LeBron James Zone

Anna Sophie Loewenberg on the New MillenniumThe punk rock girl who made Beijing just a little bit sexier“Even before I came, I was searching ‘Chinese punk’ on the Internet … I was on a mission to find Chinese punk rockers,” says Anna Sophie Loewenberg.

It took her two weeks in the capital to discover Angel Bar, the Wudaokou club where she would party with punk bands like Underbaby, 69, Brain Failure and Anarchy Boys. In the late ‘90s, Loewenberg lived and breathed Beijing punk, helping launch the zine Building Up and the band Bieniu.

“It was a real D.I.Y. time … People were getting all their information about music and culture through friendships, through saw-gash CDs and tapes. It was a time of experimentation, friendship and pushing boundaries.”

While doing research for a class at Columbia J School in 2000, Loewenberg flew back to Beijing for seven days, taping all her friends in the punk scene with a video camera.

“I thought, I don’t want to write about Chinese music. Music is about sound and visuals,” explains Loewenberg, who edited the footage into the documentary China Pirates.

As Loewenberg worked stateside for five years, friends Jeremy Goldkorn and Luke Mines were in the capital, creating the documentary African Boots of Beijing.

“When I got word that (they) were making documentaries, I said there’s no way that can happen without me in the mix … I sold my car, left my boyfriend and told my parents, I am going back to China to do this.”

Beijing of 2006 looked nothing like what Loewenberg remembered. “I’d learned Chinese in the ‘90s because none of my friends spoke English, and (now) my conversations with those same friends were in English … and half of them had been abroad.”

When Loewenberg hooked up with Mines and Goldkorn, the trio began brainstorming ideas for a Loewenberg show on YouTube.

“We were thinking, ‘What’s going to get eyes?’” The first day, Loewenberg struck on the idea. “I said, ‘Look. Chinese people always say I look like Sarah Jessica-Parker … It’s gotta be Sexy Beijing.’”

In the three years since, Sexy Beijing has produced more than 25 episodes, with subjects ranging from Beijing hip-hop to wacky weddings to Loewenberg’s search for a Chinese husband. The show has played a leading role in an explosion of creativity in the Beijing expat community.

“In the ‘90s, you had journalists, businessmen and students. A few people who were doing something different and creative, and we all knew each other,” says Loewenberg. “Now, everywhere you turn, someone is doing something new.”

Victor Ochoa on the 1970sEmbassy A-Go-Go“I felt something like Neil Armstrong must have felt when he landed on the moon,” explains architect Victor Ochoa, reflecting on his return to Beijing in 1976. His family had been living in Venezuela after leaving Beijing in the midst of the Cultural Revolution.

When he applied to come to China to study architecture at Tsinghua University, he was discouraged by the school, which suggested he study Chinese. It did not make sense for him to study architecture in Beijing, when his home in Caracas was far more modern. Ochoa, however, insisted. “I told them if it wasn’t architecture, it was nothing.”

“I came here with gadgets, nice clothes and long hair,” he says. “Everything was forbidden here, and I brought it all—from the Beatles to jazz.”

Though Ochoa’s family had lived at the Friendship Hotel in the late ‘60s, he was shocked by the squalor of the school’s facilities, especially by the open squat toilets. “I couldn’t go to the bathroom for a whole week. I had to sneak in each morning when no one was there.”

Ochoa settled in first at BLCU to study Chinese, where he practiced Chinese with his local roommate and partied with the small community of other international students. He recalls that his first month in class, denunciations of the Gang of Four began. His foreign friends had heard about it on the radio, but locals, especially his teachers, refused to discuss it.

“There was so much tension. Mao’s breathing was the rhythm of the country. And suddenly, that rhythm was gone.”

To escape the tensions of school life, Ochoa and his classmates would go to embassy parties. “There was nothing in Beijing except for the Friendship Hotel, the International Club and the diplomatic community … In those days, we were treated like royalty.”

“Those parties were orgies,” exclaims Ochoa. “At 6 in the morning, everyone was naked. We were dancing to the Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever, that sort of thing.” For Westerners, the ‘70s were still the ‘70s—even in Beijing.

In November of 1948, American lawyer Sidney Shapiro, his Shanghainese wife Phoenix and American scientist Joan Hinton all landed in Beijing from Shanghai. Traveling in support of the communist cause and to reconnect with Hinton’s fiancé, the three hoped to cross over to Liberated Areas near Tianjin. They never made it. At a checkpoint, the Guomindang forced them back to Beijing, the city where they would await Liberation and which Shapiro would call home for the next six decades.

“There were a few expats who stayed,” recalls Shapiro in an interview just weeks before the PRC celebrates its 60th anniversary. “Bertha Sneck, Bill Hinton, Rewi Alley, Gladys Tayler …” He reels off a dizzying list of names that counters the myth that China had shut itself off from the world in ’49. At 93 years, Shapiro describes the dawn of New China with palpable enthusiasm.

A year later, America and China were at war in Korea, but Shapiro emphasizes that this never affected how he was treated.

“It was surprising, but you got to understand these were Marxists,” says Shapiro. “They talked in terms of class warfare and class distinction. It didn’t matter the color of skin or where you were from. It just depended which side of the battle you stood on.”

In 1951, Shapiro helped launch Chinese Literature, a magazine that published translations of contemporary Chinese fiction. In 1953, the magazine was integrated into the Foreign Languages Press, where Shapiro would work as a translator for half a century.

“The books were aimed at English-speaking countries, especially American audiences, but this was the era of McCarthy oppression. So, sellers … were too frightened to show these books.”

Throughout the ‘50s, Shapiro met regularly with close friends in the expat community, including Rewi Alley, the New Zealand author, and George Hatem, the U.S. doctor who had attended to Chairman Mao at Yan’an.

“We’d meet at a place we called ‘The Dump.’ It was an old-fashioned bar and grill and served great steak and chops … with beer on tap. Quite a few expats ate there, as well as Chinese who’d been abroad.”

Enthused by China’s progress, Shapiro soon decided to apply for citizenship, which he was granted in 1963.

“I knew I would like to be a citizen, which came with certain privileges. You could hear reports and participate in discussions that only citizens could be a part of,” explains Shapiro. “I had made up my mind that this is where I wanted to be, where I wanted to live.”

KIGALI, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) - As the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China is approaching, Chinese embassy in Rwanda is going to host a series of cultural activities called China Culture Month to celebrate the 60th anniversary and let more ordinary Rwandan people better understand the Chinese culture, Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Sun Shuzhong told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

China Culture Month, scheduled to start on September 16, will include Chinese bamboo and straw weaves exhibition, two photo expositions, a Chinese film week and performance by some Chinese artists.

“Exchange and cooperation between countries should be based on culture,” Sun emphasized. He said although cultural exchange between China and Africa has made some progress in recent years, ordinary people in African countries still do not know much about China. Bilateral culture exchange should be greatly enhanced.

Describing the China Culture Month as a good opportunity, Sun said Rwandan people can know more about China’s historic legacy, diversified culture, modern landscape, social and economic development, Chinese people and promising future through the expositions, pictures and films.

“I hope China Culture Month will help bridge the people of China and Rwanda and push forward the bilateral cultural exchanges to a new height,” added Sun.

The bilateral relations between China and Rwanda have developed smoothly in various areas since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1971. China-Africa relationship, China-Rwanda ties included, has entered a new period since the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006.

According to the statistics from the Chinese embassy in Rwanda, the trade volume with Rwanda reached 95 million U.S. dollars in 2008, an increase of 61 percent from 2007.

Sun said so far this year trade volume between the two countries has reached 70 million U.S. dollars with whole-year volume expected to exceed the level of 2008. At the same time, Chinese investment in Rwanda is also increasing steadily.

Confucius Institute at Kigali Institute of Education began introducing Chinese language lessons in Rwanda in June this year. Sun believed the institute can further contribute to the bilateral language exchange, cultural cooperation and the development of bilateral relations.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday voiced his sincere congratulations to the Chinese government and people on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, speaking highly of China’s great achievement in political, economic and social fields, including poverty eradication, peace development and great contributions to the world peace and security.

Ban, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua at the UN Headquarters in New York, said “I sincerely congratulate (the Chinese government and people on) the 60th anniversary of (the founding of) the People’s Republic of China and I congratulate again and commend highly the achievement of which the Chinese government and people under the leadership of President Hu Jintao have achieved.”

The People’s Republic of China was established on Oct. 1, 1949.

The secretary-general also spoke highly of what the Chinese government and people have achieved during the last 60 years in the international community.

“China has lifted millions of people from poverty,” Ban said. “China has achieved great economic and social development — now, marking the second largest economy in the world.”

“China has been contributing greatly to peace and security of the world by dispatching peacekeeping operations,” he said. “All of these political, social and economic achievements should be a model role for many developing countries who are still aspiring to achieve such development.”

“I again hope that China will continue to lead this world with a strong commitment for peace development and human rights of the world,” he said. “As the secretary-general of the United Nations, I highly value my working together with the Chinese leadership and people in promoting the spirit and letters of the Charter of the United Nations.”

“China is one of the most important member states as a one of the (five) permanent members of the Security Council, as one of the fastest growing world economies,” he said.

“China and the United States, together, you can make a great contribution in overcoming the international financial and economic crisis, in addressing climate change, in meeting the targets of the Millennium Development Goals,” he said.

“These are what we expect of China under the leadership of President Hu Jintao to make a strong contribution,” he said. “China is also an emerging peacekeeping contributing country. I have been meeting many young men and women of China, who have been dedicated to preserving peace and security around the world.”

BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — Improved relations between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will be showcased during the upcoming celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a mainland official said here Wednesday.

The mainland-Taiwan relationship has undergone profound changes and the PRC has made enormous achievements in the work involving Taiwan affairs since the PRC was founded on October 1, 1949, said Yang Yi, State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman.

“So it’s reasonable to include such achievements in the National Day celebrations,” he told a press conference, but gave no more details of the plan.

“We will invite some Taiwan compatriots to attend the celebrations in accordance with the practice in the past. But the details are still under negotiation,” he said.

Yang added that a total of 48 Taiwan journalists representing 17 media organizations on the island applied to report the National Day activities.

The massive celebrations on October 1 in downtown Beijing will feature a mass parade involving about 200,000 people and a military review. Dozens of floats are expected to join the parade, whose themed decorations could form a display of various achievements made by China in the past six decades.

BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — China on Wednesday urged the United States to correct its wrong opinions about China in its 2009 National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) report issued Tuesday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu commented when answering a question about China’s reaction to the report which listed China, Russia, Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as the four major countries challenging the U.S. interests.

Jiang said China has always been a strong force in safeguarding and promoting world peace and stability, and China’s development does not pose a threat to any other countries.

“We urge the United States to discard its Cold War mindset and prejudice, correct the mistakes in the NIS report and stop publishing wrong opinions about China which may mislead the American people and undermine the mutual trust between China and the United States,” she said.

The NIS, produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is also a four-year blueprint for all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — Hu Jintao, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s top military command, has pressed military forces to learn how to solve real problems by studying and applying the Scientific Outlook on Development.

The Outlook was adopted at the 17th CPC National Congress in October 2007. It contains important guiding principles for China’s economic and social development.

In a recent written instruction to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Hu said the military forces should study and practice the Outlook in a practical way.

Hu’s instruction comes as the PLA is carrying out its third stage of in-depth study and practice of the Outlook.

The education campaign should be based on grassroots situations and provide specific guidance; it should give prominence to practice and focus on solving real problems, the instruction said.

The campaign should obtain real effects and ensure all tasks of the army are completed.

In September last year, the CPC launched an 18-month campaign to study and implement the Outlook.

The Outlook takes development as its essence. It places people firmly at its core with comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development its basic requirement

China wants equality for developing countries at the table of global financial institutions and will push for change at the upcoming G20 summit, but the nation is not yet ready to urge its currency — the RMB — be internationalized.

Officials Tuesday raised the issue of equality within the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, in a bid to get the institutions to better represent the changing global economic geography after they are rebuilt following the financial crisis.

Experts believe China’s push for fairer and better-regulated financial institutions will top the agenda at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh on Sept 24-25.

“China expects voting rights in both of those institutions to eventually be equally distributed between developed countries and developing countries,” said assistant finance minister Zhu Guangyao.

Zhu Tuesday joined senior cabinet officials at a briefing ahead of President Hu Jintao’s attendance at several key meetings next week.

Between Sept 21 and 25, Hu is set to attend a UN climate change summit, a General Assembly debate, nuclear nonproliferation talks and the G20 summit.

Guo Qingping, assistant governor of the People’s Bank of China, also said at the briefing that the G20 summit should “set further specific goals for transferring voting rights from developed countries to developing countries”.

Developed countries currently have 57 percent of voting rights at the IMF, with the US alone controlling 17 percent. At the World Bank, rich nations control 56 percent of voting rights, Zhu said.

The IMF has long been dominated by the US and Europe, but the financial crisis has given emerging economies a chance to push for change.

IMF officials have said reforms are being fast-tracked and dynamic economies and emerging markets are likely to gain more input.

Guo said the G20 summit will also offer an opportunity to plan reform of the shareholding structure at the IMF and World Bank and find ways to give more senior positions to people from developing countries.

Zhang Xiaojing, an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China deserves more input on the world stage but he cautioned against pushing too hard.

“Though our economic weight has dramatically increased in recent years, China is not yet a global economic locomotive and leader,” Zhang said. “Our high-dependence on foreign trade has shown our economic fragility.”

But, he said China is “absolutely right” to call for more input for emerging economies.

“The global financial architecture should represent the changing economic geography,” Zhang said.

Andrew Cooper, professor of political sciences at Canada’s Waterloo University, said the international community should encourage capital-surplus countries, including China and Saudi Arabia, to commit more funds to the IMF during the medium term, something that would require proportional increases in IMF voting quotas.

Guo added that it was too early to talk about internationalizing China’s currency.

“We should be very cautious in discussing internationalization of the country’s currency,” said Guo, who had many reasons why China should take the long view.

He said China’s economy is still small, compared to the US; and he pointed out that China’s financial system is fledging. It’s currency exchange is also still highly regulated.

“Market forces, not our own urging, will determine whether the currency will be internationalized,” Guo said.

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) — Beijing has widened a ban on flying activities to include pigeons and kite flying in its latest efforts to beef up security ahead of the National Day celebrations, police said Tuesday.

The ban, which is effective from Sept. 15 to Oct. 8, applies to sports, recreational and advertising flight activities in the capital.

Li Runhua, head of the public security squadron of the Beijing municipal public security bureau, said residents were banned from releasing pigeons, and flying kites and balloons even at celebrations and shopping promotions.

Li encouraged residents to report to police if they find suspicious flying objects.

Police also started to check every vehicle entering Beijing at nearly 200 major road intersections and security check points on Tuesday.

Police would check drivers’ and passengers’ ID and confiscate imitation guns, fireworks and knives until Oct. 8.

More than 7,000 police have been patrolling the city’s major roads and business districts since Aug. 22.

China will stage a wide array of activities, including a grand military parade in Beijing, to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Oct. 1.

Chinese citizens will have an eight-day public holiday from Oct. 1 to 8.