Cui Jian

Cui Jian, the top rock star of China, stepped to the microphone in a Beijing auditorium Tuesday evening and looked out on the packed crowd of 2,700 wildly enthusiastic concert-goers. "I haven't seen you for a long time," he noted. "It's been three years. I've missed you." The audience roared its approval, as about 200 uniformed police positioned for crowd control looked on nervously.

A Chinese rock musician will team up with two directors to shoot a film set in the central Chinese province that was devastated in May by a massive earthquake that killed 70,000 people. Chinese rocker Cui Jian, Hong Kong director Fruit Chan and South Korean filmmaker Hur Jin-ho will collaborate on "Chengdu I Love You," fashioned in the same vein as similar city-themed films such as "Paris, je t'aime" and "New York, I Love You," Beijing-based Zonbo Media said in a statement Wednesday.

In the crowded streets of downtown Nanjing, it looked as if the entire city were flooding toward the concert at the 30,000-seat Wutaishan Sports Arena. Along the way, clumps of police stood watching the seemingly endless procession of young Chinese flow by. Outside the stadium gates, crowds of teen-agers negotiated anxiously with scalpers for tickets that cost as much as $25 U.S., five times their original price and more than half the monthly income of the average Chinese worker.

Cui Jian, the top rock star of China, stepped to the microphone in a Beijing auditorium Tuesday evening and looked out on the packed crowd of 2,700 wildly enthusiastic concert-goers. "I haven't seen you for a long time," he noted. "It's been three years. I've missed you." The audience roared its approval, as about 200 uniformed police positioned for crowd control looked on nervously.

A Chinese rock musician will team up with two directors to shoot a film set in the central Chinese province that was devastated in May by a massive earthquake that killed 70,000 people. Chinese rocker Cui Jian, Hong Kong director Fruit Chan and South Korean filmmaker Hur Jin-ho will collaborate on "Chengdu I Love You," fashioned in the same vein as similar city-themed films such as "Paris, je t'aime" and "New York, I Love You," Beijing-based Zonbo Media said in a statement Wednesday.

Chinese authorities have turned to a previously banned Chinese rock idol to help rescue the Asian Games of 1990, which China once hoped would be its springboard to the Olympic Games of 2000. Songwriter and guitarist Cui Jian confirmed at a news conference Wednesday that he will begin a nationwide concert tour Sunday to raise funds for the Asian Games, which diplomats say have lost many potential international sponsors as a result of last June's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Willy and Zorro were almost screaming outside the basement disco of an obscure suburban hotel Sunday night, trying to be heard over the Middle Finger Band's ear-searing rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" and trying, in their broken English, to explain just why they started the semi-underground Beijing Rock 'n' Roll Club a month ago. "I was in tourism," said Willy, who asked that his real Chinese name not be used. "But no tourists." "I was in business," Zorro chimed in. "But no business."

American composer Stephen Schwartz, aided by Chinese rock star Cui Jian, will pen part of the score for a new musical about Hans Christian Andersen. The musical will be one of many events marking the 200th birthday of the Danish fairy-tale writer. Called "Mit Eventyr," or "My Fairy Tale" in English, the $3.5-million production will debut in Copenhagen in October 2005. The musical, written in English, will tell the story of Andersen waking up inside the fairy-tale world he created.

Rolling Stone magazine has launched a mainland Chinese edition, bringing its mix of iconic photographs and pop culture features to an increasingly globalized Chinese readership. Chinese rock pioneer Cui Jian -- famed at home but largely unknown abroad -- graces the cover of March's inaugural issue, which features translations from the English-language edition as well as content specially created for Chinese readers.

In an abandoned movie theater in Beijing's student district, Vic Trigger, an unofficial American ambassador of rock 'n' roll, gives a hands-on demonstration of the glories of high-amplification music. His audience is a colorful collection of Beijing's subculture--leather-clad heavy metallists, spiky haired neo-punks (known as pan-ke in Chinese) and guitar-toting loners. "I don't see any difference between these people and those I'm working with in the U.S.

In the crowded streets of downtown Nanjing, it looked as if the entire city were flooding toward the concert at the 30,000-seat Wutaishan Sports Arena. Along the way, clumps of police stood watching the seemingly endless procession of young Chinese flow by. Outside the stadium gates, crowds of teen-agers negotiated anxiously with scalpers for tickets that cost as much as $25 U.S., five times their original price and more than half the monthly income of the average Chinese worker.

Chinese authorities have turned to a previously banned Chinese rock idol to help rescue the Asian Games of 1990, which China once hoped would be its springboard to the Olympic Games of 2000. Songwriter and guitarist Cui Jian confirmed at a news conference Wednesday that he will begin a nationwide concert tour Sunday to raise funds for the Asian Games, which diplomats say have lost many potential international sponsors as a result of last June's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Willy and Zorro were almost screaming outside the basement disco of an obscure suburban hotel Sunday night, trying to be heard over the Middle Finger Band's ear-searing rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" and trying, in their broken English, to explain just why they started the semi-underground Beijing Rock 'n' Roll Club a month ago. "I was in tourism," said Willy, who asked that his real Chinese name not be used. "But no tourists." "I was in business," Zorro chimed in. "But no business."

The Rolling Stones' debut in China had all the trademarks of their concerts: Mick Jagger strutting, Keith Richards hammering out the chords, and thousands of fans singing along to classics such as "Satisfaction." Much of the crowd, however, was not Chinese. The Stones have yet to find a major following among the country's 1.3 billion people.

"The world we live in, is just like a garbage dump People here are like worms, fighting and grabbing All they eat is conscience, all they waste is thought." -- Chinese rocker He Yong from his new album * What was occurring at the Children's Drama Theater on a recent afternoon looked suspiciously like a rock concert.