the savior of hong kong

Disaster movies are hardly the specialty of Chinese directors. Yet the recently released As the Light Goes Out， a movie about a fire threatening Hong Kong’s entire electricity grid， has stirred up interest among Chinese moviegoers. Directed by Derek Kwok Chi-kin， a Hong Kong director in his late 30s， the movie maintains a fast pace， with the storyline about a complicated relationship between firefighters urged along by impending disaster. Starring Hong Kong actors Nicholas Tse， Simon Yam and mainland actor Hu Jun， the movie has done well in both the Hong Kong and mainland markets， and critics have called it a good omen for Hong Kong’s declining movie industry.

Music

the Next Great Song

National enthusiasm for the search for the perfect voice， initiated by TV talent show The Voice of China in 2012， has been on the wane due to a proliferation of copycat programs over the past year and a half. Yet this January， a search for songs， rather than singers， seems to have rekindled the reality-music TV show concept. Titled Sing My Song and produced by the team behind The Voice of China， the new show adopts a format nearly identical to The Voice， with singer-songwriters performing their selfpenned songs to judges who sit behind a screen on which lyrics are displayed， and make their decisions based on sound and lyrical content. The show’s premiere garnered the highest ratings of the night， and after several rounds， various hits have already been made. However， as most of these new songs are yet to be tested on the market， pessimists are worried how many surprises the program can come up with.

Exhibition

Art and Society

After suffering from temporary partial blindness when she was 29， sculptor Li Xiuqin has been on an artistic journey with work related to blindness ever since， taking Braille as one of her most important modes of expression. Many of her works have two sides， one Braille and one visual. She often invites blind people to interact in her exhibition， touching and feeling both the Braille and the figures they represent， and even inviting them to create their own sculptures. Now in her 60s， a retrospect solo exhibition for Li， titled “Connecting Art and Society in Braille： 20 Years of Sculpture Works by Li Xiuqin，” is being held in Shanghai’s Baoshan International Folk Arts Exposition from January to April this year. As the discussion on art’s role in society has become a heated topic in China’s art scene since the turn of the millennium， Li’s works may well serve as an example of the interaction between the two.

Book

Zhandui： A Chunk of Iron finally Melts

By A Lai

Zhandui （now known as Xinlong）， an ethnically Tibetan county in the west of Sichuan province， was occupied seven times by the Qing government’s forces from 1730 to 1896. During the Republic of China （1912-1949）， Sichuan and Tibet periodically traded blows over the jurisdiction of the area. In 1950， the People’s Liberation Army finally took the county without firing a shot. For some 200 years， armies of the Qing government， local warlords， Tibet， the Kuomintang and even Britain had interfered in the area. A Lai， one of China’s most famous writers， was born in the Tibetan region of Sichuan. In this history of Zhandui， A Lai displays a unique and mysterious Tibetan legend. It is also a modern reflection on the history and current situation of Tibetans living in a region with a mix of strong Han Chinese and Tibetan cultures.