The Passionate Musician

Before Lang Lang there was Fou Ts'ong.

Born in Shanghai in 1934, Fou is the son of Fou Lei, who was a literary critic and well known for his Chinese translations of French writers, like Honore de Balzac, Romain Rollard, Voltaire and Andre Gide.

When Ts'ong was young, he listened to his father's recordings of classical music. Ts'ong started learning piano and in 1951 made his debut with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Fou's career soared soon after that performance. He went to Poland to study piano and came in third in the International Chopin Competition in 1955 in Warsaw. From then onwards he was considered a great interpreter of the Polish composer.

His father was very concerned about him being far from home. Fou senior wrote him long letters about how to be a man, what to wear, even how to find a wife. These were later published in a book that my friend told me about.

Back in China during this period, Chairman Mao began creating havoc in the country, with his "Anti-Rightist" campaigns, rounding up those who criticized him during the Hundred Flowers Movement.

Fou stunned the Chinese Communists by defecting in 1957 while in London for a performance. The British capital has been his home ever since.

He was also briefly married to Sir Yehudi Menhuin's daughter Zamira in the 1960s.

By now the Cultural Revolution was about to paralyze the country and Fou's defection along with his parents considered intellectuals made them targets for the Red Guards. His parents suffered so much humiliation that they decided to kill themselves in a suicide pact in 1966.

Fou did not return home to mourn them until 1979 and came back a year later to perform his first concert in China in 20 years.

But he didn't come back again until 1998 after the Tiananmen Square Incident.

Tonight I had the privilege to watch this man perform at the Forbidden City Concert Hall.

It's hidden inside Zhongshan Park, or Sun Yat-sen Garden, next to the Forbidden City.

Fou doesn't look like his publicity photos with his cheeks filled out and full head of hair. Instead his cheeks are sunken and has a receding hairline.

But the old school pianist did not disappoint. He walked on stage in a plain black Chinese jacket, black pants and shiny loafers.

He performed a selection of Haydn, Debussy, Schubert and of course Chopin.

At times his fingers weren't as agile as they used to be, but that didn't matter. His passion for the music was still strong and he may not be as expressive with his gestures as Lang Lang, but the audience can feel him communicating his emotions through the piano keys.

Throughout the concert I couldn't help thinking the incredible life he has lived and how he has the courage to perform in the country, and to the people who at one point in time vilified his family.

But perhaps his love of music transcends all that hatred and pain. Or perhaps it's a loving tribute to his parents, who helped give him the career he has today.

Santa is Coming

The other day I went to the shopping mall near my place to get my weekly groceries.

And outside there was this setup of a faux living room on a stage, complete with a fireplace and big red armchair -- complete with white doilies on the arms.

Currently it's covered up with plastic, probably as the Big Guy's elves are still setting up for his arrival.

But it's really interesting to see how the Chinese view Christmas. It's more of a commercial thing for them than stirring up childhood memories.

My colleagues are very curious about this holiday and ask me how we celebrate it. The closest equivalent is the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. Just that there's no big guy in a red suit.

But just as Hong Kong and Singapore have embraced Christmas, it won't be long before the Chinese will know a few carols and pass out the candy canes.

Hopping on for the Ride

After almost eight months in Beijing, I'm becoming more comfortable taking the bus.

Before I was really worried about not knowing the bus's route, if I would get lost, or I had no clue which bus to take, and ended up hailing a taxi instead.

I still take taxis when I'm in a hurry, but when time is on my side, like this past weekend, I'm a bit more adventurous.

Most of it is because I can read some Chinese characters and can make out some of the subway stops I'm familiar with.

It also takes a lot of memorization, remembering which buses to take from which stops, and more importantly, having a good sense of direction.

On Saturday I had lunch with a friend in Panjiayuan -- actually across the street from the antique market. And after our big Sichuan feast, she told me to take #802 to Wangfujing or if I wanted to go home, to take #827. It was handy information to file in my brain.

After church on Sunday, there were several cars outside waiting for their masters. Many of the expats took taxis. I opted for the bus stop and took one that went to Andingmen, north of the city. From there I took another streetcar south. Then I got off at Di'anmen Dongdajie and walked west, and managed to find Nanluoguxiang Hutong again, near the old Drum and Bell Tower. I was very pleased with myself.

I wandered around the area again and grabbed a bite to eat at a Korean restaurant called Saveurs de Coree. It's a quaint, narrow place, with a small rectangular pond in the middle with running water and funky jazz background music. I had a dish of stir-fried vegetables with noodles made from potatoes, and green tea cake for dessert.

Then I headed north to Goulou Dongdajie and took a streetcar to Dongzhimen. From there I took the #614 back home.

Granted it took me over an hour to get to Nanluoguxiang and an hour to get back. But since it was late afternoon, the buses weren't too crowded and it was a pleasant ride both ways. The total cost of the bus fare was less than 5RMB (US$0.67).

I'm going to try taking the bus more often. For me it's the best way to get to know the city at a leisurely pace -- without breaking the bank.

Caring for the Environment

The cold winter air is already here and everyone is bundling up.

My colleagues scared me about the chilly weather so I bought a long nylon coat padded with down feathers (at least I think it is) that goes down to my knees.

I have already started wearing long johns, along with everyone else.

Outside we look like big padded Michelin men waddling down the street.

There are the odd people who wear thin jackets and I wonder if they realize it's really cold outside!

Owners obsessed with their pets are eager to give canine fashion shows, dressing their dogs up in everything from sweaters and coats to red Santa suits.

The city also looks after its greenery for the winter.

Along the streets workers have constructed thin wooden frames around shrubs to cover them with an awning-like material in forest green. The leaves won't be able to do much photosynthesis, but at least they'll keep a little bit warmer.

Even some trees are protected, with these giant burlap tents mounted on their sides to block the winter winds from the north.

So you can't completely dismiss Beijing for not caring about the natural environment. But more people are donning face masks these days. And not all of them are sick. They're trying to avoid the smog that has built up in the last few months due to the lack of precipitation.

Maybe the government should turn its attention to its people who are also part of the environment.

The Battle of the Tai Tais

This past weekend was the fight everyone was watching in Hong Kong -- the by-election race between Anson Chan, former Chief Secretary during the last days of British rule, and Regina Ip, former Secretary for Security, who was backed by Beijing.

It was dubbed "the battle of the tai tais", referring to the two women's upper class backgrounds.

Chan lobbied for direct elections for not only the chief executive but all legislators by 2012; Ip pushed for democracy too, but only after Beijing had vetted the candidates.

And in the end Chan won a decisive victory -- 175,874 votes over Ip's 137,550. Chan won 54 per cent of the vote.

"It's a great encouragement," Chan said in her speech. "This victory belongs to the Hong Kong people who love democracy."

This win is a big boost to the pro-democracy camp, a collection of groups who have finally put their differences aside and come together as a show of force to the central government.

It also sends a strong signal to Beijing that Hong Kongers want to have a direct say in their government.

"I think that it shows a lot of middle class people in Hong Kong still care about democracy, even though the economy is getting better, the stock market is rising, and the economy is more dependent on China," said Ma Ngok, associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "This is something that Beijing needs to think about."

The ball is now in China's court on how to deal with this latest development in the HKSAR.

So far I haven't seen any reports about it in any of the English-language state media here.

This is a warning shot to Beijing: once people have a stable economy, good livelihoods and have their desired possessions, they will want more -- democracy.

It will come to China. It's only a matter of time.

Praise the Lord in Beijing

Today I went to my first church service in the Chinese capital.

The Beijing International Christian Fellowship organizes a number of services on Sunday, in English, Indonesian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, Japanese and French.

I checked out the English service at 11:30am which is held at the 21st Century Theatre, a block east of the Yansha Youyi Center or Luftansa Center.

People from all kinds of nationalities converged into the giant auditorium -- Americans, Filipinos, Koreans, Hong Kongers, Singaporeans, and Africans to name a few. Apparently some 300 come every week.

These services are strictly for foreigners only so we all had to show our passports before going in.

I arrived just on time to hear the music start so I grabbed a seat.

On stage was a band led a guy on a guitar singing, with a flautist, extra singer, two keyboardists and a drummer.

And the music was very American evangelist. The screen above showed the lyrics for people to sing along things like "God is king", "God is beautiful", and how the Lord is amazing. Some people in the audience raised one of their arms swept up in the fervor even though the service just started.

It was led by the guitarist along with two other "elders" or pastors. We were invited to participate in Communion, and ushers handed out small plastic cups of juice and tiny squares of bread to everyone in the audience. People who were leaving Beijing were asked to stand up and say goodbye, while newcomers were asked to stand and they were immediately accosted by people handing out pamphlets on the religious organization.

Today was a special Christmas presentation and they dramatized the birth of Jesus using everyday language. The acting was really good, complete with a sleeping Chinese baby. So it was interesting to see them try to make the biblical event relevant to people, by acting out what they thought was going through Mary's and Joseph's minds.

In the end the guitarist told the audience if they felt what they heard and saw today affected them then they should come forward and talk to some people near the stage about further developing their religious beliefs.

While it was really uplifting, it reminded me too much of televangelists preaching the Gospel. It was really slick, but at the same time, better than sitting in an austere church.

New Haunt: Nanlouguxiang

Near Hou Hai, one of my favourite places in Beijing, is a hutong or alleyway that's transformed itself into a funky strip.

Called Nanluoguxiang, this narrow street used to be a run-down residential area. But in just over two years, the old hutongs have been spruced up with new "old" walls, brick walls that have had an artistic paint job to make it look antique. There are also some restaurants, cafes, bars and really cool shops.

One is called Grifted at 32 Nanluoguxiang. Inside are parasols made with bright flowery fabric from the 1950s, cheeky T-shirts and dolls.

There's a T-shirt with an old man wearing a singlet rolled up to his armpits revealing his bulbous tummy, and has striped pants covering his chicken legs. He holds a cigarette in one hand, a bottle of beer in the other, and below it says in Chinese, "Ni Hao" or "Hello".

There's also panda bear-shaped dolls, but these bears looks like they've been roughed up and worse for wear than the cuddly ones you usually see.

Grifted had a number of Christmas merchandise for sale, including Christmas cards with Santa on his sleigh passing over Tiananmen, or Chairman Mao wearing Santa's hat complete with a yellow star and holding a sprig of holly. It says "Merry Christmas" in Chinese.

Just a bit further down the street is Plastered T-Shirts at 61 Nanluoguxiang. Englishman Dominic Johnson-Hill started making these funky T-shirts two years ago. He takes retro images from the 1950s and 60s and makes them kitsch.

There's ones that have the Beijing subway ticket on them, table tennis paddles, or a picture of a hot thermos. Another has "Gong Bao Ji Ding" in Chinese characters, which means "Kung Pao Chicken", or pictures of rosy-cheeked children in an idyllic setting. One even says "expat prick".

Foreigners are lapping these up, and now the Chinese are discovering them and beginning to find them amusing.

It's really neat to see some people taking creative risks. I hope to find more of them in Beijing.