Located in the heart of Beijing's old town, Nanluoguxiang is one of the city's most ancient and sociable alleyways, or hutongs. This past weekend, the popular strip played host to the second Nanluoguxiang Performance Festival, a street party featuring both traditional and modern elements, along with Chinese and overseas arts and performances. Our reporter XXX visited the famous hutong for the festival. Let's follow her to take a closer look.
REPORTER:
The ancient lane of Nanluoguxiang has a history of some 800 years. The well-preserved stretch of backstreets in downtown Beijing is also a UNESCO world heritage site.
Over the past few years, bars, hostels, shops, restaurants and boutiques have mushroomed along the strip, but it still retains a neighbourhood feel. Behind the fancy stores and cafes are traditional quadrangular courtyard homes, where communities have lived together for generations.
To find out why it's regarded as Beijing's most eclectic hutong, this weekend's Nanluoguxiang Performance Festival provided the perfect opportunity.
Billed as an initiative to preserve and celebrate traditional back-street life, the two-day festival features story telling, art exhibitions, graffiti displays, a flea market and live performances all day long on Saturday and Sunday.
While you sit back and sip tea or coffee under an umbrella, you can also enjoy joyful rhythms performed by artists, as they move along the hutong.
"My name is Xiaobudian. I was invited to the festival by friends who wanted me to accompany their performance. All the music we play is improvisational. I think this festival is really fun. I can get to know more friends and learn from the innovative ideas displayed in the market as well."
Introduced by Xiaobudian, I met his friend, a notebook maker whose booth was just across the lane.
"These notebooks are cheap and easy to make. I'm also here to teach little kids to make these notebooks with this kind of paper."
From marching musicians to handiwork craftsmen, the festival was fully devoted to culture, creativity and communication. Mao Yilin is a young poet, known as Xialuo in her works. She and a few friends have secured a booth where her poems are on display.
"I'm a student studying design. I'm here to display the poems I write, nowadays few people read poetry. Although they are restless and blundering; I hope I can write something which people can read silently. And also I like to present my poems in the form of new-style Chinese calligraphy."
The festival welcomes those who possess a creative mind and diligent hands. To the accompaniment of street music, I ran into Pian Lijuan, a shoe-painter who designs and paints on white sneakers.
"I used to study at Tianjin Fine Art Academy. I am an illustrator-author now. My friends once joked that my illustrations go better with everyday life objects. Later, I started to paint on my white sneakers, they became quite popular among my friends. Each pair of shoes has a story behind it. These painted shoes fall into three types: first, graffiti; second, original illustrations; third, traditional Chinese designs."
Beside her booth, many people have come to bargain for a pair of hand painted sneakers. Some simply stood there having a closer look, oo-ing and ahh-ing. Some spoke to her about her masterpieces. It doesn't matter if people buy or not actually. The important thing is that they appreciate. And that's enough. The artists also welcome Q&As from festival goers, who can find out what it's like to be an artist, as well.
Tian Xinzhi made himself a little pottery figurine at the festival's DIY section.
"It's very special here, because Nanluoguxiang is a time-honoured hutong with a profound cultural background. And it is a wonderful chemistry to both try originality, and experience the unique atmosphere here in Nanluoguxiang."
Wang Liting is a fine arts-major university student. It was her first time to visit Nanluoguxiang. She was more than amazed by the ancient alleyway and what's on offer at the festival.
"I'm not a Beijinger. So I'm pretty interested in old Beijing culture, folk customs and so on. Today at the festival, I saw artists making figurines with sugar, paper cutting, and local delicacies and also some exotic performances. I also met people who build DIY toys and write fairy tales themselves. I am inspired by those people with original ideas who are ready to take action. And I am thinking maybe I could also have a try myself sometime."
Besides the arts and crafts, fashion has been yet another theme of the festival. One of the most popular venues along Nanluoguxiang is Plastered 8, a T-shirt shop opened by a British expatriate. A fashion show of Plastered's latest Olympics- inspired collection was held during the festival. Chris Woolf was tipped off about the weekend festival. Stopping by Plastered 8, he was quite impressed.
"They are great. I think they are really lively and interesting, and I like the Olympic theme coming with the Olympics next year."
Live music was played throughout the lane, featuring a number of local and international musicians¡ªfrom traditional Korean percussionist shows, to relaxing jazz performances.
Organizer Li Tie says the festival is "free for everyone", and a great chance to discover the unique hutong culture of Beijing, where modern street culture blends harmoniously with traditional hutong culture.
"There is something new, something old, something creative and something fun for everyone at the second Nanluoguxiang Performance Festival. We aim to promote this ancient lane to a larger extent. And what's special about our festival is that audiences will have an opportunity to interact with the performers. They can either talk or learn some skills from them."
Yes, it is a place with something new and something old as well as something cool and something fun to offer guests. Nanluoguxiang Performance Festival just has a little something for everyone.
And according to Li Tie, they intend to turn the event into an ongoing theme of the street. As part of the government's initiative to preserve culturally rich areas, this hutong recently received a multi-million-dollar facelift, in time for the Olympics and the attention of the world.
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