Cup of Cha
This is China

Yesterday I went to “The Second China (Beijing) International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo” that was supposed show different aspects of Chinese modern culture. I think that’s what it was supposed to show anyway. It was a bit of everything with booths that ranged from jewelry, to China’s space ambitions, to one area devoted to proving that soccer was really a Chinese sport (no mention of why the country that invented it has only qualified once for the World Cup).

It was a very odd, and very Chinese display. Some of my favorite highlights from the event:

• Admission was free if you had an ID. Any ID. And it’s not like they checked it or wrote down your information. You just flashed it and they gave a ticket. I think they just wanted to make sure everyone had a face.
• One booth featured a laser tag-like shooting range, except it looked more like a military recruiting event. Instead of toy-looking guns you might see elsewhere, these looked like something that might intimidate the Taliban. Old folks, children, and women alike all took turns firing what can only be described as a plastic bazooka at a water cooler fitted with sensors. (Some time I might get some video of this up, and will have pictures by the end of the day.)
• A woman manning the most unpopular table, which had a Chinese space-walk theme. I didn’t see a single person go over there the 20 minutes I was in the area. Maybe they should have given out space ‘ice cream.’ Remember how cool that was in the 1980s? Well, let me tell you something, I’ve had it again and it tastes like strawberry cardboard. Anyway, even though no Chinese people seem to care about it, I’m sure the plan to land on the moon will be a well-spent 20 billion dollars. It’s not like that money could be used on the environment or the poor.
• One thing I genuinely enjoyed was a graffiti exhibition outside. Some of the artists were still working on their pieces to the delight of onlookers. We filmed an interview with a few of the spray painters, so that might also make it online one day. (My favorite line was when one artist informed me that her influences were all Chinese, and minimized the impact of foreign graffiti, implying it was an indigenous art-form. Interesting, I never realized it started in in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution.)

So I guess the lesson of the day was that if you go to a Chinese exhibition, bring a sense of adventure, a sense of irony, and a face.

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