Shifting Gender Landscapes in the Middle Kingdom
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SEPTEMBER 2018
城市漫步珠 三角英文版 09月份
that’s PRD 《城市漫步》珠江三角洲 英文月刊
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发行 Circulation: 李若琳 Li Ruolin
Editor-in-Chief Matthew Bossons 马特 Shenzhen Editor Adam Robbins Shenzhen Digital Editor Bailey Hu 胡亦梦 Senior Staff Writer Tristin Zhang 张岳烽 National Arts Editor Erica Martin Contributors Paul Barresi, Yannick Faillard, Lena Gidwani, Winnie Jin, Ned Kelly, Mia Li, Erica Martin, Noelle Mateer, Dominic Ngai, Bridget O'Donnell, Pete Reilly, Zhuorui Wang, Dominique Wong
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Distribution across the Pearl River Delta: 63,000 copies
Editor's Note
SEPTEMBER 2018
WIN
During my tenure at That’s PRD, we’ve covered a number of troubling incidents of sexual assault and harassment. Most recently, in July, we reported on Sun Yat-sen
University’s decision to remove Zhang Peng from the classroom after allegations of
sexual misconduct were brought against him. Over the past seven years, the 40-yearold professor is believed to have sexually harassed at least nine students and col-
leagues.
While the #metoo movement got its start in America thanks to the high-profile
accusations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, China’s fledging movement has grown and developed via an entirely different path. On pages 36-45, read about the victims and activists that are working to raise awareness about sexual misconduct and abuse in China.
In our City section, we discuss the development of water-soluble plastic bags
(page 9) and take a look at the winning shots by Chinese photographers at the 2018 iPhone Photography Awards (page 12).
While summer vacation may now be over, I’m of the belief that the best months
for travel in South China are now upon us (the temperatures from September-
We’re giving away tickets to some of the very best events in the Pearl River Delta, alongside a host of free meals and other goodies. Follow our official WeChat feeds and sign up for our weekly newsletter for your chance to win major prizes! To stay up to date, visit www.thatsmags. com or scan the QR codes below and follow our WeChat accounts.
November are much more agreeable). To this end, we’ve profiled an awesome week-
end getaway to Miaowan Island (page 21), a relaxing and picturesque retreat located off the coast of Zhuhai.
Before I sign off, I’d like to take a minute to thank everyone who voted in, sup-
ported and/or attended our 2018 That’s Hospitality Awards, which were held on
August 30 at the Conrad Guangzhou. The event was a memorable one, and you can see
ThatsGuangzhou
highlights from the awards ceremony online at thatsmags.com.
ThatsShenzhen
Matthew Bossons Editor-in-Chief
Hourly updates on news, current affairs and general weirdness from around the PRD and China. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
facebook.com/ThatsPRD twitter.com/ThatsPRD youtube.com/thatsonline #THATSPRD
4 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 5
36 COVER STORY
8 CITY
WOMEN IN CHINA
9 DISSOLVING DEBRIS
Shifting gender landscapes in the Middle Kingdom. .
Water-soluble plastic bags to begin production in Guangdong.
12 MOBILE ART Winning shots from Chinese photographers at the 2018 iPhone Photography Awards.
19 KAI-LI MA Model, TV presenter and founder of Mopsi.
21 DAYTRIPPER
62 EVENTS
THE WRAP
18 LIFE & STYLE
SZ
Exploring Miaowan Island.
SEPT 15 NHL China Game
26 ARTS
SZ
27 RENÉ BALCER Director of Above the Drowning Sea. 34 CHINA MUSIC CORNER
SEPT 26
Two new homegrown albums on our radar this month.
Kesha: Rainbow Tour
HK
50 EAT & DRINK
SEPT 19 The Killers MO
51 BATTLE OF THE BURGERS Two fast food joints go head to head.
57 TEQO
Taking tequila and tacos to the CBD. 6 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
SEPT 28-OCT 28 Macau International Music Festival
CITY
Mobile Art
Winning shots from the 2018 iPhone Photography Awards , p12
Sexless Life P10 8 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
Bitcoin Bust? P16
TALES OF THE CITY
DISSOLVING DEBRIS
Water-Soluble Plastic Bags to Begin Production in Guangdong By Matthew Bossons
T
ake a stroll along just about any beach in the world and our civilization’s troubling relationship with plastic comes into sharp focus. According to a 2015 study conducted by the peer-reviewed academic journal Science, a staggering 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans each year. To put this number in perspective, it’s equivalent to five grocery bags full of rubbish for every foot of shoreline on our planet. Scary stuff, right? This month, however, we are happy to report that a local company, Guangdong Polymat, is preparing to ramp up production of a water-soluble plastic bag.
The bags are made with polyvinyl alcohol which, according to a report by GRT Radio, dissolves in water within five minutes. An odorless substance, polyvinyl alcohol is nontoxic and extensively used in products for the freshwater sport fishing industry. The environmentallyfriendly bags recently debuted at a press conference held by Chilean company Solu Bag, who are working with Guangdong Polymat to promote the product in Chile after a national ban on plastic bags there went into effect on August 3. At the media event, Solu Bag General Manager Roberto
Astete reportedly drank water that contained dissolved bags, presumably in an effort to demonstrate the safety of polyvinyl alcohol. According to GRT Radio, it’s anticipated the bags will begin mass production by the end of this year in the Guangdong city of Qingyuan, roughly an hour's
drive from Guangzhou. Based on the amount of debris that finds its way into the Pearl River – and then onto Shenzhen’s struggling coral reefs – we hope these new water-soluble bags go into use in South China’s convenience and grocery stores in the near future.
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 9
THE BUZZ RANDOM NUMBER
50
The percentage of people born in the 1990s who say they have no sex life, according to a recently released survey of Chinese internet users. TryFun, an online adult product company owned by NetEase, conducted a survey of 4,000 users born in the 1980s and 1990s. The results were released in a 54-page report titled ‘2018 China Sex Report of the ’80s & ’90s Generations.’ Of the 4,000 respondents, 54 percent reported having sex at least once a week, while 50 percent of respondents born in the 1990s reported having no sex at all. In contrast, 40 percent of the post-1980s generation are having sex at least twice a week. The sexualactivity report also revealed that the higher one’s income is, the higher the chance that he or she will have sex on a weekly basis. See more results from the survey by scanning the QR code.
DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?
Su Ayhan
The 26-year-old economics graduate from Turkey went viral last month after being totally stumped on a gameshow question about the location of the Great Wall of China. In the short clip from the Turkish edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Ayhan struggled to answer what seemed like a pretty easy question: “Where is the Great Wall of China?” The answer options provided were China, India, South Korea and Japan. Surprisingly, Ayhan used not one, but two lifelines on the question. Following the backlash, Ayhan said: “I could use my lifelines whenever I wanted.” Watch the video by scanning the QR code.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“These girls are too young for this” So wrote one netizen after images of a three-hour spa for children went viral online. This kids’ spa, which can be found at Shanghai’s Twinkle Premium Kids Cafe, is like a dream come true for anyone who likes to be pampered. Sitting in an environment reminiscent of a Disney princess movie, each child wears a pink bathrobe and enjoys a relaxing footbath while sipping a glass of grape juice. Social media users, however, weren’t impressed. Many argued that spending RMB218 to give a child a three-hour treatment would encourage ‘Princess Syndrome’ – a popular term in China used to refer to women who indulge in egocentrism and materialism. See more photos of the spa by scanning the QR code.
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E D I T O R . P R D @ U R B A N A T O M Y. C O M
gangjing / gàng jīng / 杠精 noun. People who argue for the sake of arguing; usually young people who argue in order to feel a sense of intellectual superiority. I love visiting the jianbing stand on my street corner every morning.
They are super oily and horrible for you. You might as well just drink oil. I don't want to argue with you if you are going to be a gangjing. Whatever you say is right. It's impossible for whatever I say to be right all the time. You are wrong again. Whatever, bye.
Everyone goes through a phase in their youth where they want to be seen as ‘edgy.’ In China, where much emphasis is given to social harmony and group consensus, vocally dissenting is a way for youngsters to achieve that. In fact, so many young people are now cultivating their contrarian image that others are calling them out on it – by calling them gangjing, loosely translated as ‘argument prodigy.’ You can find them in forums, on Zhihu, or in the comment section of news articles, arguing against other commenters. Unlike Internet trolls, who would say anything to start an argument, gangjing believe their own opposing views, putting their foot down and arguing earnestly. (How else could you be a true contrarian?) Their arguments come in bullet points, complete with links to academic papers, footnotes and sometimes full bibliographies. It’s easy to imagine them behind their laptop screens, sipping soy lattes while reveling in the superior feeling of being the only one who sees the truth at a time when everyone else is misinformed. They are the elite minority, so very edgy and cool. (And intellectual!) This feeling of superiority is so addictive that they scour online discussions just to find the next thing they can disprove. If any opinion presented online has any arguable facts or generalization, gangjing will find them and point them out. And so the cycle continues. The more popular a certain point of view gets, the more satisfaction a gangjing derives from opposing it. Therefore, the place you’ll find the most of them is in the comment section of popular think pieces, such as WeChat posts with thousands of likes. The fact that China is full of inherent contradictions, compounded with the posttruth world we live in, makes it easy to find arguments against every valid opinion. We are living in the heyday of gangjing. The best ways to handle gangjing are to (1) ignore them, or (2) agree with them. The latter is sure to annoy them most of all. Mia Li
CITY SNAPSHOT
Remembering Dr. Sun This month’s featured Instagram image comes to us from Ricky Chang, a freelance photographer from Shandong who currently resides in Beijing. Chang captured the above image of Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall back in November of 2016, while he was visiting the city with a group of traveling musicians. For more captivating photography from across China, follow Chang on Instagram (@rickychangphotography). WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 11
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WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 15
CIT Y | F E AT URE
COIN TOSS
by Noelle Mateer, additional reporting by Dominique Wong
n 2016, Beijing was leading the global bitcoin industry. That same year, I opened a virtual bitcoin wallet.
Then, in early 2018, it asked ‘exchange-like’ services to close, and in February, the government placed even foreign cryptocurrency exchanges behind the Great Firewall.
While I haven’t touched my bitcoin since then – I’ve checked in on it monthly, watching it swing from USD50 to over USD700 and back down to USD500. For me, the drama is contained within an app on my phone. But for those working in bitcoin, the highs and lows play out in real time. And that time moves quickly.
The excitement among early bitcoin adopters was palpable. “Before, I had a terrible desk job, and it was boring, but this is exciting,” Eric Mu, of China-based HaoBTC, had told me. “The future is infinite.” Meanwhile, Nishant Sharma, of Beijing-based mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain, referred to Beijing as “the Silicon Valley of the world when it comes to bitcoin.”
I was not planning on investing. But I was writing about cryptocurrencies for this magazine, and so I opened a CoinBase account. Later, a friend asked if he could pay me back in bitcoin for some beers and snacks I’d bought him. I shrugged, and he sent me a tiny fraction of one bitcoin – the value of one case of beer and three donkey burgers. It’s now worth over USD500.
“Bitcoin time distorts things,” says Neil Woodfine, director of enterprise solutions for a bitcoin-based payment startup, when I catch up with him this year. I’m asking him to give me a timeline of all the changes that have occurred for bitcoin in China, since we last spoke in 2016. “First there were the exchange investigations, and then the exchanges got closed down…” Bitcoin is a fully decentralized digital currency, which means that no one government controls it (instead, the underlying technology of bitcoin, known as the blockchain, runs on an algorithm). China can, however, regulate the businesses that work with it – and changes began in September 2017, when the People’s Bank of China banned exchanges converting bitcoin to renminbi.
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What Happened to China’s Bitcoin Boom?
These changes have resulted in a dramatic transformation for China’s once-booming bitcoin industry. China was once home to the largest, most powerful bitcoin exchanges in the world. In 2016, 93 percent of all bitcoin trades were with renminbi, and the Beijingbased OKCoin facilitated 76 percent of these transactions.
“Previously, it looked like China was being fairly friendly,” says Woodfine. “I never imagined the exchanges would get closed down.” When they were asked to close, he says, “It was a sudden realization that I don’t have a clue what’s going on.” These days, Woodfine finds it harder to run
F E AT URE | CIT Y
the Beijing Bitcoin Meetup he co-founded: “It’s very difficult to find speakers, because there’s not as many people passing through the country. [Before,] everyone was coming to visit OKCoin, Huobi… there was a lot of activity. Whereas now, there’s still a lot of activity going on in China, but it’s more under the radar.”
While changes have negatively impacted China’s bitcoin industry, cryptocurrencies continue to grow worldwide. The value of one bitcoin reached over USD17,000 at one point in December 2017, though it has dipped significantly since then. (At the time of print, the value was USD6,539.) The increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies has resulted in another global phenomenon: ICOs, or Initial Coin Offerings, which raise funds for new, unregulated cryptocurrency ventures (think IPO, but for digital currencies). In September, the People’s Bank of
China released a statement saying that all ICOs should be stopped immediately, and this February, the Chinese government said it would block access to all domestic and foreign ICO websites, according to the South China Morning Post. And yet, these projects still continue within China, according to Daisy Wu, who works in business development and as a CEO assistant at Xender, a China-based file transfer company that’s currently working on an ICO project. “A lot of big companies in China, even though they can’t publicize what they’re going to do with blockchain or ICO, they’re still doing it behind the scenes because they’re afraid of being left behind,” she says. “What if this whole thing pulls off and it becomes the next Internet era, and they hadn’t started to do this? It would be too late, right?” After all, China’s regulations may have stopped certain activities, but they haven’t shut down enthusiasm. Woodfine sees this firsthand at the bitcoin meetups he runs.
“We just organized an event, and we were oversubscribed three or four times,” he tells me. “We ran out of seats and had a bunch of people standing at the back of the room. And then there was a massive waiting list on Meetup[.com]. I was getting messages all week on WeChat from people who couldn’t get tickets.”
Woodfine isn’t the only one in China who remains enthusiastic about the future of cryptocurrency. Even Wu sees regulations against ICOs like her company’s in a positive light:
“It’s actually good news for us because, once the government starts to regulate [cryptocurrency], we see this as a sign of it going legal.” If there’s one Beijing-based bitcoin company that’s done well since 2016, it’s Bitmain, the world’s largest bitcoin mining hardware producer.
“Bitmain hasn’t been affected much [by China’s regulations] because Bitmain isn’t one of the exchanges. We make bitcoin mining machines, and we’re still doing that,” says Nishant Sharma, international marketing manager for the company. “Our business is only booming compared to 2016, because the price [of bitcoin] skyrocketed after that, and our sales volumes followed that price.” While the company he works for is doing well, Sharma does acknowledge that the environment for bitcoin-related companies in China has changed. When it comes to mines – warehouses full of computers specially-made to retrieve bitcoin from the global blockchain – fewer people are choosing to set up in China, “because of regulatory uncertainties.” Ultimately, he believes the epicenter of bitcoin innovation is moving elsewhere in the world – but that that’s okay, as it will spread the adoption of cryptocurrency globally. “I think my faith has solidified even further, because it’s picked up so much mainstream adoption,” he says, smiling.
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 17
LIFE
P HO T O E S S AY | CI T Y
CI T Y | P HO T O E S S AY
&
STYLE Curvaceous Top
Yuyao boutique hotel breathes the natural landscape into its rooms, p24
Wear the Dragon P20 1 8 | | SSZZ | | SSEEPPTTEEMMBBEERR 22001 188 | | WWWWWW. .TTHHAATTSSMMAAGGSS. .CCOOMM
So Shady P22
SPOTLIGHT
KAI-LI MA
Model, TV Presenter and Founder of Mopsi Ever since she was discovered by a modeling agency at the age of 13, Hamburg native KaiLi Ma has appeared in the TV commercials, billboard ads and fashion shows for some of the world’s biggest brands. Earlier this year, the Shanghai-based model established her own streetwear label Mopsi, which is named after an anti-social ‘Unipig’ that she created.
You began your modeling career at age 13. What was your first job like? A modeling agency owner approached me on the streets of my hometown when I was 13. I was very skeptical at first, but two weeks later, they booked me for my first job, where I played a tourist in an ad for the election. I later signed with an agency in Hamburg when I turned 17, and became a full-time model after I graduated from university. For models, are there any notable differences between working in China versus other countries?
The biggest difference is that, a lot of times, clients and agents in China don’t see the value of building a long-term relationship. They are just looking for ways to do things as cheaply as possible. However, there are some really cool benefits about working in China, too. As a freelancer, I have direct access to clients and don’t have to go through an agency like in other parts of the world. On top of that, it’s easier for me to branch out into other fields like producing, acting and hosting. What are some of the most memorable projects that you’ve done recently?
I just did a TVC for Nike that was directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, who also shot the movie Drive. It was one of the most exhausting and physically demanding shoots I have ever done because I had to sprint through little alleyways for three days straight, which
“Mopsi is the perfect representation of me” translated to just 1.5 seconds on screen. But the outcome is totally worth the pain. You just launched your own streetwear brand, Mopsi. What’s the inspiration behind it?
I have always worked in fashion but have always been particularly drawn to streetwear. My inspirations come from my ’90s upbringing. All the products I have made, my art direction and the brand voice are directly influenced by my own personal taste and style. Can you tell us about Mopsi the Unipig, and how you came up with it?
Pigs are my spirit animal. Three years ago, I designed a ‘Unipig’ (a unicorn-pig hybrid) to use as a tattoo on my ankle, and I later realized it also works really well as a brand logo. Mopsi is a human-hating, misanthropic Unipig. She is the perfect representation of me.
How has your experience as a model helped in the process of developing your own brand? I have worked with many brands over the years, so I’ve been able to see how they operate and their ways of doing business. Combining my modeling experience and my MBA degree in fashion, I’m taking everything that I learned to develop Mopsi in my own way, while trying to stay as authentic as possible by making only items that I would personally wear and love. What’s next for the brand?
We’ve got our pop-up launch party on Sep 8 at Kaffiend on Fengxian Lu. Then, we’ll be hitting new retail spaces and markets and rolling out some new products in the fall. See Kai-Li’s portfolio and clips at kaili.info; Visit mopsitheunipig.com to see her products.
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 19
STYLE RADAR UNDER THE LENS
COVET
Cristiano Ronaldo Goes ‘Sneaker Shopping’ in Beijing
Supreme’s Dragon Work Jacket
During his China publicity tour for Nike last month, Ronaldo filmed an episode of Sneaker Shopping at Beijing’s Stadium Goods. During the show, which aired on August 14, the world-renowned Portuguese footballer shared stories behind some of the sneakers he owned as a kid, and how they inspired his recent collaborations with the Swoosh. In the end, the world’s highest-paid athlete made it rain and picked up seven pairs of shoes (all Nikes and Air Jordans, of course) for a whopping total of RMB23,498.
Like previous seasons, New York streetwear brand Supreme’s FW18 collection release caused another stir in the fashion world. One of the most eye-catching pieces this time around is the Chinese-inspired ‘dragon work jacket’ featuring a large embroidered dragon that wraps around the front, back and sleeves of the coat. Available in black and red (with matching pants too!), these are available on the brand’s online store (and probably on Taobao soon). > supremenewyork.com
> https://v.qq.com/x/page/b0756oop8yp.html
OVERHEARD
“[We] have reached a mutual agreement to an early termination” … says Topshop in a written statement about their partnership with ShangPin. In early August, various news outlets reported that the British fashion label’s partnership with the Beijing luxury retailer had come to an end, meaning their plans to open 80 brick-and-mortar stores across the Chinese mainland will no longer be happening. This short-lived working relationship began in 2014 when Topshop first sold its products on ShangPin.com, and later also via Tmall. Topshop’s August 9 statement says its China-based customers will still be able to make purchases via these ecommerce channels until Nov 30, but they’ll have to turn to Topshop.com and Topman.com thereafter. The statement adds that the company still considers China a hugely significant market for development, and is currently exploring opportunities to further grow the brands here.
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E D I T O R . P R D @ U R B A N A T O M Y. C O M
DAYTRIPPER
Miaowan Island
T
ake a one-hour fast train from Guangzhou, followed by an hour-long swaying ferry ride and another heart-pounding hour on a speed boat and you’ll find yourself on the scenic island of Miaowan, which translates roughly to ‘temple bay.’ Resting to the southeast of Macau, and about 25 nautical miles from Hong Kong, Miaowan Island is a small plot of land in the South China Sea that is renowned for its pristine beaches and azure water. Under the administrative control of Zhuhai (a city rightly known as the ‘city with a hundred islands’), the island has attracted mainlanders over the past decade looking to escape the craziness of urban life for a secluded retreat. Deserved or not, Miaowan’s
plentiful natural resources have earned it the moniker ‘China’s Maldives.’ There to capitalize on the island’s marine goodies is a small population of Cantonesespeaking fisherman (roughly two dozen households). Small businesses are run by the local population in Maiowan Village, which sits on a rock outcrop that is connected to the main island via a concrete bridge. Amid the barking of dogs and the whistle of seagulls, villagers set up their metal-mesh fish traps, using a mixture of bread, shrimp and fish, on the quay. Near the shoreline, a beacon built in 1884 by the British draws the attention of selfie snapping tourists. The sandy surface of the beach is littered with visitors and tents are
pitched before the clear waters of the island, where swimming, snorkeling and sea urchin scavenging are all underway. Fishing is allowed on Miaowan Island and the coral reefs off the coast are home to an array of tropical fish species. If you don’t have cooking equipment to cook your catch, restaurants run by hospitable islanders will prepare your seafood for a reasonable price. Scuba diving courses are available and are run by a licensed dive instructor who moonlights as a server at a local restaurant. Paying RMB100-200 for a meal at one of the island’s eateries may seem steep, but it’s worth noting that some of South China’s freshest and cleanest seafood is served here – and it’s well worth a sample. In addition to food, restaurants also rent out tents at RMB150 per night. Hostels with air conequipped rooms range from RMB200-300, though electricity is only generated at night and a cool, fresh water shower will cost you an additional RMB10. It’s recommended to visit the island in September or
October, when the threat of typhoons diminishes. Remember to bring sunscreen, mosquito repellent and trash bags. Also, perhaps most importantly, cell phone service here is nonexistent, so prepare for a social media detox. TZ
How to get there: From Guangzhou: Take a fast train Guangzhou South to Zhuhai Station. Once you arrive in Zhuhai, you’ll need to take a ferry from Xiangzhou Port or Hengqin Port to Dongao Island, from which you’ll transfer to a speed boat for the remaining leg of the journey to Miaowan. From Shenzhen: Ferries to Dongao Island, a transfer point en route to Miaowan, are available at Shekou Port in Shenzhen.
*Book a two-day trip to Miaowan Island in advance on zh-piao.com (0756-860 9991).
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 21
LIFE & STYLE | FASHION
gucci RMB2,600, gucci.cn
gentle monster RMB2,010, gentlemonster.com
MAJOR Complete Your Look with These Larger than Life Sunglasses Compiled by Dominic Ngai
ray ban RMB1,380, ray-ban.com
zara RMB159, zara.cn
her
louis vuitton RMB4,700, louisvuitton.cn
22 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
FASHION | LIFE & STYLE
HIM
henrik vibskov RMB4,150, farfetch.cn
gentle monster RMB1,880, gentlemonster.com
SHADES Bored of the good old-fashioned aviators? These funky-looking designer sunglasses will surely allow you to stand out from the crowd.
zara
RMB199, zara.cn
louis vuitton RMB4,300, louisvuitton.cn
gentle monster RMB1,620, gentlemonster.com
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 23
LIFE & STYLE | ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
CURVACEOUS TOP
This Yuyao Boutique Hotel Breathes the Natural Landscape into Its Rooms Words by Dominic Ngai, Photos by Chen Hao and Song Xiaodan
Project name: Yuyao Treewow Tribe Location: Yuyao, Zhejiang Area: 80 square meters Design company: Monoarchi The brief: With its gentle green slopes, bamboo forests and calming river sounds, Yuyao’s Siming Mountain is an idyllic location for a weekend getaway for urban dwellers. As such, a Shanghai-based architecture firm was enlisted to design the Yuyao Treewow Tribe, a two-story treehouse-like boutique hotel at the base of the mountain, where guests can relax and soak in the nature. > monoarchi.com
The 8-meter-tall circular structure is composed of a wooden structure on top, supported by steel columns in the lower half. Part of the wooden platform is ‘floating’ above a nearby creek and overlooks an old tea factory across the river. 24 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN | LIFE & STYLE
Fifty-seven trusses of different thickness and lengths are installed around the base of the building to support the curvy roof.
The curvy roof was designed to maximize the connection between the property’s interior space and its surroundings. From the ground-floor living room to the bedroom upstairs, guests can enjoy a 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains and bamboo forest through different windows and balconies.
The rooftop balcony offers a panoramic view of the natural landscape.
In addition to framing the picturesque scenery, the design of the roof provides privacy for guests.
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ARTS Maybe Noise
The avant-garde new label seeks innovation in all its forms, p32
Sino Celeb P29 26 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
Nordic Sunshine P30
DRUMROLL
RENÉ BALCER
Director of Above the Drowning Sea Interview by Yannick Faillard
Above the Drowning Sea, a new documentary by René Balcer and Nicola Zavaglia, highlights the escape of European Jews from Nazicontrolled Europe to Shanghai on the eve of World War II. At the center of the film are the Jewish survivors, the welcoming people of Hongkou and Ho Feng Shan, the Chinese consul in Vienna who issued Chinese visas for refugees. Balcer, who’s best known as the head writer and executive producer of Law & Order, tells us about his latest venture into the documentary genre, and why the heroism depicted in Above the Drowning Sea is more relevant than ever today. Why did you branch off from TV writing to documentaries? I actually started my career making documentaries and branched off into feature films and television some 30 years ago. Of late, I felt drawn back to documentaries for the creative freedom it affords me.
What are some differences in directing and writing for a fictional show like Law & Order versus a documentary? The biggest difference is, in documentaries, you don’t really control anything. Your interview subjects don’t work for you, so you are completely at the mercy of their schedule. You are riding a wild tiger for the entire production. What do you personally think sets your film apart from others?
Our documentary gives people hope and a direction. An African artist once told me that you can make art that shows people as what they are, but you can also make art that shows people as what they could be. Our film falls into the latter category. Above the Drowning Sea documents a part of history not known by many. Why did you take on this subject? My wife’s family is from Shanghai. She
“The actions of a single person can change history” learned this story from her parents, and I learned it from her. When we first visited Shanghai in the ’90s, one of the places we went to was Hongkou and what is now the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. Back then, it was simply a repository for archives presided over by a Mr. Wang, who had lived in the area during the war and knew the story of the refugees firsthand. Why was Shanghai a viable option for refugees fleeing from Nazi-occupied Vienna?
Because Shanghai was in the midst of a civil war and a foreign invasion, there was no one in charge of checking the visas and passports of new arrivals. Shanghai was an ‘open’ city – if you could get there, you could get in. But because of Nazi regulations, you could not leave Austria without a visa from a country willing to take you, nor could you buy a boat ticket without such a visa. Luckily, the Chinese consul in Vienna, Ho Feng Shan, defied his own government and began to issue visas to the refugees. What were relations like between local residents and the refugees?
The residents of Hongkou felt that the refugees were in the same ‘soup’ as them: they were poor and struggling to survive. It should also be noted that anti-Semitism was unknown in China, so the Shanghainese had
no reason to persecute the Jews – in fact they felt a kind of kinship with these refugees: just as they themselves were being persecuted by their Japanese occupiers, the Jews had been persecuted by the Nazis.
Was giving Ho Feng Shan the recognition that he deserves a reason for shooting this documentary? We felt that his actions should be celebrated, and they could serve as inspiration for anyone who might be inclined to do something about the current refugee crisis, but might feel that one individual can’t have much impact. Ho serves as a reminder that the actions of a single person can change history. How relevant is this episode in history to us today?
The lessons of the Shanghai Jewish refugee experience are as relevant now as they were then. In 1938, no country wanted these refugees for a variety of reasons, many of them racial. At the time, American president Franklin Roosevelt warned that there may be spies and saboteurs among the refugees. Echoes of these anti-refugee sentiments are heard in the speeches (and tweets) of the current American president, and in the pronouncements of certain European leaders. abovethedrowningsea.com
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018| SZ | 27
COLL AGE COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU
Pelé: The Birth of a Legend
SEPTEMBER 8
The producers of Friday Night Lights and Apollo 13 gave us fast footwork and a Brazillian backdrop with the biographical film Pelé. The movie tells the true story of the legendary footballer who was instrumental in Brazil’s 1958 FIFA World Cup win. Touching on heavy themes like patriotism and class politics, the film chronicles Pelé’s journey to becoming one of the most famous athletes of all time while documenting major events that shaped Brazil’s political and social landscape over the 20th century.
SEPTEMBER 8
Alpha: The Wolf’s Way Home
Set in prehistoric times, Alpha tells the story of a young boy named Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who meets an injured wolf and nurses it back to health. No longer with their original tribes, the two form their own pack and brave the harshness of the Ice Age together. Keda’s journey into manhood is marked by this unlikely friendship, wide vistas and life-threatening animal encounters in a coming of age film unlike any other.
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TRANSCRIBED
“I want the ministry of broadcasting to boycott and punish you accordingly!” … says an enraged Weibo user regarding Fan Bingbing’s alleged tax evasion scandal. Earlier this summer, the Qingdao-born actress was accused of signing what’s known as a ‘yin-yang contract,’ an illegal but common practice that splits an actor’s or actress’ exorbitant salary in order to avoid paying taxes. In response to the growing concerns over the film industry’s financial dealings, video streaming platforms Youku, Tencent Video and iQiyi have recently announced a cap on how much they’ll be paying their actors. In the future, no more than 40 percent of the production budget of their movies or TV series will go toward onscreen talents. While a cap on salaries might hinder the casting process for upcoming projects, only time will tell whether these measures will have a positive effect on the movie industry’s growth.
HAO BU HAO
Hao Hong Kong will be sending their first female artist to the 2019 Venice Biennale. Based in Los Angeles, Shirley Tse is well known for her process-based themed projects spanning multiple disciplines such as installations, photography and video. The Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts recipient will work with curator Christina Li for the Italian exhibition, which will be on view from May through to November of 2019. Let’s hear it for the ladies.
Bu Hao
Several Chinese app stores said goodbye to Bilibili last month when the anime-centric video platform was temporarily removed for inappropriate content and “internal optimization,” according to the Xiaomi app store. Prior to its Irish exit, Bilibili had been publicly criticized for sexually explicit content, explicit language and the suggestion of inappropriate relationships between family members. While many voiced their concerns with the platform’s content regulation, a majority of its 100 million plus registered users were disappointed by its disappearance and hoped for its quick return. Following the removal, the company announced that it has established a new content review facility in Wuhan, and plans to open a third later this year. The app’s disappearance didn’t affect users that had already downloaded it, but Bilibili’s sudden removal elicited a 10 percent stock plummet on Nasdaq just hours later, and speaks to the difficulty that content regulation poses for social platforms in China.
E D I T O R . P R D @ U R B A N A T O M Y. C O M
SINO CELEB
WHAT’S NEW
Five Facts About Comedian Huang Bo
If you didn’t catch him in his latest flick (The Island) or on this year’s CCTV New Year’s Gala, you’ve probably spotted comedian Huang Bo peddling used cars: “Renrenche secondhand car direct sales start NOW!” Here’s how he went from singer to star to shouting slogans through a megaphone. Huang’s entertainment career started early: as a precocious middle schooler, he began singing in bars and later formed his own band, Blue Sandstorm. As a young actor, Huang struggled, once getting only 12 words in the 2001 TV series Black Hole. Huang’s breakout film was the award-winning comedy Crazy Stone (2006). It was followed by Crazy Racecar two years later, with a second sequel – Crazy Alien – slated for an early 2019 release. Some pundits dubbed 2013 ‘The Year of Huang Bo’ for his multiple prominent film appearances, including a starring role in Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West. Huang is known primarily for his down-to-earth comedic talent as well as his ability to pull in ticket sales in “the age of xiaoxianrou.”
Chinese Captain The story of Chinese pilot Liu Chuanjian is being made into a movie produced by Bona Film Group. The working title? You guessed it: Chinese Captain. The Sichuan Airlines aviator made headlines this past May when he safely landed a plane with a broken windshield and his co-pilot partially sucked out of the cockpit. Liu has been compared to Captain Sully, the American pilot who successfully landed a plane on the Hudson River in 2009, and the incident was later made into a movie starring Tom Hanks as the protagonist. While they’ve yet to announce who will be playing Liu, it’s safe to assume that it won’t be the two-time Academy Award winner. (Sorry Tom).
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ARTS | MUSIC
NORDIC SUNSHINE Swedish Rock Band The Royal Concept on Their Evolving Sound and Returning to China By Dominic Ngai
30 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
MUSIC | ARTS
O
n a warm, sunny afternoon, a group of jovial young men and women are seen diving into a swimming pool and dancing their way into night. Fireworks are set off and the party continues on a dancefloor, with confetti raining down on them. In the background, heartbeat-like percussions, dreamy synthesizer and a powerful voice belts out some catchy lyrics, “We are young, we are one, let it shine for what it’s worth…” This is a scene from the music video of The Royal Concept’s 2013 hit single, ‘On Our Way’ – a song that was chosen by EA Sport’s FIFA 14 as part of the videogame’s soundtrack, and later covered by the cast of Glee in a season 5 episode. Such endorsements allowed the Stockholm-born fourpiece rock band’s signature youthful “sunny pop” sound with electronic elements to extend its reach way beyond Sweden, and into the TV and smartphone screens of millions of gamers and viewers. “That’s a big mystery for us, but we’re very happy about it,” says David Larson, The Royal Concept’s vocalist and guitarist, of their popularity halfway across the world in Asia. His energetic vocals, along with the captivating rhythms and beats courtesy of lead guitarist Filip Bekic, bassist Magnus Robert and drummer Povel Olsson, weave together a wall of sound that has been likened
to indie bands such as Phoenix, Foster the People and The Strokes – a comparison that Larson admits makes them “quite happy.” In particular, Larson counts the New York-based rock band as one of their biggest musical influences. “The Strokes were the best thing that happened when we were teenagers. They brought [guitar-driven, indie-rock sound] into the new millennium, which wasn’t an easy thing to do back in the late ’90s and early 2000s.” Around the same time, Larson met his bandmate, guitarist Filip Bekic, while they were attending a jazz high school in Stockholm. The duo later befriended Robert in college. “[The three of us] got so tired of being educated; the only thing we wanted to do was play rock-’n-roll. We felt like we needed to drop out of school, so we did,” Larson told Interview magazine in 2012. Olsson came on board shortly thereafter as an album producer, and eventually joined as the band’s final member. The foursome’s first album, Goldrushed, was released in 2013, and included hits like ‘On Our Way,’ ‘D-D-Dance,’ and ‘Damn.’ “Goldrushed reflected our youth,” Larson says, reflecting upon their humble beginnings. “The music was happy, danceable pop songs with lyrics about being
[Our new album] is definitely the richest and dreamiest music we’ve made
hopelessly in love with the wrong girl.” The Royal Concept’s sophomore release, a five-track EP titled Smile, came in 2015. “[Smile] was definitely influenced by our time living in Los Angeles. There’s something about the whole atmosphere with the sunshine and musical heritage,” explains Larson. While the hooks of some songs, such as the lead single ‘Fashion,’ remain as catchy as their earlier work, tracks like ‘Hurricane’ see the band experimenting with a heavier, groovier ’80s dance-pop vibe in the arrangements. After Smile, the band has been busy touring around the world. Just last summer, they completed an eight-city China tour, and one particular incident stood out to Larson as the most memorable. “We’re big fans of spicy food, so right before our Shenzhen show, we had dinner in a hotpot restaurant. That night, one of us (who shall remain anonymous) had to run off stage to the bathroom four times,” he jokes. When they were not on the road, however, the foursome had also been working on new material for their upcoming third album, which Larson says will be released this fall. He teases, “We let our imagination run a little further this time. It’s definitely the richest and dreamiest music we’ve made so far.” This month, The Royal Concept will be back in the Middle Kingdom for 10 shows, stopping off in major cities like Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan and Shanghai. For high school friends Larson and Bekic in particular, the relationship they’ve built over their entire musical career, as well as having the opportunity to discover the world together, is something very special. Looking back at their decades-long friendship, Larson notes, “From writing songs in my parents’ apartment, to forming the band and getting a record deal, to moving to the US and going on tour together… our dreams actually came true. And, we are still not tired of each other yet!” Thu Sept 20, 8.30pm; RMB120 students, RMB150 presale, RMB200 at the door. B10 Live, North side of Building C2, North Area, OCT-Loft, Xiangshan Dong Jie, Nanshan District 地址 南山区香山东街华侨城创意 文化园北区C2栋北侧B10现场
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ARTS | MUSIC
MAYBE NOISE
The Avant-Garde New Label Seeks Innovation in All Its Forms By Erica Martin
A
s a project years in the making by three of Beijing’s foremost underground artists, new record label Maybe Noise has already injected the city’s music scene with a healthy dose of controlled chaos. Maybe Noise began life in a different form nearly a decade ago, as an offshoot of major label Maybe Mars. This new version is an independent project run by Yan Yulong, the multi-instrumentalist frontman of Beijing psych-rock band Chui Wan, Zhang Shouwang, a composer and founding member of seminal Beijing rock band Carsick Cars, and Shengjie, a composer, audio/visual artist and founder of SHAN Studio. The trio is pooling their formidable talent to showcase “the best, most interesting, and most challenging compositions from Beijing’s avant-garde contemporary music scene,” according to their official announcement, with a focus on boundary-blurring and experimental endeavors. “Maybe Noise is not confined to any particular, fixed style of music,” explains Yan, whose ambitious Chui Wan album, The Landscape the Tropics Never Had, was one of last year’s best releases. “I think ‘experimental’ refers to the attitude of making music, while ‘avant-garde’ is about the theory and research behind it.” Further evidence toward Yan and Zhang’s essential role in music on a national scale is that they were both selected to perform last month with Welsh icon John Cale during his Shanghai performance for the Velvet Underground’s 50th anniversary show. Their electrifying renditions of ‘White Light / White Heat’ and the night’s closing song ‘Sister Ray’ 32 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
almost literally brought down the house, as audience members in the usually somber Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall streamed down from the balcony seats and rushed the stage to dance along. Amidst all these other projects, Maybe Noise launched in an official capacity back in May, with a performance of their debut vinyl release, Píng Zè (平仄) at the Magnet Theatre in Beijing. Performed by Zhang Shouwang on synthesizer and guitar and Yan Yulong on violin and guitar, the concert showcased the slippery, unsettling intensity of the label’s first output. “We actually worked on it for a long time,” says Yan of Píng Zè, which he and Zhang first performed in an earlier form back in 2012. “But the core elements were identified from the very beginning, such as long notes, randomness, and switching between harmonic and abrasive tones.” Shengjie, who creates much of the group’s visual and multimedia material and directs Yan and Zhang in their related performance group Maybe Ensemble, was behind the imagery and stage direction for the debut show. Her background in boundary-crossing art informs much of the trio’s most innovative goals for their first year of releases, with a special focus on collaboration with other underground artists. “In addition to our friends in Beijing, we also hope to be able to open the boundaries of performance through modern technology,” says Shengjie. “For example, a friend who is not in Beijing can send us one of his compositions, and we can play
his works here. Or, if the time is right, we can even make the composer virtually present by streaming an online video.” At the end of June, Maybe Mars dropped their second release, Chui Wan at the Museum, a recorded live performance at Beijing’s Minsheng Art Museum. It’s a far cry from Chui Wan’s usual psych-rock but retains what the album info calls “the slowflowing underground river that informs the band’s sound from the bottom up.” Tense and spare, with a somber drone and ritualistic drumming, the music’s paranoia factor was apparently heightened at the live show by a bat that had gotten trapped in the building and was flying about nervously as Chui Wan played. Next on their release list this summer is the first of a Maybe Noise Live series of collaborations. What’s most impressive about Maybe Noise is that the three artists, each of whom already waist-deep in multiple projects, have committed to pushing the city’s music scene toward further uncharted audio/visual territory. The works so far toe the line between instrumental and electronic music, testing the boundaries of organic instruments and their ability to create an array of unconventional sounds. “Perhaps Beijing needs an experimental label like Maybe Noise that leans toward composition,” says Yan. “It’s a supplement [to other labels]. It brings new energy.”
maybenoise.bandcamp.com, WeChat ID: MaybeNoise
ARTS | MUSIC
CHINA MUSIC CORNER
Two New Homegrown Albums on Our Radar This Month
By Erica Martin
Peach Illusion EP by Peach Illusion While they may have met at Xiamen University, O.o and C.c of Peach Illusion put together their first album an ocean apart. The release of their first self-titled EP is a bedroom dream-pop gem, written, recorded and mixed while one was in Singapore and the other in Shanghai. Painting pictures as seen through rose-colored glasses, the duo has reunited and settled in the Paris of the East, with plans to work on a few artistic projects and a second album. Their urban sweetener aura and adorable pastel photo shoots are in and of themselves reasons to add them to your summer playlist, and we can’t wait to see what’s next for two of Shanghai’s newest residents. Scan the QR code to listen.
If I Only Saw It There by Sardine is Back and the Wheel is Broken If I Only Saw It There is the third album from Beijing-based experimental slow punk band Sardine is Back and the Wheel is Broken. With no rehearsal prior to recording and lyrics that were improvised on the spot, they steer clear from the sound of overproduced albums that saturate the scene. What they put down is what you get, and the gritty irregularities you find on their plugging tracks fall in line with the rougher edges of the capital’s art scene – honest, a little angry and distinctly different. Scan the QR code to listen.
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ADVERTORIAL | LIFE & STYLE
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COVER STORY
Shifting Gender Landscapes in the Middle Kingdom
Words by Erica Martin, Graphics by Nadezda Grapes and MJgraphics
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W
hen I began writing this article, my plan was to open with a reference to a survivor of sexual misconduct in China. Initially that meant focusing on any number of university cases, from the overdue retribution for the tragedy of Gao Yan’s suicide at Peking University in 1998, to the successful student petition at Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University to dismiss Professor Zhang Peng for sexual assault on July 10. By late July, instances of victims speaking out against their attackers moved from beyond academia and into the workplace, changing the focus to NGO founder Lei Chang, prominent journalist Zhang Wen and an executive at Mobike. I realized it’s a losing game to try and hinge this story on the most recently accused, whoever he may be, because its significance goes beyond the poor behavior of any one individual. As women continue posting testimonials that gain brief traction on WeChat, Weibo and even occasionally in mainstream Chinese media, two things remain constant: the entrenched gender inequality, power dynamics and lack of education about consent that lead to sexual harassment and assault, and the women and men campaigning to advance gender parity in China so that everyone can move through the world without fear of sexual violence.
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COVER STORY
I
t’s difficult to pinpoint when China’s version of #metoo officially began, especially because advocates against anti-gender-based violence in China long precede the hashtag, but New Year’s Day 2018 brought a clear milestone. Luo Xixi, a former PhD student at Beihang University in Beijing, published a Weibo testimonial accusing her former advisor, Professor Chen Xiaowu, of sexual assault, becoming the first woman to publicly accuse an individual by name using a Chinese translation of the hashtag, #woyeshi (#我也是). Chen was fired 11 days later. “I think it was one of the last straws for a lot of people,” says Song Xiaoyu, a volunteer for several women’s organizations and selfproclaimed feminist, of Luo’s testimonial. “What she did was truly brave and inspirational, and a really pivotal point for the movement in China. But you also have to acknowledge all the efforts and follow-up campaigns from others. If not for them, she would have created a first wave, but there wouldn’t have been any of the follow-up waves.” In November 2017, Sophia Huang Xueqin, an independent journalist and women’s right advocate, conducted a nationwide online survey of over 400 women in media about their experiences with harassment and assault. The results were shocking: 84 percent
38
of the respondents said they’d been harassed or assaulted in some form, with 20 percent reporting that it had happened five times or more. “You can see how common it is. So many of us have the same experience but seldom speak out, never mind filing an official complaint,” says Huang. “We journalists are supposed to be more sensitive, more resourceful, have more of a voice, but when sexual harassment happens, we also keep silent. I came to realize sexual harassment is about power, inequality and gender discrimination, no matter who you are and where you work.” The testimonials of late July and early August 2018 do indicate that a culture of harassment exists in many industries and sectors. Experts have been surprised and impressed by the number of brave women coming forward. “Several Chinese women told me that they thought students have more liberty to speak out compared to people who are in the workforce and may be scared of losing their jobs,” says Joanna Chiu, a journalist and co-founder of women writers’ and artists’ collective Nüvoices. “It was such a pressure
Many different factors have led to a much broader awareness among young women, urban educated women in particular, about sexism and misogyny in Chinese society. And they identify it as an injustice
cooker of frustration and anger that it seems like when some people started talking about cases outside universities, more people were galvanized to speak out, too.” First coined by Tarana Burke in 2006 before it eventually became the de facto term used by survivors speaking out with their stories, #metoo originated in the US but it coincided with a gradual uptick in awareness throughout China about the need to address gender-based discrimination and violence. Journalist and leading expert on women’s rights in China, Leta Hong-Fincher, explores these issues in detail in her new book, Betraying Big Brother, which releases later this month. Hong-Fincher asserts that China’s version of #metoo is a homegrown phenomenon. “The only thing that is borrowed from outside of China is the actual hashtag,” she adds. “Over the years, many different factors have led to a much broader awareness among young women, urban educated women in particular, about sexism and misogyny in Chinese society. And they identify it as an injustice.” In fact, Chiu points out that “it’s been a trend in China for victims to turn to social media when institutions fail them for years,” referencing a 2016 case in Beijing that she wrote about for Foreign Policy in which a sexual assault survivor posted the CCTV footage of the attack online, which then went viral. For Huang, these cases and the general
lack of faith in institutions (of the respondents to her survey, 55 percent dealt with the assault by just “keeping silent and staying away”), further highlight the need for legislative support. One major piece of recent legislation in China that has had a positive effect on this issue is the Anti-Domestic Violence Law, which went into effect in March 2016. “[It] was a huge legal milestone,” says Hong-Fincher. “But in spite of its legal importance, the Anti-Domestic Violence Law hasn’t been enforced properly.” The law makes it easier for victims of domestic violence to seek legal recourse and specifically to file restraining orders, but in addition to being enforced only sporadically, it contains several blind spots. It provides no protection for same-sex couples, and though its parameters cover several types of intimidation and abuse, it does not explicitly mention sexual assault or harassment. The term ‘sexual harassment’ is noted briefly in several Chinese laws, including the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women and the Special Rules on the Labour Protection of Female Employees, according to the South China Morning Post, but no law actually defines what constitutes sexual harassment. An entity that isn’t legally defined is much harder to fight.
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COVER STORY
F
inding long-term solutions to combat sexual harassment and gender-based violence is something that advocates across the country have been doing for years. In addition to her work with women’s organizations, Song Xiaoyu volunteers her time to conduct sex education workshops for high schoolers, focusing on safe sex and an understanding of consent. She aims to end to the culture of taboo and shame around sex, which is an underlying cause of sexual violence. “I find it really liberating in a sense, because I never had that,” she says of the discussions between students in her classes. “For me, sex education in school was this: the biology teacher walks into the classroom, puts in a set of DVDs, blushes, and then just says ‘go watch this,’ and walks out. Respect of human bodies is a fundamental part of sex ed. It’s not just about the clinical parts. It’s also teaching you how to love and respect others.” For adults in the workplace, the focus is on workshops and training to increase awareness of consent and the behaviors that lead to a culture of harassment. Lilian Shen has founded several organizations in Shanghai dedicated to this topic, including Women Up, which holds workshops and panels dedicated to anti-gender-based violence, as well as Queer Talks. She also notes an uptick in feminist training courses available for hire by companies, including one she attended run
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by Shanghai-based company Xi Tao. Together with co-founder Alice Xin Liu, Chiu is aiming to provide support on several fronts through NüVoices, including a crowdsourced Google doc circulating global resources for sexual assault survivors. Last month, NüVoices released their updated code of conduct and anti-harassment policy, laying out in unequivocal parameters which behaviors the organization will not tolerate. Chiu also recently collaborated with the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) for a webinar publicizing their new handbook on sexual harassment guidelines. Though it’s specific to newsrooms, the guidelines could apply to any company. “I’d highly recommend that all companies and organizations think about what they want to have in a code of conduct and then make sure that all participants and partners read and agree to the code,” she says, as companies can step in to create a safe atmosphere until legal protection catches up. At the same time that these calculated efforts to promote change are cropping up around China, positive depictions of feminist ideas are appearing in a more gradual but also more pervasive form: in pop culture and advertising. A recent example is the im-
mense popularity of Wang Ju, a contestant on game show Produce 101 who is outspoken and proudly defies China’s beauty ideal of thin, demure women, leading writer Wang Qianning from Sixth Tone to deem her “a new brand of female role model.” This is happening alongside high-profile ad campaigns that specifically target urban educated women with messages of gender equality and empowerment, like a 2016 viral ad by beauty brand SK-II that aimed to humanize China’s stigmatized ‘leftover women.’ Though arguments against this diluted corporate feminism can be valid, Hong-Fincher sees their existence as positive overall for China specifically. She notes: “Regardless of whether you think it’s good or bad for corporations to be using the idea of feminism to sell products, I think the growing number of advertisements that use women’s empowerment as a central theme indicates the enormous popularity of equal rights for women among the population at large.”
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COVER STORY
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“T
he thing about feminism,” says Song, who passionately identifies with the label, “is that it teaches us to critically think about a lot of things, not just about women. It’s not just, ‘women want all the rights.’ Or, ‘women are man-haters.’ It’s not as narrow-minded as that! If you help women get equal rights, you are helping everyone to get equal rights.” The conversation surrounding sexual assault has evolved in innumerable ways in recent months, but one of the most notable is that it is gradually bringing awareness to mainstream society. “I think a lot of these issues used to be seen as things that only feminists talk about, but now it’s something that everyone is talking about, because people are realizing it’s not just something that affects ‘those people,’” Shen says. “It affects everyone.” Part of the focus of Shen’s work at both Women Up and Queer Talks is aimed at encouraging intersectionality and raising awareness for the fact that an issue can still be meaningful even if it hasn’t yet affected you directly. This inability to see beyond one’s own experience, pervasive in patriarchal cultures around the world, is why survivors who’ve shared their stories in years past were greeted with victim-blaming and slut-shaming rather than empathy. “There isn’t technically a term for intersectionality in Chinese,” Shen says. “When
we had this as a topic for Queer Talks, we translated it as jiaocha xing linian (交叉性理 念). The concept of intersectionality isn’t necessarily widespread in China, but the idea that these issues are connected if you go down to the root of the problem – I think people understand that.” Intersectionality highlights the fact that sexual harassment affects women across the socioeconomic spectrum. A representative report from China Labour Bulletin of female factory workers in Guangzhou found that up to 70 percent had experienced some form of sexual harassment, from dirty jokes to indecent exposure. Changing entrenched sexist attitudes isn’t easy, even if perceptions may be evolving in subtle ways. Hong-Fincher notes that most of the women who are coming out with testimonials likely don’t identify as feminists, while Song points out that change is centered in first-tier cities; in her hometown, “it’s pretty much stayed the same as it was 20 years ago.” Even so, they are cautiously optimistic. Lü Pin, founder of a prominent blog called Women’s Voices and a long-term women’s rights advocate, sums it up thusly: “My feeling is that our society hasn’t changed a lot, but the young generation definitely has, especially young girls with higher education. They don’t want to endure the gender inequality of our society.”
Our society hasn’t changed a lot, but the young generation definitely has, especially young girls with higher education. They don’t want to endure the gender inequality of our society
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COVER STORY
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E
arlier this summer, the Shenzhen police department released a WeChat post announcing a targeted effort to decrease sexual harassment in subways, including upskirting. The post states that police are working to “defend women’s right to wear skirts,” according to a translation by That’s Shenzhen’s Jessica Ho, in a cheeky condemnation of victim-blaming culture. Last month, Hangzhou also enacted a precedent-setting series of regulations to protect minors from on-campus sexual harassment. Tackling the culture of silencing victims, it requires all staff to report harassment cases to university authorities within six hours of receiving a complaint and offers resources like legal assistance and mental health care, as reported by SupChina’s Jiayun Feng. These incremental changes serve as tiny sparks of positivity. “It’s hard for people to speak out about this topic, especially in China, where the power dynamics are so ingrained in people,” Shen says. “But everything you enjoy now, no matter where you are, everything around you, it was fought for by someone. And that has affected a lot of things. Even if it might not be measurable or direct sometimes, the effects are there.”
She mentions the work of Zhang Leilei, a Guangzhou-based feminist who campaigned to put up an anti-sexual harassment ad on public transport in 2017, but her designs were rejected and the initiative squashed. “Soon after her campaign ‘failed,’ multiple cities had anti-sexual harassment ads,” says Shen. “So it’s definitely affected people.” The most recent example of this rippling effect appeared in dramatic fashion in early August in Xi’an. WeChat account Henyou Xi’an posted an enormous billboard outside a brand new mall proclaiming in bold text: ‘Say no to sexual harassment.’ The billboard has an unequivocal pro-survivor stance, even satirizing common victim-blaming phrases like, “Good girls don’t constantly change boyfriends.” It caused an absolute sensation on social media, with passersby stopping to pose and take pictures. The most common stance was to mimic the giant red ‘X’ at the center of the billboard: groups of young men and women stood before the massive ad, holding their arms high and crossing them in front of their faces as if to say, enough is enough.
...everything you enjoy now, no matter where you are, everything around you, it was fought for by someone. And that has affected a lot of things
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CITY SCENES The 33rd Anniversary of LN Garden Hotel, Guangzhou (Supported by ) On August 17, the LN Garden Hotel, Guangzhou celebrated its 33rd anniversary in grand fashion with its ‘Garden Hotel Partnership Gathering.’ On this special occasion, the hotel welcomed over 400 loyal patrons, partners and guests to enjoy a floral-themed banquet dinner, complete with a live performance from Guangzhou’s only Lingnan-inspired jazz band – We do Jazz, fun skits and a performance from the LN Garden Hotel, Guangzhou’s new house band, Three Lines. The dinner portion of the event was particularly memorable: the hotel’s ballroom was divided into different sections (Della Lilly, Hydrangea, Daisy and Lotus), with guests in each area being served a different (and by all accounts, delicious) flower-inspired menu, skillfully executed by the hotel’s service team.
Paris Triumphs in Trophée des Champions in Shenzhen (Supported by
)
Before a crowd of more than 40,000 cheering fans, all-star football club Paris Saint-Germain defeated AC Monaco 4-0, in the latest edition of the Trophée des Champions to be hosted in Shenzhen. This marked the sixth consecutive victory for the Qatari-owned team, which boasts World Cup champions like Mbappé, Cavani, and Silva among its roster. After a matched filled with explosive action and stirring defense, Shenzhen’s deputy secretary general Liu Jiachen presented the MVP award to Argentine Ángel Di María.
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PRD FOCUS
T
he British School of Guangzhou held orientation days last month for the start of the new academic year. Parents and students gathered to meet teachers, catch up with friends and prepare for an exciting new term.
O
ne Light Art, an art agent company based in Shenzhen, presented a solo exhibition titled Rose last month, which showcased a collection of works by Korean photographer and artist Blue Koh.
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I
n celebration of the Trophée des Champions in Shenzhen, a cocktail reception was held at Oggi Enoteca Restaurant in Shenzhen, with attendance of the president of LFP Nathalie Boy de la Tour, the chief executive of LFP Didier Quillot, the consul general of the French Consulate in Guangzhou, Siv-Leng Chhuor, and the CCI France Chine.
S
low Life Kitchen opened its ‘elite’ branch in Guangzhou’s CBD. Much like Slow Life’s first restaurant, Elite aims to introduce patrons to the ‘rarity’ of authentic Western fare through an array of well-crafted, eye-pleasing dishes and a delectable selection of tapas.
FOOD, DRINK
& EVENTS IN SHENZHEN
International Spirit
Former Beijing expats launch a baijiu brand... in America, p59
Surf's Up P58 50 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
The Royal Concept P63
Two Fast Food Joints Go Head to Head By Bailey Hu
Hotties might just be the unofficial champion of cheap burgers in Shenzhen. But can it stand up to the flavor-packed punches and novelty appeal of 7/3, formerly known as Boneshaker? Hotties
7/3 Burger
The Background
The Background
Well-established chain Hotties has five branches in Shenzhen. With a sparse menu and decor, the burger brand relies on solidly executed classics to keep customers coming back.
The Burger
The Burger
Originally marketed as the first China store of an Australian brand, Boneshaker has since transformed into 7/3 Burger. But the menu still features the creative entrees and classic milkshakes that fueled the restaurant’s rise.
The Sides
Toasted, buttery buns; juicy patties; plenty of mayo-heavy sauce and not too much filler (read: lettuce) – what else could you want in an RMB26 cheeseburger? Throw in few more yuan to get a little fancy, with slices of smoked bacon or pineapple adding extra zest.
Under a fluorescent glare, the RMB38 smoked bacon burger – featuring black buns – seems unappetizing. But looks can be deceiving, and despite a slightly overcooked patty, saliva-inducing bacon makes the burger go down easy. We’d prefer a size that doesn’t threaten to dislocate our jaws, though.
The Sides
The chain’s waffle fries (RMB13) are crispy, golden and enticing, while the regular fries (RMB11) are just… regular. Also on offer are hash browns, onion rings and wings – either slightly sweet New Orleans style or deep-fried.
Literally too many to list here. Milkshakes, hotcakes, tacos and a token number of ‘healthy’ options, like salad. We try the loaded Peking duck fries (RMB25), a mealsize offering of duck, peppers, fried egg and oddly, capers, atop a bed of crisp fries. It’s better than the burger. The Setting
The Setting
While not exactly date night material, Hotties’ clean and spare look is kind of utilitarian-chic.
Faux marble tabletops, an upbeat hip-hop soundtrack and gourmetish menu items make 7/3 stand out from fellow food court competitors. Price Point
Price Point
Most burgers hover in a very reasonable RMB25-30 range, and sides cost RMB21 or less. Portion sizes are on the small side, however.
Burgers start at RMB25 and run up to RMB43 (for the Full Aussie, which has bacon, pineapple, beetroot relish and a fried egg). Sides aren’t super cheap either, but you’ll generally get your money’s worth.
The Verdict We’re going to be wishy-washy and call it a tie – while Hotties’ burgers are a clear winner, 7/3 is worth a visit for unique sides and slurp-able milkshakes.
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 51
HEAD 2 HEAD
BATTLE OF THE BURGERS
GRAPE VINE THE SCANDALOUS SCOOP
We’re Digging:
A new, tequila-infused taqueria in Futian with churros and more (page 57); Oggi Enoteca offering a taste of Old World classics (page 56); waffle fries landing for a limited time on McDonald’s menus; and a little healthy competition between cheap burger shops in the city: flip to page 51 to see who came out on top.
We’re Done with:
OLDIE BUT GOODIE
Maoshuli This eclectic grown-up treehouse invites moments of quiet study or friendly banter just outside the west gate of Shenzhen University. Here a Venetian mask, there a chorus of cats and gargoyles. A photo captures pin-up boys pushing a bus, set among the elaborate instruments of the barista’s arts. The first floor charms with early ’90s pop classics and a bar of amber liquors, along with Maoshuli’s limited wine selection to pair with curry (RMB38-45), a Wagyu burger (RMB48), steak (RMB188), or lamb chops (RMB78). The iced latte (RMB34) is appreciably good on a hot summer day: pronounced bitterness tempered, not diluted, by quality dairy. There are pour-overs, too, for the connoisseurs. But – when the weather is once again tolerable – you’ll want to take to the roof, a multilevel wonder among the verdant flora of the city. Visit the friendly rooftop bartender, then sit back for a sip beneath the stars.
Open daily, 10.30am-2am; northeast of Xuefu Lu-Nanhai Dadao intersection, Nanshan District 南山区南海大
道与学府路交叉口东北角 (8625 8789)
BAR BANTER
X-Rays: Coming Soon to a Bar Near You Fishy new rules saying rainbow trout can be sold as salmon; fast food chains KFC and Pizza Hut serving up friedchicken tacos and salted egg yolk ice cream, respectively; sudden new security rules that may have just hit all bars in the city – leave the heavy metal objects at home, partygoers.
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Shenzhen’s bar scene may soon see drastic changes, following a series of new rules. The most expensive of the new requirements is the call for metal detectors and micrometer X-ray scanners at the main entrance, as well as fulltime security guards (at least one male and one female) posted at other points of entry. As first reported by Shekou Daily, “according to the police officers, [the notice] was handed down from above and [the rules] are meant for all bars in the city, no matter their size.” That initial report confirmed only that bars along Hai Chang Street, near Shekou’s Sea World neighborhood, had received the notice with August 27 set as the deadline for compliance.
E D I T O R . P R D @ U R B A N A T O M Y. C O M
WHAT’S ON WAIMAI
Kowloon Cafe Considered the forerunner of present-day Hong Kong ‘tea restaurants’, bing sutt, ‘ice rooms’ in English, started in Canton and proliferated in Hong Kong in the 1960s. Traditionally, a bing sutt is a bistro that serves cold beverages like milk tea and Western snacks like sandwiches. For a home-delivered taste of this unique midcentury phenomenon, try ordering from Kowloon Cafe. A popular order is the cube-shaped, bite-sized French toast. The baked rice with cheese, prunes and pork steak (RMB38) also makes for an appetizing meal. Feeling like an afternoon snack? Can’t go wrong with the good ol’ pineapple bun (RMB15). For something to drink, why not try the ‘netizen-recommended’ light bulb milk tea (RMB17), which, as you’ve probably guessed, is milk tea served in a light bulbshaped container. The popular restaurant has nine branches across the city, so rest assured that you’ll find one in your hood.
Price: RMB30-50 Good for: Western food with a Hong Kong twist Search for: 九龙冰室 jiulong bingshi Available on: Meituan, E Le Ma, Baidu Waimai
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E AT & DR INK | NE W R E S TAUR A N T
BÉSAME MUCHO A Culinary Journey Across Old Mexico By Paul Barresi
is to be sipped, not unlike a grappa or limoncello after an Italian feast.
The Place While we’re able to find tacos in just about every district these days, when it comes to authentic Mexican cuisine, the city is starving. Newly opened Bésame Mucho is rapidly making a name for itself by serving up the hidden flavors of Mexico. Gone are sizzling fajitas and other TexMex staples. Instead, patrons are met with traditional tastes from all over the country.
The Vibe
If traditional Mexican gatherings consist of family and festivities, then Bésame Mucho is well on the way to recreating that atmosphere on a nightly basis. From live music, Spanish classes, open mics, salsa nights and more, the team is cultivating a home-grown community from within the walls of a fine dining restaurant. It’s in this contrast that Bésame Mucho shines. Whether it’s favoring traditional meals, reimagining old favorites, or sipping – not shooting – liquor, the desire to be different is successfully serving something new to Shenzhen’s developing Mexican culinary community.
The Food
We started our night in North Mexico with the tangy tuna ceviche (RMB38). Embodying the ethos of Bésame Mucho to do something different, this seafood dish is turned literally upside down with the tostada crowning the carrot, cucumber and
spring onion mix. From the Mayans of the Yucatan Peninsula come pan de cazón (RMB88): four layered tortillas with a garlic, white bean and baby shark filling. This softly textured dish is served at room temperature yet still brings the heat thanks to the habanero-infused tomato sauce dressing. Continuing our gastronomic journey was the Oaxaca region’s tlayuda
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Price: RMB150-300 Who’s going: romantic couples, festive friends Good for: culinary explorers, meeting and making friends Nearest metro: Nanshan Station (Exit D), 13 minutes
(RMB88). Familiar-looking yet unlike anything we’ve experienced from Latin cuisine, the team at Bésame Mucho have brought the classic street dish inside and turned it into a vegetarian culinary experience. Fresh onions, tomatoes and leafy greens top a homemade molecovered roasted tortilla. While traditional, the crispiness may have been too sharp of a contrast from a meal that’s been gentle and delicate. Our trip soon ended with a smoky mezcal (RMB58), which
Open daily, 5pm-2am; Shop L1-06, Kaide Park, Junction 3023, Nanhai Dadao, Nanshan District 南山区南海大道,创业 路3023号交汇處 凯德公园一号L1-06号铺 (138-2872 1312)
NE W R E S TAUR A N T | E AT & DR INK
MUINE Vibrant Visions of Vietnam By Adam Robbins
The Place Nestled beside the mall at OCT Bay, just outside Exit 9, Muine serves as a sophisticated location for a meal with friends. With a patio overlooking the nearby water attraction and an interior in shades between cerulean and celadon, the space invites you to sample a taste of Vietnam. Muine’s OCT Bay location – following two in Guangzhou and five more in Shenzhen – offers a broad, if uneven menu.
Tom yum soup (RMB62) arrives in an attractive copper pot and brazier, bearing huge Ecuadorian shrimp and New Zealand clams among the seafood and perfect little mushrooms. All the inedible shells and lemongrass are included; it’s authentic like that. There’s a pervading sour heat and the distinct flavor of imported spices in the rich broth simmered, we’re told, more than 12 hours to achieve the taste. The snacks platter (RMB68) brings popular spring rolls, crab dumplings, balls and skewers to share, with sauces imported from Vietnam. The strengths of their tender chicken satay, with tastes of tamarind and a touch of heat, reappear in the lemongrass chicken and vermicelli (RMB38), tossed with fish sauce at the table and complicated by herbs that add deeper notes to the light, summery dish. But we’d pass on the beef soup (RMB48) featuring balls, brisket and tripe flashcooked in hot bone broth. The salty soup is distinctive and would be fortifying in winter, but it makes us wistful for a simple bowl of rich niurou mian. Stave off your food coma with the rich punch of Vietnamese coffee (RMB18), and maybe indulge in a delicate dessert, rich with coconut cream and tropical flavor.
The Vibe
There’s an inviting, breezy elegance to Muine that should win over a regular stream of guests. While the menu could perhaps be pared down to highlight wellpracticed Vietnamese classics, all the dishes arrive attractive and photogenic. Picture yourself here, next time you’re spending an evening at OCT Bay.
Open daily, 11am-9.30pm; G-025B, OCT Bay Shopping mall, 13 Baishi Dong Lu, Nanshan District 南山区滨海大 道2008号欢乐海岸购物中心G-025B (8671 7326)
The Food Price: RMB100 Good for: tom yum soup and classic Vietnamese Who’s going: OCT Bay holiday-makers, friends and couples Nearest metro: Lianhua North (Exit A2), 18 minutes
Muine’s menu runs classic with tom yum soup, rice noodles hot and cold, rolls fried or raw and seafood countless ways. Thumb through the attractive illustrated menu, then check your items off a paper menu in English and Chinese. WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 55
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OGGI ENOTECA Authentic Italian Hospitality By Adam Robbins
The Food
The Place Oggi Enoteca – the latest in a line starting from Guangzhou – is a destination all its own in the area near UpperHills mall. Indeed, besides Muji Hotel and the Neighborhood Earth exhibit, there are few other draws. But after success in Shekou, Oggi bets that Futian tastes will savor its authentic Italian cuisine and extensive list of wines. (None from China, at least not yet). Guests are greeted with one of Oggi’s abundant wine ‘cellars,’ the dough-swirling maestros by the pizza oven, a well-stocked bar of brass and wood and the Deco-ish open dining room seating 96, all the more expansive with its mirrors and glass. Andrea Bocelli and other crooners invite guests to sit back for a culinary journey across Italy.
Salads run classic, with Gorgonzola and candied walnut (RMB58) improved by cubes of firm beet root and perfectly-ripe mango. Manager Alessandro Petrini – a student of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust – serves as sommelier for curious diners and recommends a glass of Italy’s Castel Firmian Chardonnay (RMB55 per glass), for bright fruit notes without extra sweetness. Brightness is the watchword here, from the delicate red veins of the startlingly-sour amaranth microherbs to the garnish of dried tomato. Exquisite calamari (RMB78) arrives in a sea of brilliant pea purée, a drizzle of red sauce and sprinkle of rough black olive. The flesh is like firm pasta stuffed with a rich, tender meal of bread, cheese and tentacle. In the style of his native Abruzzo, Chef Giuseppe di Silvestro reduces the shellfish with red wine, but Alessandro pairs a tart, aromatic Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio (RMB70) with this dignified antipasto. Pasta, of course, is where Chef Giuseppe and Oggi shine, with a wondrous, hand-made bite to the expert parapadelle. The saffronyellow sauce shines against black garlic confit and slices of porcini with the texture of ripe apple. A fruity Negramaro (RMB55) is recommended: not too sweet and not too strong. Grass-fed Australian ribeye (RMB288) receives the same perfect seer as the best steakhouses, just salt, pepper and olive oil against tender marbled meat. Enjoy it on its own (medium-rare) or with addictive béarnaise, mushroom white sauce and infused olive oil. With perfect little pillows of frites and a glass of Chianti (RMB65) it’s a generous meal.
The Vibe
It’s a friendly, modern feel inside, with well-trained waitstaff learning the wine menu and confident in their English. Families, friends, datenight couples and any traveler nostalgic for the taste of authentic Italy will find a welcome meal in this still-developing corner of Shenzhen. Price: 150-500 Who’s going: fine dining dates, fans of authentic Italian fare Good for: pasta and antipasto Nearest metro: Lianhua North (Exit A2), 21 minutes
Open daily 11am-11:30pm. S205, 2nd Floor, UpperHills, No.5001 Huanggang Lu, Futian District 皇岗路5001号深业上城品牌街L2层S205铺 (8866 2239) 56 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
NE W R E S TAUR A N T | E AT & DR INK
The Place
TEQO Taking Tequila and Tacos to the CBD By Winnie Jin
All aboard the taco train! Shenzhen has been blessed with a swell of new Mexican restaurants in recent months, and fans of Mambo can now enjoy another creative taqueria option in the heart of Futian. Taking over the space that was formerly a wine and cigar shop, Teqo (a mashup of the words ‘tequila’ and ‘taco,’ according to Chef Eli Gregory) is about as central as you can get: smack dab in the middle of Central Walk mall, by the Convention & Exhibition Center.
Price: 80-100RMB Who’s going: Futian yuppies, taco lovers Good for: creative tacos with a swanky twist Nearest metro: Convention & Exhibition Center (Exit B), 1 minute
The Food
Eli tells us that he’s aiming for fun and playful flavors in his modern take on a traditional taqueria. After eighteen years of experience in the food and beverage industry and a stint at Shenzhen’s much-
create an elevated vibe that’s right at home in the swanky Central Walk mall. Although the waitstaff still seem to be getting their bearings at the newly opened eatery, the service is warm and prompt. Eli mentions that taco and tequila-based cocktail specials might be coming soon, and even teases us with the prospect of a Mexican brunch. Say no more – we’ll definitely be back.
acclaimed Magpie, he certainly has the skills to deliver. Naturally, the tacos are the star of the show, with something for everyone – the menu offers meat, vegetarian and seafood options. We choose the classic al pastor (RMB20), chicharron (RMB20) and baja fish (RMB25). All have their own special twists, but the baja fish is a standout, featuring a flour tortilla filled with tender, lightlyfried fish and cabbage. It pairs well with Teqo’s classic tortilla chips (RMB45) and creamy guacamole (RMB30). We wash it all down with the spiked horchata (RMB68). Although watery, it’s unique and complements our meal just fine. For dessert, we had to try the churros (RMB38), which are delightfully crispy and provide the perfect amount of sweetness for dipping in the decadent caramel and spicy chocolate sauces.
Open daily 10am-2am, kitchen open 4pm-10pm; FL1018, Yijing Central Walk Shopping Mall, 3 Fuhua Yi Lu, Futian District福华路怡景中心城北大门停车场出口 FL1018 (189-2844 8542)
The Vibe As soon as we walk in, we’re struck by the modern ambiance that still feels true to the bright, homey spirit of the taqueria. Everything about the décor is presented to WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 57
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CABANA XICHONG
Sun, Surf and Beach Culture Bounty By Adam Robbins
A
s summer starts to fade, be grateful to live where the beaches beckon all year long. Heed that impulse and grab an express bus to gorgeous Xichong Beach for a weekend or an afternoon, letting your cares wash away at the beachside bar Cabana. “We wanted to make a place where Jimmy Buffet would feel comfortable,” co-owner Adam Gottschalk tells us. Cabana achieves that by emphasizing friendly staff and chill music: a little reggae, some Willy Nelson, ‘Margaritaville,’ of course, and some Hawaiian favorites. During August’s soft open, there’s beer (all RMB25) – Corona, Tsingtao, Glass Hammer’s kolsch and passion fruit wit, with a coconut mango brew coming soon. Kraken rum (RMB20 a shot, RMB35 with Coke) is there for a bit more kick, and the slushee machine will be swirling with margaritas (RMB50) and a nonalcoholic coconut-mango version if you’re staying sober. The menu carries over tacos (RMB40-45 for three)
from Adam’s old Beijing bar, Ron Mexico. You can choose from BBQ chicken, slow-cooked Mexican carnitas, grilled peppers & onions, richly flavored chorizo, Thai sausage or cilantro lime chicken. Portions are generous and give a foundation to enjoy a beer (or several) from a peaceful hammock overlooking the sea. “Everyone loves the beach,” says Phil Luza, the surfculture aficionado who, along with Vicky Peng, completes the ownership team. He’s right. The rolling blue waves against Cabana’s clean, clear portion of sand immediately relax us. And Xichong village, barely built up with tourist trappings, is almost ideal. “This is what Japan was like 25 years ago,” Phil muses, gazing out to the surf. His board is around the corner. A few surfers are out on the waves. There’s an excitement in his eye. Whether you come to Xichong for the surf or just a day of sun and sand, you’ll find a warm welcome at Cabana. We wish them well in their mission to promote “beach culture,” that laid-back attitude about life that pays attention to our impact on the land and the sea. In China’s plastic-fueled hustle, Cabana might be the antidote we need. Price: RMB25 a beer; intro special of RMB100 free-flow (11am-6pm) Who’s going: surfers, holiday makers, anyone who needs to unwind Good for: casual snacks at reasonable prices, awesome views Nearest metro: very, very far away
Open 11am-10pm Mon-Thu, 10am-late Sat-Sun. No. 829-830, Area 3, Haiyu Resort, Xichong Beach, Longgang District 广 东省深圳市龙岗区西冲3号浴场海雅度假村829-830f 58 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
F E AT UR E | E AT & DR INK
Former Beijing Expats Launch a Baijiu Brand... in America INTERVIEW BY NOELLE MATEER
Baijiu, China's national liquor, is notoriously difficult for foreigners to stomach. And yet, Bill Isler has made a career of getting waiguoren to do just that. In 2014, Isler and friends started the world’s firstever baijiu bar, Capital Spirits, ‘as a hobby’ – as of today, the bar has been featured in Lonely Planet guides and The New York Times. Now, Isler and his partners are taking their baijiu magic abroad. With famed Sichuanese distillery Luzhou Laojiao, they’ve created Ming River, a new baijiu specially for Western markets. We caught up with Isler, now based in New York and the CEO of the new company, to learn more.
How did Ming River get started? When we opened Capital Spirits, everybody told us we were going to go out of business. But somehow we got media attention, and when Chinese distilleries saw the stories they began to fly people to Beijing to meet with us. We weren’t thinking about the timing when we opened Capital Spirits, but 2014 was the real nadir of the baijiu industry because of the government’s crackdown on public spending and corruption. [Expensive baijius were once a popular gift for Chinese officials.] Revenues were down 50 to 75 percent across the industry. So right at this time when the industry was really sufferWWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 59
E AT & DR INK | F E AT UR E
ing, distilleries saw these Westerners who had this place in Beijing where foreigners were willingly going to drink baijiu and pay for it. So they asked, can you help us? We told them no! We told everybody, hey, thanks for coming, but this is just a hobby for us. But after seven or eight groups of these managers from distilleries came to us, we said, you know, maybe we can change our answer from ‘no’ to ‘maybe, if 60 | SZ | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM
the price is right.’ We spoke to several different distilleries, and [Sichuan baijiu maker] Luzhou Laojiao had the most similar idea of how baijiu could succeed abroad.
Luzhou Laojiao is one of the most known baijiu producers in China. What is the distillery in Sichuan like?
If you go up the Yangtze from Chongqing, you come to Luzhou. It’s a small city by Chinese standards, and the core industry is baijiu. Luzhou Laojiao employs thousands of people and they make millions and millions of bottles. The river is how Luzhou’s baijiu spread to the rest of China. There were no roads in that part of China because it’s very mountainous, so the Yangtze was the only way in and out, and Luzhou is at the highest navigable part of the Yangtze. Strong-
aroma baijiu can be found all along the Yangtze river, and it started in Luzhou. They’ve been making baijiu there since the year 1573, but that’s just their oldest continuous production of specific fermentation pits – they were making baijiu there before then, too. How did you work with Luzhou Laojiao to make a baijiu for Western tastes?
Everything in the bottle is made by Luzhou Laojiao according to traditional methods, but this particular blend of distillates was developed by a team of bartenders in New York. We brought a wide range of distillates from Luzhou to New York, and gave them to a team of bartenders, and we did four rounds of revision. We did blind tastings and blendings, and then figured out different ratios of what worked best. Then we would send that back to China with feedback like, ‘We want something that’s little bit more peppery,’ or ‘Can you give us something with less anise note to it?’ Each time we did this, we’d get closer to something that we thought really worked.
F E AT UR E | E AT & DR INK
Who were these tasters in New York? Had they had baijiu before? All of them are highly regarded bartenders in New York, and the team was arranged by Don Lee who was the head bartender at [renowned NYC cocktail bar] PDT, and then was the beverage director for Momofuku. We had people tasting from [well-known New York bars] NoMad, Death & Co and the current PDT team. Because these people are very educated in spirits, each of them had had some exposure to baijiu. But most people in the US who have any idea about baijiu think they’re all roughly the same – so the most interesting thing is that all of them said this one is quite different from what they’d had before. Most of them had had either Maotai or Erguotou, which are two different ends of a spectrum of what baijiu can be. We’re very different from either one. What does Ming River taste like?
Tropical fruit. The very long solid-state fermentation process releases esters that you don’t normally get in grain-based spirits, so the most common flavor compound in it is actually ethyl hexanoate, which is most commonly found in pineapple. The main flavor notes are pineapple and other tropi-
cal fruits, and then anise and white pepper, with a slight cheesy funk to it as well. It has a very complex flavor and aroma for just sorghum-based baijiu – there are no different ingredients in it. It’s just a flavor that naturally developed throughout the fermentation process. So unlike [some other distilleries], Luzhou Laojiao is not using a blend of grains – it’s all sorghum, and a wheatbased yeast culture. How are you able to alter the character of the taste so dramatically then?
All of Luzhou Laojiao’s baijius are produced in the same way, but each individual fermentation pit will take on its own character over time. The flavor then depends on how long the spirits are aged for, which point in the distillation process they’re moved out of the pits [and which pits the baijius come from]. So all baijius are blends of... baijiu. What is your goal for Ming River?
We are trying to build a brand, but more importantly, we’re also trying to make baijiu a recognized category of spirits. The majority of what we’re doing is educating people about baijiu. We’re doing master classes with Derek Sandhaus [one of Ming
River’s partners and the author of Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits] – he speaks about the 9,000-year history of alcohol in China, how baijiu came to be and the different styles. And whenever we do tastings for consumers or bartenders, we still bring out other baijiu as well. Ming River is just one point on a broad spectrum of baijiu, and I want people to understand the category in all its diversity. You’re all Americans, selling baijiu. How can you honor Chinese culture without appropriating it?
We never said we discovered baijiu. We always say we’re very lucky to work with people who’ve been making baijiu for over 400 years, and that we’re uniquely positioned to act as a bridge between them and the people who we’re talking to. We all lived in China for a long time, and we all worked with baijiu before. We're very careful to never claim ownership of it. So we’re never telling them we discovered baijiu, and I never really say we ‘made’ Ming River. I say we’re fortunate to take something that’s been around for over 400 years and put it in a new package that fits on your shelf. For more info, visit www.mingriver.com and www.drinkbaijiu.com
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HEAR Novelists Metal
Minor Science DJ set
win! win! A rising star in the progressive metal scene, the Parisian band arrives with a loyal fan base and extensive experience on the road with While She Sleeps, Northlane, Breakdown of Sanity and more. Though they sing in English, sophomore album Noir anchors them in their French roots. That follow-up to 2013’s emotion-drenched Souvenirs drops September 8, which means Shenzhen gets the first live listen. Rock on. Sept 9, 8.30pm; RMB120 presale RMB140 door. B10 Live, Building C2, North Area, OCT-Loft, Xiangshan Dong Jie, Nanshan District 南山区香山东街华侨城创意文化园北区C2栋北侧 (b10live.cn)
Minor Science has come a long way in his career, transforming from leftfield House explorer to engineer of hybrid, hi-tech heretofore unheard music. The bold sonic pioneer out of Berlin brings out his distinctive dance/dubstep concoctions for a night at Oil. Sept 1, 10pm; RMB 60 presale RMB80 door. Oil Club, 11A Ground Floor, Tairan Building, Tairan Ba Lu, Futian District 福田区泰然八 路泰然大厦01层L1-11A (186 1715 0566)
Manolo Carrasco Piano
Miaou Electro Dream-Pop
Peyman Yazdanian Piano
Though born in Tehran, Yazdanian’s career with the piano spans the globe. After perfecting his art in Austria and France, he’s won acclaim as a composer in his own right, with more than 40 solo works for the piano to his name. He’s lent some of his best songs to the films of Li Yu and Lou Ye, reaching a Chinese audience with his charmingly polyglot sound. No songs have been announced for this concert, but you can expect his original compositions and some of his favorite Rachmaninoff. Sept 12, 8pm; RMB180. Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, 62 Nantou Jie, by Nanshan Da Dao, Nanshan District 南山区 南山大道南头街62号 (8661 6818)
Jessie J Pop
win! Tokyo’s Miaou formed in 2001, when Tatsuki Hamasaki and sisters Hiromi & Mayumi Hasegawa came together over a university project and a shared love of Telefon Tel Aviv, Do Make Say Think and Boards of Canada. Drawing from those influences Miaou went on to merge more electronic instruments and samples alongside their guitars, making music filled with swelling synths, spiraling melodies and IDM beats. It’s instrumental electronic dream-pop as seen from Tokyo. Sept 22, 8.30pm; RMB180 presale RMB230 door. B10 Live, Building C2, North Area, OCTLoft, Xiangshan Dong Jie, Nanshan District 南山区香山东街华侨城创意文化园北区C2栋北 侧 (b10live.cn)
win! We’re giving away tickets for these featured B10 Live concerts! Message our official WeChat account (ThatsShenzhen) three days before the show and tell us why you should win!
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Spain’s award-winning pianist kicks off his 12-city China tour in Shenzhen, carrying the Andalusian sound that’s made him a favorite around the world. The youthful artist has 42 albums to his name – the first recorded when he was just 14 – with a warm, distinctive sound that will have you cheering for more. Sept 8, 9pm; RMB 80-380. Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, 62 Nantou Jie, by Nanshan Da Dao, Nanshan District 南山 区南山大道南头街62号 (8661 6818)
Celebrated for mixing her soulful vocals with elements of R&B, pop and hip-hop, the London-born singer first rose to prominence in 2010 with her debut single ‘Do It Like a Dude,’ followed by a slew of hits, including ‘Price Tag,’ ‘Domino’ and ‘Bang Bang.’ Sept 12, 9pm; RMB580-1,280. Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, 3001 Binhai Dadao, Nanshan District 南山区滨海大道3001号 (en.damai.cn)
HEAR D.A.N. EDM
New Noise presents D.A.N, one of Tokyo’s most exciting bands, for their first China tour. With a sound somewhere between the minimal alt-pop of The xx and the electronic dynamic grooves of Caribou, they’ve won fans worldwide and launched a fascinating collaboration with Floating Points in London. With influences ranging from underground house and techno to psychedelic and African music, the trio rock promise a sound you’ve never heard before. Sept 6, 8.30pm; RMB120 presale 150 door. B10 Live, Building C2, North Area, OCT-Loft, Xiangshan Dong Jie, Nanshan District 南山区香山东街华侨城创意文化园北区C2栋北侧 (b10live.cn)
Laputa: Castle in the Sky Orchestral
This popular performance delights with songs from Studio Ghibli's animated classics – including the eponymous Laputa: Castle in the Sky, as well as Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke and the Oscarwinning Spirited Away. Fans and families won't want to miss this entertaining night with some of our favorite characters. Sept 22, 8pm; RMB80-280. Xinqiao Culture and Art Center, 29 Gongyuan Road North, Bao'an District宝安区公园北路29号
Kesha: Rainbow Tour Pop
The Royal Concept Indie Rock
From the indie-sunshine pop of their early sound to the band’s glam-inspired follow-up, The Royal Concept has people bopping their heads the world over. The upbeat Swedish quartet – vocals, guitar, bass and drum – brings their enthusiastic sound to Shenzhen’s B10 Live. See page 30 for our interview with the band. Sept 20, 8pm; RMB150 presale RMB200 door. B10 Live, Building C2, North Area, OCT-Loft, Xiangshan Dong Jie, Nanshan District 南山区香山东街华侨城创意文化园北区C2栋北侧 (b10live.cn)
The Platinum-selling singer/songwriter plans a stop in Shenzhen as part of her eight-country Rainbow Tour. After five years of legal battles and heartache, Kesha is sharing her voice with the world once again in an ambitious tour that’s already seen a few cancelations for a knee injury. We'll be praying. Sept 26, 7pm. Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center, 3001 Longxiang Dadao, Longgang District龙岗区龙翔大道3001号 (8998 0111)
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SEE
DO
2018 O.R.G. NHL China Game Ice Hockey
For the second year in a row the National Hockey League is returning to China to present the 2018 O.R.G NHL China Games. This year’s games, in Beijing and Shenzhen, will feature two world-class teams, the Boston Bruins and the Calgary Flames. The two preseason games celebrate the best of ice hockey as China embarks on a journey to the 2022 Winter Olympics. Sept 15, 2.15pm; RMB80-1,480. Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center, 3001 Longxiang Dadao, Longgang District龙岗区龙翔大道3001号 (8998 0111)
Flamenco Carmen Dance Theater
ATP Shenzhen Open 2018 Tennis
Craft: The Reset Exhibition
Over 50 artists and designers, including Alan Chen, Zhu Zheqin, Jeff Shidayu, Michael Young and Yang Mingjie, present more than 100 works in the main exhibition space of the Sea World Culture and Art Center. The focus on how they innovate and relate to the past through craft and material showcases a truly stunning array of forms and ideas. Sept 7, 2018-Feb 19, 2019, 10am-10pm; RMB35 early bird RMB50 door, free for members. Sea World Culture and Arts Center 1187 Wanghai Lu, Shekou, Nanshan District 南山区蛇口 望海路1187号 (www.designsociety.cn)
Art Shenzhen 2018 Exhibition
Carmen, the star of Bizet's beloved masterpiece, embodies the bold, unfettered fire that outsiders imagine of her roaming Roma people. Here, her tragic tale of love, envy, jealousy and hate is brought to ferocious life by lead dancer Inés Rubio, choreographer Matilde Rubio and the flamenco company of Ballet Español de Murcia. Sept 21, 8pm. Shenzhen Children’s Palace, 2002 Fuzhong Yi Lu, Futian District 福田 区福中一路2002号 (8351 3099)
In the lead-up to the Australian Open, Shenzhen hosts would-be champions like Alex de Minaur, Fernando Verdasco, Stephanos Tsitsipas and defending men’s singles champion David Goffin. Over the course of nine days they battle it out on the hard surface of Longgang Sports Center, till only one emerges victorious. Bring your passport for entry. Sept 22-30, 3pm; RMB50-360 depending on location and day. Longgang Sports Center, 1 Saichang Lu, Longgang District 龙岗区赛场路1号
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Over 60 galleries from across Shenzhen, greater China and abroad will gather to explore the market for contemporary art, with hundreds of works on display. Hall 6 of the convention center will treat visitors with a visual feast rarely seen in the city. Sept 14-17, 10am-5pm. Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, Hall 6, Jintian Lu, by Binhe Da Dao, Futian District 福田区金田路与滨河大道交叉口西北向 (www.artshenzhen.com)
Newcomer Event Welcome
This is THE event to attend for all Shenzhen newbies. Join Vista-SK for their third annual event just for the newcomers, introducing you to all the info you need for a happy and healthy life in Shenzhen. Get all your questions answered by their friendly professional staff and find the services and support you need for your new life here. Getting started can be a challenge; let Vista-SK help. Sept 8, 10am-12pm; free. Vista-SK International Medical Center, 4/F, Bldg 4C, Shenzhen Software Industry Base, Xuefu Lu, Nanshan District 南山区学府路软件产 业基地4栋C座裙楼4层 (3689 9688)
HOTEL NEWS
JW MARRIOTT
Appoints Avon Zhang as Resident Manager
INTERCONTINENTAL SHENZHEN
Wins Outstanding Commercial Service Award IHG recognized InterContinental Shenzhen during its recent Greater China Leadership Conference, applauding the hotel’s ability to translate the economic boom of the Pearl River Bay Area into commercial success for the group. “We are very honored and proud of winning this precious award. It all goes down to having one great team working close together with ambition to win and deliver a true hospitality experience to everyone,” said Daniel Arbenz, general manager of InterContinental Shenzhen.
JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen has announced the appointment of Ms. Avon Zhang as resident manager, assisting the general manager in the hotel’s operations. During her previous eight years with the hotel, she has helped build the hotel’s reputation and develop new business. She is praised for her “keen eye on marketing, operation management and talent development” with the skills needed to create a guest experience that surpasses expectations.
COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT SHENZHEN NORTHWEST Officially Opens to Public
Courtyard by Marriott Shenzhen Northwest is the first international brand hotel in Bao’an District’s Fuyong area and is integrated with a large-scaled commercial complex. Access to public transport is conveniently located within walking distance of the hotel: Fuyong Station on Shenzhen’s Metro Line 11 is only a fiveminute stroll away. Fuyong Station is only two stops away from Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport and only five stops from Qianhai Pilot Free Trade Zone.
THE LANGHAM, SHENZHEN
Honored for Best Wine List in Southern China Building on over 150 years of British luxury hospitality, The Langham, Shenzhen now invites patrons to enjoy the finest wine and cuisine in an atmosphere of true elegance. This commitment to quality earned top marks in China’s Wine List of the Year Awards. The wine list for their restaurant Duke’s, curated by CAPS-certified sommelier Julia Zhu, won the ‘Three Glasses’ and ‘2018 Best Wine List, Southern China’ awards. WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 65
HONG KONG & MACAU CALENDAR HK
SEPT 4-9 TUE-SUN
Beyond The Barricade, 7.45pm weekdays 4pm & 8pm Sat-Sun; HKD395-695. The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (www. beyondthebarricade.com.hk) Four stars of Broadway and London’s West End unite for a powerhouse performance of the greatest showtunes from the last half century. The blockbusting two-hour show features hit songs from The Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Wicked, Miss Saigon, West Side Story, Chicago, Hamilton, Mamma Mia, and many others, climaxing with a spectacular finale from, of course, Les Misérables.
End of the World (Sekai no Owari), 8pm; HKD588-888. Star Hall, Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre The four childhood friends behind one of Japan’s most popular pop outfits play their distinct roles. Group leader Nakajin takes guitar, Fukase lead vocals and group conception, Saori piano and stage production, with masked clown DJ LOVE in charge of sonic palette and comedic stage banter. After sell-out shows in the Nissan Stadium and a team-up with Clean Bandit, they’re bringing their infectious J-pop back to Hong Kong.
SEPT 16 SUN
SEPT 8 SAT
Semiramide, 5pm; HK$210 adult HKD180 student/senior. Béthanie Theatre, HKAPA Béthanie Landmark Heritage Campus, Pok Fu Lam (www.themetinhongkong.info) Rossini's dazzling masterpiece makes a rare appearance at the New York Metropolitan Opera House – and thanks to The Met: Live in HD, it appears in telecast in Hong Kong as well. After nearly 25 years the opera returns with Maurizio Benini conducting an all-star bel canto cast. Angela Meade stars in the title role as the murderous Queen of Babylon, with Elizabeth DeShong, Javier Camarena, Ildar Abdrazakov and Ryan Speedo Green completing the stellar cast.
SEPT 12 WED
UK Comedy Master Jimmy Carr, 6pm; HKD488-888. Rotunda 3, Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, Kowloon (+65 6324-0764) The man The Guardian calls “a comedy hero for our time” gathers his best jokes and some new material for his ‘Best Of, Ultimate, Gold, Greatest Hits World Tour.’ Over a decade and a half, Jimmy Carr has performed nine sell-out tours, playing nearly 2,000 shows to over 2 million people across 4 continents. He’s won the British Comedy Award for ‘Best Live Stand-Up Tour’ and now you can experience his very best, all in one show.
MO
SEPT 1, 8, 15, 24 & OCT 1
SEPT 28-OCT 28
29th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest, 9pm/9.40pm. Coastline in front of Macau Tower (fireworks.macaotourism.gov.mo) Macau’s skyline will glow this September as fireworks from the city’s annual fireworks display burst above the Special Administrative Region. One of the city’s most highly anticipated events, the Macau International Fireworks Display draws thousands of spectators each year seeking a visual thrill and romantic evening on the coast. This year, teams from the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Belgium, Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, Austria and China will display their best explosives.
32nd Macau International Music Festival, various times and venues; MOP100-700. For specific programs, please visit www.icm.gov.mo. For more than 30 years, the Macau International Music Festival has hosted exhilarating performances featuring a range of international artists for music lovers to enjoy. This year’s edition will enchant with classic masterpieces, as well as works of ethnic appeal, presented by local and visiting virtuosi. Don’t miss it!
MON, TUE, SAT
The Killers, 8pm; HKD888. AsiaWorld Expo, Lantau (2629 6218) After selling over 25 million albums worldwide and headlining all of the world’s top festivals, the Killers’ newest studio album, Wonderful Wonderful, landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 after last September’s release. With harddriving hits like ‘Mr. Brightside,’ ‘Somebody Told Me,’ and ‘Run for Cover,’ fans in Hong Kong are in for an incredible show.
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DAILY
SEPT 7-9 FRI-SUN
SEPT 19 WED
ONGOING
Giselle by Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company, 2.30pm/8pm; MOP150380. Macao Cultural Centre (macauticket.com) The greatest of all romantic ballets, Giselle tells the story of a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart after discovering her lover is betrothed to another. Produced by Teatro alla Scala, one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and as esteemed as the Paris Opera Ballet, Giselle features many of Italy’s most talented ballerinas in a breathtaking rendition of the 19th century classic.
Giant Panda Spectating, 10am-1pm, 2-5pm; MOP10. Seac Pai Van Park (macaupanda.org.mo) You don't have to go all the way to Sichuan to watch cute, clumsy giant pandas. Kaikai and Xinxin, along with their children Jianjian and Kangkang, await visitors right at our doorstep at the Macau Giant Panda Pavilion in Seac Pai Van Park. Also dwelling in the park are the lovable red pandas.
THE WISDOM OF CHINA The Stories of Zhuangzi and Sunzi Continuing with his The Wisdom of China series, writer Xu Yuanxiang dives into the lives and teachings of great Chinese philosophers Zhuangzi and Sunzi.
ZHUANGZI: ENJOYMENT OF LIFE IN AN UNTROUBLED STATE BY XU YUANXIANG AND YIN YONGJIAN
Zhuangzi is ranked among the greatest Chinese literary and philosophical giants, and one of earliest thinkers to contribute to Taoism, or ‘school of the Way’. He is considered by many as the contemporary version of Mencius (Mengzi), but there appears to have been little to no connection between the two. Known for his complex and poetic, at times humorous and polysemic style, Zhuangzi’s philosophy encourages disengagement from the artificialities of social life, and cultivation of our natural potencies and skills in order to live a simple, natural, yet fulfilling life. 110mm×185mm 168 pages, RMB53 English Paperback, 100g ISBN 978-7-5085-2766-6
SUN TZU: THE ULTIMATE MASTER OF WAR By Xu Yuanxiang and Li Jing
Of the more than 4,000 books on military strategy produced over the course of Chinese history, The Art of War is almost unanimously acknowledged as the most outstanding. Written by Sun Tzu, a wellknown general some 2,500 years ago, the fact that a man and the book he wrote still exert a profound influence in the 21st century surely makes one want to find out exactly what a kind of man he was, and what his philosophy is all about. 110mm×185mm 168 pages, RMB53 English paperback, 100g ISBN 978-7-5085-2767-3
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LISTINGS
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Winner of a That's PRD 2017 Food & Drink Awards
ITALIAN
FOOD & DRINK
OPEN DOOR
AMERICAN
Element Fresh 1) 1/F, Zone B, Sea World, Shekou, Nanshan District (2681 4848) 2) L27/7A, Wongtee Plaza, 118 Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (8323 7249) 1) 南山区海上世界广 场B区B130-210号 2) 福田区福华三路118号皇庭国 商购物广场L2-7/7A号
Baia Burger Concept 1) 1C077-078A, 1/F, Shopping Park, Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (8290 6696) 2) A2303 3/ F, Second Building Section A, Sea World, Shekou, Nanshan District (2681 8890) 1) 福田
区福华三路购物公园1楼078A 2) 深圳市南山区蛇 口海上世界A区2座3楼3号
The Butcher's Club B101A, PAFC Mall, Ping An Finance Center, 5033 Yitian Lu, Futian District (8272 5669) 福田区益田路5033号平安金
融中心B1, 下沉式广场B101A商铺 (观光厅入口旁 边)
Morton's Grille N901, 9/F, PAFC Mall, Ping An Finance Center, 5033 Yitian Lu, Futian District (8326 8333) 福田区益田路5033号平安
金融中心9楼N901
Hard Rock Cafe Shenzhen 9 Mission Hills Blvd, Longhua New District (3395 2888) 龙华新区观澜高尔夫大道9号www. hardrockhotels.com/shenzhen
Blue Frog Shop 28, 2/F, Wongtee Plaza, 118 Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (8255 3646) 福田区福华三路118号皇庭国商购物广
场2层28铺
PAPI Italian Restaurant N702, 7/F, Ping An Finance Center, 5033 Yitian Lu, Futian District (8326 6833) 福田区益田路5033号平安
金融中心7楼N702号
Artisans 1/F, Block A, Poly Cultural Center, Houhaibin Lu, by Haide San Dao (8628 7109) 南山区 保利文化广场A区40号店铺 Alla Torre #101, Area B, Sea World, 1128 Wanghai Lu, Shekou, Nanshan District (2685 1322) 南山区蛇口望海路1128号海上世界B区101 Blue Italian Seafood & Grill Restaurant 3/F, The Venice Raytour Hotel Shenzhen, 9026 Shennan Dadao, Nanshan District (2693 6888) 南山区深南大道9026号深圳威尼斯
睿途酒店3楼意大利餐厅
Baia Restaurant Bar Grill B301, Bldg B, Zone B, Sea World Square, Shekou, Nanshan District (2681 8836) 南山区蛇口海 上世界广场B区3楼B301
La Terrazza 1/F, Grand Hyatt Shenzhen, 1881 Baoan Nan Lu, by Jiabing Lu (2218 7338) 罗湖区宝安南路1881号深圳君悦酒店 Paletto 2/F, The Ritz-Carlton, 116 Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (2222 2222) 福田区福 华三路116号深圳星河丽思卡尔顿酒店二层
Oggi Trattoria Pizzeria 3-14 Golden Century Lu, Phase 3, Coastal Rose Garden, Shekou, Nanshan District (2689 0118) 南
山区蛇口金世纪路南海玫瑰花园三期金世纪路 3-14号
PIZZA
CHINESE CANTONESE
Pizza Express Shop 568, 5/F, the MixC, 1881 Bao'an Nan Lu, Luohu District (2215 9036) 罗湖区宝安南路1881号万象城5楼568
号商铺
Hoi Fan 1) North gate L/F, Yijing Central Walk Shopping Mall, 3 Fuhua Yi Lu, Futian District (8322 6165) 2) Rm 16 3/F, Raffles City, 2163 Nanhai Dadao, Nanshan District (2640 8664) 1) 福田区福华一路3号新怡景商 业中心L层北大门 2) 南海大道2163号来福士广 场3层16号
Kiwi Pizza 1) Shop B14, COCO Park, by Fuhua Lu (8329 2299) 2) 8 Outlets Minkang Lu, by Huanan Lu 3) B1, 138 Mintian Lu, by Fuhua Yi Lu 1) 福田区购物公园B1楼地铁商业街
B14铺 2)龙华新区奥特莱斯8号仓店 3) 福田区民田 路138号购物公园B1楼
Baia Da Marco Shop #28 Coastal Rose Garden, Shekou, Nanshan District, shenzhen (2681 8849) 南山区蛇口街道望海路南海玫瑰花
Diandoude Dim Sum 4/F, Greater China IFC, Shennan Dadao and Caitian Lu Interchange, Futian District (8321 9215) 福田区
园(二期)33—36裙楼28
Jade Garden 22-31 L2/F, Yitian Holiday Plaza, 9028 Shennan Dadao, Nanshan District (8860 6228) 南山区深南大道9028号益田
NYPD New York Pizza Delivery 1) Shop 26, HaichangJie, 1 Gongyuan Nan Lu (8887 6973) 2) 3 Fuhua Yi Lu, by Zhongxin Si Lu (8887 6973) 1) 南山区公园南路1号海尚国际26
深南大道和彩田路交汇处大中华IFC四楼
假日广场L2楼22-31号
号铺 2)福田区福华一路中心城FL1015商铺
SICHUAN Rong Yue 1) 468 4/F, MIXC, 1881, Bao'an Nan Lu, Luohu District (2221 6888) 2) L3/F, Yitian Holiday Plaza, 9028 Shennan Dadao, Nanshan District (8665 6877) 1) 罗湖区宝安
南路1881号华润万象城一期4层468号2) 南山区深 南大道9028号益田假日广场3层
Lan Ting 23/F, Hilton Shenzhen Futian, Tower B, Great China IFC, 1003 Shennan lu, Futian District (2130 8888) 福田区深南大
THE TERRACE Offers Healthier Protein You’ll Love Hitting the gym and trying to limit excess calories? Love seafood but don't want it fried? The Terrace has you covered with Thai-style grilled prawns, prepared to maximize proteins and limit the things you don’t need. At over 10 centimeters long, these fresh tiger prawns are grilled with a simple dash of salt, a treat for both your tongue and your nascent six-pack. The Terrace Restaurant & Bar, No. 201, Sea World Square, 32 Taizi Lu, Shekou, Nanshan District 南 山区蛇口太子路32号海上世界广场商铺201 (2682 9105)
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道1003号大中华国际金融中心B座大深圳中华希 尔顿酒店23楼
FRENCH Belle-Vue Grill 37/F, Grand Hyatt Shenzhen, 1881 Bao'an Nan Lu, Luohu District (2218 7338) 罗湖区宝安南路1881号君悦酒
店37楼
L’etoile Building A 302-303, Ecological PLAZA, OCT, Nanshan District (8166 8111) 南山区华侨城生态广场A 栋302-303
La Maison Shop 108, Nanhai Rose Garden, 91 Wanghai Lu, Nanshan District (2685 7030) 南山区望海路91号南海玫 瑰花园108号
SHANGHAINESE Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao B1/F, KK MALL, 5016 Shennan Dong Lu, Futian District (2265 9183) 福田区深南东路5016号 KKMALL京基百纳空间B1层
Din Tai Fung 3/F, MixC, 1881, Bao'an Nan Lu, Luohu District (2598 2779) 罗湖区宝安南 路1881号华润万象城一期3层
Shanghai Min A-1F, OCT Bay, 13 Baishi Dong Lu, Nanshan District (4008209777) 南山区白石路东13号欢乐海岸曲水湾A-1F
Taste Moment Restaurant 1st floor, Bldg 1, Block A, 1979 Cultural and Creative Park, 1011 Qiaoxiang Lu, Futian District (8255 6173) 福田区侨香路1011号1979文化生活新领
域A区1栋1层
GERMAN Haxnbauer 1) L1C-055B, 1/F, Coco Park, Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (8359 2080) 2) L1-15, Raffles City, 2163 Nanhai Ave, Nanshan District (8652 6580)
1) 福田区福华三路星河Coco Park一楼L1C-055B 2) 南山区南海大道2163号福士广场L1-15
LISTINGS
Paulaner Brauhaus 1) C-005, Huanchuan Square, Sea World, Shekou, Nanshan District (2668 7230) 2) 8/F, Shop 801, PAFC Mall,Ping’An Finance Centre, 5033 Yitian Lu, Futian District (8253 5187) 1) 南山区蛇口海上世界环船广场C-005 2)福田区 益田路5033号平安金融中心8楼801
SPANISH Ling Spanish Kitchen 1011 Qiao Xiang Dong Lu, 1979 Cultural Park, Nanshan District (8322 7522) 南山区侨香东路1011号1979
OPEN DOOR
Komachi B-132, North Side, Shopping Park, Futian District (8290 5806) 福田区购物 公园北园B区132号
Kyoku Japanese Cuisine B-17 Qushui Bay, OCT Bay, 50 Baishi Lu East, Nanshan District (8654 1122) 南山区白石路东50号欢乐 海岸曲水湾B-17
Nishimura 1/F, Macro Polo Hotel, Fuhua Yi Lu, by Mintian Lu (3339 7709) 福田中心区福 华一路马哥孛罗好日子酒店1楼
Kanpai Classic 9/F, PAFC Mall, Ping An Finance Center, 5033 Yitian Road, Futian District (6182 2987) 福田区福华三路平安金
融中心第9楼
文化新天地B区1层
KOREAN
MIDDLE EASTERN Bus Grill Turkish Steakhouse Shop 134, 1/F, Shopping Park B Area, Futian District (158 2044 6962) 福田区购物 公园B区134铺
Les 5 Chef's Miznon 143 Laojie, Shekou, Nanshan District (132 5889 0561) 南山蛇
口老街143号
Minikor Kitchen L01-B01, Coco Park, 269 Fuhua San Lu, by Mintian Lu, Futian District (8606 9266) 福田区民田路福华三路269号星河
Coco Park L1-B0
Bornga Korean Cuisine A-11A, Qushui Wan, OCT Bay, 42 Baishi Lu East, Nanshan District (8654 1158) 南山区白石路东42号欢乐
海岸曲水湾A-11A
The Istanbul Restaurant 1-22 Huafa Bei Lu, Huaqiangbei Jiedao, Futian District (3309 7180) 福田区华强北街道华发北路1-22号
MEXICAN Teqo FL1018, Yijing Central Walk Shopping Mall, 3 Fuhua Yi Lu, Futian District. (18928448542) 福田区福华一路3号怡景中心 城FL1018号铺
Orale No. 1026, Zhonghang Beiyuan V Shangjie, Zhenhua Lu, Huaqiangbei, Futian District (2396 4990) 福田区华强北振华路中航 北苑V尚街1026号铺
Tacos 3118#, Sea World Square, 32 Taizi Lu, Shekou, Nanshan District (2161 1006) 南山区蛇口太子路32号海上世界广场A3118店铺
Latina No. 1128, Sea World, Wanghai Lu, by Nanhai Dadao (2667 7679) 南山区蛇口望海路1128号海上世界广场C区
INDIAN Bombay Indian Restaurant & Bar Shops 20-24, Sea World, Nanshan District (2667 6049) 南山区海上世界商铺20-24号
VIETNAMESE Lian Shop 562, 5/F, The MIXC Shenzhen, Luohu District (8266 6366) 罗湖区万象城商 场5楼562铺
Muine 1) L2-203, Coco Park, Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (8271 2527) 2) B139 and B139-2, B1/F, Jiufang Shopping Mall, ShennanZhong Lu, Futian District (2681 7828) 3) No. 219, 2/F, Shekou Garden City Center, Nanshan District (2681 7828) 4) B2-017A, King Glory Plaza, Luohu District (2220 3052) 5) RL1094B, Yijing Central Walk Shopping Mall, 3 Fuhua Yi Lu, Futian District (8273 2993) 6) G-025B, OCT Bay Shopping mall, 13 Baishi Dong Lu, Nanshan District (8671 7326) 1) 福田区福华三路COCO
Little Papa Indian Restaurant #116, Building 6, Nanhai E-Cool, Taizi Lu, Shekou, Nanshan District (2686 0020) 南山区蛇口太 子路南海意库6栋116号
JAPANESE BOA 3/F, West side of International Bar Street, Sea World, Shekou, Nanshan District (130 4894 9034) 南山区蛇口海上世界国际酒
吧街西侧三楼
生活新领域B区
B26C商铺
THAI The Terrace Restaurant & Bar #201, Sea World Square, 32 Taizi Lu, Shekou, Nanshan District (2682 9105) 南山 区蛇口太子路32号海上世界广场商铺201
Very Siam 1/F, A3 Bldg, Xiangshan Dong Jie, OCT-Loft, Nanshan District (8623 3225) 南山区OCT创意园香山东街A3栋1楼
Yes Thai 1) 4/F, KK Shopping Mall, KK Financial Centre, 5016 Shennan Dong Lu, by Hongbao Lu (2290 0333) 2) 5/F, Costal City, 33 Wenxin Wu Lu, by Haide Yi Dao (8635 9989) 1) 罗湖区深南东路5016号京基百
纳空间购物中心4楼 2) 南山区文心五路33号海岸 城购物中心五楼
La Maison D'Elephant 8/F, PAFC Mall, Ping An Finance Center, 5033 Yitian Lu, Futian District (8831 9918) 福田区益田路5033号平
安金融中心8楼
BUFFETS
心城广场L楼FL1011号
-L121店
Bus Grill Turkish Steakhouse, Shop 134, 1/F, Shopping Park B Area, Futian District福田区购物公园 B区134铺 (8257 4011)
Pho Nam Shop B26C, Link City Passage, by Fuhua Lu (8255 7048) 福田区连城新天地
Tang Ben Jia #FL1011, L/F, Yijing Central Walk Shopping Mall, 3 Fuhua Yi Lu, Futian District (8280 1086) 福田区福华一路3号怡景中 Bincho Ya L120-121, Bldg 2, Times Square Excellence, Fuhua Lu, Futian District (8278 2760) 福田区福华路卓越时代广场二期L120
The menu at Bus Grill by Birol Dincli features an elaborate organic salad, Turkish mezze, homemade flat bread and, of course, a roster of some of the finest beef. Choose among succulent selections of dry-aged Wagyu M4 and M6, in cuts of Tomahawk, Porterhouse and bone-in rib eye, along with classic Turkish kebabs. Complete the meal with delicious homemade sauces and an eclectic selection of condiments including special blends of mustard and eight exotic rock salts from the Himalayas.
Mon Saigon Block B, 1979 Cultural and Creative Park, by Qiaoxiang Lu, Futian District (8270 3282) 福田区侨香路1979文化
湖宾馆地下一层
利文化广场A区2楼48-49号商铺
Indulges with Exotic Ingredients and Finest Beef
Park L2-203 2) 福田区深南中路华强北九方购 物中心B1层B139 & B139-2 3) 南山区南海大道 1086号花园城中心第2楼219号铺 4) 罗湖区人民 南路金光华广场B2层B2-017A号 5) 福田区福华三 路中心城广场L层RL1094B号 6) 南山区滨海大道 2008号欢乐海岸购物中心G-025B
Saffron Indian Restaurant and Bar Floor B1, Jinhu Hotel, 1005 Wenjin Lu, Luohu District (8219 1115) 罗湖区文锦中路1005号锦 Indian Cottage Shop 48-49, 2/F, Area A, Poly Cultural Centre, Wenxin Wu Lu, Nanshan District (8628 7265) 南山区文心五路保
BUS GRILL TURKISH STEAKHOUSE
Café Zen 1/F, Futian Shangri-la Shenzhen, 4088 Yitian lu, Futian District (2151 3825)福田区益田路4088号深圳福田香格 里拉大酒店1层
THE BUTCHERS CLUB Brings Their Dry-Aged Burgers to Shenzhen The Butchers Club is known for its signature dry-aged beef and handcrafted dry-aged burgers, with their newest location bringing the concept to Shenzhen. Signature favorites include the classic dry-aged burger (RMB90) and master chef signature steak (RMB248) to beef up your day. Choose something out of the ordinary like their smoked salmon hash and lobster ‘sub,’ or pick a power set (RMB58) for a lunch that more than satisfies. The Butchers Club, Room B01, PAFC Mall, Ping An Finance Centre, Yi Tian Road, Futian District 深 圳福田平安金融中心B01號店
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LISTINGS The Show Kitchen 32/F, Grand Hyatt Shenzhen, 1881 Baoan Nan lu, Luohu District (2218 7338) 罗湖区宝安南路1881号深圳君悦
酒店32层
Silk 2/F, The Langham, Shenzhen, 7888 Shennan Dadao, Futian District (8828 9888 ext. 8921) 深圳东海朗廷酒店2层秀·自助餐厅 Market Café 2/F, Hyatt Regency Shenzhen Airport, Shenzhen Baoan International Airport, Boa’an District (2345 1234) 宝安区深圳
宝安国际机场深圳机场凯悦酒店2层
Café Marco 1/F, Marco Polo Shenzhen, 28 Fuhua Yi Lu, Futian District (3322 7777) 福田区福华一路28号深圳马哥孛罗 好日子酒店1层
Peninsula one, Jin Shiji Lu, Shekou Nanshan District ( 2685 1266)
半岛城邦国际幼儿园 南山区蛇口东角头金世纪路1 号半岛城邦一期
Quality Schools International 2/F Bitao Center, 8 Taizi Lu, Shekou,Nanshan District (2667 6031). www.shk.qsi.org 南山区蛇口太子路 8 号碧涛中心 2 楼
QSI International School of Shenzhen (Futian) A1, TCL Science Park, No. 1001 Zhongshan Yuan, Nanshan District (8371 7108) 南山区中山园路1001号TCL 科学园区A1栋 Shekou International School Jingshan Villas, Gongye Er Lu, Shekou, Nanshan District (2669 3669). www.sis.org.cn 南山区蛇口工业二路鲸山别墅内
NIGHTLIFE
Shen Wai International School 29 Baishi San Lu, Nanshan (8654 1200, www.swis.cn) 深圳外国语学校国际部 南山区白石三道 29 号
HOTEL Futian Shangri-La Hotel Shenzhen No.4088 Yitian Lu, Futian District (8828 4088). 福田香格里拉大酒店 福田区益田路 4088 号
Four Seasons Hotel Shenzhen 138 Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (8826 8888) 福田区福华三路 138 号
BAIA BURGER CONCEPT Treats You to After-work Specials Enjoy Baia Burger Concept’s ‘90 Minutes After Work’ promotion running Mondays through Thursdays, 5.30-7pm. Choose from any of their 180-gram Australian Waygu beef burgers or vegetarian burgers with a side of fries or sweet potato fries and enjoy your meal at 50-percent off. Baia Burger Concept 1) 1C-077-078A, 1/F, Shopping Park, Fuhua San Lu, Futian District 福田区 福华三路购物 公园一楼078A(8290 6696) 2) A2303 3/F, Second Building Section A, Sea World, Shekou, Nanshan District 南山区蛇口海上世界广场B区3楼B301 (2681 8890)
Grand Hyatt Shenzhen No.1881 Baoan Nan Lu, Luohu District (8266 1234) www.shenzhen.grand.hyatt.com 罗湖区宝安南路1881号
The George & Dragon is a quintessential British Pub; good draft beers, ales, and cider; comforting pub food and great BBQ; non-stop sports on three screens; secluded beer garden. Your home away from home. Also available for catering your parties and events. www.george-dragon. com; e-mail: manager@george-dragon.com; tel: 2669 8564; Shop 3, behind Taizi Hotel, Taizi Lu 5, Shekou. 南山区太子路5号太子宾馆 1楼后排3号商铺
Club Viva No. 140, Fuhua Lu, Coco Park, Futian District 福田区福华路城建购物公园
Hardrock Hotel Shenzhen, Hard Rock Cafe Shenzhen,No.9 Misson Hills Road,Shenzhen,0755-3395 2888 深圳硬石 酒店 观澜高尔夫大道9号
Hilton Shenzhen Shekou Nanhai 1177, Wanghai Lu, Nanshan District
深圳蛇口希尔顿南海酒店 南山区望海路 1177 号 (2162 8888)
Hilton Shenzhen Futian Town B, Great China International Finance Centre, 1003 Shennan Dadao, Futian District (2130 8888) 福田区深南大道1003号大中华国际金融中心B座
140 号
JW Marriott Shenzhen No.6005 Shennan Dadao, Futian District. (2269 8888)
Dazzle Club 3/F, Central Commercial Building, No.88 Fuhua 1st Road, Futian District (2348 1542) 福田区民田路中
JW Marriott Shenzhen Bao’an 8 Baoxing Lu, Baoan District (2323 8888)
福田区深南大道 6005 号
心商务大厦三楼
深圳前海华侨城 JW 万豪酒店 宝安区宝兴路 8 号
McCawley’s Irish Bar 1) Shop 151-152, Coco Park, Futian District (2531 3599) 2) Shop 118, Sea World, Shekou, Nanshan District (2668 4496) 1) 福田区购物公园151-
Marco Polo Shenzhen Fuhua Yi Lu, CBD, Futian District (8298 9888). www. cn.marcopolohotels.com 福田中心区福华一路
152 2) 南山区蛇口海上世界广场118号
Pepper Club 2/F, Shopping Park, Fuhua Lu, Fustian District (8319 9040) 福田 区福华路购物公园二楼
The Terrace Above Starbucks, Sea World Plaza, Shekou, Nanshan District (2682 9105) 南山区蛇口海上世界广场2 楼星
巴克楼上
Shangri-La Hotel East of the Luohu Train Station, Jianshe Lu, Luohu District (8233 0888). www.shangri-la.com 罗湖区建设路火车站东侧
Sheraton Dameisha Resort 9 Yankui Lu, Dameisha, Yantian District (8888 6688) 盐田大梅沙盐葵路 ( 大梅沙段 )9 号
St. Regis Shenzhen No.5016 Shennan Dong Lu, Luohu District.(8308 8888) 深圳瑞吉酒店 罗湖区深南东路 5016 号
EDUCATION American International School, No. 82,Gongyuan Lu, Shekou,Nanshan District (8619 4750)
The Langham, Shenzhen, No. 7888, Shennan Dadao, Futian District (8828 9888). 深圳朗廷酒店 福田区深南大道 7888 号
The Ritz-Carlton, Shenzhen 116 Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (2222 2222)
南山区蛇口公园路82号青少年活动中心
福田区福华三路 116 号
LES 5 CHEFS
Green Oasis School No 4030, Shennan Middle Road, Tianmian, Futian District. (8399 6712) admission@ greenoasis.org.cn www.greenoasis.org.cn
The Venice Raytour Hotel Shenzhen No.9026, Shennan Dadao, Overseas Chinese Town, Nanshan District (2693 6888)
Promises Shenzhen’s Ultimate Steak Experience
International School of Nanshan Shenzhen A Canadian school accepting application for Pre-Grade 1 through Grade 12. 11 Longyuan Lu, Taiyuan Sub-District, Nanshan District (2666 1000, 2606 6968). admission@isnsz.com www.isnsz.com
Combining Swiss precision and Italian flair from two world-class chefs, Les 5 Chefs has gathered a selection of USDA Prime Black Angus and premium Australian Wagyu for ‘Shenzhen’s Ultimate Steak Experience.’ The new menu pairs these excellent cuts of beef with an intercontinental selection of wines. Feast upon a 1500-gram ‘Rangers Valley’ Black Onyx Tomahawk steak (RMB1,500), just one of the two- or three-person encounters from the new menu, designed to impress even the most discerning steak lovers. Les 5 Chefs, Shop 1089-10, Costal Rose Garden 2, Wanghai Lu, Nanshan District 南山区望海路南 海玫瑰花园2期24号商铺私房欧厨 (2681 0468 or 135-2889 0561)
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福田区田面村深南中路 4030 号
南山区龙源路11号
深圳威尼斯睿途酒店 南山区华侨城深南大道 9026 号
The Westin Shenzhen 9028-2 Shennan Dadao, Nanshan District (2698 8888) www.westin.com/shenzhen 南山区深南大道 9028号-2
Hyatt Regency Shenzhen Airport, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, Bao'an District 深圳机场凯悦酒店 宝安区深圳宝安国际机 场 (755-2345 1234)
Merchiston International School, Shenzhen No. 12 Shilongzai Road, Daliang SubDistrict, Longhua District, (400 867 0177) admissions@merchiston.cn, www.merchiston.cn 龙华区大浪街道新石社区石龙仔路12号
InterContinental Shenzhen, No. 9009, Shennan Road, Nanshan District 深圳华侨城
Peninsula Montessori Kindergarten the
The Courtyard by Marriott Shenzhen Bao'an, No.46 Dongfang Road, Songgang,
洲际大酒店,南山区深南大道9009号 (3399 3388)
LISTINGS Bao'an District 宝安区松岗东方大道46号 (2986 9888, www.courtyardshenzhenbaoan.com)
Shekou, Nanshan District (2290 9521) 1) 罗 湖区宝安南路1881号万象城S248商铺 2) 南山区 蛇口望海路海上世界C区103店
HEALTH Vista-SK International Medical Center Lvl 4, Bldg 4C, Shenzhen Software Industry Base,Xuefu Lu, Nanshan District (3689 9833) 南山区学府路软件产业基地4栋C座裙楼4层 J&C Dental 4FG, China Economic Trade Building, No.8, Zizu Qilu, Futian District (13418536301) 福田区紫竹七道8号中国经贸 大厦4FG
HarMoniCare Women & Children's Hospital 12018 Shennan Dadao, by Nanshan Dadao (3339 1333) 深圳和美妇儿科医院 南山区深南大 道12018号
C-MER (Shenzhen) Dennis Lam Eye Hospital 1-2/F, Shengtang Bldg, 1 Tairan Jiu Lu, Chegongmiao, Futian District (4001 666 120, 3322 7188) 福田区车公庙泰然九路一号
盛唐大厦1-2层
IMC(International Medical Center) serves the local community and expatriates from all over the world. We are proud to provide private, personalized healthcare for each patient. Our experienced staff from Hong Kong, Mainland China and overseas provide comprehensive medical services including general and specialty outpatient services, health assessments, inpatient services and more. Scan QR Code above for more info of IMC. 深圳市福田区海园一路,
香港大学深圳医院国际医疗中心 International Medical Centre,The University of Hong Kong - Shenzhen Hospital, 1, Haiyuan 1st Road, Futian District, Shenzhen (8691 3388)
HAIR SALONS Shang Hair B2S-001, Coco Park, Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (8887 9899)福田区福华三 路星河Coco Park商场负二楼B2S-001
Toni & Guy 1) S248, The MIXC Shenzhen, Luohu District (2290 9505) 2) 103, Section C, Sea World, Wanghai Lu, by Xinghua Lu,
OPEN DOOR
BUSINESS China-Italy Chamber of Commerce Rm220, 2/F, International Chamber Of Commerce, Fuhua San Lu, Futian District (Tel: 8632 9518; fax: 8632 9528). www. cameraitacina.com ` 福田区福华三路国际商会中心 2 楼 220 室
European Union Chamber of Commerce Rm 308, 3/F Overseas Chinese Scholars Venture Building, southern section of HighTech Industrial Park, Nanshan District (Tel: 8635 0920; fax: 8632 9785). 南山高新科技园南区留学生创业大厦 3 楼 308 室
French Chamber of Commerce in South China (CCIFC) Room 318, 3/F Chinese Overseas Scholars Venture Building,South section of Hi-tech Industry Park, Nanshan District (Tel: 8632 9602; fax: 8632 9736) www.ccifc.org 南山区科技园南区留学生创业大
厦3楼318室
German Chamber of Commerce Room 4A-11, Zone C, Zhong Ke Nano Building Yuexing Liu Lu, Nanshan District (8635 0487) www.china.ahk.de 中国深圳市南山区粤
兴六道中科纳能大厦C区4A - 11
The American Chamber of Commerce in South China Rm 208, 2/F Overseas Chinese Scholars Venture Building, southern section of High-Tech Industrial Park, Nanshan District (Tel: 2658 8342; fax: 2658 8341). www.amcham-southchina.org
MINIKOR KITCHEN Share the Beef-Grilling Fun
The British Chamber of Commerce, Shenzhen Sub-Chamber Rm 314, 3/F Overseas Chinese Scholars Venture Building, southern section of High-Tech Industrial Park, Nanshan District (2658 8350). 深圳市南山区高新
科技园南区留学生创业大厦3楼314室
Enjoy the hands-on experience with Minikor’s popular DIY beef grill, where guests share the fun of roasting on an open slate barbecue. Choose from their chilled selection of quality Australian beef in cuts like short rib, thin skirt and ox tongue, with optional fruit marinade to add even more flavor to the dish. Side dishes like kimchi and potatoes mashed by hand complete this feast of friends.
Morefoods No1,1F,Building A ,OCEAN city Garden,Shekou New Street, Nanshan District,shenzhen (8827 9078) 深圳市南山区
Minikor Kitchen, L01-B01, Coco Park, 269 Fuhua San Lu, by Mintian Lu, Futian District福田区民田 路福华三路269号星河Coco Park, L1-B01 (8606 9266)
蛇口新街澳城花园A栋一楼1号铺
CLASSIFIEDS JOBS OFFERED Shenzhen Longrun Investment Co., Ltd, a fast-growing restaurant enterprise is looking for two foreign hostesses to join the team to greet and show hospitality to guests on behalf of the company. Requirements 1. Ability to understand and speak basic Chinese. 2. A minimum height of 168cm. 3. A passion for communications, with a presentable image. Monthly payments ranges from RMB 12,000 to 15,000 The options of full-time (RMB12,000 to 15,000 per month) or part-time (RMB70-90 per hour) employment are available. For inquiries and application, please contact Ms. Hu at 136-3159 3166 or 07552290 9515. Mobile Game company business development position. A NASDAQ-listed Shenzhen-based mobile game company. iDreamSky is looking for an expat for one business development position, native English speaker and fluent in Mandarin a must, well versed with mobile games or business negotiation experience a plus. Responsible for looking for Western games suitable for the Chinese market and contacting the game developers. Our office is located in
Nanshan district, Shenzhen. If interested, please send resume to Evan at evan.liang@ idreamsky.com.
MOVING & SHIPPING AGS Four Winds is leading international moving company offers a full range relocation, moving, and storage services. Our global network of over 300 offices worldwide plus 40 years experience in the moving industry, we know your concerns and have the ability to serve you anywhere in the world. We are FAIM & ISO 9001-2008 accredited, members of the FAIM and FIDI. Contact us for FREE survey and quotation: Tel: +8620 8363 3735/ +86 139 2277 1676 Email: manager.guangzhou@ agsfourwinds.com Website: www.agsfourwinds.com Rayca Moving & Transportation Services With 10 years experience, Rayca provides international, domestic, local moving services & pet relocation service. We can effectively move you anywhere at competitive prices! You move, you save! Service hotline: 400-048-9099 Email: info@raycatrans.com Website:www.raycatrans.com
ALLA TORRE Conquers Indecision with Eight-Combo Pizza If you’re feeling spoiled by the award-winning thin crust pizza options of Alla Torre, you’re in luck. Decide not to decide with an order of their signature giant, the Al Metro Pizza. You (and your friends?) will enjoy eight delicious pizza combos all at once: five cheese, smoked salmon, prosciutto with mushroom, napolitana, capricciosa, parma ham, veggie and pepperoni, all on a classic mozzarella and tomato sauce base. Discover all the savory specials of this Italian pizzeria, newly expanded from its Shanghai home to a convenient new location in Sea World. Alla Torre, No. 101, Area B, Sea World, 1128 Wanghai Lu, Shekou, Nanshan District 南山区蛇口望海 路1128号海上世界B区101 (2685 1322) WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2018 | SZ | 71
That’s hen Shenz
SEPTEMBER
Horoscopes
Finally, a horoscope that understands your life in Shenzhen. BY DOMINIQUE WONG AND EDOARDO DONATI FOGLIAZZA
8.24~9.23
Virgo
9.24~10.23
10.24~11.22
Scorpio
Sagittarius
If you’re a Virgo who can’t drive, don’t feel ashamed. But with a lucky transportation star in your chart this month, why not take a lesson or two? Oh, that’s right: Shenzhen traffic is horrific. Never mind.
Unfortunately you’ll likely be stuck in town for the holiday, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time. Party at Sea World and have dinner with your ‘Shekou family,’ AKA your roommates.
It’s time to start writing that ‘foreigner in China’ memoir you’ve a l w a y s t h re a t e n e d . N o n e e d t o change any names – those bridges have long been burned – but you must write only at Starbucks on Tuesdays.
People that say ‘good things happen to those who wait’ have probably never had to wait two hours for their waimai salad to arrive like you this month, unless ‘good things’ means starvation and weight loss.
Capricorn
Aquarius 1.21~2.19
Pisces
2.20~3.20
3.21~4.20
All work and no play makes for a boring Capricorn (news flash: achieving work goals doesn’t count as play). Do something fun outdoors, like learning to surf at Xichong Beach.
Your house of communication is a real mess this month so be very explicit with everything you say and do. Don’t say ‘bu yao ’ when you actually do want that last dumpling, thanks very much.
Both bargains and relationships look good this month. Download Pinduoduo, get a group of friends in on a group deal for 5kg of nuts for just RMB9.99, and then gift them to your contacts for guanxi purposes.
You know the saying: keep your friends close and your enemies on WeChat. Hate-like all of the latter’s Moments while setting your own to ‘Three Days Viewable Only,’ because you’re, like, so private.
12.22~1.20
Taurus
Libra
Gemini
Cancer
11.23~12.21
Aries
Leo
4.21~5.21
5.22~6.21
6.22~7.22
7.23~8.23
As the season changes, so too does your mood. You may find yourself go i n g to p l a c e s yo u ’ d t y p i c a l l y avoid, like the Ed Hardy store, Shark or the massage parlor. Just embrace it.
It’s time to make a commitment to that person you’ve been seeing a lot of lately – not your Tinder date, silly, but the Hema delivery guy. You already have his number, now, ‘Go, Go, Go!’
Your ruling planet takes center stage this month thanks to MidAutumn Festival. This means you will shine extra bright and receive more attention from others. Eat two moon cakes per day.
After last month’s b’day blowout it seems you’ve blown a hole in your Zhifubao. Ride out the month, literally, by taking a Mobike instead of taxi. Also hit up your local bakery for free cake samples.
72 | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWW.THATSMAGS.COM