogged about this last month, but I only just received a PDF of the New York Times print version of my work on the explosion of music festivals across China. Such an article was a long time coming and received the usual criticisms aimed at mainstream media coverage of the alternative music scene in China from industry watchers such as China Music Radar and Beijing Daze. Obviously it was too short to cover all the historical and social nuances bound up with proliferation of music festivals across China. Unfortunately the New York Times rarely publishes extended think pieces that such a subject deserves. I actually read a longer version of Andrew Jacob’s first draft which was much better, but the editors decided to cut it down as they are wont to do in this day and age – apparently they feel readers can’t last more than a thousand words in a row. Still, I was really happy with the article and thought Andrew did a quality job trying to introduce the China music festival scene to the rest of the world with his insightful descriptions and awesome quotes. My favorite came from Zhang Fan of MIDI fame, “The government used to see rock fans as something akin to a devastating flood or an invasion of savage beasts, now we’re all part of the nation’s quest for a harmonious society.” Some of the other issues Andrew addresses such as the paradox of having government-backed festivals filled with subversive bands as well as the rising commercialism of the entire alternative music scene also needed to be laid out. Yang Haisong, of P.K. 14 fame, really nailed it on the head with his closing comment, “The government used to see us as dangerous, now they see us as a market.” I feel an approach employed by the Chinese state where they try to appropriate cultural scenes rather than empower them through censorship is becoming the norm. It is happening in the contemporary art scene in Beijing’s 798 art district and more and more with bands taking on corporate sponsorships and other branding opportunities. When the artists and musicians are making more money, they have less to complain about and more at risk by creating controversial or outspoken material. It is a savvy step forward by the Chinese state and goes hand in hand with their other attempts to spin media rather than quash it. The Beijing Daze post gets into this quite a bit as well. Still, no matter what, I am a huge fan of the spread of music festivals in China. The only thing that is needed right now is quality production and more bands. The same performers can’t keep recycling through the festivals. A large injection of new musical blood is needed. Hopefully there are more diamonds in the rough amongst all the second-tier cities around China who are just opening up their ears to the latest sounds coming out of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan. Otherwise there are still too many reports of badly planned festivals with no toilets and crappy sound systems. Check out these critiques by Helen Feng, Pity the Cool, and Beijing Today. Hopefully we are just experiencing the birthing pains of the China music festival circuit. Also check out this great extended piece on the first musical festival in Nanjing and an extended interview with Scarlett Li, the brains behind the Zebra Festival movement. Unfortunately there is no online slideshow in addition to the video I produced for the New York Times website, so I attached my favorite shots to this post.

I just had the pleasure of visiting the newly-minted Woodward Beijing skateboard and freestyle BMX park that opened its doors to China this summer. Although it is a pain in the ass to get down to the southern sixth ring road, Woodward Beijing truly is a state of the art facility and will hopefully nurture a new wave of talented skateboarders and freestyle BMX riders in China. These sports are just taking hold in cities and major brands like Vans, who sponsored the evening by driving down two busloads of kids for free, can only see rising interest amongst the growing pool of urban hipsters and punks around the country. Even though I didn’t get in on the action myself, I was greatly intrigued by the possibilities of the giant foam box pit that freestyle BMX riders used for practicing aerials. Next time I might find myself rocketing skyward on a bike. For now the only problem I can foresee is consistently getting kids that far outside the city to partake in everything Woodward Beijing has to offer. On the up side, large-scale summer camps are being planned which is the real bread and butter for Woodward in other locations around the world.

Queen Sea Big Shark / 后海大鲨鱼 released their sophomore album, Wave, to a packed house at Yugong Yishan on the eve of All Hallow’s Eve. The eternally modish band keeps a permanent place in my heart with lead singer Fu Han’s unisuit-cladded-gyrating-stage-presence and lead guitarist Cao Pu’s hard-driving-surf-rock-riffs. Although I might not be the biggest fan of all their dips into electronica, if they are having a good night and hooked into a proper sound system, they will blow the roof off any club in Beijing. Their new album certainly represents a turn into the realm of synthed dance, but you can find their original rock core in tunes like “Back 2 the Future” and “Loop of the Sun”. For now Queen Sea Big Shark continues to move beyond their dive bar roots by headlining major festivals around China and accepting sponsorships from the likes of Converse. Modern Sky have constructed big plans for the band, and they will hopefully help lead a wave of previously underground bands to a larger domestic audience.

Just days before Barbie’s 50th birthday last March, the House of Barbie opened its doors in Shanghai and introduced China to over six floors of Barbie merchandise and services that catered to almost every need of a Barbie-princess-in-training. It was a full on Barbie assault from the start as you rode an entrance escalator bathed in pink light with the sound of giggling girls playing in the background. Aside from a daunting array of Barbie doll varieties, there was also a Barbie spa offering services such as the Plastic Smooth facial or Barbie Bust Firming treatment, a Barbie catwalk where girls can dress up as Barbie and put on their own fashion show, a Barbie design center where creatives can produce a custom-made Barbie, and a Barbie Cafe complete with Barbie-themed food and a pink martini bar. The Barbie spearhead into China came with a US$30 million dollar price tag and huge expectations. Sales of Barbie continue to fall with the financial downturn and Mattel International is counting on China to pick up the slack. With the spa and martini bar, the House of Barbie also hopes to stir up interest amongst older women in China who otherwise wouldn’t be targeted in western markets. Major designers such as Vera Wang, Patricia Field of “Sex and the City” fame, and handbag maker Judith Lieber all contributed to the merchandise including a US$15,000 Barbie wedding dress. Barbie, known as “Ba Bi Wa Wa” in Mandarin, still faces plenty of hurdles without the pedigree heritage she enjoys in western countries. Despite initial enthusiasm for the business model, Mattel was forced to downgrade sales expectations by 30% within the first six months of opening the House of Barbie. The interest is there, but whether or not Barbie can have her way with China and engender a new generation of Barbie princesses is yet to be scene. Check out more coverage by the Wall Street Journal and BBC as well as a CNN report detailing a blow-by-blow account of trying to spend twelve hours straight in the House of Barbie.