Thom vs. Tom

Its interesting to see, yet again, the battle of the T(h)om's playing itself out, this time on the pages of the New York Times. These articles have been done to death over the past few years, ever since Tom Ford decided to "come back like Jordan" and start his own menswear line. Tom Ford, the man who reinvented Gucci and made it cool again, started his own label which featured traditional Saville Row tailoring elements alongside his concept of American masculinity. On the other hand, Thom Browne's style was classic Americana, the '60s with modern (read: strange) touches.

Fashion is a fickle thing, who do we credit for the current trend of narrowness (lapels, pants, ties) in men's wear? Should it be Europeans like Heidi Slimane for his work at Dior Homme and/or Jil Sander or are we living in Thom's world now? In any case, the trend of slim and narrow isn't only seen in high end US$4,000 suits, but in what you get at the local mall in stores like Banana Republic, J. Crew, and H&M.

Tom Ford hasn't impacted fashion so much anymore as he's going back to the classics, though during his Gucci days, he turned around that brand as well as men's fashion as a whole. Thom Browne's look has its impact, but only slightly, the overall Browne look, when adopted by the normal/average guy, looks ridiculous.

The Dior Homme aesthetic has taken over Beijing, as seen regularly on stylites, but will Thom's image of American men have its day in the Chinese capital?

Luxury Overkill Continues in Beijing

Saying that high end luxury is a growing trend in Beijing is an understatement, it’s getting to the point of overkill as the market seems incredibly saturated. I've talked about the luxury trend in hotels, restaurants, and bars, but its just as bad (or worse) when it comes to malls.

In the relatively short distance from HuaMao, down Jianguomen and onto Changan Jie ending a bit north of Fuxingmen, one would come across 5 Cartier stores (Huamao, Guomao, Yantai (coming soon), Peninsula, Xin Dong An (coming soon), Parksons (why not at Seasons Place?)), 4 Hermes stores, and 3 Louis Vuitton boutiques. Compare that to Chicago, America’s 3rd largest city with a much higher per capita income and larger number of millionaires than in Beijing which only offers 1 of each of the above stores.

This begs the ultimate question: who is shopping (and buying) at these stores and how can they survive? At Wangfujing, within a 10 minute walk you come across 3 Nike stores and 4 Adidas shops, not to mention the sporting goods mall which has one of each. The difference is that these stores sell goods that are obtainable by the average Chinese person. Most Beijingers can afford at the very least a hat or tshirt at Nike, which can be purchased for around RMB200 or less. Shop sizes differ from the mammoth Nike store in Dongfang Plaza to the small shop on the walking street to the impressive (but limited floorspace) XinDongAn store. The stores, with their huge swooshes, serve as permanent, additional advertising for the Nike brand.

That isn’t the case with Cartier. Even many white collar Chinese, the kind that might be able to afford Cartier, aren’t that familiar with the brand and its history. Nor can they really afford the wares offered inside which start at around RMB20,000 and go up, up, up. Isn’t part of being an exclusive, high end brand making the customer come to you? Unlike Nike, which can serve as an impulse purchase for someone who may have just intended on browsing, a person goes to Cartier knowing they want to buy something and having done their homework, nobody (well, very, very few people) are just going to stumble upon a Cartier and decide to drop RMB50,000 on a pen.

The rush to expand now has to do in large part with the Olympics (hell, everything is connected to the Olympics somehow), as (very rich) foreigners descend on Beijing for a month of great sporting accomplishments and conspicuous consumption. However, once the last medal is handed out and August’s revelry turns to September’s hangover, it will be interesting to see how, longterm, these ultraluxury brands can maintain so many stores in such a small space.

Blade Runner Coming to Beijing?

A few months back, I brought you the story of Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who dreamed of running in the Olympics but was rejected by the IAAF, which governs track and field. Well, Pistorius took his case to an arbitration panel that ruled in his favor. That means Pistorius and his blades could be lined up alongside athletes with 2 legs at this year's Games.

There's still a major hurdle in that Pistorius must qualify for the team, which would require him shaving down his time by 4 tenths of a second. Despite how little that sounds like, for him to actually achieve that would be very incredible and is nearly impossible. However, there is also the possibility that the South African track and field heads could select him for the relay team, which is picked and doesn't require qualifying. Doing so would be condemning the South African team to defeat, but as they aren't expected to be medal contenders to begin with, it could make them (ie Pistorius) the story of this year's Olympics.

One of the greatest concerns was about the precedent this sets as prosthetic legs, unlike real ones, can only improve with time as science gets more advanced. However, as a lawyer, I have a lot of respect for the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision. The decision applies solely to Pistorius and the prosthetics that he plans to don in Beijing, a new assessment would have to be done on another athlete or if Pistorius changes legs.

If you were the South African track and field heads, what would you do? Choose Pistorius over a more "deserving" athlete? It's hard to say Pistorius isn't deserving, but at the same time, he will be able to run (and most likely win gold) in the Paralympics, the person who he will be replacing on the relay team wouldn't have such a shot. If he can qualify, then the argument is moot, but as it looks like he won't be able to, its a tough decision.

Sunday (Wednesday) Photo Thread - Remembering the Victims 2

Today is the final day of the mourning period, but we should never forget the victims and what happened....

These pictures were taken at a vigil last night in front of East Church at Wangfujing:

A Note To Readers

Being in Japan, its hard to gauge the mood of those on the ground in China, but having talked to some correspondents to this blog and friends back in China, I think its a bit in poor taste to discuss things like a foie gras ban or the Olympics during this mourning period. Therefore, this site will go silent (or will only have earthquake related coverage) until the official state mourning period has ended. We would like to encourage everybody to donate in their own way and, by now, everyone knows how, but a great way is to go to the Bookworm in Beijing, Suzhou, or Chengdu and donate money or goods. Right now, money is no longer the most important thing, but tangible goods like food, clothing, tents, and blankets are an absolute necessity.

Foie Pas No More

The Chicago city council recently overturned its ban on foie gras, to the cheers of all Chicago foodies. I was sure I talked about the ban somewhere, but now I'm struggling to find it. In any case, the ban is a thing of the past. The fears that Chicago restaurants would lose their spot as arguably the best in the country and that it would damage their business didn't really pan out and very few restaurants were actually fined under the ban.

The city, using faulty knowledge of the treatment of the ducks whose livers become foie gras, should have never banned foie gras to begin with and it really made Chicago a laughing stock for awhile. The city has so many problems, to be concerned about duck liver and to send health inspectors to restaurants to search for foie gras in the cleanest kitchens in the city instead of checking out rat-infested diners and other small establishments was embarrassing. It was a disgrace.

It's great that logic has returned to the city council.

Sunday Photo Thread - Remebering the Victims

Pictures from last night's candlelight vigil/march around Beijing:






all images are property of Modern Lei Feng, if you'd like to use any of the pictures for non-commercial purposes, feel free to, but please contact the blog writers first.

Chinese Paralympians Make Their Manchester Debut

An interesting article in The Times discusses Chinese athletes attending this year's Paralympics World Cup in Manchester. The article notes that this is the first time China has sent a complete team, this year composing of 50 athletes competing in each of the 4 sports. It also talks about China's overwhelming dominance in Athens 2004 and their predicted dominance this time around.

The Paralympics, which will take place 2 weeks after the Olympics in September will be a great opportunity for those who couldn't get tickets to take a peak inside all those beautiful venues, especially the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. For anyone interested, tickets are supposed to go on sale this Sunday.

Bar Review: Yin

Having announced the charitable intentions of Yin Bar at the Emperor Hotel a few days ago, I figured I should at least check it out and give to the victims of the earthquake. Walking in to the hotel, you quickly see why it is part of the Design Hotels group as it has a very stylish, modern lobby area.

The bar is on the hotel's roof which is on the 4th floor, but there is no elevator (strike one, this is a brand new hotel, its failure to pay attention to accessibility is striking). It is an outdoor wood deck and the seating area is relatively small, however there are stairs that lead to 2 decks and more seating. Even with the upper decks, it seems they are trying to maintain a degree of exclusivity by keeping the number down and even at its fullest, it still felt very peaceful. For atmosphere, they had a live Dj spinning chilled house music.

The drink menu has one of the city's wider selections of top shelf liquor and some interesting cocktails with names all beginning with Emperor, except you quickly find out they just include HuangJiu. The Emperor Mojito was an interesting concoction, a regular mojito with the aforementioned edition of huangjiu and while I found it incredibly sweet, being an absolute huangjiu hater, I still found it drinkable, the flavor of the huangjiu masked by the lime. The regular mojito was a bit weaker than what I'd expect, especially having just sampled a mojito at The Saddle a few days prior (when The Saddle says the drinks are strong, they mean it!).

It's time to mention the prices, because this is important. To drink here, you don't need an expat's package, you need an Emperor's package. All the drinks are basically double or more what you'd pay anywhere else (bottled beers around RMB50, the mojito was RMB87). The drinks, however, aren't any better than what you'd get at one of the fancier places (Q Bar, Suzie Wong, etc) and in some cases, are worse. They are also some of the most expensive I've come across in China, even outdoing places like CJW or Shanghai's Barbarossa. US$12 for a mojito would be high in New York, in Beijing its downright offensive, especially when the quality isn't there.

For the price you are paying, you'd expect excellent service, but after sitting for 10 minutes without a single wait person stopping by and without a menu, I had to go find one. After that, service was somewhat spotty at best. When they could be found, they were excellent, even offering to switch the Emperor Mojito if it wasn't to our liking, but they often couldn't be found. Also, rarely found in the capital, Yin offers free snacks to all patrons, their offerings are nuts and breadsticks, a nice touch (referring back to The Saddle, they also offer snacks, though they choose (incredibly salty) popcorn to match with your margarita).

The view is what sets this place apart, you sit eye level with the Forbidden City and can see Jingshan and BaiTa off in the distance, its a unique experience from that standpoint. The location on Beichizi is dead at night, so its going to be hard to draw patrons and the prices will push a lot of customers away, except those out for a special night. It's a unique new edition to the Beijing scene, but who's going to go?

Nike Releases its Uniforms for Chinese Athletes

While China will wear Adidas on the medal stand, many of its most famous athletes, including Yao Ming and Liu Xiang, will be wearing Nike during the Olympics. This week, Nike gave the media a first look at their uniform designs for Chinese athletes in a number of different sports including basketball, track, boxing, judo, cycling and a number of other sports. The designs were presented at a celebration held in the Forbidden City. For the most part, the designs all seem relatively boring and very, very red. Photos follow:

Stuff Laowai Like 2 - Shanghai

While laowai love to chase after "authenticity", they won't give up creature comforts for their desire to be "authentic", they'll find other ways to make up for it. For this reason, laowai overwhelmingly prefer Shanghai to Beijing.

Nas raps about the "acceptable negro" (ie Bill Cosby types, NOT Chris Rock types) and Shanghai is an "acceptably Chinese" city. It isn't necessarily a matter of racism, but more about societal norms and what one's been exposed to. The city is very much Chinese, but there are still parts that don't feel like China, this pleases the laowai. The number of foreigners in Shanghai and the excellent selection of foreign restaurants also makes the laowai comfortable. Yet the laowai can also have a very "Chinese" day and satisfy his desire to feel like he's in China. While short-term visitors typically prefer Beijing for its "authentic" Chinese "feel", the true laowai (ie the expats), love Shanghai for its creature comforts and how it mirrors their life back home in New York or London or Los Angeles.

The laowai will quickly identify himself with all things Shanghai and will lust after a French Concession mansion, thus fulfilling his desire for history(very important to laowai), authenticity, as well as all the comforts of modern living (once they fix it up, something laowai love to do).

While the laowai might have many favorite spots around China (hint hint Yunnan and Tibet, coming soon), he will call Shanghai home and will forever prefer it to its "Grandfather" up north.

Post-Tiananmen Patriotism

There have been a lot of articles about the trend of rising patriotism among the younger generation in China. These discussions are nothing new especially in light of the situation in
T!bet, the torch relay, and now the earthquake, all events that have raised the national fervor in China. I’ve read a number of similar articles and for the most part, they’ve bored me, except for one in particular which raised some interesting points.

The statement that struck me the most was:

Many middle-aged Chinese intellectuals are astounded by the differences between
them and their younger peers. Academics I know, members of the Tiananmen generation, are shocked by some students' disdain for foreigners and, often, disinterest in liberal concepts such as democratization.

I started thinking about this even more and there is definitely a point there. The “1989 generation” was liberal and very much open to western ideas. They were, and still are, very open to westerners and the concepts that they believed in during the leadup to what happened that year. After the events of that year, many of them went abroad and studied, came back, made a lot of money, and are generally happy.

After 1989, the country was basically on lockdown and the focus was inward until after the reforms and Deng’s 1992 Southern tour. The new generation grew up in a less chaotic, more powerful China than any previous generation had witnessed. They also grew up in a far more polarized situation, the outside world still strictly condemning China for ’89, but yet still interested in trading with them.

The pre-89 generation was wayward, not sure what they were living for, the post-89 generation was sold on the need for national pride. This situation planted the seeds and every condemnation, every attack or “attack” (like the Belgrade bombing and spy plane incident), and every slight (real or imagined) caused nationalist sentiment to grow and strengthen to the point its at today, where even students at top universities and white collar employees are under its influence.

The scary thing is, as the article’s author stated, "Beijing's leadership, for all its problems, might be less hard-line than China's youth, the country's future." If China ever were to become a truly free political system, it might actually become more, not less, aggressive. The government got its wish, a youthful populace that is “under control” and exceedingly loyal, unfortunately, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. The test now will be how the government can control this new problem.

Drinking for a Cause

The new Emperor Hotel has announced that between May 13th and 16th, all proceeds from their beautiful bar, Yin, will be donated to the Chinese Red Cross and go to earthquake relief.

With the renovations of What? Bar, there has been a lack of any nightlife in the Tiananmen area (though this will change as soon as the Legation Quarter opens). Now, The Emperor Hotel has opened on Beichizi, just east of the Forbidden City, and offers a hot nightspot in the city center. This area, full of small touristy shops and hole-in-the-wall noodle places has been getting a dash of culture lately with the recent opening of the Zenith Art Gallery in a beautiful old building and now, The Emperor comes to town. The Emperor is a high-end boutique hotel that is part of the Design Hotels group, known for its very stylish hotels.

The bar at the Emperor, Yin, is the exact opposite of What? Bar, which was a dingy, loud, raucous spot to listen to live music. Yin has a very comfortable, relaxed spot with great rooftop views of the Forbidden City and the surrounding area.

Have a drink and help others!

A Lazy Foreigner's Look at the Beijing Dining Scene (Brought to You by the Wall Street Journal)

For a few months now, I’ve been frustrated with the quality of reporting coming out of China. It isn’t so much the news writers, but sports and features writers are coming to the capital and filing reports for folks back home in preparation for the Olympics, all too often just offering a guidebook glimpse of the city and failing to understand it. This time, a food writer from the Wall Street Journal works his lazy best on Beijing’s food scene. His recommendations and comments are straight of a Lonely Planet, giving knowledgeable readers the feeling that he could have written the article without even setting foot in one of the hutongs he talks about so much.

The writer states that: "the city has something else to offer attendees willing to venture beyond hotel and tourist restaurants: some of the best food on the planet.” Unfortunately, with few exceptions, he focuses only on tourist restaurants. The article talks about the “extremes of Chinese food”, listing a Crystal Jade fish dish that costs US$41 as the “most expensive” dish. Well, while it might be the most expensive out of the restaurants he chose, that’s far from the most expensive dish one could find in Beijing. Further, to call the Peking Duck at Liqun as the “most delicious” dish in Beijing is going a bit far.

He talks to 3 “foodies” to get his 8 recommendations, but these “foodies” qualifications are questionable at best. Let’s look at the choices:
Peking Duck – Liqun
Liqun has long been an expat favorite, probably because its in a hutong and its “authentic” because it is very run down. The restaurant is tiny, “inelegant” (as the author puts it), and the customer base seems to be entirely foreign. The duck is good, but isn’t outstanding and for my money, even though it is high on pomp, Da Dong’s duck is still the city’s best (with City Hotel’s restaurant in 2nd and Bianyifang in 3rd). Compared to those, Liqun’s just average.

Beijing Snacks – Jiumen Xiaochi
Another very popular hutong spot on every tourist’s list. It is one of the few places around to still sample many of the local specialities. The problem is, this place really isn’t very good, there are much smaller local places around that offer some of these dishes, but not many options to find them all in one setting. I still prefer the area around Huguosi for my Beijing snacks, but I can’t really complain too much about this choice, though why not sample another Beijing speciality, zhajiang mian at one of the many good options (like Lao ZhaJiangMian Wang)? Or what about the local chicken wings for places with real personality?

Tan Family Cuisine – Guo Yao Xiao Yu
Another hutong spot, are you starting to see the pattern? I’ve never been to this spot so I won’t say much about it. From my understanding of “Tan Family Cuisine”, its an offshoot of imperial dining, and while the idea of this tiny restaurant in a hutong might be appealing to some, there are better choices that aren’t necessarily on the tourist path. For my money, I’d go with Na Jia Xiao Guan, an excellent restaurant with an interesting design and always a huge line out front.

Guizhou - Jun Qin Hua
4th pick and 4th hutong you’d be entering. He describes this place’s Guizhou style lazi ji as the spiciest dish in China， though I highly doubt it could compare to a Chongqing style hotpot at Hai Di Lao. He completely misses the fact that while Guizhou food is spicy, it is a very different spicy from what you’ll find at the Hunan or Sichuan restaurants that foreigners are more used to. Guizhou food often incorporates sour flavors to cut the spiciness, not mentioning this is sort of doing a disservice to the reader. However, I do give him credit for not going with the easy choice of 3 Guizhou Ren.

Beijing Dumplings – Xian Lao Man
What can I say, this place does offer excellent dumplings and so I can’t complain too much about its inclusion.

Beijing Congee – Hong Zhuang Yuan
I’ve never heard of “Beijing congee” before, and typically consider this a very southern dish. Never been to this restaurant and therefore don’t want to say too much about it, though it seems like he was just trying to mix it up by throwing in a cheaper restaurant.

Modern Beijing – Hua Jia Yi Yuan
This place is excellent and draws in a pretty Chinese customer base, I have no complaints with its inclusion on the list.

Hakka - Kejia Xiao Zhen
I’m not a fan of southern food and wouldn’t really choose to eat Hakka food in Beijing. I don’t have too much to say about this place except, you guessed it, yet another hutong restaurant

Sichuan – Fei Teng Yu Xiang
This is a place that is popular with foreigners due to its Gongti location, but does get a decent amount of locals as well. The food’s good, but for the price, I’d go to the much classier South Beauty or Yu Xiang Ren Jia, which are just as good, and of course, the always popular Chuan Ban. Then again, there are many great choices for Sichuan food in Beijing and it’s kind of hard to go wrong.

Actually, this article (and the overwhelming choice of hutong dining), is connected to Stuff Laowai Like. Laowai favorites included in the article are: hutongs (coming soon), authenticity (coming soon), "local specialities", and contrasts.

On the Subway 4: Style Police

In the winter months in Beijing, everyone starts to bundle up and fur, sometimes real, more often of questionable origin, becomes an inevitable sight, as lining on coats, in/around hoods, and in totally fur coats. All too often, the fur isn’t even real fur, as chronicled by Stylites.

One day on a crowded Beijing subway car, there was a short, thick man (most likely from Dongbei) in a (very fake) fur coat, the type of coat that (if real) would only be worn by pimps and professional athletes in the US. It was hard not to notice him, but it’s not exactly an uncommon sight, one I’d only warrant a peak at and nothing more. However, a young French guy standing next to me conversing with his Chinese girlfriend thought it was much more important than that.

Frog: Do you see that guy?
GF: Yes, what?
Frog (excitedly): DO. YOU. SEE. THAT. GUY?
GF (even more puzzled): yes, what is so special with him?!?
Frog: He’s wearing a fur coat.
GF (perplexed): so?
Frog (perplexed and excited): He’s a man, he is wearing a fur coat.
GF: Do you have a fever? What’s wrong with you?
Frog (indignantly): He’s a MAN! Doesn’t he know that men don’t wear fur coats? What? Is he gay?
GF (pounding her head against the pole)

Ahh, don’t you just love the French？The US may serve as the “world’s police force”, but the French want to be the globe’s fashion police. My “biglaw” dreams and the salary that goes with it may have brought me to Japan, but the lack of these sort of exchanges have led me to miss Beijing on a daily basis.

What Will Be Rising Out of the Inner Mongolian Desert?

I can’t remember in what expat rag I first heard about businessman Cai Jiang’s project at Ordos (Urbane perhaps?), a town in the middle of the Inner Mongolian desert. It seemed interesting and unique, but I didn’t pay it much mind until I came across a long article in the New York Times about the project. Basically Mr. Cai is building a brand new district in Ordos, which is to consist of everything you’d want in what will basically be a new town: office buildings, apartments, museums, and malls, many that will be designed by world famous architects. The crowning touch of Ordos, though, is its 100 villas that are to be designed by 100 of the world’s hottest architects. They are to serve as housing for the rich, but also a sort of outdoor architectural/sculpture park.

The thing that most readers will probably take from the article is this part:

Not long ago, residents of this region 350 miles west of Beijing lived in elaborate tents called yurts. Now, with a population of 1.5 million, many live in homes that would make New Yorkers jealous. According to Bao Chongming, the regional vice-mayor, they have the second highest per-capita income in China (trailing only Shanghai, the country’s financial capital) and an annual economic growth rate of 40 percent.

I know, I know, you went back and made sure you read that right and, you did. The second highest per-capita income in China. Annual economic growth of 40% (mainly in coal and dairy). Granted, those stats are coming from a “regional vice-mayor”, not always the best source for accurate statistics, but even if they are remotely true, its absolutely shocking. Ordos is a city that almost no foreigners and very few Chinese, have ever heard of. And while it’s population of 1.5 million people might seem big by US standards, that’s small potatoes in China.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this, the artist Ai Weiwei, whose in part responsible for the Bird’s Nest design and is behind the Qu Nar restaurant in Beijing, is heavily involved in this project. The article explains that the architects picked were given free reign to design with very little guidelines, leaving one to wonder how integrated the villas will be. It sounds like it might be a situation where there are 100 beautiful individual homes, but when viewed together, it is complete chaos. The article also brings up the very real issue of environmental concerns when putting together such a large scale city project where now there is almost nothing.

Inner Mongolia has long been famous for its grasslands, beautiful prairies of great open space, will Ordos change all that? Will it become known for a sparkling city pushing the envelop of modern architecture in a country that’s already on the cutting edge or will it end up a desert disaster?

The Earthquake, Rumors, and What Might Be Coming

First, here at A Modern Lei Feng, our heart's go out to all those in Sichuan and around China who were affected by the 7.8 earthquake that hit near Chengdu yesterday. We will be donating money and doing what we can to help and encourage others to do the same.

There is not much we can add to the earthquake reporting, while it was felt in Beijing and Shanghai, it didn't create real damage and only those in high rises knew that it was even happening. I do agree with others, this is yet another bad sign in what was supposed to be a very lucky year for China. Beyond the snow storm, the T!betan protests (and the torch relay aftermath), and now this earthquake, there is hand, foot, and mouth disease that has been spreading through interior provinces, the Qingdao train accident, the thwarted terrorist attack in Xinjiang and the possible "terrorist" attack on a Shanghai bus, plus rumors about potential terrorist attacks against transportation targets in Beijing. At this point, China has been struck with so many disasters, both natural and man-made, what's next?

So what more can we offer? For those in Beijing and Shanghai, the earthquake wasn't so scary, but fear spread when rumors started circulating widely about aftershocks that would measure between 3 and 6 on the Richter Scale and would take place between 10 pm and midnight. This was sent as a legitimate SMS and was received over and over again, it even made it onto some reputed (if there is such a thing when talking about Chinese media) media websites, though it was quickly removed.

In the US, usage of text messaging is relatively limited while in China it is used by everybody as its cheaper than a phone call and often more convenient, especially when on a packed bus or subway. Usage of SMS is one of the main ways rumors spread so quickly (ie the AIDS Kabab rumor as another example). Rumors tend not to spread so much in the US because they often are sent through email and the reader has full usage of the internet to check the veracity of the rumor. In China, even when the text message defies logic (ie being able to predict the time of an earthquake, AIDS spread through food), the number of times you receive them and how they are often sent from otherwise highly intelligent individuals makes it harder to ignore.