the Beijinger

Yuanmingyuan has been in the news a lot this past week, what with the auction of the rabbit and rat heads in Paris, the history of the looting of the Old Summer Palace, or Garden of Perfect Brightness as it's also known, has once again become a much discussed topic. Today, the first and only professional shadow puppet theater in Beijing, opens its doors to the public and it seems like a smart business move that the first show that the Chinese Shadow Puppet Cultural Troupe have decided to produce is The Burning of the Imperial Palace《火烧圆明园》.

The first “arthouse cinema” on the Chinese mainland, Broadway Cinematheque MOMA (BC MOMA), made its debut on the weekend, with the opening of the Fourth Chinese Young Generation Film Forum on Sunday, Nov 1. Legendary Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Taiwanese actor and director Leon Dai were both on hand for the opening.

I still can’t decide whether my Beijing Christmas in jail was the most exciting or depressing Christmas party I have ever had. Me and 19 other friends spent six hours, from Christmas Eve until the early hours of Christmas Day, in a cell in a Beijing police station – although we were allowed to drink beer and order McDonald’s. 

It's a great day for exploring the hills to the west of Beijing. Not only will you be able to glimpse rare views of the city - on a clear day you can make out the new CCTV headquarters and the China World Trade Center tower in the far distance - but you can also visit some of the many temples in the area. Fahai Temple (Fahai Si) is one of the best-known, largely due to the quality of the murals that were painted on its walls back in the Ming Dynasty. The temple only recently opened its gates to the public again after two years of large scale renovation work, part of a more general effort by the city government to restore Beijing's temples. To better protect the original murals from being harmed, eight of them were painstakingly duplicated and are now exhibited in different halls throughout the temple. However, as of late September, the originals are also now open to the public - but at a price - you'll have to pay an extra 100 kuai to see the original frescos.

Blue skies and visibility of up to 40km (you could make out the city’s western hills from the CBD) marked the end of the best month of air quality that Beijing has seen in a long time. Of the 31 days in August, only one (Aug 29 – although the MEPA site still ranks it as a “fairly good” day) went beyond the official blue sky target of 100 as measured on the Air Pollution Index (API) . The rest of the month saw 14 days of “excellent” air quality and 16 “fairly good days.” The previous record, set in 1998, was for a total of 9 days of “excellent” air quality in a single month. Last August there were only two days of “excellent” weather.

"Jiayou Zhongguo! Jiayou Aouyonghui!" so goes the official Beijing Olympic chant. Testament to the One World, One Dream mantra of this year's Games, it's a Korean who has been charged with teaching these words (plus a few nifty dance moves) to some of China's top cheerleaders. Cho Soojin is her name, and this August her girls will be performing at two of the Games' biggest events.

Cho established herself as go-to girl for cheerleading in China after her squad of dancers turned heads at the 2002 World Cup. The use of Chinese elements in their dance and costume attracted a lot of positive attention, and since then her studio, Soojin Dance, was designated the official cheerleader-training center for the CBA from 2002-2004.

the Beijinger met this hot Korean cheerleader captain to talk about her unusual career.

the Beijinger: You started your career as a gymnast, how did you get into coaching cheerleading in China?

I originally brought RMB 40,000 with me to come to Beijing Language Culture University to learn Chinese. I planned to spend only half a year in China, but I really liked Chinese culture. I am an extrovert, but in South Korea women are not allowed to [behave like] this … I feel more comfortable in China. I soon noticed that there were no cheerleaders in China, so I decided to organize my own cheerleading squad. In the beginning I taught classes in the park for free.

On a recent flight from Bangkok to Beijing, I caught a new public service announcement from Jackie Chan. He was dressed up as a customs officer, telling foreigners not to buy pirated DVDs, and to respect intellectual property rights. It was like he was speaking directly to me. I’m sure most of us have bought cheap tickets from scalpers, since the price of a show, especially international performances, can be ridiculously expensive. If you want to avoid dealing with a sleazy scalper, you’d better hurry and book before all the affordable tickets are gone. Cats (Sep 19-27) is back, and The Merchants of Bollywood (Sep 25-29) is premiering, and both are sure to sell out fast.

Standing Before Darkness is a world premier by Tibetan Choreographer, Sang Jijia. It's also the opening performance for the 3rd Annual Beijing Modern Dance Festival, organized by BeijingDance/LDTX in collaboration with the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

    As one of the large-scale official festivals, Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, which collects a lot of cultural programs, has been held annually since 2000. The year, "Meet in Beijing", running from April 30 to May 28, seems more selective and diverse. Many of the shows will be presented on Beijing stages for the first time. Besides dance, drama and classical concerts, it the festival will also bring Chaoyang Pop Music Week to Chaoyang Park, the “Intro” electronic music event to Beijing 751 Power Square (in 798), and lectures and video screenings in Peking, Tsinghua and Renmin universities.