Beijing Today (January 25, 2013)

BEIJING TODAY

Recyclers face end

PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY

Once the final destination for a fourth of the capital’s recycled goods, Dongxiaokou Recycling Center is facing its final days.

A proud force of 30,000 collectors working 900 yards has been reduced to a dozen who wait in hopes that the government will have more mercy on them than the property developers.

Read more on Pages 4-5

January 25 2013-January 31 2013 NO. 607 CN11-0120 HTTP://WWW.BEIJINGTODAY.COM.CN CHIEF EDITOR: YU SHANSHAN NEWS EDITOR: HUANG DAOHEN DESIGNER:DENG NING

Page 8

China’s king of vintage

It was outside Nankai University that Liang Tian was bitten by the vintage bug.

Auction feeds the world Page 3

Page 6

No way back for migrants More than 200 million people who have moved to the cities are finding life less rosy than they imagined.

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January 25 2013

News

2

Gov publishes national Gini coefficient

By Zhao Hongyi Beijing’s GDP grew by 7.7 percent last year, according to Beijing Municipal Statistics and the Beijing Investigation Team of the National Statistics.

The gure marks a decline of 0.4 percent from 2011.

The weaker growth was inuenced by ination and the national GDP, the agencies said at a press conference on Monday.

They also pledged to publicize Beijing Gini coefcient, a marker of income inequality.

The total GDP of Beijing climbed to 1.78 trillion yuan, 15 billion of which was generated by agriculture, 406 billion by heavy industry and 1.36 trillion by the service sector.

Ination held at less than 4 percent, and the city is seeing growth in employment.

By the end of 2012, Beijing has a population of 20.7 million, of which 7.74 million are migrants. The average GDP in Beijing was 87,091 yuan ($13,797) per capita.

CPI tied to housing

The Consumer Price Index fell to 3.3 percent in 2012, though prices for many markets and services remained high.

In the eight commodities and services calculated, food and residential prices were

National Gini coefficient from 2003 to 2012

Sources: National Statistics still the major driving force behind the spike.

“Since January 2011, the cost of apartment rental has been on the rise, and in October it broke 5 percent,” said Xing Zhihong, spokesman of the Beijing Investigation Team of the National Statistics.

While food is the primary force behind CPI growth in the rest of the country, Beijingers continue to be gouged on housing costs.

The city sold 19.4 million square meters of residential and business real estate in 2012: 35 percent more than in 2011.

In addition, Beijing’s retail volume reached 770 billion

CFP Photo yuan, 11.6 percent more than the previous year. Online sales totalled 59.7 billion yuan, nearly doubled the previous year.

Forecast is at

In forecasting the economic performance of 2013, Yu Bing, director of macro-economic research at the State Council Development Research Center, predicted at growth, with the price index rising 4 percent and exports 10 percent.

“China’s economy has nished its period of high growth and is entering a period of stable increase,” Yu said. “However, we have not identied the new driving economic forces.”

“This is a critical point in our economic transformation,”

he said.

Yu said a secure transformation will depend on increased investment in manufacturing, real estate and infrastructure.

Real estate has long been the most volatile sector of China’s economy. Ren Xingzhou, director of the market economy research institute of the State Council, said he believes 2013 will see the market to stabilize.

“We want it to be at, but it’s impossible to say there won’t be unpredictable forces that cause uctuation,” he said.

Measuring equality

“Beijing will issue its own Gini coefcient eventually,” Xing Zhihong said at the press conference.

China has two indexes at the present: citizen income at the township level and rural household income. These indexes are calculated after in-house investigations.

Since December 1, China has started a comprehensive in-house investigation to clarify the real family income index, an important gure for the Gini coefcient.

“The purpose is to clarify the allocated income and establish a price system on this basis,” Xing said.

In 2012, citizen income at the township level as 36,469 yuan, 7.3 percent more than the previous year. Rural individual income was 16,476 yuan, an 8.2 percent increase.

On January 18, Ma Jiantang, director of the National Statistics, announced a national Gini coefcient.

“From 2003 to 2012, the national Gini coefcient index uctuated between 0.47 to 0.49,” Ma said. “It climbed to 0.491 in 2008 and decreased afterwards.”

The Gini coefcient has been a very controversial topic, with many arguing that the national gure exceeds 0.5. Higher numbers indicate greater income equality.

Beijing will publish a local index later this year.

BEIJING TODAY

Editors: Yu Shanshan Zhao Hongyi Designer: Deng Ning

Report finds middle-age shoppers top spenders online

By Zhao Hongyi More than 14.9 percent of all online payments made through Alipay during 2012 originated in Zhejiang Province, surpassing Guangdong Province, which accounted for slightly less than 14.1 percent.

Shanghai, Beijing and Jiangsu Province were the third, fourth and fth top spenders.

Alipay is the independent payment system used by Alibaba.com’s Tmall shopping system. Tmall has 300 million outlets online.

Of its 200 million customers, close to 80 percent use Alipay to resolve their payments.

This makes Alipay’s data one of the most reliable indicators of online shopping activity in China. Its annual reports offers many insights into how online shopping has developed in China.

Alipay explosion

In 2012, Beijing shoppers spent an average of 8,131 yuan online, accounting for slightly less than 10 percent of the nation’s online sales.

Tamll launched and set online sales records on November 11, “Bachelor’s Day.” CFP Photo But this is nothing when compared to the explosive potential of online shopping in third- and fourth-tier cities.

Hainan and the Tibet Autonomous Region have seen a boom in elders converting to online shopping. The number of people aged 55 or older using Alipay grew twelve-fold in 2012, compared to 39 percent nationwide.

At the recently incorporated City of Sansha, which includes the islands of Zhongsha, Xisha and Nansha, more than 1,000

people used Alipay system and spent 167,900, 65,200 and 232,300 yuan from each island respectively.

Mobile leaders

Continued adoption of smartphones may be driving the trend.

Statistics show that the total payments by smartphone users increased by 546 percent in 2012. The number of smartphone users increased by 223 percent.

Alipay has a wireless user base of 4.3 million, most of

whom are unmarried males living in smaller cities.

Lhasa is the leader in wireless payments made through Alipay, followed by Linzhi Region, another Tibetan locale.

The third place is Nanchong District in Sichuan Province.

Among the Top 10 cities using Alipay for wireless payment, seven are from the less developed western interior, and the remaining three are the cities of Yunfu and Maoming in Guangdong Province and Sanya in Hainan.

Beijingers were less likely to be resolving payment from their smartphones, with only 8 percent using Alipay’s mobile version. The national average is 9.2 percent.

Middle-age splurge

While popular belief says that young adults born in the 1980s and 1990s are the top spenders, Alipay’s statics show that the biggest spenders are those born in the 1960s.

While the ’80s generation accounts for 50 percent of Alipay’s transactions, users born in the 1970s, 1960s and 1950s were the top spenders.

In 2012, the average total payment for shoppers born in the 1980s was 14,000 yuan, while those born in the 1970s and 1960s spent 19,000 and 15,000 yuan respectively.

Young adults born in the 1990s were the weakest spenders, averaging less than 4,00 yuan.

Last year, Alipay enabled users to voluntarily publish their receipts. One purchaser from Wuxi, Jiangsu Province showed off a payment stub for 9.41 million yuan.

This was only the 26th largest purchase made through Alipay in Wuxi last year.

In Beijing, one purchaser showed off a receipt for a sum exceeding 300 million yuan.

This was the 7th largest in the capital.

Tmall said it believes that the owner of the stub is a wholesaler.

In Tumusuke, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, male purchasers said they were shopping for their wives.

In the city of Jiayi, Taiwan, the wives reported they were shopping for their husbands.

January 25 2013

By Liu Xiaochen When it comes to Switzerland, Americans might be quick to think of charming scenery, watches, foldable knives and delicious chocolates.

But in China, a different answer might come to mind: Swiss Game Design, an exhibition organized by China Millennium Monument Museum of Digital Arts (CMoDA) and supported by the Embassy of Switzerland and Pro Helvetia Shanghai.

The objective was to mine art for creativity, to create new products and nd new platforms and channels of communication. It will travel to several cities across the country.

Pro Helvetia Shanghai was commissioned by the Swiss federal government, aiming to promote Swiss culture to the world.

“I’m very glad to introduce the Swiss game culture, which is a relatively unknown side of Switzerland,” said Swiss ambassador Jacques de Watteville. “Switzerland has become one of the most innovative countries in Europe and even in the world, which

Screenshot from Florian Faller’s lecture is exactly what I want to show.

Swiss Game Design is a very good opportunity to let you see this side of Switzerland.”

The exhibition focuses on Swiss computer games in the eld of technology and design.

Aspects of social gaming come into play.

The exhibition invited international designers and also put a spotlight on Swiss

Photo provided by Pro Helvetia Shanghai

innovative developers and companies that are playing a leading role in this emerging eld.

“The computer has become one of the most important tools in our lives, and it’s also our favorite toy,” Watteville said. “The game has become a part of our everyday life.

The rapid development of the market makes the game the

most protable in the cultural industry, in which more and more people are contributing.”

“The exhibition will not only show the high quality of Swiss design but also leave a deep impression through the cooperation with outstanding artists.”

The exhibition is split into ve parts: Research and Technology; Designers, Collectives

and Developer Studios; Serious Games; Swiss Mobile Gaming; Game and Art. Twenty Swiss game design cases and ve award-winning game experiences are included.

Participating designers and design institutions include Disney Research Zurich, Florian Faller, MIRALab, Pixelux, Procedural and Virtual Reality Lab. This exhibition is also for interaction designers, game designers, new media artists, teachers and students majoring in media art and design. It provides international exchange opportunities for practitioners and enthusiasts of digital media, game design and the creative industry.

Swiss game designer Florian Faller gave a lecture.

He talked about the problems and solutions his team encountered while developing the game Feist.

“This exhibition will show you the current situation of Swiss game design, in which you see the works from game designers and new young game developers,” he said.

Commerce & consulates

Swiss game arts spreads to China

3

Teenagers in the Slum No2 by Chu Cancan

Mickey Children Smile by Zhang Peng

lems in their works to inspire people to pay attention to and understand them, and hopefully solve them.

Thirteen artists visited Liming Primary School, a beneciary in WFP’s project, in Yulong County, Yunnan Province last December.

“I was surprised that poverty and hunger are all around a tourist attraction like Lijiang, with many children lacking love, nutrition and

Photos provided by WFP Peasant in the City by Liang Shuo education,” said artist Ma Jun. “I think when people promote charity, they should consider what led to the gap between the wealthy and the poor and how to guarantee basic living conditions in impoverished areas through policy and regulations.”

Another artist, Xiao Zheluo, said, “Children are growing, and their bodies are thirsty for nutrition. It’s better to act immediately to help.”

Curator Xia Yanguo said the exhibition and charity was unique.

“Artists made their creations after observing, reviewing and thinking,” he said.

“The audience can see the artist’s understanding of the theme. I believe these works will resonate. I hope this activity can help more people understand and pay attention to the social problems that are seemingly distant.”

BEIJING TODAY

By Liu Xiaochen To celebrate the 50-year anniversary of World Food Program (WFP), WFP and Council, an auction company in Beijing, organized a commemorative activity called “50 Years of the UN WFP Fighting Hunger Worldwide.”

Included was an art exhibition called Food in Our World, which opened January 11 at 798 Art Zone and lasted six days. Its purpose was to attract attention to food safety and global hunger.

On January 17, the organizers auctioned off works by artists such as Sui Jianguo, Chen Wenling and Song Kun for charity.

The proceeds will go toward WFP’s school meal project, benefitting about 3,500 children from China and Nepal. The program provides free meals to encourage families to let children stay in school. Also, adequate food can help students concentrate and learn so that they might help build a better future.

The exhibition invited 28 young artists whose works involve food, poverty, hunger and related issues. As observers, artists depict social prob-

Editors: Yu Shanshan Liu Xiaochen Designer: Deng Ning

WFP organizes exhibition for charity auction

January 25 2013

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Editors: Yu Shanshan Zhao Hongyi Designer: Zhao Yan

Center stage

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#ITY S RECYCLERS AW

By Zhao Hongyi $ONGXIAOKOU 2ECYCLING #ENTER IS LOCATED BESIDE THE LARGEST RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY ON THE NORTH SIDE OF "EIJING 4IANTONGYUAN 4HE HECTARE CENTER IS STAFFED BY COLLECTORS AND IS THE lNAL DESTINATION OF A FOURTH OF THE CAPITAL S RECYCLABLE GOODS )N IT RECEIVED ITS lRST DEMOLITION NOTICE /NE YEAR LATER HALF OF THE CENTER HAS BEEN DEMOLISHED AND THE SCRAP WORKERS MOVED OUT (OWEVER MANY NEW SCRAP SELLERS HAVE MOVED IN TO !FTER DECADES OF HARDSHIP AND DIFlCULTY THE SECTOR IS STILL WAITING FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO ISSUE IT CLEAR RULES AND GUIDELINES Face of recycling The road to Dongxiaokou Recycling Center is littered with trash.

Some 100 meters east of the bus stop is the village committee, a building surrounded by the ruins of its namesake.

The inside proudly displays a map of the “new village�: a collection of sterile, high-rise boxes built to house 558 families after the demolition. A dozen of the larger residential blocks are marked as “for lease.�

The dozen remaining trash collectors gather on the west side of the community. At its peak, there were more than 900.

The collectors are separated by lanes 50 meters wide and 200 meters long. Each is defined by what he collects: steel, paper, bottles and plastic.

From time to time, a truck arrives to tow away the garbage.

Adjacent to the yard are an auto parts shop, a few small stores and a dozen small restaurants.

Mei Youxing is one of the oldest residents, having worked in recycling for nearly 20 years.

He has been in the scrap steel business for more than a decade, and sits on a lot with more than 200,000 yuan in scrap metal. “I don’t know when the final demolition will come,� Mei says. “If I am removed, I’ll lose tens of thousands of yuan, so I won’t go easily.�

Wang Xiaoshan is a 40-year-old businessman neighboring Mei who has worked in recycling almost as long. He employs four workers in his yard and pays them a monthly wage of between 4,000 and 10,000 yuan. “Each year, I set aside 500,000 yuan for their salaries,� Wang said.

Waiting for the end In 1994, Mei and his wife came to Beijing to start a recycling business. For the first four years, Mei peddled a tricycle to collect used goods on his own.

Four years later, he opened

his own collection site and hired several workers to expand his business.

When the demolition began, all but three of the collectors left. More moved in during October.

Dongxiaokou Recycling Center was built atop a fishing pond in 2003. Now it is facing new renovation. “Those moving out have not given up on the business,� Mei said. “They are just collecting somewhere else.�

Mei gestured above his head to the electrical lines. “As long as these are still here, we can hold out a little longer.�

Dongxiaokou Recycling Center used to absorb almost half of the city’s waste steel, paper and plastic each year.

Most of the garbage was passed on to neighboring provinces such as Hebei and Shangdong. Some was packed up and shipped south on a train. “Now the land owners are refusing to extend our lease,� Mei said. “All they are thinking about is how much money they will be paid when the real demolition begins.�

Little has been done to help the collectors with relocating their businesses. Some are planning to move to Beiqijia Village.

Trashy attitudes To the village committee, the business is anything but recycling. One of the village officials accused them of contributing to the pollution rather than solving it.

But experts disagree. “Dongxiaokou Recycling Center is one of the best in Beijing,� said Chen Liwen, director of the Garbage Institute at Natural University. “It has long been the best in both management and scale. It handles an amazing range of recycled items.�

But these collectors receive no guarantee and support from the government, even though they have paid their taxes. They are

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Center stage

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January 25 2013

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Editors: Yu Shanshan Zhao Hongyi Designer: Zhao Yan

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January 25 2013

Indie lm

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k c a b g n i n r u t o n h t i w s e i t i Stranded in c

By Chen Nan

BEIJING TODAY

Editors: Yu Shanshan Chen Nan Designer: Deng Ning

More than 200 million people have moved to the cities in the last few decades. Their hard working has helped transform China into the second largest economy in the world, but what’s the human cost for building a future?

The experience of migrant workers and relationship between the urban and rural spheres is perfectly captured in Li Junhu’s documentary Where Should I Go? The ambitious project also takes a contemplative look at migration, the education of “left behind children,” the pressures of living, emotional malaise and uneven opportunities.

Many scenes are set in shabby rooms that suggest the economic struggle of these workers.

In 2008, CNEX, a non-prot organization devoted to supporting documentary lmmakers, offered Li to help begin this lm. Li Junhu The theme that year Photos provided

by Li Junhu was “Next Generation’s Homeland.”

Finished in 2010, it screened last year at the 2012 Chinese Visual Festival in London.

Two families In Shaanxi Province, Li turned his lens on migrant workers from poor rural villages. Much of the lm is devoted to these characters as they go their respective ways and struggle for higher status.

Most nd city life considerably less rosy than they imagined. Sometimes, they appear helpless in the face of economic progress.

There are two characters and a pair of parallel narratives. In one, Zhang Zhili takes her son with her to work in the city, leaving two daughters behind.

Knowing the importance of education, Zhang’s decision to take the boy hinges on her knowledge of how important it is to ensure he gets a good education.

The lm also follows Yang Xiuqing, who has brought her only son and daughter from the countryside to the city. Aiming to stay, she uses her late husband’s pension to buy city resident permits, or hukou, for her two children.

Things prove more difcult than either family imagines.

School fees keep Zhang’s child out-

side the school gates, leaving her with no option but to teach her son how to read while she works at the ea market every day.

Zhang’s two daughters leave their countryside homestead and nd it difcult to make ends meet and take care of themselves.

The oldest daughter considers stopping her studies; she frequently skips school and cuts classes.

Meanwhile, Yang lets her oldest daughter leave school to work in a bar, like herself, to earn money to support her son’s studies. The family has struggled ever since Yang’s husband died in a car accident.

Her biggest concern is that her son’s school fees will become increasingly expensive. Yang has to hand over more than a few thousand yuan to send him to a good high school.

Even higher college fees loom.

The gap between expectation and reality leave the families in dire poverty.

They are caught between a rock and a hard place: choosing to return to the countryside to start over or taking one last stand against fate and

staying in the city.

Touched by countrymen More observer than director, Li is concerned with how it feels to be in a particular environment. His lms are predicated on a sense of everyday social ux, providing some sense of China’s seething interior.

His thoughts actually came from his early experiences.

Li grew up in a military compound in Xinjiang, where he was born. His childhood environment was relatively secluded.

The rst time he went to the big city, he felt bewildered and lost.

“Actually I totally understand migrant workers; their isolation and alienation in urban areas resonates with mine,” he said.

After entering college, he focused on rural issues. Specically, he felt that he needed to portray convincing stories of real people, such as of construction workers, security guards, baby-sitters, waiters, and cleaners.

After graduating from the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts in 2003, he tried to make feature lms.

Before nding his current posi-

tion in the International Division of Shaanxi TV Station, he taught art at rural elementary school in rural area.

During his two years as teacher, he found that the people around him were quite easygoing and hospitable.

“I never gave up my dream of shooting a feature-length lm that provokes others to pay attention to rural issues,” Li said. “I collected many stories.”

“A documentary is able to unveil the lives of vulnerable people,” he said. “It was easy for me to communicate with them.”

In the following years, Li produced many programs and documentaries about China, including Brave Father (2007), which depicts traditional parenting in China.

But later he expanded it to expose the social problems hidden underneath the surface.

Messy life goes on What’s striking about Where Should I Go is its presentation, which examines and scrutinizes without judging.

The movement of people from one place or occupation to another is a metaphor for the larger radical changes happening around them.

“From my works you can see that I’m not concerned about the city or the countryside specically; it’s where they meet that intrigues me,” Li said. “The environmental and mental changes those migrants go through inspires me.”

One is left with a deep feeling of irrevocable change only heightened by the confusion caused by the spread of modernization.

While the bitter experiences convince some to return home, others remain, determined to make it in the big city.

January 25 2013

By Annie Wei With a new subway station nearby and convenient location close to Gulou East Avenue, Wudaoying, Guozijian and Guijie (food streets) near, Beixinqiao is the new area for food and Beijing folk life.

Panda Brewpub – the smallest craft beer house

This craft beer costs 40 yuan per pint.

CFP Photo

Rice noodle, 10 yuan Photos by An Jianguo

Longyuantang – inexpensive Guangxi food

Achunjia – expensive buns

Achunjia is a new restaurant chain that sells Jiangsu snacks, especially CFP Photo shengjianbao (starting from 18 yuan for two, depending on the llings), stuffed buns with sesame seeds at the bottom of the bun, pan-fried to a golden brown; and xiaolongbao, pork-lled buns stuffed with meat (crabmeat is the most popular lling).

Many customers have complained that it’s a bit expensive compared to other bun places, but Achunjia offers much nicer ambiance. It has an open kitchen and big window walls.

Diners from southern China also said the food was quite authentic.

Achunjia Where: Next to Exit C of Beixinqiao Subway, Dongcheng District Open: 6409 3380 Tel: 10:30 am – 9:30 pm

Editor: Wei Ying Designer: Zhao Yan

Tucked in the alley behind Xiang’er and Tu’erhutong, the renovated courtyard Longyuantang has been providing Guangxi food at walletfriendly prices for nearly 10 years.

Before, there was a pebble path through a small bamboo garden. The restaurant has been re-decorated, offering a sofa table and small areas for group dining.

Food prices remain reasonable. Mifen, rice noodle, starts at 10 yuan; and vegetables, like stir-fried lily roots with fermented bean curd, costs 18 yuan.

Its new menu has many Guangxi-style hotpots, such as spicy sh with fermented bamboo shoots (68 yuan). Fermented bamboo shoots are the classic Guangxi Zhuang ethnic dish, with its pungent and sour avor. It can mix with many things, and pairs when fried with rice noodles, beef or pork intestines.

Longyuantang Where: 6 Xiang’erHutong, Dongcheng District Open: 9 am – 2 pm, 5-10 pm Tel: 8404 9502

BEIJING TODAY

Co-owner Pan Dinghao at Panda Brewpub

With the craft beer boom in Beijing, more pubs and beer houses have begun stocking higher-quality drinks. Beer Mania, Heaven’s Supermarket, Great Leap Brewing and Slow Boat are some well known examples, but now we can add Panda Brewpub to the list.

The place is co-owned by Pan Dinghao, a 28 year-old Shanxi man and beer brewer.

He was studying auto engineering in Canada from 2005 to 2010 when he a friend introduced him into the world of home brewing.

After returning to Beijing, Pan worked his family business selling fertilizer, but soon realized there was more demand for something else: delicious beer.

As a member of the Beijing Home Brewer Society, Pan decided to start a small brew house because he wanted to make quality craft beer to share with the public.

“Some home brewers don’t have the chance to live abroad for years and spend a lot of time trying different handcraft beers,” Pan said.

“It’s like cooking. You can cook a Western dish by reading the recipes but you have no idea what it should taste like.”

Many customers said Pan’s brews might be the best in town so far.

On a Tuesday night, only two avors were available: ginger-avor ale and a dark porter. Each cost 40 yuan per pint.

Pan said his ideal was to offer six avors at the same time, including honey, IPA and fruity ones.

“I tried to make seasonal fruit avors and I used grapefruit last time,” Pan said, “but I think grapefruit is not ideal for beer because it’s not sour enough.”

“They ran out so fast,” Pan said. So normally when a customer drops in, the pub only has two or three avors.

But you can also try something from Pan’s selection of imported craft beer (30 to 45 yuan per small bottle).

Pan plans to increase the pub’s brewing capacity and hopes to expand the venue before summer arrives.

The “panda” name comes from a character in World of Warcraft, the popular online game. “It’s the most distinguishing Chinese element in the game,” Pan said. In the game, the panda is also a beer brewer.

Panda Brewpub Where: 20 meters from BeixinqiaoToutiao, the rst hutong from Exit B of Beixingqiao Subway Station.

Open: 6 pm – midnight

Spicy rice tofu, 18 yuan

Food

The prosperity in Beixinqiao

7

January 25 2013

Shopping

8

Godfather of vintage in China

By Annie Wei For more than 20 years, Liang Tian, a 43-year-old Tianjin man, has caught attention while walking on the street.

His appeal is his long hair and Japanese hipster style, considered “weird” and “alternative” a decade ago.

Meanwhile, his work was purchasing and selling vintage apparel.

In 2009, Liang nally decided to move his store to Beijing, “where more people like vintage and can afford collecting it,” he said.

Liang’s interest in vintage culture began when he was a kid growing up around Nankai University and hanging out with the Japanese students there.

For him, vintage became not just a fashion but his life.

The value is in the history, Liang said.

Each item has a design background and story behind the materials and techniques in making it. “You can only feel that when you hold them in your hands,” he said.

He has no idea how many items he’s LV bag made in the owned.

1980s “I am not picky with where I live or what I eat,” he said. He does not smoke, drink, gamble or spend money chasing women.

He leads a low-carbon lifestyle. “When I am home, I only eat bread and yogurt and things you don’t need to cook.”

His hair has never been cut for nearly 20 years, and it almost drops to the oor.

“I wash it once every two weeks in the hair salon,” he said.

When Wayne Gregory, founder and designer of US backpack brand Gregory, came to Beijing in April 2012, he was surprised to know that Liang has hundreds of Gregory bags.

Wedge shoes popular among rock bands

A vintage leather jacket starts at 1,500 yuan Photos by An Jianguo/Yang Ke

One bag Liang collected was a hunter’s customized order to Gregory in the 1980s. The designer made only two at that time.

Liang spent $600 (3,700 yuan) on one bag. A Japanese collector offered him 10,000 yuan for it, but Liang refused.

He’s collected vintage items from all over the world, but his favorites are from the US and Japan, where there is lots of variety.

“The best are in [the Japanese] hands,” Liang said. Vintage apparel is like art or an antique collection, transferred from one person to another.

Liang has two agents, one living in US and the other in Japan. “When I go through the foreign vintage sites and see something I like, I ask them to bid on it for me first,” Liang said.

His store is hidden in an alley between Di’anmen and Houhai.

“I like the way it’s hidden,” Liang said.

“It looks like a secondhand bike store.

Interesting, right?”

When a customer wants something, he or she will set up an appointment in advance.

His clientele is also different from the other vintage stores. “Most of my buyers know what kind of vintage pieces they are interested in,” Liang said.

How to buy: Anyone interested can contact Liang Wei through his SinaWeibo: weibo.com/u/2620901307.

A corner inside Liang Wei’s store

BEIJING TODAY

Editor: Wei Ying Designer: Zhao Yan

Liang Wei’s vintage store

Liang Wei posing for Size magazine

Photo by Yang Ke