Posts from — March 2007

Coolhunting has a great post on independent Chinese bands producing original music, sometimes with traditional Chinese musical influences.

5 Chinese Indie Bands from CoolHunting.com

Technorati Tags: China, Hong Kong, independent Chinese bands

A vendor waits for customers to play inside plastic spheres near the seashore in Sanya, China, on March 29, 2007.

From activate.us

Technorati Tags: China, photography

Technorati Tags: culture, Hong Kong, Cantonese Opera

To celebrate the many highly successful Chinese entrepreneurs, designers, artists and business people in the UK, the British Library is holding a panel discussion and drinks reception with a group of leading Chinese entrepreneurs in Britain. Audience members will have the opportunity to learn from their experience and to be inspired by their example.

The panel consists of David Tang OBE, best known as the creator of the global ‘Shanghai Tang‘ brand, Alan Yau OBE, the founder of Wagamama and Hakkasan, Janice Wang, chief executive of Alva Products - a multi-million pound global operation that supplies mannequins to the fashion industry and Ching He-Huang, creator of Ching’s noodles, the Tzu healthy soft drinks range, star of a major TV series and author of cookbook China Modern.

Panel Discussion and Reception at the British Library Conference Centre

Date : Monday 16 April 2007, 18.15 - 20.00

Price : £10.00 (concessions £7.50)

A networking reception (until 21.00) will follow the event and is included in the price.

More information and for booking details…

Technorati Tags: British Library, Chinese entrepreneurs, United Kingdom

Ananova.com have reported on a project to build a 13 mile long dragon, out of steel and cement along a mountain ridge outside Xinzheng in China. The majority of the Chinese population surveyed seem to oppose the idea, branding the idea as ‘abusing the environment and wasting money’.

For the size of the dragon, its sure to be a spectacle of some sort. But yes, at a cost of £260 million, I believe there is reason for people to doubt its viability. There is the “dragon-like” form (ok, that’s debatable) of the forthcoming Beijing airport, but its functional use is obvious. Could the 13 mile dragon mimick the success of the London Eye or would it simply turn into another Millenium Dome?

Dragon ‘to rival Great Wall of China’

Technorati Tags: China, design, dragon, Xinzheng

The Shanghaiist.com have uncovered a nice collection of Chinese Public Health Posters, with low and hi-res images files to view.

Chinese public health posters

See below for some examples:

Health poster and pharmaceutical advertsement: to build a strong socialist country fast, ca. 1958.

Human body is like a factory, 1933.

Brush your teeth with your own toothbrush, ca. 1935.

Go to the countryside to serve the 500 million peasants, 1965.

Technorati Tags: China, design, Chinese public health posters

Recycling mechanics (found objects perhaps) and creative thinking (with a dash of opportunism) come together to bring you the Robodog, in a small, compact, keychain form.

From Tokyo Mango

Technorati Tags: Japanese, robodog, toys

Check out this cut of motion graphics created for MTV Japan combining live action with computer generated mecha. By 1stAveMachine - an NYC based CGI VFX/Animation studio and production company.

1stAveMachine.com

(Choose “MTV Japan” under the projects bit to view quicktime.)

Technorati Tags: 1stAveMachine, Japanese, motion graphics, MTV Japan