Lisa Movius

Moving

2009-07-19T04:19:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, China's "Great Firewall" has made Blogspot very difficult to reach or edit even using proxy servers, but has made it easier to access other blog hosters.

This blog is thus migrating over to blog.com. Address is lisamovius.blog.com. See you there!

Uniqlo on Taobao

2009-04-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

Not the most exciting of articles, I always prefer features to news and suppose my readers probably do too, but it marks an interesting development.

I am an enthusiast of online shopping, and this cooperation signals a potential next step. It seems to me an intelligent synergy - good for everyone except cheap physical retailers who may get frozen out price-wise. Given the neurotic, spasmotic retail climate in China, streamlining things online should be good for consumers. And less public space given over to poorly-designed, empty malls could be a positive development.

At any rate, there is a Darwinian mall carnage ongoing in Shanghai and Beijing, resulting not so much from the economy as from overbuilding and poor planning. Increased online options may speed up the carnage - and then what? I remember the late 1990s, and all the cavernous empty discarded malls turned into discoteques, also quickly abandoned, but great spaces for underground rock concerts. Perhaps that is what will happen again.

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Uniqlo to Sell Online in China With Taobao
WWD, 17 April 2009
By Lisa Movius

“Just as everyone drinks coffee, and that has been turned into Starbucks, everyone wears clothes, and that can be made into a universal Uniqlo experience,” said Jack Ma, or Ma Yun in Chinese, chairman and chief executive of Taobao’s parent Alibaba Group.

“Look at McDonalds, Starbucks and such, they are all U.S. brands. We hope a Chinese or Japanese brand will become like them,” added Tadashi Yanai, founder of Uniqlo and president of its parent company Fast Retailing Co. Ltd.

Under the partnership, Uniqlo will have both a virtual shop on Taobao, plus a dedicated China Web site, uniqlo.cn, which will operate and sell through Taobao’s system.

Uniqlo opted to operate through Taobao in order to avail itself of the Web site’s user base of 100 million, who conducted 99.96 billion yuan, or $14.6 billion at current exchange, in transactions last year, according to the company. In recognition of limited credit card use in China, the new Uniqlo online store allows shoppers to purchase through their existing Taobao accounts. The collaboration additionally emerged out of Tadashi and Ma’s friendship since meeting at a conference two years ago, both emphasized.

“We have stores in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, but online we can reach all of China — even in Tibet and Xinjiang we will have customers,” said Tadashi.

Pan Ning, Uniqlo’s China director, said the retailer had 21 stores in Mainland China as of June 2008, and that will have increased to 45 by June this year, out of 848 internationally, and is launching next week in Singapore. The brand’s Mainland sales doubled year-on-year in 2008.

“Within Asia, China is our main focus. The Internet provides great opportunities for both marketing and sales. It is a way to be available to consumers,” said Pan, who denied the Web platform might compete with Uniqlo’s expanding retail network. “The Web develops fast, and the relationship between the Internet and physical stores is symbiotic.”

The Web site launch marks not only the beginning of Uniqlo’s online presence in China, but also Taobao’s first dedicated site for an independent brand. Ma hopes to establish about a hundred such online shops through the site. “Taobao is not just consumer-to-consumer, but increasingly business-to-consumer,” he said. “Combining the Web with consumers is powerful.”

“At first we were modeled upon eBay,” continued Taobao president Lu Zhaoxi, “but three or four years ago we started wanting to become bigger than that, and not just be consumer-to-consumer.”

While Uniqlo is the trial effort for that, Ma added the brand has its own niche positioning. “If Uniqlo can spark the dreams of young Chinese people, then this will be successful,” he said.

Soma looking to open live house

2009-04-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

A quick blip of music news: Soma Records, currently Shanghai's sole indie music label, is planning to open its own live house.

That's all the info I have so far, but I'll keep everyone posted.

Soma, run by singer Lao Yao aka Jaman Yashe formerly of Chan and singer Li Pang aka Pangpang of Crystal Butterfly, produces artists including Sarah Zhong Chi, Crazy Mushrooms, Little Nature and Momo. They did a compilation album of young bands out late last year entitled Indie Top 1 - hopefully the first of a series.

Lin Di album review and disclaimers

2009-04-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

Also in this month's That's I reviewed Cold Fairyland's Lin Di aka Miyadudu's new solo album, Meet in Secret Garden.

Two disclaimers: first, Lin's a pretty good friend of mine, and I realize that makes my reviewage less than completely objective. But, regardless of the person, I quite like her music, and did long before I knew her well.

The second is an issue I take with the editing: some That's editors feel obliged to infuse everything with snark. While I'm a big snarker too, snark has its place, and in the wrong place it comes off as mean-spirited. I got them to remove most of the mean, but a "sappy" before "sentimentality" snuck in.

I don't think all sentimentality is necessarily sappy, nor is it in this album. I think it's sexist to brand a very feminine take on topics of love, life and loss as such. I also quite like the tracks about the cats, and rather resent (and resemble) the editor's implication that loving one's cats enough to write songs about them makes one a stupid little girl. Rock on, cat girls!

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Album review: Miyadudu 米亚嘟嘟
Written by Lisa Movius
Meet in Secret Garden

Miyadudu is the alter ego of Cold Fairyland singer Lin Di, who was formally trained at the Shanghai Music Conservatory and is a skillful composer, arranger, keyboardist and pipa player. Along with Cold Fairyland's six albums, Lin previously recorded two solo albums, 2002's Ten Days in Magicland and 2004's Bride in Legend (both produced by Shanghai folk music legend Liu Xing and originally released by Taiwan's Wind Records).

Her latest effort, Meet in Secret Garden (Mimi Huayuan de Xiehou), from Jiuzhou Audiovisual, is distinct from the band releases as well as Lin's prior solo albums, with ten songs of ethereal electronica executed in shades of nostalgia and longing. Sappy sentimentality seems to be a major theme, if the lyrics on the cover are any indication: "Quietly listen to the flowers wither…" Love and cats also play a major part, with pictures of a white kitten dotting the liner notes (the singer's late pet Lumi, also immortalized on the track 'Lumi Pumpuli'; likewise, Lin's first cat Baibai is the subject of '3am (Lingchen San Dian)'), while 'Perfect Ghost I & II' delves into the supposed dreams of the ideal lover.

Still, the album's slower songs incorporate zings of Lin's folk and rock inclinations, as well as her latest experiments in electronica; the latter finds full bloom with the catchy, danceable and decidedly unsentimental 'Counting (Shushu).' Ultimately, a sense of contemplative melancholy runs throughout the album (which also features four instrumental tracks, including the title song). Consider this a softer, feminine, and more introspective side of Lin's persona.

New Article: That's on 0093

2009-04-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

I have a feature on the 0093 practice space/music organization in this month's That's Shanghai. Text below, or link here. It was a lot of fun to do, catching up with the bands and organizers, and spending many an afternoon and evening hanging out down in the bunker.

We had to cut some interesting background material for space; and I’ll post the full draft online soon. One is that the space was originally opened by Wu Jun, who is rather a Shanghai rock legend by now. He and “Shanghai rock Godfather” Sun Mengjin in 1997 founded Godot, the city’s first punk band. Running until 2005, its rapidly revolving membership made it Shanghai’s “School of Rock” - so many of our top musicians had stints in Geduo. Wu, after handing 0093 over to Lao Jiang, opened a practice and recording studio on Wuxing Lu, which is smaller but a lot more professional than 0093, and the chart-hitting latest Honeys album, among others, was recorded there. Wu also was the organizer of the 1234 Beach Rock and RockIt! music festivals in ‘06 and ‘07, and for about 18 months organized the Sunday rock nights at Bonbon.

The 0093 compilation is intended as a tribute to the 2000 “Shanghai Underground” compilation album organized by Sun Mengjing and featuring trailblazing early Shanghai punk and metal bands like Prague Spring and Nutcracker (where Dingma’s Lu Chen first cut his teeth, and/or cracked his nuts). Back then ShRock was a bit dichotomized between the Punk and Pop Pies 派, but even entrenched as I was in the latter I recall what a splash the album made. Not many people remember those bands, or know how much they contributed to creating our current lushness, but I’m working on that.

Another thing we left out is the new 0093 performance venue: news of it is circulating online, but due to their lack of a performance license for it, mentioning it in the print media would have been risky.

The album was orginally supposed to be out this month, but now is expected in June. Which, in rocker time, means August.

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Enter the bunker of sound - 0093

Written by Lisa Movius

0093 is more than just a practice space, it's the pulsing heart of Shanghai's music scene

Number 93 Lingling Lu is easy to miss. If you're not looking carefully for the number plaque, all you'll see is the "Underground Shelter" sign on the sidewalk and the various advertisements for American Standard toilets around its door. Even upon discovery, it appears like a stairway leading down into nowhere, and rather feels that way for the first few minutes until the lights flicker bright enough to see the deco detailing on the walls. And only then, after you pass through a series of massive, ancient sealable doors (and start to hear the music) does this space's status as the nerve center of the Shanghai rock scene become obviously apparent.

Known now as 0093 – Lingling puns as double zero in Mandarin – this labyrinth of a former bomb shelter houses over ten dedicated rehearsal rooms where dozens of Shanghai's bands, particularly younger and more stylistically underground bands, practice their music. The venue has fomented a tightened musical community that has blossomed into a regular 0093 concert series, often giving new bands their first chance to step onstage.
Certainly, young Shanghai bands have been proliferating at an unprecedented rate over the past two years, and much of the support necessary to thrive can be attributed to 0093 and its directors Jiang Shaoqing (who goes by Lao Jiang) and Wang Xiaotian (known as Tiantian).

"There are a lot of new bands now, and they need to practice and to perform," says Yuyintang director Zhang Haisheng, who hosts the 0093 series at his venue. "0093 is first and foremost a practice space – and how can a band perform if it can't practice?" While there are many underground rehearsal venues in Shanghai – their most popular competition is Juju Studio on Huashan Lu – "0093 is the biggest, and the place to see and meet a lot of young bands."

"0093 gives Shanghai rock its own place, a communications base," explains Topfloor Circus (Dingma) singer Lu Chen. "To young bands, it's very important that they get practice and performance experience and get to know each other. I remember how much harder it was for us and other old bands before." Dingma began practicing at 0093 in 2003, back when the bunker hosted only one small rehearsal space deep inside its bowels. In 2006, the year Lao Jiang began managing the space, Dingma came out with their third album; all of its songs were written at Lingling Lu, and the band named the now-classic hard punk album Lingling Rd 93 Revisited, Timmy!

"Lao Jiang and Tiantian were entertained when it came out, we hadn't told them before," Lu Chen recalls. "They didn't react, but I could feel that after that they felt they could turn the place into a brand." By 2007, the directors had launched a Douban.com group, which remains the most active means for promoting their bands, and started using the name 0093. At the end of that year, Jiang recalls, they threw their first 0093 showcase. Held at Yuyintang, the concert was a small trial run for the massive official launch party a few weeks later at the now-defunct Four Live, which featured some of Shanghai's biggest names: Dingma, Yuguo, Torturing Nurse, Momo (then called Happy Strings), Chaos Mind, Muscle Snog, Mortal Fools and Crazy Mushroom Brigade, as well as a headlining spot for Beijing's Joyside.

Most of the subsequent 0093 showcases, including the ninth installment on April 3 at Yuyintang, have been smaller ticket affairs aimed at supporting unknown bands, but they did another big blowout show as an earthquake benefit last May. The eleven-band line-up included Banana Monkey, Little Nature, Boys Climbing Ropes and Bang Bang Tang, and was the downtown debut of new favorites Candy Shop (Tianpin Dian). "We've been practicing at 0093 since we started, and it's given us a lot of opportunities," says Candy Shop guitarist Nicholas Zoe. "We were in the Earthquake Benefit, our first big show, because Lao Jiang invited us. We attracted some attention then, [Yuyintang's] Zhang Haisheng offered us more shows, and that's how we got started." Many young bands tell similar tales.

Wang also runs a CD shop out of 0093, and a forthcoming compilation album will expand the organization's scope even further. Titled Indie Underground Vol. 1 and due out later this summer, it will feature eleven to twelve tracks, all from 0093 bands, including Dingma's 'Shanghai Welcomes You,' Banana Monkey's 'Double Trouble' and tracks by Bang Bang Tang, Candy Shop, Pinkberry, Hanging Gardens and Five-Pointed Star.

Jiang anticipates the compilation will be a souvenir of the bands and of a time, a poignant sentiment in the face of vague rumors that the space might be shut down next year for fire safety reasons. Lao Jiang denies the rumors, nonplussed about their source and too happily busy to worry, enthusiastically present around the clock although he no longer lives in the bunker as he did for two years. Lu Chen observes, "To do something, you need to have a feeling, whether it's having a band or a space. If you love it, you will do it well… Lao Jiang and Tiantian love the place, and love what they're doing. They're happy, and that's why 0093 works as a brand. Otherwise, it's very hard to do."

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Four 0093 bands you need to hear

Top Floor Circus 顶楼马戏团
Dingma is pretty much the only Shanghainese band that other Shanghainese bands unambiguously admire. Formed in 2001 with renowned video artist Liang Yue contributing vocals, Dingma are famed for their Shanghainese lyrics and frontman Lu Chen's often maniacal onstage theatrics. Continuously evolving throughout their three albums thus far, they started folk and went punk, throwing their fans for a loop. Cold Fairyland's ex-bass player Su Yong migrated to the band last year, although Dingma is on a semi-hiatus until this autumn, with several members embarking on their own solo projects in the meantime.

Banana Monkey 香蕉猴
Banana Monkey have been staging a strong comeback with several shows per month after taking a break from May to October 2008. Their heady garage rock and energetic stage presence made them a favorite for club shows soon after their establishment in 2005, following stints in Marrow and other local bands. Banana Monkey's songs, with titles like 'Drunk Daddy,' 'Baby in Red' and 'You're So Pure' (many of which were written at 0093), are all in English and show self-confessed influences from Franz Ferdinand and The Strokes. Six to ten tracks will find their way onto a self-released EP later this year.

Candy Shop 甜品店
Founded in January 2008, Candy Shop first grabbed attention when they won Maxell's student band competition last April. Since debuting more publicly at the 0093 Earthquake benefit, they've bucked the student band trajectory and become nearly ubiquitous at Shanghai's main live venues. The name came about because their lead singer, Melodie Lee, "is tianmei" – sweet and beautiful – explains bass player Chris Cai. Guitarist Nicholas Zoe describes their Linkin Park-influenced style as "pop and nu metal, and now sort of rap-metal" since adding an MC, YKE Yang, but the group continues to experiment and evolve. So far Candy Shop has twelve original tracks, of which 'Four Ti Ti' was used in the recent film Park Shanghai. The band entertains ambitions of eventually signing with a major label – a possibility, given how far the group has come in just a year.

Bang Bang Tang 棒棒堂
Like Candy Shop, Bang Bang Tang (or Lollypop) debuted at one of Maxell's competitions in November 2007, a month after the band was formed. It also features a female singer – the charmingly geek-chic Xiao Bai – and is comprised mostly of students, rising to prominence through the 0093 showcases. However, Lollypop's style is decidedly indie pop, and along with their eight original songs, their sets are peppered with covers of musicians like Alanis Morissette, Janet Jackson and Joan Jett. Bang Bang Tang's 'A Song for my Angel' was included on last year's Neocha online compilation and the station FM 101.7 plays some of their songs; and the band hopes to release an album this year.

2009-02-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

Consider this a pre-post, complete with acronynymity. Today, after yoga in an abandoned mall, while waiting fifteen minutes at a Starbucks for my black coffee so I could escape the rudely chinglishing staff and go upstairs and read my Yu Hua's Xiongdi in peace, I encountered not one but two stories about Sangheiwu in one of their several museum copies of Shanghai Daily.

Sangheiwu has been on my mind a lot lately. See, I was really hoping to find a Sangheiwu class to sign up for, for the freshly springy Spring semester. Only, my assistant has found: there are none. At least, the ones I'd heard of near me have long since died out.

More on this travesty later: how can Shanghai have an English class on every corner, but no Shanghainese classes to be had for love or money? It is double colonialism, by English and Mandarin, while dismissing and destroying indigenous culture. Shame. In the meanwhile, here's what Shanghai Daily has to say:

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Nonghao: An intangible heirloom
By Ni Tao 2009-2-19

WHAT'S wrong with speaking Shanghainese in Pudong? It's a question that has been boggling my mind of late.

The answer, to some, is self-evident. As a dialect, Shanghainese is too informal for office work. Hence, it is out of place to speak it in the gleaming financial hub of Lujiazui.

I partially agree with this view, but there's something about it that I cannot quite accept.

First, do we have to stick to speaking the alternatives - Mandarin Chinese and English - all the time while in Pudong, even between natives and during breaks?

Second, to paraphrase a bizarre theory spun by a local newspaper columnist, Shanghainese is so notoriously backward a dialect that only the most benighted indigenous folks are willing to speak it.

This is simply a rant against what the author calls the typical "ugliness" of Shanghainese' traits: conceit, snobbishness, shallowness, obsession with "petty bourgeois" and exotic satisfactions, a sense of superiority - or more precisely, delusion of superiority - and worst of all, contempt for provincial Chinese.

I make no attempt to gloss over the problems listed here, they do exist. To some extent, these are the very culprits that taint the otherwise polished image of Shanghai.

The author also implies that most "New Shanghainese" - generally referring to those hailing from outside the city and working in high-end industries - are the real elites at the top of the pecking order.

Their diligence and open-mindedness dovetail with the Zeitgeist underlying the city's dynamism, whereas the insular mentality of the "Old Shanghainese," complacent and epicurean, only hobbles Shanghai's rise as an international metropolis.

Pride and prejudice

This comparison, regardless of hints of intrinsic reason, will only undermine the integration of a new group commendable for its vigor, while slamming the seemingly pampered natives.

That, however, should not constrain us from acknowledging the uncomfortable truth: Shanghai was not known for its hospitality.

Emily Honig noted in "Creating Chinese Ethnicity: Subei People in Shanghai, 1850-1980" that as guest workers, Subeiren (people from northern Jiangsu Province) had to endure all kinds of prejudice and mistreatment by locals.

Despite this cultural disparagement of new settlers, Shanghai is still regarded as a city where opportunities abound, enabling many to realize their dreams.

The recent experimental reform of the permanent residence system, or hukou, in Shanghai, attests to the city's open and inclusive policies.

That some "New Shanghainese" feel they don't quite belong or are still perceived as outsiders is understandable.

What they should do is be more patient, delve deeper into the local heritage, explore for themselves both its merits and demerits before hastily denouncing anything Shanghai as patronizing and decadent. An attack on Shanghainese or Shanghainese dialect is beyond the pale.

For one thing, dialect, as a showcase of tradition, is what makes a regional culture distinctive and flourishing.

Picture a scene in which everyone speaks with the same cadenced Mandarin Chinese - no fun can be derived from such stilted conversations.

For another, speaking dialect is often the last stand against relentless modernization.

People who feel insecure as they are caught up in urban sprawl and rapid change find in their language of childhood a safe haven in the concrete jungle and towering skyscrapers that make no sense to them.

Bulldozed old houses and tumble-down longtang (lanes) fuel a certain nostalgia for the bygone days when demographic shift was modest and one could greet strangers with a cordial nonghao (hello).

No one knows how much longer Shanghainese can hold out against the onslaught of other dominant languages, but it should be guarded as intangible heirloom.

******

Shanghainese and Mandarin make city's melody
By John Gong 2009-2-19

AN article about the gradual disappearance of Shanghai dialect, particularly in Pudong's Lujiazui financial district, published in Xinmin Evening News on February 4, caused uproar among some Shanghainese.

To quote the article (a book excerpt): "It shows a lack of culture to speak in Shanghai dialect in Pudong."

As a third-generation Shanghainese, I think I am qualified to add my two cents to the outpouring of angry posts on the Internet.

Shanghai dialect is indeed fading away, but of course, it shall never die.

My niece, a 14-year-old girl who was brought up in Shanghai and still lives in this great city, never speaks with a hint of Shanghai dialect.

I don't even speak it myself when I return to the city every other weekend, apart from the time I spend with my parents.

In the old days, in the eyes of Shanghainese, you were either from Shanghai or a country bumpkin (somewhat like the Parisian versus the Provinceur cliche in France).

This is not uncommon among major metropolises around the world.

And you can't speak of Shanghai without comparing it to New York City.

Alas, the New York accent (there are different accents from different boroughs) is also disappearing, at least in Manhattan, according to professors quoted in New York magazine. It's part of a process called homogenization.

In addition, geographic mobility - many affluent and well-educated Manhattanites are transplants from elsewhere - has made New York a less locally focused place.

In a sense, the disappearance of the local dialect is a harbinger of a city's economic prosperity, the form of new businesses and human talents drawn to it.

Lujiazui's spectacular skyline speaks volume about this phenomenon, and we Shanghainese should all be thankful for it.

But what differentiates great cities from good cities are the unique social and cultural enrichment and heritage from the city's history.

And that certainly includes its dialect, which makes the language sing.

In that regard, cities like Los Angeles and Houston pale in comparison with the Big Apple.

Sometimes I sorely miss my days of living in New Jersey State across the Hudson River many years ago.

My wife worked in midtown Manhattan on Sixth Avenue. We spent many nights enjoying city life, and learned "tawking" with a New York accent, for things like "cawfee," "chawclat" and "dawg wawking."

I equally miss the days of growing up in a small lane in Shanghai, when unlike my 14-year old niece, we kids all spoke in Shanghai dialect.

It is not just a beautiful dialect, but it also connotes certain meanings and is spoken with an attitude.

Speaking like a Shanghainese is less about what you say, and more about how you say it.

We Shanghainese are known for being savvy, opinionated and confident. We are also known for being chic and cosmopolitan, especially the beautiful Shanghainese ladies.

Sweet home

I once had a friendly exchange with two colleagues, one from Singapore and one from Hong Kong. After they bragged about their hometowns, I said, "Unlike Singapore, Hong Kong is a place you want to visit again no matter where you are from. But Shanghai is a place you want to call home."

Indeed, there are countless people from Hong Kong and Singapore who call Shanghai home now. So as Shanghainese, let's not lament the disappearance of our dialect in Lujiazui.

Just like the New York accent, which is distinctive in boroughs like Brooklyn and Bronx, Shanghai dialect is the long-lived mother tongue for working people in various districts in Shanghai. And we shall all feel proud of it.

(The author is an economist based in Beijing. His e-mail: johngong@gmail.com.)

Hanging Gardens brit up the next generation

2009-01-02T01:22:00.000-08:00

I had a great time interviewing these kids, who I've been curious about since first hearing their music online. Brit rock remains the core of Shanghainese rock, as pioneered by my old friends The Honeys and Crystal Butterfly, among others. I was glad to see that they keep on influencing young bands; and Hanging Garden's earnestness yet humorousness made me grin. Here's the article in January's "That's Shanghai".

Check out more from these great young Shanghai men at www.douban.com/artist/Hanginggardens/.

******

Shanghai band Hanging Gardens
Written by Lisa Movius
Tuesday, 30 December 2008 14:45

Sonic gardens of Babylon
A fresh young foursome hope to cultivate the local rock scene

Most bands wait until they have an album to promote or a reputation to uphold before going on tour, but the lads of young Shanghainese band Hanging Gardens (Kongzhong Huayuan) decided not to let that keep them from
hitting the road this summer and fall. Formed only in March last year, the foursome organized outdoor shows at twenty different Jiangsu and Zhejiang cities between July and October.

“A few people knew we would play and there was only standing room, so they would bring a chair from home,” recalls singer Jiang Lei, a lanky heartthrob who also goes by Leo and who, despite working at a bank by day, sports a brown-dyed mop and owns a natural rockstar swagger. “We were most impressed at Zhouzhuang – a lot of people came to see us,” adds guitarist Ruan Feng, or Ryan. “The most important thing is feeling. We were all helping each other out, and bonded a lot.”

Shanghai is famously known for its sensitive men, and Hanging Gardens’ members, aged 23 to 25, wax lyrical about feelings. “We don’t have a specific style; we like and make all sorts of music, and follow our own feelings,” Ruan emphasized. “Our name is from Babylon, the gardens were for the king and were very romantic. We all like that image, and want our music to have that sort of romance and idea.”

The band members – drummer and IT worker Xia Weigong, aka Sammy, and bassist Tan Zhen, who goes by Van, along with Ruan and Jiang – first met in college (Tan is still studying). All of them were in different student bands at different schools at the Songjiang University Town. “We all liked the same sort of music so [we] joined up,” explains Ruan. The band has thus far written eight original tracks, and plans to underground release an album later this year. “We want to do an album independently because that way all of our ideas and options are our own. With a company, we’d have to listen to them, and couldn’t do our own things,” says Ruan. “Our goal is that we will have good memories when we’re old, and that we’ll have a few good albums to help us remember them.”

Along with the tour, the group plays regularly around Shanghai and has proven the standouts at group gigs like the 0093 Showcase and Yuyintang’s Brit-rock nights. Hanging Gardens eschew stylistic pigeonholing, but predictably cite The Beatles, Coldplay, Radiohead and other British rock groups as influences. Their favorite Beijing bands are Super VC and Convenience Store. “In Shanghai, we like Little Nature, they’re very good and are good friends of ours, plus Crystal Butterfly; some of our songs resemble theirs and they perform well but all too rarely. We also like Lanting, but they’ve broken up, and Blue Garden, except they’ve gone too pop,” Ruan states. “Now Shanghai has 0093 and Yuyintang, so the environment is pretty good, but we lack many very good bands. So we all have a good opportunity to break out and give Shanghai a standing in China.”

Yuyintang, January 1 and 10 (5237 8660).

Huaihai 796

2009-01-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

My coverage of the Richemont Huaihai 796 project finally ran in WWD on New Year's Eve.

I am generally sceptical of the luxury fashion industry and their grandious projects and projections, but as I said before, Huaihai 796 genuinely impressed me. I appreciate its less immediately commercial tact, and its sumptuousness and accessibility. Certainly, Debelle de Montby's contagious enthusiasm is hard to resist.

I can't say whether it will prove a success, at this time of economic contraction, but it has definitely made a splash.

The reason it opens with the ShanghArt bit was to give the piece a timeliness, since its run got delayed for two months after the space's grand opening.

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Richemont Fuses Fashion and Art in Shanghai
by Lisa Movius
From WWD Issue 12/31/2008

SHANGHAI — Compagnie Financière Richemont’s recently restored villas in the former French Concession don’t just house Dunhill and Vacheron Constantin flagships — they’re also home to the newest outpost for this city’s oldest contemporary art gallery, ShanghArt.

The gallery and its founders, Laura Zhou and Lorenz Helbling, spearheaded the emergence of the Shanghai contemporary art scene, and 2008 has proven to be another busy year. ShanghArt’s new space is hosting its second exhibition, “Hybrid,” which showcases the work of more than a dozen artists, including Tang Guo’s evocations of traditional Chinese ink landscapes through monochrome photography and Zhang Enli’s minimalist still life paintings. The show runs through the end of next month. The space opened with an inaugural exhibition of photographic light boxes by Shanghainese duo Bird Head, made up of Song Tao and Ji Weiyu: a daringly noncommercial, avant-garde choice for what easily could have been a more sales-focused location.

Richemont opened the renovated twin villas, built in 1921 and 1927, in mid-October in a bid to fuse elements of art, lifestyle and luxury into a unique experience for its Chinese customers. The compound also features an English garden — tapping into the brand’s British heritage — as well as a branch of the private Hong Kong bar and restaurant Kee Club. ShanghArt 796 occupies the ground floor of a minimalist glass structure at the back of the compound; Richemont’s new offices are upstairs.

“Richemont is the first luxury group to establish such a vanguard concept in China’s luxury retail revolution,” said John Durnin, chief financial officer of Dunhill Asia.

Yann Debelle de Montby, Dunhill’s director of image and press relations and the creative force behind the project, said the company is eager to distinguish itself from hordes of other brands and shopping environments that reek of sameness.

“As consumers, people are frustrated with the shopping experience,” he continued. “It’s boring; it feels like being in an airport. Malls account for 95 percent of turnover, especially in China, but it feels wrong — when you enter a store, you should step into a larger idea.”

Debelle de Montby said Dunhill is striving to teach Chinese customers how to dress like proper gentlemen and turn them into loyal customers.

The store features a first floor cluttered with travel paraphernalia — dubbed the “room of discovery” — as well as a suit room, a casual room and a cigar and martini bar. The smaller back rooms contain a boutique barbershop and a tailoring service straight from Savile Row.

The Vacheron Constantin manse features a retail showcase, a watch-repair laboratory and an exhibition room with revolving displays of vintage watches and a collection of watch books. For the most dedicated watch collectors, there are also 18 vacuum-packed, climate-controlled watch safes available.

Shanghai represents the third Dunhill Home project and the second Vacheron Constantin Mansion in the world. Vacheron’s first is its Geneva headquarters. The other Dunhill Homes consist of London’s Bourdon House, which opened in September, and a space in Tokyo’s Ginza Chuo Street that launched in December 2007.

The Shanghai project was two years in the making, starting with the location scout. “Two years ago we discovered the place, and when you walk in, there is a spirit about it,” enthused Vacheron Constantin’s Asia-Pacific managing director Yann Bouillonnec. “It is in the center of Shanghai, on Huaihai Lu, which is very busy, but when you walk in [the lane], it is very quiet with a garden.”

Debelle de Montby explained that conventional wisdom directed them toward the trendier, higher-profile, more international retail districts of Nanjing Lu and the Bund. However, after coming to Shanghai in 1996 and falling in love with the city and its history, he held out for the former concession and historic shopping avenue that has the most cachet with native Shanghainese.

Dunhill entered the Mainland market in 1992, making it among the earliest international brands here, and it remains a leader in men’s wear. Dunhill has 100 stores in Asia, spanning Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and, more recently, India.

“We have worked hard at building our men’s wear and leather accessories ranges across China. We have a strong and growing leather assortment that targets both gifting and self-purchase and also allows us the appeal to the rapidly increasing businesswomen sector in China who need to carry serious business cases,” specified Durnin.

Meanwhile, Vacheron has been quietly tapping into the growing Chinese love affair with timepieces. The brand, which first had a presence in China in 1845, relaunched on the Mainland in 1996, and now has 20 doors in about 15 cities. Bouillonnec said the brand is still “very male” in orientation, but women are increasingly interested in timepieces and now make up 30 percent of the brand’s sales in China.

“China is one of the countries with the most numbers of successful women in business,” Bouillonnec said. “Chinese women are strong and work hard to achieve success. We are offering more and more mechanical watches for women.”

Although they were in the works for some time, the Richemont villas are opening at a precarious time, as the global recession begins to hit Mainland China, but company executives stressed the project is about long-term branding, not sales. “If times are difficult, we should provide better products and service, showing what makes us different from our competitors,” Bouillonnec said. “When your brand is 250 years old, you don’t think about daily economics, you think about 10, 20, 50 years into the future.”

Indie Top rock out Friday - be there.

2008-12-03T23:36:00.000-08:00

This is a warm winter where Shanghai music is concerned, with several new albums by our local kids out or coming. I am most excited about Soma's forthcoming Indie Top V.1 (previous working titles were Indie Vox and Indie Box at the times I first wrote about them for my That's column), a compilation of mostly young, mostly Shanghainese artists. Tonight is the big launch concert, and it promises to be a great show. More intrepid music fans can also venture to Songjiang on Sunday for a big, free campus concert.

INDIE TOP Vol.1 KICK-OFF
Friday, Dec.5,2008@ Dream Factory
No.28 Yuyao Road(near Xikang Road), Jing’an District,Shanghai
7:30pm-10:30pm
Ticket:50RMB(40RMB for reservation)
Reservation:021-6227 7332
Live set:
ZHONGCHI
MOMO
Little Nature
Mushroom
Sonnet
Wang Xiaokun + Qing MA Dao

INDIE TOP is an indie music lable in Shanghai.
A significant change in underground music is occurring, with the 13 bands/musicians on board.
By 2008, INDIE TOP is on the rise.
IT is more than an album.
INDIE TOP creat a refreshing stage for the young generation.

Tracks:
001 蘑菇团 Crazy Mushroom Brigade -等待
　　002 小自然 Little Nature - Different world
　　003 钟茌 Zhong Chi -Chain of Desire
　　004 杜佳宣-我
　　005 MONOKINO（德国）- New kid
　　006 MOMO-小妖怪
　　007 王啸坤-菩提树下
　　008 苏丹-我们的爱情
　　009 LOTZ-老老欢喜侬
　　010 IGO-Super Virus
　　011 冷冻街 Frozen Streets -窃听机
　　012 十四行诗 The Sonnet -stupid baby
　　013 33岛 33 Island -King

A preview of all tracks is at www.indietop.cn.

Shanghai foundations

2008-12-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

Shanghai Daily, while usually not the most...serious...of papers, yesterday had a nice basic if not wildly accurate article about the city's heritage as one of the world's early film capitals. Good to see, since Shanghai's history is usually seen as one of "bankers, gangsters, whores and foreigners" - and culturally barren; in fact it was the cultural compost of China from the late 1800s through 1949 (and even somewhat afterwards), the rich melting pot of Chinese modernity.

I cherish this in the context of what I and my friends and community are attempting and doing now, in creating a flourishing 新海派, New Shanghainese, culture. In film, music, visual art, design, theater and literature, we have this amazing history and tradition to draw from and build upon.

Camera,
lights, action - when Shanghai ruled the silver screen
Created:
2008-12-1
Author:Jessica Chen
Shanghai Daily

ALMOST 80 years ago,
Shanghai was the hub of a thriving film industry. Just as Hollywood was
producing popular movies and big stars, so too was our fair city, writes Jessica
Chen.

As cinema production took off in many Western countries during the
early 1920s, Shanghai was already in its golden period having began to produce
many full-length films depicting domestic themes and subjects.

Shanghai
in the 1920s-30s was a metropolitan city open to fresh cultural ideas. Even
though the first indigenous film making started in Beijing, the core of Chinese
film production resided in Shanghai.

Both national and international
film markets were developed in Shanghai as film companies received continuous
support. Shanghai was a modern city by many measures and thus became a
pacesetter for the rest of China.

"People throughout China got
indications of what might be coming for them in terms of new and modern culture
by paying attention to what was happening in Shanghai, including cinema," says
Paul Pickowicz, a professor in Chinese studies from University of California,
San Diego.

Pickowicz has written many books about Chinese history and
has a special interest in old Shanghai films.

Cinema in Shanghai during
the early 20th century incorporated many themes, ranging from comedies - which
were one of the first developed genres - to martial arts films, to the most
popular genre - melodrama, particularly romance and family melodramas.

Most of the films produced during this time were adaptations from
romantic "butterfly fiction" or scripts written by "butterfly writers."
Butterfly style entailed popular romance in the early 1900s. Most of the 600
feature films made during this period could be labeled as "butterfly films."

Cinema in the city was pioneered by Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqui,
who set up the Mingxing Film Co in 1921. It ended up being the first major,
long-lasting studio in Shanghai.

In 1926, there were about 145 other
film companies in Shanghai. Mingxing Film Co also founded the Star Film Acting
School to train future stars.

Some popular films created by Mingxing
Studio were "Spring Silkworm" in 1933, about a poor family who suffers hardships
because of selfishness and superstition after their crop of silkworms die.

Another was "Laborer's Love" (also known as "Romance of a Fruit
Peddler") in 1922, the earliest complete film of China's cinematic history which
is still available today.

This movie is a romantic comedy about a fruit
vendor who wins the heart of a doctor's daughter after arranging business
opportunities for his future father-in-law.

As movies made a dramatic
impact on modern Shanghai culture, the introduction of beautiful actresses
became important as well.

The most famous actresses were Ruan Lingyu, Li
Lili, Wang Renmei and Zhou Xuan who received most of the attention as leading
actresses in the 1930s. Today, they remain popular in Chinese culture, mainly
because their films were the few that survived throughout the 20th century.

"From the start, women were at the center of Shanghai film making," says
Pickowicz.

It was the novelty of seeing beautiful women on the screen in
seductive roles that made melodramas so popular. In early Chinese history, women
were banned from the stage so men played female roles in popular entertainment,
such as in Peking Opera.

To finally see women on screen in a variety of
settings was an unprecedented change to Chinese culture. In these popular family
melodramas, many directors incorporated moral messages about glamor and
adventure.

These themes greatly appealed to the Chinese public because
they could see the lavish lifestyles of the elites, the livelihoods of the rural
peasants and their issues and struggles.

At the same time, the film
industry was prospering in the early 20th century as many overseas Chinese
talents and capital contributed to the investment in the film industry.

Most of the movies were shot in major production studios. However, they
also worked outdoors in the streets of Shanghai and in rural areas outside the
city.

The experience of watching movies in the heart of Shanghai was
generally a lavish experience. The first-run domestic and foreign films were
screened in elegant cinemas.

However, the places that catered to the middle and working class were usually located in less central places. By the
beginning of the 1930s, Shanghai alone had housed 53 movie theaters, with a
combined seating capacity of 37,110.

To see restorations of Shanghai's
film industry in the early 20th century, Shanghai Film Archive has dedicated
itself to preserving aspects of old film culture.

Weekend preview: Yoko Ono and Chen Hangfeng

2008-11-21T06:25:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the press conference and preview for Yoko Ono's solo show at Ke Art. It opens tomorrow, and is curated by my girl Biljana Ciric, Shanghai's best home-grown young rising curatorial star. It was great: huge attendance of mostly Chinese press, and both Yoko and Biljana were total rock stars. It was so odd having a security detail at an art event, that's a first, but required.

I'll transcribe the more interesting comments and upload some pictures after I get some work done.

The opening tomorrow is "invite only" - and for once I think that will be pretty strict, but the show is definitely worth catching after the 23rd. I look forward to the "instructionals" series being posted all over town: I think they will confuse the crap out of people, which is what makes conceptual art so much fun.

I suspect it is no coincidence that Yuyintang, which is located smack next door to Ke Art, is having a "Young Beatles in Shanghai" show tomorrow night. Not sure whether that's a tribute to or crack at Ono; without having talked with Zhang Haisheng, I'll guess neither, since it's a concert showcasing young Brit-rock bands. (Hopefully the Beatles covers will be kept to a minimum. Details:

英式风格和现代摇滚的里程碑乐队beatles，相信是很多人所喜欢的第一个乐队。
　　上海的新英式小子空中花园，甜蜜古怪的硬女王，中日法混合DropKicks, 充满拉丁风情的Hotter than
Tepanyaki，还有来自南京的radiohead,verve--v day，五支乐队一起带给你一个brit rock的夜晚。　　
提醒（当天在隔壁可当代有大野洋子的个展开幕，英饭们可以先去看个先）　　
注意：穿英式复古装进场可享受门票8折优惠　　　　
育音堂　　演出具体时间：11月22日晚9点　　
地址：延安西路1731号凯旋路门（3号线延安西路站2号出口）票价：30元

Alas, Ono is having a swanky afterparty at a venue I am not permitted to disclose, so probably won't make it. Also in music: Beijing faves New Pants are back to release another album, playing at Zhijiang Dream Factory.

Then, also tomorrow afternoon, my friend Chen Hangfeng has a solo show opening at Art Labor. While I love his older works that subtly incorporate traditional Chinese culture while mocking modern materialism mercilessly, the new direction that I've seen in progress promises to equally bring his trademark humor. Check it out.

DAILY PROSPERITY
- An Installation by CHEN HANGFENG
November 22, 2008 -
January 2, 2009

OPENING PARTY Saturday Nov 22, 5 - 9pm...
10- 36
Yongjia lu, Shanghai
info: 6431 7782

ART LABOR Gallery invites you
to an fabulous new installation of chandelier, wallpaper, paravent (wood screen)
and carpet by artist Chen Hangfeng, along with other works on paper.

Chen Hangfeng arranges the logos of the world's largest companies into
traditional Chinese patterns with a modern twist, without soaking it in cynical
irony. As an ancient woodcarver might have used the bird he observed in his
daily life and place this in his work, Chen Hangfeng takes the symbols in front
of our eyes and puts them into his work as motifs, creating very attractive
works of art composed of rather more normally mundane corporate logos of our
times.

Working along these lines of appropriation and reapplication, Chen Hangfeng has
over some months collected various objects out of garbage collection and
redistribution centers around Shanghai. Out of these he has built a
glamourous "Chandelier" from discarded pieces (which he had to purchase from the
garbage vendors - and have been well washed and processed!!), and as well,
discovering much during this process about the system of garbage reclamation and
trade in a city which "produces" 20,000 tons daily. Juxtaposing his highly
collectible art craft with the disposable nature of most mass production - in a
country renowned for being the world's factory - is not meant to make an ironic
comment, but merely intends to illustrate the complex layers behind the
processes in our daily lives and also the layers inherent in our application of
value to an object at various phases of use. A video of this artistic project
has been produced by ART LABOR SHANGHAI GROUP.

"Better a famous bitch than a famous wimp"

2008-11-18T23:07:00.000-08:00

Shanghainese women have a bad rep.

Okay, that's not fair. They have a horrible reputation: as manipulative, materialistic, shrieking harpies - who know they can get away with it because they're pretty. And that's just the nice ones.

Shanghainese women get a bad rap.

Oh certainly, many of them enthusiastically embrace and exceed the stereotype. That I won't argue; but plenty more...are so much more. Smart, competent, driven, powerful, subtle, sweet, quirky, funny, mellow, cool. They are a diverse bunch, and the only generalization I'll concede is that most of them have a strong core and a warm heart. I love Shanghainese women.

And then there are few people more fantastic than middle-aged Shanghainese women artists. They have survived the worst that the past decades of Chinese history could offer, and continue now in a difficult place because they are both Shanghainese artists and middle-aged women.

I always enjoy the company, friendship, inspiration and support of overachieving older women. Today I had the pleasure of lunching with, and introducing, two such Shanghainese/American grand dames: independent filmmaker Peng Xiaolian and storyteller, artist and educator Limin Mo.

Xiaolian is one of the few women (or Shanghainese) in the famous "Fifth Generation" that also includes Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. Her insistence on staying in Shanghai and on making realistic, personal films rather than what I call costume kung-fu porn has kept her from the renown of her former classmates. She is also one of the only professional independent filmmakers still working in Shanghai. She studied and lived in New York for seven years, and continues to visit frequently.

Limin emigrated to the US as a child, but still visits China frequently. Her daughter, the fabulous food writer and my good friend Crystyl Mo, has lived in Shanghai for seven or eight years now, and Beijing and Hong Kong prior to that. She lives in Cambridge, Mass, and along with writing and painting organizes consciousness-raising story-telling workshops, including in rural China. Last Saturday, she did a session at Ke Art Center of a project called "It Takes Ovaries" - getting women to share their stories of times they have been brave. It was very simple yet very moving and inspiring, and the sort of expression and catharsis I think both men and women need more of in China.

We had a great lunch. They got acquainted, swapped the basics of their amazing personal trajectories that it is not my liberty to share. We discussed Xiaolian's difficulty of breaking out internationally when her films depict realistic Chinese life, not Chinoiserie cliches, and the ongoing ugh of Hollywood attitudes towards and depictions of China, Asia, Asians. So far our only successful exports are the action stars with accents.

Limin observed that, "You've gotta be a real bitch to make films. There are so, so many different moving parts, keeping them together requires being a bitch." "Especially as a woman," one or all of us chimed in.

We continued a thread of the challenges of self-promotion; Limin has been joking I need to get some people to write scathing reviews of her art, and that I should enjoy the personal attacks I sometimes receive, under the belief that (almost) all publicity is good.

"It's better to be a famous bitch than a famous wimp."

"I will quote you on that," I promised.

And then we discussed diets and went shopping, because even the lihai Shanghainese ladies still need to look good too.

H & Madness

2008-11-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's taken a Shanghai taxi the past month knows about H&M's Comme des Garcons special line last Thursday, 11/13. Even in Shanghai, where most of the young "middle class" can't afford those prices or the time off weekday morning work, it put the "special line" in, er, special line.

I got there at 9:45 to interview and shoot, but doors had opened early at 9:30 instead of 10, so...let us say it's a good thing I wasn't out to shop, too. Apparently there were "only" 150-200 people in line, much fewer than Hong Kong which is less than 1/3 Shanghai's size, but also wealthier. On the other hand, our Shanghai store had 1/10 the stock of Hong Kong's. So: the pieces went fast.

The article was a collaboration, so only a bit of what I wrote actually ran. In case anyone's interested, here's my original filing, followed by what ran. I still think the fact that EVERYONE there worked in advertising/design, apart from a few fashion editors, and that it was so heavily foreigners (mostly overseas Chinese), was interesting.

***********

After months of aggressive advertising here, H&M’s Huaihai Lu Shanghai store opened its doors half an hour early to accommodate the two hundred people already in line at 9:30 this morning of its Comme des Garcons line launch, according to staff. The entire crowd pushed in at once, and stock was gone within a few minutes. Customers had doubled by 10:15, which was when staff brought out a few additional pieces, but after another frantic scrum they too were all gone in minutes. By 11:00, the promotional signs were taken down, and disgruntled shoppers were left sighing wistfully at the sole remainders in the shop window.

“There were only 1,000 pieces total divided between the two Shanghai stores,” the Huaihai Lu flagship and another in Pudong’s Super Brand Mall, explained Chen Hou, fashion editor of Chinese lifestyle magazine ILook. “They sent much more to Hong Kong and Japan, where salaries are higher, while they don’t know the market here that well.” He suggested they could have easily sold five times as many items in Shanghai, bringing in business over a few days rather than a few minutes.

Chen proudly showed off his 8,000 RMB worth of acquisitions, including the highly advertised 2,458 RMB suit and 1,490 RMB trench coat, many of which he had acquired through frantic bartering with fellow shoppers after the initial melee.

“It was too chaotic,” said a young advertiser who identified himself just as Yao and spent 3,900 on the collection. “It’s like they hadn’t prepared at all for when we went in.”

Adrienne Peh, a Malaysian advertising executive who also bought the coveted suit, complained about the short stock and the store’s organization. “It could have been a lot better if they had let fifty people in at a time and limited them to five items. But everyone just ran in. One guy was holding on to a bunch of shirts, and before he had even bought them he was selling them off for 200 RMB each.”

Peh’s colleague Eric Wong said, “What I bought today was all Comme des Garcons, I spent 7000 RMB.” Their female companion added she bought about 5,000 RMB worth of clothing. They had queued since 8:30 that morning, and estimated there were about a hundred people ahead of them, of a hundred and fifty total. “We came because the store is near our office and homes, and because we can’t afford to buy regular Comme des Garcons.”

“Some of the items like the plain shirts are overpriced, there’s nothing special about a white shirt, you can get that anywhere and for cheaper,” said Peh. “But the shirts with the dots are more signature, and are worth the premium price.”

“There was too little of what we wanted!” lamented two young ad women going by Nicole and Iris as they exited the store with less than overflowing bags. “I really wanted that,” Nicole pointed at an asymmetric coat in the display window, “and came at 8 am and still didn’t get it. Everything was gone in five minutes, we had to barter another jacket that was too big just to get some shirts. I love the designs, they’re very unique and easy to wear.”

***********

Global Mania for Comme des Garcons at H&M
by Sharon Edelson and Katya Foreman and Lisa Movius and Louise Bartlett and Constance Haisma-Kwok and Ellen Groves
Posted Friday November 14, 2008
From WWD Issue 11/14/2008

After the frenzied debut last weekend in Tokyo of its Comme des Garçons guest designer collection, H&M on Thursday gave the rest of the world a chance to see what all the fuss was about.

Large crowds queued up for the launch in Paris, London, Milan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Manhattan. Shoppers stampeded into stores, but once inside, the scene in several cities seemed slightly more civilized than previous guest designer launches by Karl Lagerfeld, Viktor & Rolf and Roberto Cavalli.

The Comme des Garçons collection bowed on Thursday in 200 stores worldwide, including eight overall in the U.S. and three units alone in Manhattan: 640 Fifth Avenue at 51st Street, 731 Lexington Avenue at 59th Street and 1328 Broadway at 34th Street.

An H&M spokeswoman estimated that about 200 consumers were lined up outside the Fifth Avenue flagship at 9 a.m., when the doors flung open. Some had been waiting since 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The Fifth Avenue flagship seemed less chaotic than Cavalli’s introduction, where customers climbed onto displays and ripped the clothing off mannequins. Anticipating a repeat, H&M had associates stationed next to the models.

“There’s a more targeted customer for [Comme des Garçons,]” the spokeswoman said, noting the collection consists of 30 items for women and 20 for men. “So far, the launch has exceeded our expectations.” By 9:30 a.m., she said the dress, the highest-priced item at $349, had sold out. “This time we’re limiting customers to buying only two pieces of any style.”

Jenny Liu, an art student, was weighed down by a pile of clothes she was carrying. “It’s all for myself,” she said. “I haven’t shopped for clothes in six or seven months. I’m a huge fan of Comme des Garçons. I bought one piece from the regular collection, on sale, for $900. I’ll probably buy 15 pieces for that amount.”

“The women are vicious,” said Donna McDonald, referring to fellow customers. Carrying a stack of polkadot sweaters, white blouses and black pants, she said, “I’m prepared to spend $800. I took a vacation day from work today to do this.”

Jeremiah Griffiths, a clothing designer, spent $2,000 on clothing for himself and friends. “The quality is not that good, but it’s good enough for the price,” he said. “I wanted a few women’s pieces that were sold out. I thought it would be crazier than this.”

Things got pretty crazy in Paris, where tempers flared in the chill outside H&M’s Boulevard Haussmann flagship when several people jumped the queue, angering those who’d waited for hours. “It was crazy,” said fashion student Hadar Nornberg, 24. “It was violent. The people behind were pushing us against the door.”

Within minutes, polkadot cardigans had to be restocked and the short black pants sold out within a half hour. Helene Fudala, 27, an engineer, took the day off from work to shell out 1,000 euros, or about $1,250, on jackets, shirts and a strappy black dress.

Across town, applause erupted at H&M’s Les Halles site when the doors opened and the crowd rushed in. “Hardly any French people know the brand, they’re just flinging themselves randomly at anything they can get their hands on, then they’ll return it all,” said Japanese fashion designer Aki Kihara, 40, who bought polkadot T-shirts and cardigans, grabbing four of each style, calling them “collector’s items.”

“The ad campaign was absolutely stunning and captured the brand’s spirit, but the collection is maybe a little less creative,” noted Marie-Claude Veney-Pérez, a psychologist, who was on line since 7:45 a.m. “There was nobody here before 9 a.m. I’m surprised by the low turnout, but it’s a lot less flashy than something like Cavalli.” An eclectic mix of cool Japanese kids, schoolgirls, middle-aged ladies and eBay looters waited for the doors to open at 9 a.m. at H&M’s Regent Street flagship. The shopping seemed less frenetic and more civilized than the Swedish retailer’s previous collaborations. “I’ve queued since 12:30 a.m. for some [sneakers],” said film student Huruki Mori, 21, who was first in line.

“It’s great that it makes Comme des Garçons affordable,” said Elaine Jevens, 65, who said she fell in love with the brand when she worked at Liberty and bought 294 pounds, or $433 worth of merchandise.

One shopper, who declined to identify himself, scooped up a number of dress coats for 1,204 pounds, or $1,775, and said he planned to sell the items on eBay.

Drizzle didn’t keep the crowds away from H&M’s flagship on Piazza San Babila in Milan, where employees offered pastries and orange juice to those in line. “The first things to go were definitely the trenchs and jackets,” said sales manager Alessandro Diliscio. “The white puffy shirts are also really popular.”

Donato Angrisani, who works with H&M on launches in Italy, said the crowd was less intense than those of the Karl Lagerfeld and Viktor & Rolf events. “However, there are more people than I expected,” he said. “I’m very pleased with the result.”

It was a fashion feeding frenzy in Hong Kong, where 450 people waited to enter H&M’s Central flagship. Lines also formed at two other Hong Kong locations. Shoppers at the Central store cleared the racks of blouses, jackets and trenchcoats within minutes, but the dress was slow to take off. The Central store carried 5,000 pieces, most of which were expected to sell out within hours.

After months of aggressive advertising here, H&M’s Huaihai Lu Shanghai store opened its doors at 9:30 a.m., half an hour early. “As soon as we opened the doors, people flooded in and the stock was wiped out,” said Lex Keijser, H&M’s country manager for Greater China.

“They sent much more to Hong Kong and Japan, where salaries are higher,” said Chen Hou, fashion editor of ILook magazine, who obtained a suit and trenchcoat by bartering with fellow shoppers after the initial melee. “They don’t know the market here that well.”

Adrienne Peh, a Malaysian advertising executive, bought a suit, but complained about the short supply. “One guy was holding on to a bunch of shirts and, before he had even bought them, he was selling them off for 200 [yuan, or $29.29] each.

Comtemplating creativity

2008-11-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

It was by a circuitous route that I came accross Malcolm Gladwell's website and his article that I'm about to discuss. I used to work some for Billboard. A fellow writer there, a Canadian music journalist who I'd never met or corresponded with, after leaving the publication sent off what seemed to me a vitriolic email - to EVERYONE on the masthead. Since then, I have continued to receive from him a very prolific newsletter with all of his latest articles, other people's articles he liked, and sometimes rants on US politics and Canadian music industry obscura.

I don't mind it, I skim it for any useful education on the "Western" music industry, which admittedly I know too little about from here in my Chinese/Asian bubble. But - it makes me contemplate to do - or not do - an email newsletter. From the first missive - which admittely was entertaining, Billboard is not an easy place to work for - it seemed disorganized and personal to the point of being unprofessional, and frequent to the point of being spam.

I digress on this because I want to start doing an email newsletter as shameless self-promotion, as with this blog, but I want to tread carefully on the territory of professional internet etiquette. For friends, I have my very personal Lisaland Dispatches - which I have been remiss about the past few years; for sharing articles and opinions there are more suitable tools like Facebook and this blog. But I would like to do perhaps a monthly, conservatively edited send-out to my tens of thousands of professional contacts with links to my recent articles and any interesting news about my work and the Shanghai cultural beat. I have a good example from my California composer friend Christopher Tin, who is very sparse in his mass-email updates about his work and forthcoming album, complete with preemptive (and unnecessary) apologies about the spam.

So, if anyone has thoughts and suggestions for what they would like (or hate) in a Lisa Movius newsletter - please, I'd love to hear them. Even blogging I face the dilemma of how casual, personal, opinionated to be in a public domain. For example, and ironically, my initial wording of this post and naming of said colleague was a bad call, and I apologize to him. I'm a believer in shout-outs, I try to publicize people I know and hope they return the favor, but want to keep it positive. Unless there's a damn good reason to be critical.

Anyhow. My ex-colleague's last dispatch was an interview he'd done with Bob Lefsetz, who apparently is a well-known US music journalist and who has a blog and newsletter that apparently are quite popular. I checked it out, and it is a useful resource for anyone like myself interested in the US music industry. The writing is that 1970s Rolling Stone stream of consciousness rant that I am no fan of, but the information is interesting. Lefsetz is a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell, and writes about everything Gladwell writes, which sent me to reading some of the latter's recent articles.

One was on whether adversity makes people stronger, whether those of us from disadvantaged backgrounds actually end up better able to rise above our colleagues/competitors who started out higher on the ladder by privilege of birth. That is something I have always liked to believe, call it the scrappiness factor, but it might just be my resentment of the soft, entitled trust fund babies showing.

The other was an excerpted from or synopsizing Gladwell's newest book "Outliers", about how creative genius is as much if not more the territory of the long-slogging late-bloomers as the wunderkinds. I highly recommend it. I'm still digesting it, and contemplating how it applies to my own creative and internal struggles. And, on that note, now I must get back to the mundane and practical stuff that I get paid to write.

Dunhill v. 1

2008-11-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

Last month the amazing Huaihai 796 space launched. It's the sort of thing I would normally be cynical about, but to my amazement the execs from Dunhill and Vacheron were actually upfront and honest that it won't be the biggest money-maker. Not to mention: the ShanghArt crew - gallery staff and artists - are many of them good friends of mine, I trust Lorenz Helbling to always make good calls, as are a lot of other people peripherally involved in the project.

It's a beautiful place, and it adds something very unique to the fashion scene in Shanghai. Here's a sample from the first to run of the articles I did about it. The full story's not online, apologies.

*******

Dunhill, Vacheron Open in Shanghai
By LISA MOVIUS
Nov. 17, 2008
SHANGHAI — In China, luxury men’s wear has always been the province of the nouveau riche, but with its new Huaihai 796 project, Richemont Group is looking to Eliza Doolittle them into proper gentlemen.

The group hopes the garden compound of identical British-style 1920s villas on Shanghai’s prestigious Huaihai Lu will be more than just stores for Alfred Dunhill and Vacheron Constantin: It will also provide Chinese customers with a complete education on European noblesse.

“Chinese men need to learn to wear suits,” explained Yann Debelle de Montby, Dunhill’s communications director and the creative engine behind the project. “For women it is intuitive, but men have to learn. Now on the streets they [dress too much] like Americans, always wearing sportswear. It’s practical, but not very elegant.”

I'm not the best poster girl for the Shanghainese language...

2008-11-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

...but, perhaps, just the loudest one.

I was startled today to come upon an article about myself and Shanghainese in China Daily:

Shanghai dialect gains popularity
(China Daily)Updated: 2008-10-27 10:15

Lisa Movius decided to study the Shanghai dialect after a decade in the city and was motivated by "a growing appreciation for the subtleties of Shanghainese culture".

For a long time she was very anti-Shanghainese, belonging to the "please speak Mandarin" school. The dialect sounded "aggressive and sarcastic" to her unaccustomed ear. During her early weeks in Shanghai, she once overheard a conversation between two Shanghai colleagues. A little later she asked them what they were arguing about. "Arguing? We were saying what a nice day it is today!", they told her.

Ten years on, she realized that she could not understand the local culture without also embracing the actual Shanghai vernacular, she writes in her blog Beleaguering the Shanghainese (http://lisamovius.blogspot.com/).

She began to learn the Shanghai dialect with her friends on such websites as www.chinasmack.com and shanghaidialect.com.

This is simply a sloppy and inaccurate synopsis of an earlier post, but curious that they would bother. I am not sure whether it bespeaks to my own dubious local notoriety, the controversiality of Shanghainese and other regional identities, or the freak factor of a caucasian foreigner trying to learn Shanghainese.

It is also interesting to deconstuct the tone of the article. There is a patronizing element, beginning from calling Sangheiwu a "dialect" when it is most definitely a language. As much if not more so than the bastardized "dialect" of bastardized Europeanish that is American English. But yet there is also an undercurrent of "Yay Shanghainese!" in it. I suspect that different writers and editors pushame-pullyou-ed a mix of "Foreigners are learning Shanghainese - cool!" and "Foreigners are learning Shanghainese - they're crazy weird!" There also seems to be some negative judgement of me for supposedly taking ten years to decide I want to learn Sangheiwu - is is not what I wrote.

I just emailed it to a friend who's Shanghainese and who writes a lot about defending and asserting Shanghainese culture and identity. As I told him, I'm embarassed to be any sort of representative or public advocate for the Shanghainese language - because I am very slow and lazy about learning Sangheiwu. Just I realize that I should, and am trying, albeit not hard enough.

Yaaaay!

2008-11-11T02:19:00.000-08:00

'Nuff said.

Exploring the "China Price"

2008-11-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

One from the archives. I recommend the book: it starts out a little bit bombastic to appeal to US readers, but mostly it is a very readable, human account of what has been happening in Southern China's manufacturing belt. Familiar stuff to us China watchers but with some new insights even for us, and an important primer for most international business people. The author is very cool, and I also recommend her site and blog, thechinaprice.org and thechinaprice.blogspot.com.

**********

What is the "China Price"?

by Lisa Movius
Posted Tuesday July 29, 2008
WWD Issue 07/29/2008

SHANGHAI — Global, and particularly American, consumers have become accustomed to inexpensive goods from China. Low-wage manufacturing for export has largely driven the Mainland’s economic juggernaut since its ascension to the World Trade Organization in 2001, as well as fueling consumption around the world.

But behind every $2 T-shirt lies the overworked, underpaid human face of a Chinese migrant worker.

In her new book, “The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage,” Alexandra Harney gives a voice to some of these workers. She tells of the pressures and aspirations that prompted them to join the hundreds of millions of workers migrating from rural China to the coastal manufacturing centers, the many tribulations and occasional triumphs they encounter there, and above all the abysmal labor conditions due to the “race to zero” in sourcing expenses.

“The China Price” was conceived in 2003 when Harney, then working for The Financial Times, interviewed a sweatshop worker in Zhuhai and realized such stories deserved telling. “I wanted to show American lives and Chinese hopes and dreams are not that different,” Harney said. “I profile ordinary Chinese people, dispelling the stereotypes and the political debate. The world and individuals are more complex than that. I look at the global supply chain on the human level.

“Americans don’t think of China’s Generation Y as being the same as their own, but in fact they are,” she argued. “China has a lot in common with the U.S….Shenzhen faces the same challenges as Ohio, of how to deal with globalization while minimizing social disruption. Like the U.S., like Italy, they are all struggling.”

The book is aimed at both American companies that source from China and consumers, starting with an exploration of U.S. perceptions of China as a rising economic menace, and arguing throughout that both demographics should be willing to pay a premium for socially responsible manufacturing. Global morality aside, Harney points out, the manufacturers that cut corners on labor and environmental ethics are also the most likely to compromise on product safety and quality.

Moreover, the issues explored in “The China Price” are not unique to China, Harney explained. “[All of these problems are] not China-specific, it’s a supply chain problem. When China becomes expensive, it will continue on to Vietnam and Indonesia, so hopefully it can be addressed more before then.”

She added, “Unpaid health care, education costs, environmental costs are all added into the China cost. The bill is global. Still, nowhere is as efficient as China.”

“The China Price” delineates these systemic problems, with a focus on labor abuses. After outlining the myriad American economic fears of China in particular and outsourcing in general, the book’s second chapter explores the evolution of American outsourcing and global trade over the past several decades. Then, Harney delves into the local meat of the China situation. The issues include:

l How many suppliers maintain parallel factories: For each clean, modern one with legal hours and pay to satisfy buyers, the same company can operate several run-down facilities with poor safety but that provide workers with coveted but illegal overtime and allow suppliers a profit margin in the face of low prices.

l How many manufacturers cook their books to pass buyer and government inspections, and how the government usually turns a blind eye.

l How the lack of safety precautions endangers the lives and health of over 200 million Chinese workers.

l How difficult it is for Chinese workers to seek redress when they or a relative are maimed or killed on the job.

l How small, illegal operations can provide a sole and tenuous lifeline to impoverished Chinese.

“Every factory manager has a thousand others to compete with, so they will do whatever it takes to survive. They make money while they can, never knowing when the opportunity will change. It’s part of the China price, they’re all trying to survive. Competition plus pressures domestically and internationally are intense,” Harney explained. “Surviving means [manufacturers] can’t make money by following the law. It is so widespread, it is normal. Even the coal mine owners doing illegal operations just want a better life for their kids. I can’t endorse what they do, but I understand why they do it. It’s a gold rush mentality, with coal in the ground.”

Rather, she argued, responsibility lies with buyers eager to shave a few pennies off prices regardless of the human cost, and there “The China Price” is not all doom and gloom. The book proffers several stories of workers turned activists who have taken on the system, of factories out to show that ethics are not antithetical to productivity, and offers prescriptions for international companies and consumers wanting to source responsibly from China.

“They can start by bringing their buying practices and social responsibility compliance together. They can’t have First World conditions at Third World prices,” she explained. “The mind-set requires a lightbulb moment where companies realize it’s in their own interest. That workers are assets, not liabilities. A lot already have people, inspectors on the ground, but with a check-the-box mentality” that easily overlooks China’s creative accounting practices and shadow factories.

“A lot do well, though,” she added, citing the Gap, Nike and Adidas as apparel manufacturers who “are all fairly honest in their reports and provide the data. The difference is transparence.”

However, “Brands are the first to say how hard it is to know for sure. Whether they have thought about it, even enough to lie about it, is telling.”

In the interview, Harney offered several suggestions specific to the fashion industry, criticizing its propensity to high supplier turnover. “Apparel generally moves very quickly from factory to factory, with style delivery time short and fast fashion, which results in immense pressure on factories. They cannot improve conditions in a factory if they are only there three months. Only if they shrink their number of factories, and reduce churn-over, only then can they have significant impact on and leverage with their suppliers,” she stressed. “It also benefits quality, as it ensures less chicanery. For example, factories lie to buyers about hours, wages and quality — if factories are trying to cheat on one thing, they are probably also doing it on others.

“It’s not just a few; a majority, like 90 percent, falsify records, although it varies by region,” she explained. “The price pressures mean it will continue.”

Harney advised that buyers establish more direct, proactive and permanent relationships with their China suppliers. “They could all do well to spend time with their workers and managers, get them to tell the truth, to talk honestly — both would learn a lot,” she observed.

She suggested that change start with “more direct reporting to senior management,” eliminating the self-interested middleman.

Second, buyers should consolidate their number of suppliers; “One thousand is better than 3,000, 300 better than 1,000; fewer is better,” and more easily managed. Finally, they should “award more business to socially compliant factories. When they don’t there is no incentive or benefit to factories to be more so rather than to view it as irrelevant. This will improve quality also. There are great factories in China — work with and reward them.”

Whether or not consumers pressure brands to change, the impetus is already growing as China is changing. Its economy and society continue to lurch in new directions, wages and the yuan are rising, and the government has espoused increased commitment to corporate social responsibility. “With environmental and labor behavior, [the government] is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. There are reasons China needs to do it, but at the same time it leads to inflation,” Harney said. However, she added, she has not witnessed any spike in labor standard enforcement to accompany the stronger labor law that China implemented at the beginning of this year.

The biggest shift, however, is demographic, as China’s current and future crop of workers hail from the so-called “Little Emperor” generation that resulted from the country’s one-child policy. “A lot of Chinese companies are not equipped to motivate and keep these kids. For example, I talked to one manager overseeing 40,000 workers, who said it was his biggest human resource challenge, that Generation Y is ‘spoiled rotten.’ It is hard to say what will happen with them,” said Harney.

Innerwear's economic insularity

2008-11-02T02:26:00.000-08:00

Or, at least producers claimed. Late last month I covered the Shanghai Mode Lingerie Fair, and for WWD's innerwear section I did a wrap-up of that fair combined with comments from a few "intimates" (love the extent we go to to avoid the words like underroos) material manufacturers at Intertextile. I also did longer pieces on Intertextile for DNR and WWD, which I'll post after they run.

I was sick that week, so doing interviews at Shanghai Mode was fairly tortuous. Covering trade fairs - which consists of walking around and accosting people, asking the same rather dry questions over and over again, is pretty miserable even in the best of health. The most interesting aspect was when I interviewed Erick Pilton from French brand Cervin, a boutique nylons producer. Mr. Pilton enthusiastically debriefed me about his company, which makes vintage American style nylons on machines made in the US in 1953. Only six of these remain in the world. They flat knit the nylons, which are then sewn together, creating the iconic back stitch up the leg. This takes about two hours per pair, rather than the minutes of modern technology, but the result is exquisite. It was really cool seeing the videos of the machines and getting to grope their gorgeous product.

"Are you rich?" he asked me.
"No. I'm a freelance jounalist," I volunteered the obvious.
"Well, you must marry a rich man then, so you can afford nice nylons."

*****************

Lingerie and Innerwear Fabrics Holding Their Own
by Lisa Movius
Posted Monday October 27, 2008
From WWD Issue 10/27/2008

SHANGHAI — The global economy may even be causing cracks in China’s economy, but so far lingerie and innerwear fabrics appear to have avoided major impact.

That was the consensus among exhibitors at the two-day Shanghai Mode Lingerie show that closed Oct. 18, and the three-day Intertextile fair that ended Thursday.

“Business is very good,” said Daphne Li, a senior merchandiser for Aimer Group. “The domestic market has not seen any impact so far.”

Based in Beijing, Aimer retails high-end lingerie in mainland China and the brand will open its first Macau store at the end of October. Aimer was one of 14 labels from seven different companies participating in the “Private Lingerie” portion of Shanghai Mode Lingerie.

Other participants in “Private Lingerie,” the VIP section of the lingerie and fabric fair, generally said they were “too elite or niche-oriented” to feel the economic pinch yet.

Cervin, a French brand attempting to sell heritage American nylons to the Chinese, attended because “the Chinese cannot copy our collection,” said export development manager Erick Piton. Their retro nylons, made on a vintage American machine from 1953 and rendered in customized designs popular with European celebrities, require some explanation for Chinese consumers.

“We come to make business here and for our partners to see what is happening,” Piton said. “We have an agent, but the agent is not satisfied as there are no sales. But maybe the problem for us is not to adapt more. There is a communication problem.”

Li of Aimer said, “The results at this show have been just OK. We’ve mostly seen older customers and those we know from previous shows.”

Ina Lee, manager of Taiwanese print fabric maker Jatech International, was disappointed in the show but took a different view of the global economic impact. Although Jatech’s sales base is mostly in Greater China, with only 2 percent going to Europe, she said, “The economy has had a huge impact on our sales, and prints are selling less. The drop in our business is not small.”

Organized by trade fair giant Eurovet, which holds similar shows in Hong Kong, this year’s session in Shanghai attracted about the same number of exhibitors, close to 170, that were primarily in the Interfilière Asia fabrics and components section. Visitor attendance was composed of 60 percent from China, 20 percent from the rest of Asia, and the remainder from the international sector.

Eurovet estimated some Asian subcontractors may lose as much as 40 percent of their orders because of the U.S. economic crises. However, the fair’s organizers projected 11 percent growth in intimate apparel and textiles in the Chinese market over the next five years. Eurovet officials said Asia represents only 20 percent of the global lingerie market, noting that the continent has strong potential for growth.

Shanghai Mode was followed by Intertextile Shanghai, considered the world’s largest textile fair, which pulled in 2,559 exhibitors. Intertextile introduced its first lingerie and swimwear area. However, only four exhibitors participated. A majority of lingerie-related products, including boudoir accessories, opted to participate in areas near the larger, more prominent fiber pavilions such as Invista, Lenzing and Dow.

“The separation is not good and is not helpful for us since we mostly make lace for outerwear,” said Margaret Zhuang, director of Le Chinique, a Zhejiang lace manufacturer in the lingerie section. “Intertextile is mediocre this year. This location is bad and there aren’t many people.”

But she noted that her company has not been affected by the global economic situation because it has “no American buyers.”

Robert Wang, director of Winner Lace Co., a year-old subsidiary of a Taiwanese firm based in Mainland China, expressed satisfaction with the show.

“Winner Lace has been focused on the Chinese market so it has also seen little fallout from the global economy, said Wang. “The domestic market is OK, but some of our customers manufacture for export, so the U.S. problems influence them.”

The China Mark-up

2008-10-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

I also did a sidebar to the beauty overview about how international brands in China mark-up their sales prices by some 30-100% over the international prices. 30% is roughly the import and luxury taxes these brands pay to sell in China; even though most of their product is MADE in China, their licenses or those of the companies they source from are for export only, so the product must be exported, then reimported. It's messy.

While some brands, like Adidas and Marks & Spencer, choose to absorb those costs in order to offer the consumer a comprable, competitive price point, most brands slap on the 30% and then some. None will give a straight answer why they do so, but it appears the reasons are a medly of:
1. Positioning as a "luxury brand" by higher prices.
2. Recouping high operational costs in China.
3. Motivating Chinese consumers to go on shopping binges while traveling abroad, due to vastly lower prices.
4. They think Chinese consumers are all rich and gullible and will pay whatever for whatever.

Given that middle class Chinese still make like 1/10th of what middle class Americans do, it seems to me questionable to charge them double for the same stuff.

*******

China: Taxing Issues
by WWD Staff
Posted Friday September 12, 2008
From WWD Beauty Biz Issue 09/12/2008

Mainland China taxes luxury goods luxuriously, in much the same punitive spirit that America taxes nicotine. While it depends on the product category, the luxury tax hovers at around 17 percent, combined with an average income tax of 13 percent. Even many items that are “Made in China” are subject to these charges, as well as shipping expenses, as companies lack the authorization to ship directly to their Mainland outlets. China also offers many other expensive inconveniences.

Such costs are often passed on to consumers, despite the fact that even upper and upper-middle class Chinese consumers have vastly lower comparative and absolute spending power than their Western equivalents. Many brands charge 50 to 100 percent more in China than in Hong Kong, Europe or the U.S. For example, one well-known prestige market antiaging serum from an American brand costs $77.50 for a 1-oz. bottle in China versus $46.50 in the United States, a 66.7% markup.

Some say companies use pricing to position their brands as premium and raise prices because they can, a presumption of consumer naïveté. But that’s not likely to last long.

Says Estée Lauder’s China managing director Carol Shen, “Chinese consumers are becoming more sophisticated. Just as they demand better living standards, they also demand better quality products.” And as they get more sophisticated, no doubt they’ll start demanding more parity in pricing, too.

China beauty overview

2008-10-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ain't it pretty? Certainly the sales seem to be, much more so than apparel. When it comes to the luxury industry, skin cream is to women what watches are to men: an investment in long-term success. Anyone who lives here knows the long-term impact that pollution can have on one's skin, and then in this society a woman's value is assessed primarily based upon her appearance. Which is horrible, but hardly unique to China.

I think beauty is a very interesting, complex business here, and the retail and distribution structure is rather convoluted for anyone used to the US or European model. Which - is representative of retail and distribution structures in China in general. Trying to explain this succinctly to an international audience is always challenging.

One question I asked a few sources is, in pitching things as "luxury", doesn't that mean they're the first thing people stop buying in times of economic uncertainty? Have personal care products become a necessity to Chinese consumers, or are they still a "luxury"? Mind you, this was a few months ago, but one of them took umbrage at the suggestion that the international economic woes would ever, ever impact China. He argued that China's phenomenal growth would continue unabated for the foreseeable future.

Call me a cynic (please), but isn't there a reason why it's described as "phenomenal"?

A funny thing about this article is that our art department in New York decided to, along with the stock Shanghai skyline shot, run the article with images of: the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors, and a panda. Pandas: the next revolutionary ingredient in face cream!

Anyhow, the article:

*******

World Wide Watch: China
by Lisa Movius
Posted Friday September 12, 2008
From WWD Beauty Biz Issue 09/12/2008

The Olympics may be over, but China is still taking center stage for international beauty industry eager to solidify its position with the country's population.

China’s beauty industry, like so much else here, has been marked by Chinese consumers rediscovering and embracing their traditional roots as part of an expression of national and ethnic pride. “For beauty trends, the past 20 years have seen big changes,” says Li Chen, a spokeswoman for Proctor & Gamble China. “From the early Nineties to 2000, Chinese women followed Western beauty trends, viewing them as more up-to-date and copying them. From 2000 to 2005 or 2006, they followed Japanese and Korean fashion in makeup, clothing, hair color and styles. However, in the past two years, as China has seen rapid [national] development, Chinese women have been discovering their own position in beauty, and are proud to be Chinese.... China is hot both internationally and in China.”

For beauty, that’s meant a growing exploration by international brands of the potential applications of traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, an ancient holistic regime, as a way to appeal to China’s immense but complex market.

Says Paolo Gasparrini, president and managing director of L’Oréal China, “Many Chinese ask us, ‘Why do you think you can sell to the Chinese?’ And we answer because we’re here, we study Chinese skin and hair.”

L’Oréal, like many of its fellow market leaders, maintains a research center in China and offers products specific to consumers, particularly under its locally acquired brands Yue-Sai Kan and Mini Nurse.

No surprise that companies are devoting significant resources here: Beauty is booming in China. Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, Unilever, Amway and Shiseido occupy the top five positions with a combined market share of 39 percent, according to Michelle Huang of Euromonitor International.

The exact size of the Chinese cosmetics and toiletries industry is debated. Thierry Jaugeas, China president and Asia regional director for Sephora, estimates it at $9.7 billion in 2005, and roughly $10.1 billion in 2007, with prestige items rising from 21 to 25 percent of the total, and reaching $4.3 billion in sales by 2010. Euromonitor pegs the total value in 2007 at $15.7 billion, up from $14.1 billion in 2006. It forecasts growth to $18.6 billion this year, $21.3 billion in 2009 and $24.4 billion in 2010.

Access Asia offers yet other numbers for beauty revenue in China—$16.9 billion in 2007. Access Asia director Matthew Crabbe says that market statistics are unreliable in every industry in China. An amalgamation of corporate, government, trade association and consultancy figures, each with agendas and without transparency or clear sector delineation, creates conflicting numbers with margins of error around 50 percent, he explains. Whatever the figures, the market seems likely to continue to grow exponentially in the foreseeable future. Skin care dominates sales, with makeup a distant second. Jaugeas estimates that skin care represents 60 percent, color cosmetics 30 percent and fragrance 10 percent or less.

Of the more largely defined cosmetics and toiletries sector, which also includes categories such as oral hygiene and baby care, skin care is dominant but by a smaller percentage. Euromonitor estimates the category to ring up $5.8 billion in retail sales or 37 percent of total sales in 2007; Access Asia quantified it at $4.4 billion. Makeup contributed $1.5 billion according to Euromonitor, and 1.7 billion according to Access Asia.

“There is clearly greater education regarding skin care, and then it’s the first generation regarding makeup and perfume. [Consumers] don’t get educated at home, so we have to educate them,” Jaugeas says. “But for skin care they already have good training, and know how to look for the quality of product.”

Skin care’s strength, says Huang, derives from Chinese women’s viewing it as an investment, as clear and youthful skin is believed crucial to their social and economic standing. “Most believe that an attractive appearance helps to gain success in both career and social life,” she says, “hence they are well-prepared to accept products which could help them look young.”

That’s helped fuel the popularity of antiaging products, which according to Euromonitor grew 18 percent from 2006 to 2007, ahead of the overall market growth of 12 percent. Still, antiaging lags behind whitening creams: According to a P&G survey, 80 percent of Asian consumers cited whitening as a priority, compared with 50 percent for antiaging. “Traditionally whitening is strong, and what we’re also seeing is antiaging, even for young clients, who want to anticipate and prevent,” Jaugeas says. “In order of sales, first is whitening, second is antiaging and third is various in-between subcategories. The trend is moving toward more natural products, but that is worldwide. Whitening remains the biggest seller in China.”

“My experience of the Chinese standard of beauty is to be natural, transparent, porcelain,” agrees Gasparrini, adding that in beauty, women “go for what they are not. In Brazil, they all want straight hair like the Chinese,” he says, “while in China the girls are crazy to have curls.”

Fragrance is considered a category to watch. At Sephora, customers have gone from buying scents as gifts to buying for themselves, said Jaugeas. Euromonitor predicts that the category will grow 13.5 percent annually until 2012, driven largely by the burgeoning middle class. However, scent remains a cultural anomaly and, combined with the limited purchasing power of the middle class, Crabbe deems it unlikely that the category will displace investment in skin care.

Other subcategories forecast for growth are herbal and TCM ingredients. L’Oréal, P&G and the Estée Lauder Cos. all have research facilities here with a focus on adapting TCM. In addition to its facility in Shanghai, L’Oréal has a botanical center in the Yunnan Province, and is aggressively marketing its TCM line under the Yue-Sai Kan brand.

China’s vast size and diversity—in terms of climate, culture, city size, purchasing power and physical phenotypes—presents a challenge though, as do staffing issues. “Seeing China as a single market is the single biggest mistake anyone can make,” says P&G’s Charles Zhang. “You have to see it as the different tiers” that China’s cities get divided into, based on their size, per capita GDP and retail sophistication, although variation within each tier is immense. Jaugeas says that heavy moisturizers sell well in the cold, dry north, while lighter products are preferred for oily southern skin.

Diversity is also found in China’s unique retail distribution structure. Prestige and luxury brands sell through specialty counters on the first and second floors of malls and malllike department stores. They’re also carried by Sephora, which launched in April 2005 and to date remains the only high-end specialty beauty store. Sephora currently has 40 doors in 13 cities, and is looking to expand at a rate of 30 more a year. The other specialty personal care chain is Watsons, which sells prestige and mass brands and is owned by Hong Kong’s Hutchinson Whampoa Group. Mass products sell through grocery and convenience stores and hypermarkets. Monobrand boutiques have begun to appear, too, such as The Face Shop from South Korea and Herborist by domestic conglomerate Jahwa, as well as L’Oréal’s Maybelline New York and Lancôme brands, but they remain few.

Although issues like human resources and regional disparities aren’t easily solved, continued growth for China’s beauty sector is universally forecast. The only constant, it seems, is change. “The challenge of operating in China is China, in all its diversity, complexity and fast-moving [pace],” says Gasparrini. “China is different from every other country in the world. Experience elsewhere in the world we cannot use here. China is China, and it requires a lot of diversity to understand.”

Marks & Spencer

2008-10-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

More than random rantings I intend to use this blog to compile my clips while working on getting a new, non-blocked website up and running. Also, when relevant, to provide some backstory on the articles - but there isn't much on this one. Standard, straightforward store-opening.

***************************************************************************

Marks & Spencer Opens in Shanghai
by Lisa Movius
Posted Friday October 03, 2008
From WWD Issue 10/03/2008

A day after the People’s Republic of China celebrated the 59th anniversary of its founding on Oct. 1, the country got a taste of something completely different in the form of British heritage as embodied by Marks & Spencer. The U.K. retailer opened its first flagship Thursday on Shanghai’s Nanjing Xi Lu, and the slowing global economy seemed to little diminish the crowd of curious shoppers.

Prior to the store’s opening, Marks & Spencer staged an outdoor fashion show in the Wujiang Lu pedestrian street, a food district that runs behind the store.

The 40,000-square-foot store is Marks & Spencer’s largest in Asia. The first two floors are given over to women’s wear, including lingerie. The third floor offers men’s lines, and the fourth floor contains grocery, a cafe, children’s wear, and home and stationery sections. The fifth and sixth floors contain the company’s retail and sourcing offices. The store was nearly a year in preparation, recalled Richard Sweet, managing director of Marks & Spencer China.

“On Oct. 9, 2007, I stood outside of this store for the first time, and we’ve gone from one employee to 130 in a year,” he said. Of those, 30 are office staff and 100 are retail, and “only four are expats; the rest are Chinese, mostly Shanghainese.”

The company chose the location because, “Shanghai is an economic center and a fashion center. Within Shanghai, Nanjing Lu is a famous shopping center,” said Sweet. “Shanghai consumers are very discerning, demanding and price-conscious.…All the big retailers have appeared in Shanghai over the past 18 months.”

While a local expatriate population more familiar with the company “helps us to have a rolling start, that is ephemeral as it does not produce a consumer base. What we need is the raw Chinese base,” he added.

Marks & Spencer also this week opened its 10th store in Hong Kong, where it has had stores for 20 years. Business proved less successful in Taiwan, where the company shuttered its three stores. Sweet detailed that “30 percent of our Hong Kong shoppers are Mainland Chinese. They are mostly men who buy cotton polo shirts, formal trousers in gray or black, shoes and tailored shirts. Mainland women in Hong Kong are more diverse, but they love our biscuits, savories, and confectionary.”

However, despite earlier talk of the debut Shanghai store spearheading a rollout of up to 50 stores throughout China, “we are very much with our toe in the water, and will see how it goes,” a spokeswoman said. Elsewhere, the company is planning 50 stores in Greece and the Balkans, 30 in Central and Eastern Europe, and 50 in India in upcoming years, all through partnerships. The Shanghai store is fully owned, a decision Sweet claimed was driven by wanting to get a better feel for the local business, such as redoing experiments in sizing it previously conducted in Hong Kong. “We’re very excited about China, but are keeping our excitement in check for now. It has the infrastructure and the spending power,” Sweet said.

Aiming at reaching the vaguely defined Chinese middle class, the store offers a broad range of price points. While many midrange international brands opt to bundle tariffs into higher Mainland prices, Marks & Spencer has opted to keep prices on par with international levels, said Sweet. He specified the company sources 30 percent of its nonfood general merchandise from China, and 40 percent total from China, but, “of our Chinese factories, a significant number have licenses only for export. If this store is successful, there is a huge opportunity for direct business. It adds 16.5 to 17 percent to the price, which we absorb.”

British brands lack the same cachet in Shanghai as their French and Italian competitors, and Marks & Spencer lacks much preexisting brand-name recognition in China, but a massive advertising campaign is under way to change that. “We’re basing the local ads around our five cores. The first is about the fashion side, with Autograph as it has men’s and women’s,” said Sweet. “There definitely are positives to Britishness in China and in Shanghai. We stand for quality, service, value, innovation and trust — as well as for social responsibility. In China, there is an element of the British being trusted.”

He admitted that social responsibility campaigns were as hard to sell as Marmite in China, given a domestic tradition of false advertising and safety claims here. “Trust is an issue in China,” he said. “The core of what we do is the same everywhere, but each market has its own twists….No brand compels every customer. It is true that Shanghai is awash with clothing. It is up to us to deliver [our product] in a compelling way.”

2008-10-06T19:34:00.001-07:00

Great comic:

From http://www.mrwiggleslovesyou.com/

Beleaguering the Shanghainese

2008-10-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

A month or two ago, I had the pleasure of attending the anniversary and birthday party of architectural restorer Spencer Doddington, at the lovely Deco lane home of Michelle Blumenthal. Spencer is one of the few foreigners in Shanghai who speaks fluent (albeit with a distinct and cute Texas twang) fluent Shanghainese.

I brought up with him my rather inadequate efforts to learn "Sangheiwu" as it calls itself, and Spencer had a good cackle at my expense. He reminded me that for a long time I was very anti-Shanghainese, of the "please speak Mandarin already" school. "So, what changed, Lisa?"

What changed was another four or five years in Shanghai - I'm today nine days away from a decade here - and a growing appreciation for the subtleties of Shanghainese culture. I realized that one cannot understand Shanghainese vernacular culture without also embracing the actual Shanghai vernacular.

I also no longer think that Shanghainese are snobby. Somewhat, and some of them are, but not hugely more than anywhere else. The Shanghainese are proud, and they are defensive. That a scruffy, disparate batch of immigrants and refugees could have fused such a coherent urban culture in the face of foreign colonialism and domestic disdain is amazing. As is the fact that their identity is positive and optimistic rather than a dark bunker mentality, given the endless attacks upon "Shanghaineseness".

As a first-generation Shanghainese - or someone who is becoming that but still needs greater Sangheiwu fluency before I can fairly make that claim - questions of Shanghainese language and culture always pull me in. Exploring hese and other issues that compel me but that I don't get to write about much for publication is a major reason to start this blog.

Recently, ChinaSmack posted an entry about a controversy surrounding a radio station where an announcer excoriated the Shanghainese for speaking Shanghainese rather than Mandarin. Naturally, Shanghainese took to the internets to howl for his Xiawuning blood.

Two days ago, a Shanghai radio station, AM990, broadcast a program where
the host said that Shanghai people speaking the Shanghai dialect (Shanghainese)
in public was a bad habit and that Shanghai people use speaking Shanghainese to
show that they are superior to other Chinese/people.

This angered a lot of Shanghainese people.

The Shanghainese comments ChinaSmack translates and reposts are more interesting than most of the English ones on the blog, which are mostly snide expats bashing the Shanghainese for being snide. You know what? Sangheiwu does sound aggressive and snide to the unaccustomed ear. I remember early weeks in Shanghai overhearing a conversation in Sangheiwu between two colleagues. Afterwards, I asked what they were arguing about. "Arguing? We were saying what a nice day it is today!"

And, it is defensive-crouch-inducing when people are speaking a language you don't understand. Like some Hongkongers get pissy when I start speaking Mandarin with Mainlanders. But - it's as silly to criticize speaking Shanghainese in Shanghai as it is speaking Mandarin in Chinese - or English in America.

Someone does, though, make the point that people should be allowed their own language, and how important this is to culture. Even if you don't like the people in question, don't begrudge them their language. What astonishes me is how many people, laowai and waidi alike, live in Shanghai but detest the Shanghainese people and langauge. Not unlike how many "expats" (Hongkies, Tonkies included) in China spew quite racist vitriol about Mainland Chinese. I find it disturbingly neo-colonolialistic.

That post also lead me to some good links, including a Sangheiwu slang list at Shanghaidialect.com and the Wikipedia page on Sangheiwu. I'm not a linguistic expert, or even fluent in Sangheiwu, so would be curious to hear assessments of its accuracy from any of you who are. And Sinosplice has a great card of Shanghainese essentials, visual only and with sound, that I recommend highly for learners - and I highly recommend learning.

******
Two addendums:

Right after posting this, I saw an editorial in Shanghai Daily, where the writer (who is Shanghainese) chastized in Mandarin two diners next to him for leaving their trash on the table. Assuming him to be a Xiawuning (non-Shanghainese) because he addressed them in Mandarin, they griped, "Oh, even a Xiawuning complains about our littering!" And then they left the litter and marched off.

One could interpret this as Shanghainese being snobby - the writer did, and the pages of Shanghai Daily are replete with Shanghainese angst over "Are we really assholes?" and how to change pre-Expo.

I interpret it differently - he made them lose face, because a presumed-Xiawuning cared more about the cleanliness of "their" city than they did. I've encountered similar: "Oh, a laowai complained, how embarassing!" Usually causing them to guitily clean up, but sometimes I get a parallel, "How dare YOU tell ME what to do in MY country!" response.

The other thing: DJ, musician, designer and artist B6 posted on his blog a shout-out and thanks to all Shanghai performers who use Sangheiwu on-stage. "Don't use Mandarin, ie Beijing Dialect!"

感谢所有我演出的时候在台下用纯正上海话叫好的朋友们,你们是最老卵的!
上海人叫好的时候请不要用普通话!!! 尤其是带北京口音的.

and, in the comments, he reiterated,

上海人请坚持说上海话!!! 各个地方的朋友都请不要抛弃自己的宝贵语言!!!

While I've never discussed this with B6 in particular, a lot of other Shanghainese musicians have complained to me how shoddily they get treated when in Beijing (and elsewhere), just for being despised Shanghainese. I've seen it some first-hand, when hanging with my Shanghainese musician friends while in Beijing, and even been the recipient of it when I defend Shanghai. I imagine B6, given how much he performs outside of Shanghai, suffers through a lot of this. His forthcoming album's liner notes include lines in Sangheiwu, with translations in "Beijing Hua". Ha.

Launch post

2008-10-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't say that I am a Luddite - am too much of an html-happy techie geek for that - but rather a conservative. Avid blog reader that I am, I have until now resisted launching one myself. I have always growled that my website, movius.us, is a "website" not a "blog" - which is true, and I am a stickler for the meaning of things.

Writing is work that I get paid for, not something I have the luxury of doing for fun. (I advise bright-eyed aspirants that if they love writing, don't become journalists. )

Yet - here we have the sucking sound of me succumbing to blog-land. The reasons are, first, that my site is blocked in China, as is the means to update it. So, I can only do so when travelling - and the last thing I want to do while on the road is hunch over the computer, assuming I even have internet access. I am in the process of setting up a new site (which, with my luck, will also get blocked in China), but even then, the second reason, there are things that suit the blog format better than a formal website set-up.

I intend this as a professional blog. Articles and their backgrounds I shall post, along with information about the arts in Shanghai, events announcements and some analysis. It will be shamelessly self-promote-y and highly unhumble and hubristic, while fairly lacking in humor and juicy personal details. 没办法 - it's work. I apologize because I am averse to open self-promotion; but my profession makes it a distasteful necessity. Hopefully I can navigate it without excessive egotism, and hopefully the things I am writing about are more interesting to readers than I am.