Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

Lazy Camels rock

I want to be a Chinese rock star.

If I could start all over again, and change careers, I'd do it.

A lit cigarette in one hand, the mic in the other, and a mean mug on my face. I'd belt out my biting poetry and it'd chafe your soul. Then we'd rock until dawn, and not give a fuck.

This is what Lazy Camels did to me; the Chinese rock band had just played in a local club not far from my school. My roommate and I went, hoping to hear some good music. And it was bloody good, almost too good at times, leaving me to wonder what could have been if I only had some musical talent.

Last night was the first time I had ever really heard Chinese rock music being played on the mainland. Even though the music genre has been developing in China since the 80's, I had worried it still might suck.

Lazy Camels was the first band to play and it was the one I enjoyed the most. What surprised me about them was how they sang all their lyrics in English. Many Chinese rock bands do this because they try to imitate their American counterparts, or because they feel English is a better way to express their songs.

Ironically, I had no idea what Lazy Camels was singing about, but I was still entranced. My only disappointment came when I asked the band if they had a CD, and they said not yet.  (Unfortunately I also failed to catch one of their performances on my camera's video function. But you can listen to them at this website.)

Two other bands also played at the club. Pictured above is a band called Jin Ri Li Qiu 今日立秋, and means Today is the Start of Autumn. Dressed to look like medical professionals, they sang all their songs in Chinese, which I actually did understand a little bit. I recorded part of one of their songs, but the quality isn't too great.

Another band to play was called Old Fashion. My roommate enjoyed them the most, although I liked them the least. Their front man had a unique/unusual singing style that sort of reminded me of a monkey. He also sang in an English I could barely understand. In attendance were a group with one-half foreigners, the other half local Chinese.

The yearnings to be a Chinese rock star, have sadly, subsided. Instead, the journalistic impulses have kicked in as I try to write up this blog post. I'm no rock music connoisseur, so perhaps Lazy Camel and the others aren't as good as I claim. But last night, the Chinese rock gods put a spell on me.

Government made snow

Apparently Sunday's snow was brought on in part by the government. News outlets are reporting that Beijing's weather modification office had enhanced the precipitation by firing 186 doses of silver iodide into the skies the night before. As a result, all the weather forecasts for the next day were wrong, and instead an additional 16 million tons of snow fell on the city.

This was all meant to help end a drought in Beijing (I didn't even know we were experiencing one, although it hasn't rained for quite some time). But China does indeed have a history of manipulating the weather. Weeks ago they did it prior to the country's 60th anniversary parade in order to ensure the clouds would break, and that the skies would be clear over the capital.

I recently wrote a post for Global Voices Online that looked at what people on the Internet were saying about the man-made snow.  A lot of the comments made me laugh, especially one person's comment:  "Everything is made in China, even snow."

Snow in Beijing

I woke up today and saw this.

One of China's news services said of the snow: "The cold air has given this present to the residents of Beijing."

I'm not sure if I want this present. Seems a little early. And it's snowing a lot too, not just a little.

"I don't want to go out," my roommate said as he lay in his bed this morning.

* Update: here are some photos I took later in the day. It's the late afternoon and the snow has stopped and the sun is out. I spoke to a taxi cab driver and he said the snow came out extremely early this time of year. But some Internet posts say that this sometimes happens in Beijing and that it occurred back in 2003. (Later I read an article that said the last time it snowed this early was in 1987.)  People seem to be enjoying things though, except maybe for this poor guy below here.