Second Hand Rose
Tales of poverty-stricken musicians rebelling against consumerism coupled with accusations of a scene haunted with a lack of creativity make Beijing rock nothing if not controversial.
Covers of Brown Eyed Girl are, admittedly, not for everyone. Fret not, Beijing's lounge and bar scene is teeming with top shelf jazz and soul crooners backed by heady, talented bands.
The year is 1937 and washed-up American singer John Ramsey has just arrived for a one-month stint as a lounge singer in Beijing.
G'day mate! Today is the Australian national day, affectionately known as "Aussie Day".
Tucked in the basement of a gift shop at Yandaixiejie Street is a special festival treat, a small exhibition of Chinese New Year paintings. The exhibition, entitled The Beautiful Folk Art, is a personal collection of New Year paintings, which are called nianhua in Chinese.
Rapping in the Beijing dialect and representing the masses, In 3's Chen Haoran, Jia Wei and Meng Guodong have one of the largest followings among Chinese hip hop fans.
Like cities all over the world, today's Beijing resonates to beats from the likes of Jay-Z and Kanye West. But what of local hip hop? Natalie Thomas goes out to investigate.
Being in charge of a Beijing community is a particularly tricky profession.
A milestone album named Generation Six, due to be released later this month, looks likely to define a new era of Chinese rock 'n' roll by gathering the sounds of four promising rock 'n' roll bands in Beijing: Rustic, Birdstriking, FLYX and Old Fashion.
If you were busy last year and had no time for art, there is one exhibition you should try and make time to see in the new year.
A new area in Tongzhou could provide the soundtrack for Beijing in the years to come and help it hit the right note in its bid to become a world city, according to Wang Yunfeng, the district's Party chief.
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