When I came across the painting Wild Garden, I thought, Pop Surrealism. The colors fit. The pastel frock has a rotundness against the painting’s muddled and blended background, similar to Mark Ryden’s use of pastel, and the whole thing treats of nature in a deliberately mocking way. The woman recalls the elegant nymph-like muses of Degas, however; she is not in the least grotesque. A vaguely Asian-looking person isolated against a desolate wilderness, she creates an overall mood too somber and earnest to be absurd. That right bunny ear jerks upward as though genuinely listening to, or for, something.

The artist is not a surrealist, but is widely regarded as one of China’s greatest living masters of realism. He Duoling (pronounced Huh Doo-oh-ling) resides in Chengdu, where he was born in 1948 and earned his art degree from the local teacher’s college in 1977. He went on to study painting at Chongqing’s Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in the late ’70s, and with a number of his colleagues in the early ’80s, founded China’s infamous “Scar Art” movement.

The Scar Artists were attempting to counteract a strict regime of socialist realist propaganda at the time. Insisting on more personal–and more reflective–themes, the Scar Artists co-opted the idea of the “real” for themselves while exploring subjects of humanism, intimacy, memory, emotion, and sexuality; in a reaction to the political ravages of the previous decades which had not been allowed to surface in art through critical dialogue.

Thanks to a friend, I was able to meet He personally and pay a visit to his studio. The studio, in He Tang Yuese, boasts staggered walls and windows of varying lengths and sizes, with one footbridge intersecting the structure diagonally in a cubistic temple to modern art. It is located near other outstandingly modern buildings and galleries, a true artists’ sanctuary.

The first painting I saw when I walked into the garage was in the same series as Wild Garden, entitled Shalott the Rabbit. Standing on a broad easel, across from the indoor basketball hoop, was this painting–it shimmered and floated in an otherworldly haze. Monotone, like the concrete pillars and structures of Chengdu, its green tint would be one I’d come to recognize. The painting deliberately borrows its imagery from the 1888 work The Lady of Shalott, by John William Waterhouse. The artist often plays on the romantic musings of the Pre-Raphaelites–painters like Waterhouse, Hughes, and Millais. Those Christian idealists attempted to resurrect what was dead or dying in an era of industrialization: feminine beauty and a sense of innocence and idealism, expressed through sincere renderings and faithfulness to “nature.”

He told me he wanted the rabbit version of Waterhouse’s Lady to be “limited,” meaning he wanted her to float in an isolated cubicle of water, like a tank–contemporary shorthand for innocence and beauty, which can be pummeled together with a prop and stage set.

He Duoling does sincerely respond to the Pre-Raphaelites; he does not merely parody them or extrude and rip off their imagery, like a pop artist. He’s also inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s famous masterpiece Christina’s World, which in one painting he simply copied, overlaying it with the image of a young Chinese girl lost in her own revelry. Just like the romantics, he starts out knowing what he wants to paint, creating a luminous base by applying many continuous background layers, outlining the foreground figures carefully, and composing his scenery with strokes of tinted oil liquid mediums. He creates a wash, also using techniques from traditional Chinese landscape painting. In his figures, who are mostly Chinese or look Chinese, the feeling of revelry and complacency reflects a sense of both national pride and personal beauty. An exaggerated light saturates the canvases, which are often glowing.

What bothers me about this work is not the way his paintings look; they’re beautiful. In their beauty, and also in the detachment and complacency of the subjects, there’s a uniqueness and an ascendent quality, as if the images were going to step out of the canvas and fly upward. But this is supposed to have radical implications for Chinese art. How different Chinese and Western sensibilities are! In the West, nothing’s threatening or subversive about depicting a beautiful woman, and pointing out man’s unbalanced relationship with nature is almost required.

To use tautology, an art movement represents new ideas that should be taken in context. In China, art has always held on to the tenets of realism. True, Chinese art may be abstract; it applies a wide range of interpretations to the real. But from ancient times until today, a “master” of art has been someone who can render nature exceptionally well. In Chinese schools, from grade level through university, drawing from life is the most rigorously practiced form of art. It’s done with a seriousness that is rarely applied in any Western-style education.

In the 20th century, this use of realism took an ideological turn, in the name of social realism and propaganda. The Chinese consider figure and still-life drawing to be the essential underpinnings of a socialist art education, garnered by tradition. But regardless of use, China maintains a strong national pride in its beauty and quality standards in everything. According to some artists I’ve talked to, “realism” in Western terms means work that’s amateur or incomplete. Given the painstaking renderings of art students in China, from novices to graduates, it’s no wonder why many Chinese sniff at the work that hangs in galleries overseas.

But when I look at the Rabbit series, it’s not technicality that makes He Duoling’s work great. It’s the other aspects–color choices, distortion, the positioning of the figures. And it’s also radical political innuendo, harkening back to the 1970s. In all his images, isolated, despondent, or transfixed adults and youths, placed in rugged or watery or ill-defined settings, paint a picture of China entirely backwards: it’s in perfect economic suspense. They capture an idealized China that doesn’t require “social realism” to exist. Adapted from late 19th-century British poetry, its romantic and literary themes somehow speak to the post-modern condition.

I don’t know the reason for He Duoling’s success. The artist seems to delight in the vitality of his subjects, mostly young, who look transfixed in time and pleased with their own dream-like perfection. Many could well belong to another era. Or, to put it differently, the youthful world contained in his musings belongs to a present-day China, but one which seems to dream of the past. He Duoling has described his own work as “mystical” and “poetic,” suggesting that he doesn’t know what it means or doesn’t want to say.

My guess is, what makes it successful is a combination of things: the Chinese love of the “beautiful,” which privileges Eastern thought but delights in Western subjects; an art market enchanted with the Orient; a Chinese population that sees progress wherever there is change, and novelty when something is drawn from outside. Over the years, He has painted much of the real landscape around him, but he clearly manipulates the settings, flattening them; painting into them–metaphorically and literally–layer after layer of meaning.

The temple is currently being re-furbished and there are gingko saplings lining the road and the stairs up to the main temple complex. The complex itself seemed deserted until I banged on an old bell, rousting out the abbot who then scolded me for being a heathen. Most visitors are photographers coming for the colors: yellow leaves, red tiles, green leaves, and white cliffs. Some photographers have put together amazing shots, like Lao Yan, who visited in 2008.

There is little tourism here because the whole area is beautiful in a simple clean way. There are no major tourist attractions to draw the developers and their theme parks so a trip out to the deeper reaches of Dayi or Chongzhou is always rewarded with good air, good food and simple quiet pleasures. Below are my best efforts at capturing our trip (thanks Charlie for editing these):

Cuancuan and Xiaogui lead their moms up the mountain to the temple

Xiaogui takes a break on the way up

Zhuang and my youngest son, Damian

Man climbing up the steps towards the sunlight

Playing under the tree

A gingko branch hangs down over us

Trees accentuate the yellow and red of Tibetan Buddhism

This is the type of place I could sit in forever

There were prayer flags hung all around the temple

Imagine waking up every morning to gingkos and silence

I love the way the golden leaves look against the Sichuan sky

This blot of gold just burst out of the surrounding green leaves

Cuancuan makes a run for it

Baiyan Temple is Sichuan's only Tibetan Buddhist Temple outside of traditionally Tibetan areas

View Baiyan Temple in a larger map

Conclusion

I had a blast visiting Baiyan Si and considering it’s not far from Chengdu, it’s worth a visit. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below.

I gave away some free tickets to the show on the forum and headed over with friends around 10pm. I had heard about this DJ before, Liman from Beijing, but hadn’t seen him perform before. He was playing alongside DJ Tomu from Tokyo and Chengdu’s D3F crew, but Liman stole the show with great stage presence. He climbed atop the DJ table, gestured to the crowd all night, and came in a studded leather jacket and punk rock persona. If you weren’t there, you missed out.

But even if you did, the good news is that Xiong Mao, three weeks after hosting DJ Shadow, is doing well and drawing a crowd. Catch me and friends there next week at Disco Death on Friday October 28th with DJ JCC. Come in a costume and get in for free.

Disco Death, Friday Oct 28th at Xiong Mao

Xiong Mao with DJ Liman Photos

Over the course of the extended weekend Xiong Mao hosted a crowd of thousands, including a sold-out show on October 2nd which is when DJ Shadow christened the virgin venue. I had an incredible time opening for him, got my MPC 2000XL signed (a classic sampler used by DJ Shadow) and saw a dozen DJ’s over the course of the three day festival.

If you weren’t able to attend, the venue is incredible and easily ranks among the best spaces in China (or perhaps even Asia) to see a DJ performance. The bar was open (literally, free drinks all night throughout the festival), the bass was hitting, and a number of musical styles were represented. Local DJs like Cvalda, DJ Wu, Andy Mac, Dbassman, Marco and others did their thing in the main room alongside Beijing DJs like Yang Bing and Sulumi and German techno DJs Efdemin and Lawrence. Photos of all of them below.

What an incredible weekend this was for Chengdu!

The massive crowd outside Xiong Mao on the first day

Outside music area with Dbassman playing to a lone enthusiastic dancer

Psychedelic projections on the inside of Xiong Mao controlled by a VJ were a staple of the festival

The lively crowd in the main room was drenched in black lights

The two German techno DJ's from Berlin, Efdemin and Lawrence

Headliner for the first night of the festival, playing techno

Chengdu local DJ Wu played dubstep and some commercial hip hop

Knit cap, head lamp, white glasses, and headphones. This guy was kitted out.

Me beginning my set with classic funk by The Meters

Well equipped but without a single turntable. Xone:92 and CDJ-2000

The main room was fully packed at 11:30pm on the second day, 30 minutes before DJ Shadow begun

DJ Shadow's equipment laid in wait in the background. Also CDJ's

Climbing aboard a speaker to get a better view

Sweaty and handing it off to DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow emerges and introduces himself to the crowd

DJ Shadow performed alongside a VJ creating live visuals

DJ Shadow was scratching throughout almost the entire set

After finishing at 1:20am, I got DJ Shadow to sign my Akai MPC

Justin (DJ Big Snax) outside the venue spinning fire

Martin and Joe closed out the main room playing drum & bass

Marco was the only DJ that I saw actually playing records

Andy Mac playing techno on the third night

Dbassman following up Andy Mac and playing at midnight

Beijing techno DJ wrapping up the main room as the crowd began to thin out

Conclusion

Overall this was one of the most fun weekends I’ve ever had in Chengdu and I ran into many others who’ve lived in Chengdu for years and said the same thing. We’re all happy and hopeful that Xiong Mao’s following will continue to grow and we’re able to continue bringing world class performers to Chengdu. Look out for the first Disco Death on Friday October 28th featuring Guangzhou-based drum n bass DJ JCC.

On my way to the venue, located in the East of Chengdu, I ran into several people I know who all gushed about how great the new place is. By the time I got there expectations were high but indeed the place looks fantastic. If you’ve been inside the previous Panda Club, the new spot is at least twice as large and is prepared to host thousands for large events like this weekend. This is huge news for Chengdu’s nightlife scene, as it’s been hurting badly since the last Panda club closed down. Rather than move to a new venue that would have surely been mediocre due to Chengdu’s limited offerings, I decided to put the monthly electronic music event Disco Death on hold for a year to anticipate the new Xiong Mao. After seeing the new location, I do not regret that decision.

Before & After: Dramatic Change

Although yesterday was the official opening, I visited the location about three weeks ago when construction was in progress. And by in progress, I mean totally and completely in progress. The floor was dirt, many of the walls were non-existant, and there were homeless-looking people wandering around the lot. Now, it’s shiny and looks tremendous with an abundance of ambient lighting and factory-like details throughout.

Check out these photos from three weeks ago and compare them to photos from last night below.

Dirt Floor Xiong Mao From 3 Weeks Ago

Arriving at the Chengdu East Music Park

Walking to Xiong Mao down the dirt road which a few weeks later would shine brightly

The path to Xiong Mao was strewn with construction equipment and large trinkets like this

Having just arrived outside of Xiong Mao, this guy comes out of his cave and sees what all the commotion is about

Xiong Mao's opening corridor

Cavernous and incomplete, but clearly with great potential

Another vast room that was under construction

Now that you know what it looked like just a few short weeks ago…

Photos of Panda Club On It’s Opening Night

The sign outside of the club is notably written in English and not Chinese

Ambient lighting and fixtures at the main room bar

The main room DJ booth is almost fully equipped. No turntables yet, though.

Disco balls hanging in recessed pockets in the main room wall

The main room has no tables, but features couches along the edges of the room

Taps at the bar are neon and lit up

Walls and furniture are minimal, lending a neon factory atmosphere

CDJ-2000's and an Allen & Heath mixer in the DJ booth

Vastly upgraded equipment from the previous Xiong Mao

Over a dozen lights hang from trusses mounted to the high ceiling

If you can't find the club, look for this very tall obelisk outside

Panda Festival Ticket Giveaway

I have five tickets to give away and each of them are for all 3 days. To win them, all you have to do is leave a comment below naming one of the headliners from a previous Disco Death event. First 5 win. If you can’t attend (or don’t plan on) attending all three days, please let me know and I will donate those tickets to someone else on the Chengdu Living Forum.

The tickets for the 2011 Panda Electronic Music Festival are colorful! Five sets of three.

Conclusion

The re-emergence of Xiong Mao brings a lot of hope with it. Hope for Chengdu’s fledgling live music scene and hope for promising events that attract an ever-larger crowd of music lovers. The first Disco Death is on October 28th and I can’t wait to kick things off and break in this new venue.

Hope to see you guys at the festival this weekend. All the information on that is on the forum here: 2011 Xiong Mao Festival with DJ Shadow.

In short: a massive graffiti battle attracting crews and writers from all over China, to paint inside a church on a Saturday afternoon. For Chengdu’s humble street art scene, this is the stuff of dreams.

Rather than go on about what a joy the event was (I also had a blast DJ’ing there), I’ll let the photos do the talking. At the bottom of the post, after the photos, you’ll find an exclusive audio interview with Xeme, Hong Kong based graffiti writer and Wall Lords event organizer.

Chengdu 2011 Wall Lords Graffiti Battle Photos

After arriving at the Luxe Hills gate, it was about a ten minute walk up stairs to get to the church. Outside of the church there were about 10 writers doing their thing and inside is where the competition was held and musicians performed. First the outdoor shots:

A large banner outside of Luxe Hills made the event location clear

Walking up stairs to the church, signs urged visitors "Please don't graffiti here"

Xian-based writer TBD lays down his outline outside of the church

Security guards look on as TBD applies final touches

A Russian writer from Saint Petersburg lays down some curved hatches on his outline

Guangzhou-based writer Jungle laying about halfway through his Ghost piece

Hanging outside with Gas (left), local rapper Lao Xiong (second from right) and two b-boys

 Photos from Inside the Graffiti Church

Stepping through the massive doors into the giant church was humbling. On the inside there were over a dozen writers from all over China crafting intricate murals across a 20 meter wide space.

Walking inside the massive church interior where the competition took place

St Petersburg writer Wais was the sole judge at Wall Lords in Chengdu

Hong Kong's INCP crew's submission was a psychedelic bird

Local rapper (and my friend & neighbor) Lao Xiong of Chengdu's Big Zoo crew performs

B-boy windmills on the Wall Lords print near the church entrance

Chengdu based MC and graffiti artist Eli Sweet

Wall Lords organizer and Kowloon-based graffiti writer "B" representing

Graffiti writer from ABS crew visualizes the winning design

Sketching the outline for the epic Poseidon piece by ABS crew

Finishing up the contest winning Poseidon piece at Wall Lords Chengdu

The winning piece is announced on stage by Gas: ABS crew's Poseidon

Bonus: Exclusive Interview with Xeme

Several weeks before the event took place, Xeme scouted the venue along with Gas and made preparations. During that time I met with him, collected details about Wall Lords, and made sure that he’d be available for an interview at the event. Here it is, you can stream or right click and “Save As…” to download the MP3:

Interview with Xeme at Chengdu Wall Lords 2011

Hong Kong based graffiti writer and Wall Lords event organizer Xeme

Conclusion

If you weren’t able to attend this event, I hope that the photos give you an idea of what being in attendance was like. It was great to see all kinds of Chengdu citizens, young and old, veteran artists and novices alike, unite to enjoy street art. And Wall Lords selecting Chengdu to host this event can be used as a certain milestone for measuring Chengdu’s cultural development. Overall an outstanding event that I had a blast at.

If you have any comments, post them below!

An Ordinary Tuesday Morning

On the day of the earthquake in Sichuan Province, Charlie, Ramone and John met at the Shamrock Bar and Grill in Chengdu at 7am and left on motorcycles for a tour of Qing Cheng Mountain. Qing Cheng Mountain is one of the most famous Daoist sites in China, covered in temples, pagodas and teahouses. It is about an hour northwest of Chengdu, right outside of Dujiangyan, an area hit hard by the earthquake.

It was a beautiful day for a motorcycle trip. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze. The ride up to Qing Cheng Mountain is lined with bamboo-covered hills and small brooks. Bed and breakfast inns line the road snaking up the mountain; temples and pagodas peek out from the cliffs on the way to the White Lotus Daoist Monastery perched atop the peak.

Disaster Strikes

The three friends reached the top of the mountain just after noon and spent a couple hours taking pictures and touring the area. They decided to head back right around three o’clock. They paused for a moment on the way down, parking their bikes and stretching, when the earthquake hit.

“It was like an explosion. The houses started breaking apart all around us, the ground was shaking and glass was flying everywhere,” said Charlie.

This is exactly where the group came to rest when the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck

They got on their bikes and tried to navigate down the rolling mountainside. Charlie was in front and was brought to a screeching halt when a landslide took out the road fifty feet in front of him. His friends stopped behind him, and they turned around and headed back up the mountain. They hadn’t gone five city blocks when they came to a house that had collapsed into the street, blocking the way up.

By now, massive boulders and chunks of the old Daoist mountain were tumbling down into the small gorge next to the road. They were far away from where the friends were trapped, but they could see and hear them.

The earthquake subsided after five or so large tremors and the friends were safe on the far side of the river in the open field. People wandered around in a daze, silent and staring up at the mountain.

Charlie took a headcount of all the people, 105, and collected supplies. They found 300kg of rice, propane gas and some umbrellas. The camp was in a precarious position. The tremors kept coming, the mountain was falling apart and the sun was going down. As night fell, Ramone, Charlie and John huddled up with the locals and tried to get some sleep.

Flowers bloom brightly near their makeshift campsite

The Longest Night

The long night lying on the wet ground, listening to the mountain fall apart around them and sensing every tremor, was as terrifying as the initial explosive earthquake. The water pooled around their bodies and they barely slept, waiting for the tremor that would kill them all.

They planned to leave at sunrise, but as dawn fell across the small gorge they were trapped in by fallen boulders on all sides. The whole group stood and simply waited for something to happen. Then a tremor hit and a giant piece of the mountain opposite came crashing into the gorge below. Everybody panicked and began yelling to each other to make a run for it. The group rushed up the near side of the mountain, pulling themselves up through the mud and brush. The very old and the very young raced up and away from the mountain shattering across the gorge.

A Leader Emerges

When they reached the top, they found a path that led to a teahouse with chairs and a wooden shelter. The group gathered under the shelter and started a fire, cooking up rice porridge for breakfast.

The man led the group down a clear path, then veered back down toward the river. The mountainside was muddy and denuded of trees, so it was very slow going. They were closer to the area where the boulders were falling and the raging river was right below them. It was a long, tense hour before they managed to get all of the people across the muddy mountain and down to the road. The road was almost completely destroyed. Pieces had fallen into the river, boulders and landslides blocked the path. The group picked up pace and headed down the mountain.

They followed the road down, often reaching parts virtually wiped out, leaving only one small path for the group to follow. When the group reached the ticketing office of the Qing Cheng Mountain Tourism Area, they joined about 500 people waiting in line. Local and military police organized everybody into two lines and guided them down the mountain. The roads and all paths were demolished. Everyone had to hang onto branches and bamboo and climb down a precarious, muddy path. Ramone and Charlie carried an old woman with head trauma along a path that hugged the cliff. She was in high-heels and ankle deep in mud. It was still raining and the tremors kept up throughout the day.

Hiking down the mountain revealed countless surreal sights like this

The road resumed farther down the path. Police and motorcycles started appearing on the road and the survivors stumbled past another destroyed village. When they reached the foot of the mountain, hundreds of people were milling about with their belongings in plastic bags, looking for transportation out of Qing Cheng Mountain. This is where the three friends split from the group.

Clutching The Ace of Diamonds

They found a car back to Chengdu and listened to the radio on the hour-long drive back, learning of the extent of the damage done by the earthquake. A few hours later, Charlie sits in the Sultan Restaurant in south Chengdu and shakes his head at the experience. He pulls out an ace of diamonds and shows it to me.

He shakes his head and laughs.

Youtube Clip of the Quake Striking

A Chinese-language news broadcast is embedded below. It’s live footage of the earthquake filmed by a member of the group on Qing Cheng Shan. Titled “Most terrifying live footage of Sichuan earthquake by far”, the video already has been viewed by hundreds of thousands around the world.

More Photos Taken After the Earthquake

The photographs below were captured after the earthquake by visiting photographer and friend, Julia Zimmerman. We returned to the place where Charlie was during the earthquake along with Ramone and retraced their steps, capturing photos of the locations. We’ve also included some photos taken in a nearby town and outside of Chengdu.

Ramone, Sascha's wife, Charlie, and Sascha

Walking up the mountain road on Qingcheng Shan you could see enormous cracks in the road

Many buildings on the mountain were reduced to rubble like this

Sichuan earthquake survivors look on at photos of the destruction

A bicyclist rides past tents set up to house earthquake refugees

Police survey the destruction left behind by the Sichuan earthquake

The orange-clad reconstruction crew takes a break to eat

Chinese soldiers walk through an affected town with flag waving

A man stops to examine the destruction wrought by the earthquake

Observing an earthquake refugee camp. Five months before the 2008 Beijing Olympics

This was the courtyard where Charlie and company established their camp. Some supplies remain

This post is for those who couldn’t be at Chengdu Zebra Music Festival and want to get a feel for what it was like. If this sounds like you, here are some quick notes about Zebra before you jump straight into the photos:

• Started in 2009, this year was the third annual Zebra Music Festival in Chengdu
• Festival organizers claim that attendance this year was 150,000. I and others are skeptical of this figure but regardless, it was a very well-attended event
• The vast majority of performers were domestic bands and pop artists, although the lineup was punctuated by the occasional foreign act. Local bands The Trouble, Mr Turtle, Proximity Butterfly and Mosaic were all main stage performers this year
• Xiong Mao (Chengdu’s now-defunct home of electronic music) didn’t host their own stage at the festival this year. Rather, DJ’s were slotted to perform for the final few hours on the second (Sky) stage
• To see a full lineup from the festival, check our post in the Chengdu Forum about Zebra Music Festival

Photos from Zebra Music Festival

As in previous years, I brought along a frisbee to the festival. It was a huge hit and in the afternoon between bands we’d have a circle of 15 people playing together. Many at Zebra told me that the festival atmosphere and outdoor setting was what brought them there more than anything else.

Myself (and my good friend Kafe, pictured below) caught a ride up to the festival grounds at 198 Poly Park near the Panda Base outside of Chengdu. Taxi fare from Chengdu to the festival grounds was about 50 yuan.

Outside of the entrance gates, an enormous banner listed performance times. As always, it was ridden with mistakes. Here you can see me as “Justchaile” and Cvalda (a local drum & bass DJ) is listed as being American.

Vendors were scattered around the park selling t-shirts, stickers, and post cards. This particular group (“F.E.S.”) brought stickers and tie-dye t-shirts.

Nearby the Sky Stage was a small half pipe which skaters and BMX riders performed on during the day.

Frisbee action in the afternoon. This frisbee got used so much it crack and then nearly split in half after being tossed thousands of times. Before this I’d never seen a frisbee break like that before.

Between the main stage and Sky stage were Jagermeister and Budweiser tents. Drinks are cheap at Zebra! 10 yuan for a Budweiser can and 10 yuan for an ice-cold shot of Jagermeister. It was much, much easier to obtain alcohol than bottled water at the festival.

Local band Proximity Butterfly opens up the main stage on the afternoon of the first day.

This array of hotdogs served as bait to get festival attendees to signup for a cell phone music service. Upon signup, you’d be given two tickets which you can exchange for hotdogs. No one signed up or ate them and these guys seemed to be just standing around in front of hotdogs all day.

Our friend and esteemed Chengdu graffiti artist Gas was in attendance.

This banner didn’t last long before being defaced by pranksters.

The food area included this guy grinning and offering what looks like 50 pounds of chicken feet and assorted organs.

And coconuts! 15 yuan included a hole poked in the coconut with a colorful straw.

Festival security guards were laid back and pleasant as always. Here they sat in a grassy field and chatted.

A sign indicating the Xiong Mao electronic stage from last year. There was no such stage this year, but the sign has persisted in this location for one year.

One vendor sold do it yourself t-shirts, painted on site with whatever message or imagery you like.

Cotton candy cost 5 yuan, or about $0.80.

Although vendors were informally scattered around the festival grounds, there was a designated vendor area. Clothing, shoes, and various trinkets were for sale here.

Local band The Trouble opened the festival on the second day. Seen here on the large screen (and below playing guitar) is the bands lead singer and guitarist, Gao Xin.

Local music producer and friend Jovian performed on the third day. An experimental set of live bass and performing all original production.

I performed just after sunset on the third day, playing a multi-genre medley set featuring Metallica, James Brown, Guns ‘n Roses, and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

The Jagermeister tent went for broke on the last evening of the festival, selling double shots for 10 yuan.

Edison Chen stepped on stage saying “I am Edison Chen!” to the enthusiastic cheers of the massive crowd.

On the last evening we had fun playing leap frog and taking photos.

A large helicopter paid a visit to the main stage on the afternoon of the third day. It descended to a very low altitude and circled around the stage for about 10 minutes. In between songs, the lead singer of the local band performing said “Whoa! That’s a huge helicopter!” and everyone laughed together.

Performing with Kafe on the second stage.

Conclusion

Even with its difficulties (technical problems and mediocre programming being foremost), it was still a blast enjoying the good weather in Chengdu with friends. And in a sense, we’re lucky that Zebra Music Festival didn’t befall the tragic fate of Suzhou’s Strawberry festival which was abruptly cancelled.

Thanks to local photographer Xixi who contributed the last ten photos featured above. You can follow him on Sina Weibo (the Chinese twitter) right here.

If you attended Zebra in Chengdu, I’d love to hear what your experience at the festival was like in the comments below.

Foreword

When I was in high school in Washington D.C., I knew graffiti artists who would endlessly sketch their alias’ in notebooks during class, eventually graduating to spray paint and the quiet streets of the nation’s capital. I thought for sure I had left this culture behind when arriving in Chengdu but was shocked and excited to find that I was wrong. For over a year now I’ve been noticing a graffiti tag posted all around Chengdu.

It’s not the first I’ve seen a tag in the city by any means, but two qualities about it made it impossible for me to forget: its sheer abundance and its unmistakable artistry. It’s simple, ever-present, and beautiful. Just three letters: G-A-S.

After noticing Gas and his tag literally proliferate around me and the places where I pass time in Chengdu, I pledged to make an effort to track him down. I was compelled and fascinated by what kind of figure was behind this.

With a little help from a friend (thanks Eli), I connected the dots and interviewed GAS. Following the interview you’ll find a collection of street art created by Gas in and around Chengdu.

Interview with Gas

Chengdu Living: Who are you?

Gas: “My name is Shui Gui (水鬼, literally “Water Ghost”). My tag is ‘Gas.’ I am an art student from Chongzhou, a city outside of Chengdu in Sichuan.”

Chengdu Living: How long have you been an artist?

Gas: “I wouldn’t call myself an artist, just a writer (literally: 写字人). I have been writing since I was 15. I was always into hip hop culture – break dancing, street ball – I tried drawing and using other mediums before then, but 15 was the first time that I picked up a spray paint can and painted a wall. I remember seeing graffiti for the first time – whoa – it blew my mind.”

Chengdu Living: How old are you now?

Gas: “Twenty one. You know, I’m still new to everything. I don’t have a girlfriend; I have never been with a woman. I have never been in love. I don’t have a lot of money or a lot of experience either, I just do graffiti. I want to contribute to Chengdu’s culture. I know that graffiti in China is not at the level of graffiti in the West, so I have to turn it up and keep improving.”

Chengdu Living: How do you see the situation toward graffiti improving in Chengdu?

Gas: “We need more cooperation. Chengdu has a problem with being fragmented- we need to find a common ground. Someone told me that the era of hip hop in Chengdu is dead. I don’t believe that. It’s not reached its pinnacle yet, its time has not arrived. People say they are Chengdu kings but that’s bullshit, Chengdu does not have kings yet. King is like a military rank. You cant just say that you are a King, or say that you are All City, just because you think you’re good. You have to earn that. People don’t focus on the fundamentals enough. In Chongzhou, where I’m from, there is a street- 100 meters long, covered with graffiti on both sides. This was all done by me, legally.”

Chengdu Living: How did you get to do that?

Gas: “I spoke to the town officials beforehand. It comes down to being a good person. They know that I’m a good guy. Some people are really stingy with their art, they just want to make a little bit of money with it. But their skill level really isn’t that good yet. The way I feel is that you got to get your skills up first, then you can try to make some money off of it.”

Chengdu Living: How did you get started in graffiti?

Gas: “When I first started I thought it was really tough to use aerosol, but I was interested in it, so I kept practicing. Now I have a decent control with spray cans. I try to find flow, the rhythm. Having the right color scheme affects the way that people feel about your piece. The relationship between the colors, the relationship between the composition and the wall, the wall and the surrounding environment. It’s all connected.

If you’re just starting, I reccommend you do this. Start with A, B, C and work your way up to Z. Make them look good. Even for Chinese writers, they need to perform this well before they’re ready to move onto Chinese characters which are more visually complex. Hong kong has an influential writer named Xeme. He writes in traditional and simplified characters. He has a ton of style, check him out.

I look at a lot of graffiti online. I use online translators to understand discussions other languages.”

Chengdu Living: Are you a member of a crew?

Gas: “I’m not part of a crew. I’m completely independent. If I join a crew, they want to control me. They tell me what to write and what not to write. Like bombing – they won’t allow it. It’s not that they are afraid of bombing – they all got busted many times – they just want to take a more commercial route. I think that’s ok, as long as you are respecting the roots of the culture, but I’m trying to promote graffiti in a systematic way. My previous crews tag was OCT. Oct = our city, or CTU, the airport code for Chengdu. If you see this tag in Chengdu, it’s definitely mine. I paint a lot, and I have never been busted.

You have to do it with shameless bravery (不要脸加勇敢). If you ever stop doing graffiti, then you never really were a graffiti artist to begin with. If you are just passing through, if you are just enjoying the fad, then you aren’t really doing graffiti.”

Chengdu Living: What are your goals for your graffiti?

Gas: “To give people on the street art to enjoy. Taking pictures of graffiti and putting them online is cool, but that’s not what I’m all about. I don’t write graffiti to collect the pictures, the goal for me is to put it on display in the street. Some people just paint in the small alleys. That’s fine, but not a lot of people are going to see it. Some people have a lot of excuses, I’m tired of the excuses. I’ve been hearing them for 5 years. I want to paint on big streets. I want to find big streets to put my art on, big corners, noticeable places. Take it to the streets.

I hope that Chengdu grows to embrace street art in all forms. I wish that the Chengdu subway would do what the some other cities do, and let artists paint in designated spots. Like sometimes they will put some art up to cover over the people who have written ban zheng ( 办证 , an ad for false documents) – in public places. Sometimes I cover up those things when I paint.”

Really I would like to paint on trains. But I gotta be realistic. You gotta start with the tagging, and work up to the bombing. Systematically.

Chengdu Living: Who are your influences?

Gas: “Ren, in Changsha Hunan province. He’s the craziest writer in mainland China, and a good friend. Xeme in Hong Kong. He writes the most elegant Chinese characters. Revok and Ewok. Pose and Sever. Mad Society Kings (MSK).”

Chengdu Living: Where can we find you online?

Gas: “Follow me on Weibo. My username is Gas1. I have a blog also.”

Chengdu Living: Anything else?

Gas: “There is one more thing I would like to say. China is a harmonious society. I have a big brother- a brother named HuJinTao, and I will always be loyal to him. I have another big brother named WenJiaBao. I believe in their policies. Even though some people might think that they are wrong, I think in this era, they’re doing a good job.

In the face of problems, there will always be some people who don’t like the way that you are handling them. But I feel like they have helped a lot of people in the middle. Not the richest, not the poorest, but the people in the middle. Please include this.”

More Gas Pieces

Thanks and Conclusion

Special thanks to Eli for not only making the introduction, but conducting, translating and transcribing the interview along with me. The interview was recorded in Chinese and we played it back in another session, translating and transcribing at the same time. Thanks of course goes to Gas for participating in this interview and providing images to share.

We’re looking forward to upcoming interviews with other Chengdu personalities. If you have a suggestion for someone who’d make an interesting candidate, go ahead and send us a message and let us know!

First Round of Additions

I added some more images, below. If anyone has anything else that you see and want it posted here, email me.

Second Round of Additions

I went to Gas’ hometown of Chongzhou a few days ago and got some photos while I was there. Lots of really nice stuff there and a nice town otherwise, worth checking out since it’s about 40 minutes from Chengdu by bus.

The international stand-off between China and Japan over the Diaoyutai or Senkaku Islands was supposedly over once the Japanese returned the captain of the ship that had allegedly rammed two Japanese destroyers near the disputed island chain, but a series of protests in Tokyo and across China demonstrate the passion that consumes both nations whenever they are involved in a conflict. Following Japanese protests that took place yesterday morning, Chinese netizens organized three major protests, in Xi’an, Zhengzhou in Henan Province and Chengdu, that saw many thousands of people — 35,000 estimated in Chengdu — march through the center of town chanting anti-Japan slogans, waving Chinese flags, struggling with police and throwing stones and bottles. According to the New York Times, China is still blocking exports of rare earth materials to Japan, materials needed for electronics and after these protests, the conflict which had simmered down is set to explode again.

A flyer promoting the demonstration, including starting location, marching route and slogans

Over the course of an otherwise ordinary Saturday afternoon, tens of thousands of irate citizens gathered in downtown Chengdu to protest Japans claim to the Diaoyu islands. This is the small island chain between China and Japan that have been hotly contested since Japan seized a Chinese fishing vessel in the area just six weeks ago. But Chengdu’s anti-Japan protest didn’t seem to be only about this single issue; the ideological and nationalist rift that separates the two Asian giants runs tragically deep.

I didn’t have too much of an idea of what to expect since I didn’t attend the last rally directed towards China’s mortal rival: but this one was raw, gritty and highly emotional. Fortunately I caught some smiles and friendly faces in between finding myself amidst a sea of Chinese people and under the harsh gaze of hundreds of riot police. These are the photos which tell the story as I saw it.

Note – I recorded several video clips which are quite crazy. When they’re online, I’ll amend this post to include them as they add depth and detail to the story that the photos tell.

Looking down at the mouth of Chengdu's main shopping district: Chunxi Lu

Within moments of arriving at Chunxi Lu I see a large crowd and walk with them

Flags wave as the crowd grows in size

"Never forget the shame on your nation. Restore the Chinese name"

Signs litter the crowd as a megaphone blares and the crowd recites mantras

A protester writes "Japan" with strips of newspaper and lights it on fire. I recorded this on video.

"The bomb aimed at China tomorrow was supported by you"

Amidst the fevered crowd there were some friendly smiles

A sign details which Japanese brands a responsible Chinese citizen should avoid

Approaching Ito Yokado, the massive Japanese department store in Chunxi Lu

Police scuffle with demonstrators. I recorded video of a fight that occurred directly in front of me.

Hundreds of police cordoned off the area around Ito Yokado

Thousands target the Japanese department store

Hundreds of police offers stand in a line to manage the crowd

A young man shouts slogans at the crowd which repeats them in chorus

"Show love for China, boycott Japan"

Trash covers the area in front of Ito Yokado as people inside the store observe the crowds

A second-floor window was broken and a demonstrator emerged, clutching a Chinese flag

After affixing the flag, a "thumbs up" emerges and the crowd erupts with cheers

Police patrolled the area in vast numbers

Youtube Clips of the Demonstration

Note: if you’re in the mainland, these will require a VPN to view

Zhang Yushi, Sascha Matuszak and Reed Riggs contributed to this post.

What do you think of the protest in Chengdu? Will it achieve anything or is this a political spat that will go nowhere?