the Beijinger

Last night Avril Lavigne became the first performer to give the Wukesong Stadium a work out as a live music venue and, according to reports in today’s Beijing papers, the Olympic Basketball venue saw quite a show. Lavigne kicked off the performance, the last of her six-city tour of China, with her popular “Girlfriend” and the audiences responded by rushing forward to the VIP area in front of the main stage. Three songs in to the 70-minute performance, things became a little chaotic with barriers in front of the stage being bent out of shape by crazed fans. The stage lighting was turned off and the concert was forced to pause for eight minutes as staff standing on the stage asked the crowd to return to their seats. After fans had returned to the stands, the Canadian punk-pop princess continued on with the show. Reports suggest that the crowd control problems stemmed from more than just excitable fans but were also exacerbated by the poor lay out of the venue. The crowd simply filled the large amount of empty space at the center of the stadium and little security had been set up to prevent them from doing so. You can take a look at a video of the chaotic scenes here.

The second phase of China’s National Library opened to the public yesterday. The sleek new design is decked out with comfy chairs, improved heating, and will offer more reader-focused services in continuation of a trend that saw them do away with charging for bag storage and lower photocopying fees last year. According to Xinhua, the combined floor space of the new library and the original building comes to 250,000 sqm, making the NLC the third largest library in the world. The East China Architectural Design Institute worked with the German firm KSP Engel und Zimmermann to design the building. The opening of the new building follows closely on the heels of the development of the National Digital Library of China Program, which has resulted in a large number of e-books (including winners of China’s Wenjin Book Prize and local chronicles), as well as other digital resources like Spring Festival pictures and oracle bone rubbings being uploaded to the library’s new and improved website.

European Film Festival
Many of the European embassies in Beijing have come together to present China’s first Annual European Union Film Festival. The schedule consists of films from over 20 countries and includes popular films like Once from Ireland, La Môme (My Life in Rose) from France and The Last King of Scotland from the UK. For a complete schedule click here. The screenings will take place in four locations: the French Cultural Centre, Instituto Cervantes, Italian Institute of Culture and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. Each film will be screened in its original language, with English and Chinese subtitles. Free. ID required at certain locations.

The rush to ready Beijing for the Olympics has brought us 3 new subway lines, but the action isn’t stopping there. The next line scheduled to “go live” is the North-South Line 4, which we’ll need to wait another year for, but when completed will link the Summer Palace, Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) the Beijing Zoo and the new Beijing South Railway Station into Beijing’s ever-expanding subway network. And Beijing’s subway builders seem to be getting smarter as well – as Line 4 will feature the shortest exchange time when entering the line from the connecting Line 1, Line 2, Line 10 and Line 13.

As part of a global anti-piracy initiative, Microsoft announced that it would launch an updated version of the anti-piracy systems Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) and, for the first time in China, also introduce the Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) which is aimed at targeting pirate versions of Microsoft Office including Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007. The company made the announcement last week and the new system came into effect at midnight on Monday.

A wave of consternation swept through Internet chat rooms after the announcement, with netizens worried that the constant appearance of a “black screen” would interrupt their ability to use their PC. Forum and BBS users came up with satirical black screen-themed desktop backgrounds to display their opposition to the new anti-piracy measures and various online polls registered strong opposition to the move.

Last night CCTV 1 broadcast the first two episodes of a new 50-episode TV drama called The Legend of Bruce Lee (李小龙传奇 Li Xiaolong Chuanqi). Hong Kong actor Danny Chan (Chan Kwok Kwun) attempts to fill the big pair of martial arts shoes and he’s joined by actors from more than 30 countries including a couple of Hollywood actors; Ray Park and Tim Storms. While waiting for another enthralling episode of Yang Rui’s Dialogue to start on CCTV 9, I managed to catch a glimpse of the first episode last night. Bruce was standing up to the school bully but not getting much support from his teachers or parents. It was pretty slow going， but I was happy to learn the slightly formal Chinese expression for “kicking someone in the balls” – (踢他的睾丸 Ti tade Gaowan) which got quite a lot of use after Bruce went and did just that.

The Beijing Tourism Administration recently launched a promotional campaign to lure more Hong Kong visitors to the capital. Not surprisingly, the campaign centers on the concept of the post-Olympic city being a “New Beijing” and focuses on three areas: New Beijing Landmarks, a New Beijing Culture and a New Beijing Lifestyle. The first refers to the draw of architectural wonders such as the T3 terminal, Olympic venues like the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, the National Grand Theatre and the new CCTV headquarters. A New Beijing culture refers to the development of the 798 Dashanzi Art District, Nanluogu Xiang and Houhai as areas that the Beijing government is hoping to foster as representative of a new hip, arty and cool Beijing. The concept also encompasses new shopping areas such as the new Qianmen Dajie and a New Sanlitun. A New Beijing Life stresses the quality and variety of dining, nightlife and shopping options in the capital.

Headlines in both the local and international media over the past few days have offered a few clues as to how this new Beijing is expanding. Below we take a look at some of the recent announcements about the changing face of the city:

Remember those smiley faces and the controversial footprint fireworks that appeared as part of Cai Guoqiang's impressive pyrotechnic display at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games? Well, this Spring Festival Beijing residents will have the chance to let off a few of their own. According to reports in today's Beijing News, not only will pyromaniacs across the city be able to let off Smiley Faces and Footprints to their hearts content, but they'll also be able to set off all the car alarms in the xiaoqu with the Blossoming Flower. Kids on the other hand are encouraged to play with a Kungfu Panda-inspired rocket. The fireworks will be available at 200 outlets around town in the lead-up to Spring Festival. Though those sold as part of the Bird’s Nest series will not as big as the ones used in the opening ceremony - they've been scaled down for use by individuals.

From the first day of the new year, the two trams (dangdangche) that sat idle at the top of the newly renovated Qianmen Dajie since the Olympics, finally began to make their slow way down the new commercial boulevard. The tram is actually making a return to the pedestrian street 42 years after services were stopped. The two new 84-seat trams, “Qianmen No.1” and “Qianmen No.2”, crawl between the south and north end of the Qianmen street at between 3-9km/h - perhaps allowing for tourists to walk alongside and take photos of family and friends who are, gasp, actually on the tram!? It takes the trams about 10 minutes to cover the 845m journey, past largely empty stores, from one end of the street to the other and tourists are expected to hand over 20 kuai for the ride.