After a drawn out face-off with landlords, demolition companies, and government officials, Tim Hilbert’s Texas Roadhouse has finally succumb to bulldozers and torch-weilding crews. After many of the bar and restaurant owners of Super Bar Street were forced out by gangs of club-wielding thugs, Hilbert stuck it out, demanding the $650,000 he invested in the Roadhouse. Both the initial offer of $50,000 and a second offer of almost triple that were denied by Hilbert.

In his pursuit for full compensation, Hilbert lived up to his home state’s ‘Lone Star’ reputation. Aside from the lawyers and consultants to do the beaureacratic battles, he hired a half dozen Chinese out-of-town tough guys to defend the bar from late night demolition crews. Even more brazen, he lead a demonstration in front of Zhongnanhai (central headquarters for the Central People’s Government) which lead to a five hour detention by police.

But for all of Hilbert’s tenacity, it was futile in the face of government mandates and eager demolition crews. After a brigade of various law enforcement officials arrived, movers cleared out the last of Hilbert’s property and demolition crews began tearing down the Roadhouse’s haggard facade.

When asked if he would continue to fight, Hilbert responded: “Absolutely, I’m a Texan.”

Links & Sources:

• Wall Street Journal
• Xianguo

Summer is in full swing and it’s time to pull out your swim cap and mankini and head out to one of Beijing’s fine swimming establishments. Here’s our list of the best places to swim in town.

Tuanjiehu Park Swimming Pool

Just south of the Tuanjiehu subway stop, this is for all you Chaoyangers with no time to get out of the city. It can get quite crowded, but the more people the better your chances of seeing a suit that requires a Brazilian wax. There’s a small “beach” and a decent sized pool, as well as a couple water slides. They also sell chuan’r and cold drinks. They are open until August 31.

25 RMB. 10:30am - 7:30pm.

Inside Tuanjiehu Park, 16 Tuanjiehu Nanli, Chaoyang District. (8597 4677)

Qingnianhu Waterworld

Inside Qingnianhu Park (青年湖公园) and right outside the 2nd Ring Road, Waterworld has four different pools totalling 3000 square meters. There’s lap swimming as well as kiddie pools. And with a capacity of 1200 and 4 water slides, it’s the best bet for those living in near the center of town. Open until the end of August.

20 RMB. 9:00am - 7:00pm.

Inside Qingnianhu Park, Andingmenwai, Dongcheng District. (8411 6321)

Crab Island

At 60,000 square meters, it dwarfs any other water park in town and boasts the biggest man made beach in all of China. The slides, sand, waves, cocktails, barbeque and free sun umbrellas will make Crab Island a super swimming experience. Expect a good time, but not state of the art! Plus there are some other cool things to check out like hot springs and a science center.

60 RMB. 9:00am - 10:00pm

1 Xiedao Lu, City Seaview (Haijing), (near Lido Ho, Chaoyang (84339689)

Water Cube

Good news for people who want have a swimming experience in the Water Cube…the warm-up pool is now open to public swimmers. People who want to swim there have to get a health check and a deep certificate before entering the pool.
Open Thursday to Sunday, 2 pm to 7 pm until October.

50 RMB for two hours.

Your TaoTie corespondent has been hitting the streets to find the best of the best.  This week I’ll be delving into Xinjiang cuisine, one of my favorite styles of Chinese food. Xinjiang cuisine is a staple in a true Laonei’s diet. But where is the best spot in Beijing for lamb-laden Uighur treats? After a long and grueling hunt for the best of Beijing’s muslim-approved grub, it has been decided. The heavyweight champion is Xinjiang Adaxi (新疆阿达西餐厅)！Located on Qian Liang hutong 钱粮胡同, Adaxi is always packed and serves up piping hot, always fresh dishes.

In the process of making this weighty decision, dozens of dishes went through our rigorous taste bud tests. Hundreds of kebabs 串, naan 馕, and ‘big chicken plates’ 大盘鸡 were closely scrutinized for tenderness, appropriate spice levels, freshness, and overall devourability. But the most important test is the simple TaoTie equation: simply take the price of the meal (4 people), subtract the number of people in the restaurant at 8pm, and finally take the restaurant’s rating to a factor of ten and subtract it from the total. The lower the number, the better the restaurant. Xinjiang Adaxi had a record score of -10.

Most other restaurants we sized up didn’t even come close. Crescent Moon, popular among the expat crowd, scored an abysmally high score of 160. Wildly overpriced and lagging far behind in both service and devourability, Crescent Moon has little going for it. But one Xinjiang spot did give Adaxi a run for its money. Known simply as Muslim Restaurant 穆斯林餐厅, this is another great choice for Xinjiang delicacies if you are out in Wudaokou.

Adaxi Review

Never take a date here. Adaxi is about one thing, and one thing only: the food. The floors are filthy, the furniture is cheap and rickety, and the majority of the customers are loud and smokey. But don’t let that stop you from coming here. Adaxi’s kitchen consistently pumps out absolutely delicious food. A definite highlight is their naan. Soft, crispy and always piping hot, their naan is never stale. Dip the naan in the huge Chicken Plate 大盘鸡 for maximum results. Another dish you wont want to miss is the fresh-made potato chips 炸土豆片, which also go well dipped in the Chicken Plate’s sauce. While your at it, order a lamb leg or some kebabs, as their lamb is some of the tenderest in town.

The four-piece band, Battles, are lined up to play a kick-ass show at Mao Live House on March 27th. Playing a strange, but stellar sonic synthesis of math-rock, jazz-fusion, and cyber-metal, Battles will be sure to show up the local opening band, PK-14. The Battles’ line-up includes ex-Helmet drummer John Stanier, ex-Don Caballero guitarist Ian Williams, ex-Lynx guitarist Dave Konopka, and Tyondai Braxton, who works wonders on the warped, chilling vocals.

This show is sure to be as good as their last album, Mirrored, which is a masterpiece. Pitchfork dealt out a 9.1 (rather generous for their standards) for the album and said that “what makes Mirrored’s merry melodies really stand out isn’t the crazy quilt structures or needlepoint precision of the playing. It’s the frenzied gibberish of Braxton’s pitch-shifted and electronically processed vocals– a kind of ecstatic robot that’s speaking in cartoon tongues.”

Show info:

Friday, March 27 @ 9 pm

Mao Live House 111 Drumtower Avenue, East Dongcheng District (鼓楼东大街111号)

What do you think when you hear the word ‘hot springs?’ An idyllic mountain-side setting with natural hot springs heated by subterranean volcanic activity? Me too. But, here in Beijing, there are only hot springs with Chinese characteristics.

We arrived at a building big enough to house the entire Boeing 747 plant. It seemed that it was commonplace to the Chinese visitors of this ‘hot spring,’ but I stood there, jaw agape, wondering which overblown casino in Las Vegas the architect was trying to outdo. This was Xanadu, Atlantis, The Great Hall of The People, and The Forbidden City all wrapped in one enormous tribute to the Chinese Water Gods. But somehow this escaped the Chinese patrons of Hot Spring Leisure City (温都水城).

The men strolled in with their uber-tight, boxer brief swimwear ready to be treated like the emperor himself. The women, mostly in unsightly one piece swimsuits lingered in the steaming hot pools filled with various Chinese medicinal herbs. But there was something for everyone at Leisure City.

A gargantuan wave pool was filled with swimcapped youth that flailed about as the miniature waves crashed into them. When they turned off the wave-making machine there was lap swimming for the few patrons that learned how to do a little more than doggy paddle. Towering above the massive wave pool was an impressive, yet dangerous looking jungle gym that was off limits that day, perhaps as a result of an gory injury the day before. On the other side of the pool were two rather impressive water slides: The Space Bowl and the Rafter’s Plunge! Neither were open for any extended amount of time, as the lifeguards seemed too lazy or too few to babysit the hordes of unacquainted water-slide goers. But these slides were definitely up to par. The Space Bowl left me with raspberries on my arms from the high speed friction, but was definitely worth it as I was shot out of tube into a bowl that had me spinning around 3 or 4 times before plunging into the pool below.

To get to the ‘hot springs’ one had to pass through a corridor lined with subpar Chinese fare. And upon entering the hot spring zone, a hard-to-place scent of cigarettes smoke, Chinese herbs and vinegar penetrated my nostrils. The walls were made of faux stalactites and lined with a jungle of plastic trees. In the center of the complex was the sole outdoor hot spring sheltered by a bamboo roof and surrounded by the intense humming sound of ventilation fans. The hot springs were exactly that, hot! Soaking in any one of the tubs was intense to say the least. There were dozens of chubby men with neck to toe lobster-red skin, an obvious sign they were hardcore hot tubbers.

The second floor, just above all of the hot spring action, was the place everyone went to escape the heat and be pampered. There were massive massage lounges, TCM therapy rooms, happy ending parlors, and ‘quiet rooms’ with personal TVs and soft, white electronically reclining lazyboys. There was nothing this place didn’t have. There were even discount cards worth up to 100,000 RMB for the hot spring fanatic.

All in all, Hot Spring Leisure City is the place to be if you have a bit of money to spend and want to soak the day away. And leave the LSD at home because you can get a Hunter S. Thomson-like experience here without the use of mind altering drugs.

According to the Beijing News, yesterday’s air was the worst this year. Most likely, it will be the day with the highest concentration of pollutants for the whole year. At about 9pm on the eve of the Lantern Festival, every square meter of air had 810 micrograms of pollutants, though by the end of yesterday it was down to 307, a number that is still far higher than acceptable levels.

Days with this much pollution rank as level 5, the most extreme rating. The last time air pollution reached level 5 was on May 29th of last year.

If you are wondering what exactly you were breathing during the Lantern Festival celebrations, below are excerpts from an academic abstract aptly titled: The air pollution caused by the burning of fireworks during the lantern festival in Beijing.

The effects of the burning of fireworks on air quality in Beijing was firstly assessed from the ambient concentrations of various air pollutants (SO₂, NO₂, PM_2.5, PM₁₀ and chemical components in the particles) during the lantern festival in 2006. Eighteen ions, 20 elements, and black carbon were measured in PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, and the levels of organic carbon could be well estimated from the concentrations of dicarboxylic acids. Primary components of Ba, K, Sr, Cl^-, Pb, Mg and secondary components of C₅H₆O^2-₄, C₃H₂O^2-₄, C₂O^2-₄, C₄H₄O^2-₄, SO^2-₄, NO^-₃ were over five times higher in the lantern days than in the normal days. The firework particles were acidic and of inorganic matter mostly with less amounts of secondary components. Primary aerosols from the burning of fireworks were mainly in the fine mode, while secondary formation of acidic anions mainly took place on the coarse particles

It was found that over 90% of the total mineral aerosol and 98% of Pb, 43% of total carbon, 28% of Zn, 8% of NO^-₃, and 3% of SO^2-₄ in PM_2.5 were from the emissions of fireworks on the lantern night.

This may be useful

Sources & Links:

• Beijing News
• The air pollution caused by the burning of fireworks during the lantern festival in Beijing
• Respro

The City Management Police (城管) have put on display the “certificates” that they confiscated from unlicensed entrepreneurs.  They took more than 1200 of the spoof certificates, which look official but have names like “Pervert Certificate,” “Idiot Certificate,” and all kinds of other clever, though rather vulgar names. The entrepreneur in question told police that he sells over 200 hundred of these certificates to elementary and middle school students per day.

But these certificates can not only be found in Dongcheng (东城), where they were confiscated. They seem to be all over the country and are causing quite an uproar. Though it seems the only way for authorities to censor these certificates is not by going to the source (the factories producing them in large quantities), but by picking on the unlicensed little guy trying to make a living.

Sources and Links:

• The Beijing News
• Rednet.cn
• Northnews.cn

Kuaiban (快板) is a literary art form accompanied by a rhythm produced by the lyricist himself. Like a beat-boxer and MC all in one, 快板 is Chinese hip hop, not to be confused with the guys walking around in baggy pants with a vague sense of rhythm and poor lyricism.

I watched in absolute amazement as the Kuai Ban master tapped out complex rhythms and recited a story that must have taken ages to commit to memory. The rhythm follows the story line with the nuances and crescendoes of an orchestra, bringing the story to life like modern hip hop rarely does.

From a Western perspective Kuai Ban is mysterious. It doesn’t adhere to any strict time signature, or even tempo for that matter. Each stanza is a different length than the previous and following one. Almost like spoken word, where artists stray from the predictable 4/4 rhythm that we are all so used to, Kuai Ban is free. Rather than starting from a beat, like hip hop does, Kaui Ban is based on the lyrical content and the mood it creates. The rhythm serves as punctuation. It is the period and comma, semicolon even. But it is more than that. It is a display of years of hard work and practice.

Picking up a set of paiban (拍板) for the first time will give you a real sense of respect for the Kuaiban master. For someone that prides themselves in understanding rhythm fairly well, the paiban flopped around like a spastic fish dying in my hands. For now, I will resign myself to being a fan, not a participant.

Merry Mart supermarket (美廉美 - měi lián měi) is officially Beijing’s first supermarket to be sued over their background music. Some workers from the Music Copyright Society of China (音乐著作权协会 - yīnyuè zhùzuòquán xiéhuì) brought along a small recording device to show that Merry Mart was infringing copyright law by playing Candlelit Mama (烛光里的妈妈) by 毛阿敏, a sappy song about a mother and daughter growing old.

The Music Copyright Society of China demanded 10,000 yuan for usage of the song and 6000 yuan for legal costs. Unfortunately for them, the judges in the HaiDian court only made Merry Mart pay 500 yuan for using the song and 1700 for legal fees.

This may have been the first supermarket targeted by copyright crimefighters, but it wont be the last. In the midst of piracy and copyright issues popping up in China, there are sure to be more legal battles like this in the future.

And, for your listening pleasure, Candlelit Mama with lyrics! Enjoy!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

妈妈我想对您说，
话到嘴边又咽下，
妈妈我想对您笑，
眼里却点点泪花。
噢妈妈，烛光里的妈妈，
您的黑发泛起了霜花，
噢妈妈，烛光里的妈妈，
您的脸颊印着这多牵挂。
噢妈妈，烛光里的妈妈，
您的腰身倦得不再挺拔，
噢妈妈，烛光里的妈妈，
您的眼睛为何失去了光华，
妈妈呀，女儿已长大，
不愿意牵着您的衣襟走过春秋冬夏。
噢妈妈，烛光里的妈妈，
您的腰身倦得不再挺拔，
噢妈妈，烛光里的妈妈，
您的眼睛为何失去了光华，
妈妈呀，女儿已长大，
不愿意牵着您的衣襟走过春秋冬夏。
噢妈妈相信我，
女儿自有女儿的报答。
噢妈妈相信我，
女儿自有女儿的报答。

Links & Sources:

• The Beijing News - 新京报
• Merry Mart
• Music Copyright Society of China

It’s ice skating season in Beijing and there’s one more excuse not to stay inside huddled around your coal-burning stove and get outside for some frosty fun!

But, unfortunately, last winter was officially the last year that the frozen ice on Shichahai (什刹海) wasn’t completely commodified and closed to the non-paying public. The days of strapping on your skates and skating to your heart’s content without forking over a bundle of cash are over. Now, all areas of the lake (后海，前海, etc.) are only accessible if you buy tickets, which run from 10 to 15 kuai.

It’s not that the extra money you have to pay to get on the ice is unbearable. But it is disheartening that where there is money to be made, fences and ticket-checkers will be in abundance. Last year, if you had skates or just wanted to go for a walk on the ice, the frozen lake was open to the public, as it should be.

But, for now, there are still places to go to skate on free, non-groomed ice. Head on over to BeiDa or the Summer Palace. But hurry…you never know when the fences and ticket-checkers will appear.

You can be sure they didn't have to pay