Steven over at Lost Laowai has provided a list of cool China iPhone apps for those who have made the leap to smart phones. Unfortunately I’m still using an antique Nokia, so I haven’t been able to check out the Lost Laowai suggestions, but a couple of them sound particularly useful for Beijingers.

Back in January we reported on the Show of Peace, announced with much fanfare (with the support of rock legend Jimmy Page), and supposedly scheduled for April 17 this year.  Aside from a “clarification” issued by the organizers when theBeijinger.com and China Music Radar reported that one of the “confirmed” acts was actually playing in Japan the night of the concert, the promoters have been suspiciously quiet in recent weeks. So it was no surprise when we received a notice today stating the Show of Peace has been postponed until October.

The snow on Monday, I don’t know what’s that all about, it’s March already. Don't know how it's been affecting the festival season (which is spring, in case you haven't seen it's coming), but the Beijing leg of JUE Festival is well under its way. Presented by Split Works, the festival consists of art, cinema and music events across Beijing and Shanghai (see our interview with the organizers here and full event schedule here). On Friday night, JUE sees the appearances of American indie singer/instrumentalist St. Vincent at Yugong Yishan and Danish rockabilly group Dead Elvis & His One Man Grave at D-22. On the local side, things get more hardcore at Mao Livehouse, where TOOKOO, Bigger Bang! and The Reason rock on the northern end of Nanluogu Xiang - maybe you can hear them in YGYS, since St. Vincent's music is relatively quiet, maybe.

Last week we reported Peter Hessler’s last minute withdrawal from the Bookworm Literary Festival for unspecified personal reasons. Since then several other events have been canceled or changed, with one session altered after the author was refused a visa for China.

As A.A. Milne said "You cannot tell a man by the lobster he eats, but you can tell something about him by the literature he reads, " so there you go. With that in mind we took a good snoop at some Beijinger's bookshelves and the results were, well, you can find out for yourself in the March issue of the Beijinger's Cover Feature. 

There's much more inside the magazine than that. For a start there's a cut-out-and-keep Guy Delisle comic (more accurately it's a cut-out-and-fold-into-a-mini-zine-and-keep comic). You don't see those everyday.

In sad news for punters at the Bookworm Literary Festival, Peter Hessler has confirmed he will not be able to attend the event for personal reasons.

Honestly, none of us expect Bob Dylan can actually play in Beijing when Oasis became cool enough to be banned to play here. But sometimes the story is more complicated than raging against the machines, here are the latest updates for the expected Bob Dylan show in Beijing on April 4.

Catching up on our post-Chunjie reading, we came across this frightening post on the seemingly intractable problem of food safety in China by our favorite food writer and author of Beijing Eats, Eileen Wen Mooney. The post discusses a thesis by Harvard student Leslie Marie Grothaus and a book by Chinese journalist Zhou Qing entitled What Kind of Heaven?, described as an in-depth and unsettling look at food safety problems in China.

First there was melamine in the milk, then allegations of mercury in soft drink. Now China Daily is reporting some plastic tableware sold in Beijing markets and supermarkets, including Carrefour and Auchan, is toxic.

It all proved to be a step too far for Li Na and Zheng Jie at the Australian Open. Both fell at the Semi-final hurdle. Li Na went down fighting to eventual winner Serena Williams. Zheng Jie was overwhelmed by the resurgent Justine Henin in just 51 minutes – the fastest match of the tournament.