SHOW

Trance. Here. Now. - Andrew Rayel!

Date: April 1 - 10 pm

Venue: M2 Club, Shanghai

Price: 100 yuan

He's the modern-day Mozart - today's leading talent in the ever-growing trance scene. He's the pride of Moldova, known for his unique and very own sound. He is Andrei Rata, better known as Andrew Rayel. Born on July 21st, 1992, his young age never stopped him from taking the lead amongst the next generation of EDM producers. Developing strong musical skills, he studied orchestral music and kicked off his producing career at only 13 years of age. He created a truly unique sonic signature - one of piano power, harmonic balance, and euphoric tales. And so, years later, his originals and remixes are praised by many and loved by more.

The Count of Wulong Mountain

Date: March 26-27 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 180-680 yuan

A man with no looks, money, girlfriend or job gets a mysterious million-dollar check for his thirtieth birthday, but gets caught up in a kidnapping plot, and the only ones who can clear him are dead. On the run and accused of murder, he heads to Wulong Mountain where he begins to plan his revenge.

Contact: 010-6655-0000

Mirage Hard Dance Festival

Date: April 2 - 8 pm

Venue: Qianshuiwan Culture Art Center

Price: 220-420 yuan

Imagine yourself, dancing to the hardest beats of our generation powered by three of the most iconic Hardstyle Djs, each with his own unique style. Through their music they give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind and life to everything. If you can find joy in music, this is your chance to experience something completely new for the first time ever in Shanghai. Without any doubt, Atmozfears is one of the biggest names and a true legend in the Hardstyle community. His melodies are amongst the most epic melodies ever created, generating an incredible intense and uplifting aura, an aura thousands of Hardstyle minds are getting lost in every weekend. 2015 was the year of Cyber. Supported by almost every big name out there, The Swiss Dj made his way from small talent stages, to the biggest festival stages of Europe. His productions remind of the golden era of Hardstyle between 2008-2010. It was back in 2008 when the young Jesse Koch came in touch with Hardstyle. Even though he started out skeptical, this music grew on him like a virus. He taught himself how to mix and started promoting his mixes on the internet. Becoming a resident DJ on some of the biggest online hardstyle radio stations and playing some smaller gigs, he realized that he had to start producing to grow further, which he did under the alias Festuca. A lot of proactive hours later, Festuca was able to create his own sounds and at the moment things are going really fast for him. With gigs like Qapital, Defqon.1, and X-Qlusive Holland in the past year, Festuca is one to watch. During the LAST 15 minutes of MIRAGE indoor festival, MOTI DANCE has prepared a fabulous and breathtaking endshow for everyone who made it to the end. Lights, laser, dry-ice and other scene effects will be on full throttle. With a special Hard Dance set, composed for this night only, the 7 hours roller coaster ride will come to an end - with a blast!

Richie Hawtin Shanghai Tour 2016

Date: April 9 - 9 pm

Venue: Mao Livehouse Shanghai

Price: 200-380 pm

Richie Hawtin was born in June 4, 1970. He is an English-born Canadian electronic musician and DJ and three times DJ Awards winner. He was an influential part of Detroit techno's second wave of artists in the early 1990s and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. Richie Hawtin is best known for his work under the alias Plastikman and for his ENTER. events in Ibiza and around the world. He is known for DJing techno sets making use of laptop computers and digital mixing equipment. In May 1990 Hawtin and fellow second-waver John Acquaviva founded the Plus 8 record label, which they named after their turntable's pitch adjust function. In 1998, Hawtin launched Minus Records. In 2007, Slices DVD magazine launched a series of biographies called "Pioneers of Electronic Music", with the first issue being a roughly 60 minute documentary dedicated to the life of Richie Hawtin. Richie Hawtin's successes in music technology were affirmed in July 2015, when he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music Technology by the University of Huddersfield. The Veteran DJ, producer, label owner and tech enthusiast received an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the world of music technology.

Todes Ballet Alla Duhova 2016 China Tour

Date: March 25-26 - 7:30 pm

Venue: Wuhan Qintai Grand Theater

Price: 50-480 yuan

Todes is Moscow's hottest contemporary dance stunning fusion of styles. They perform from ballet to break, and from hip-hop to jazz. Today, Todes stride confidently over the globe, applauded by audiences in the US, Australia, France, Germany. It has won numerous international dance festivals. This Russian dance troupe was created, led and produced by celebrity choreographer Alla Duhova in 1986. A dance festival brought together four girls from a modern ballet troupe and four break dancing boys. They decided to work together and see what would come of it, eventually rising to fame via mutually rewarding collaboration with the Soviet-era pop diva Sofia Rotary. In 1991 Todes premiered their solo program. It currently has 60 ambitious and bright dancers. Duhova named her troupe after one of the most dangerous elements in figure skating. Today Alla Duhova is considered the founder of the modern Russian ballet. Vladimir Putin awarded her for her creativity and professionalism.

Contact: 400-610-3721

ACTIVITIES

Cartoon Creation from Concept to Finish

Date: March 26 - 2 pm

Venue: The Opposite House

Price: 200 yuan

From comic strips to graphic novels to animation, here's a workshop for all ages, from child to adult, and any level of drawing experience, from none whatsoever to advanced. Learn the process of cartoon creation from a master of the genre, the very funny and award-winning Larry Feign, who has published fifteen books and whose works have appeared in publications such as Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Fortune, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Der Spiegel, and Pravda. Feign will begin with a brief demonstration of how various famous characters are constructed, then assign some brief, fun drawing exercises. A significant portion of the workshop will be about conceiving ideas and writing gags. As Feign says: a well-written cartoon can get away with bad artwork, but a well-drawn cartoon cannot get away with bad writing. Participants will learn techniques that can be used every day to create funny and meaningful cartoons.

Contact: 010-6417-6688

Crabapple blossom! Madame Soong's Residence and Soong Sisters

Date: April 7 - 10 am

Venue: China Culture Center

Price: 150 yuan

Visit the former residence (beautiful courtyard houses and garden) of Madame Soong Ching-ling, wife of Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen and dubbed the Mother of the Nation. Madame Soong is also the elder sister of Soong Mei-ling, wife of Chiang Kai-shek, former leader of Kuomintang. The courtyard owns the largest pair of crabapple trees in Beijing. They blossom shortly every year between April 8-14. CCC will guide you through the museum and residence, and introduce this great woman, Dr Sun Yat-sen, and Chiang Kai-shek & his powerful family influnce of the 20th Century of China, and other fascinating details of the contemporary Chinese history.

Contact: 010-6432-9341

Royal Canal Boat Tour to the Summer Palace

Date: April 9 - 9:30 am

Venue: China Culture Center

Price: 480 yuan

This is a very well-received boat riding and walking tour, providing an opportunity to see a bit of everything in the capital, both historical sites and everyday life of Beijing. Cruise along the imperial canal in a traditional style motorized canopy boat past Beijing Zoo, Beijing Aquarium and the Purple Bamboo Garden while appreciating the great views en route. We stop at the Purple Bamboo Garden to stroll around and meet up with a local sing-along group which is hidden in bamboo forests. Appreciate the passionate amateurs of the community singing. Then we continue our journey by boat heading directly into the Summer Palace, and change boat to cruise on the Kunming lake. Then we continue our tour with a guided walk (mounting on the hill or take a side walk around the hill) that ends at the North gate. And then we will drive back to CCC office. (Please note that we will not visit the palaces near the east gate, as they are packed most time of the year. ) For participants who don't want to tour the Summer Palace, you are welcome to leave the boat at the Purple Bamboo Garden near the west third ring road, or at the South gate of Summer Palace on your own. Please bring your own picnic lunch.

Contact: 010-6432-9341

NIGHT LIFE

Wooozy Offline Presents Henry Wu

Date: April 1 - 9 pm

Venue: Dada (206 Gulou Dong Dajie)

Price: 60 yuan

Wooozy throws their first Offline club event of the Year of the Monkey, hosting in South London producer Henry Wu. Sound-wise you're looking at 'a potpourri of soul, jazz, breakbeat and silky melodic house' from Wu, plus support slots of smooth, smooth house music from local DJs Watermelon, J.R.G, Zhiqi, and Darcy.

Contact: 137-1633-8479

Hibiscus Town

Date: March 27 - 8 pm

Venue: Capital M

Price: Free

A hard-grafting bean curd seller and his pretty wife manage to scrape together enough money to build a house, only to be labelled by leftist cadres as 'new rich peasants' during the upheaval of Cultural Revolution. Heartbroken with despair, the husband decides to end his life, leaving his still-young widow to tremulously live on alone. Later, she encounters a desultory poet and collector of folk songs who was also denounced during the turmoil. Branded a rightist and later imprisoned for Two Stage Sisters (no 23), director Xie Jin made Hibiscus Town after his tentative rehabilitation, and the film has obvious parallels to his own treacherous life story. Noticeably more muted than his earlier work, the film is a trembling, triumphant testimony of trying to hold on to one's humanity in the midst of ideological dogmatism.

Contact: 010-6702-2727

SPORTS

2016 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix

Date: April 15-17 - 9 am

Venue: Shanghai International Circuit

Price: 380-2,760 yuan

See the greatest racing show on earth this April as the pinnacle of racing technology hurtles around 5.5 kilometers of China's finest track at breakneck speeds. Va-va-voom! The race organizers have arranged the event for the best pricing and viewing options ever with lower-priced tickets and greater pit lane access. Don't miss out on the event of the year this spring. Located just outside of the city in Anting, Shanghai Audi International Circuit is 5.451kms long; with 56 laps, racers will travel a total distance of 305.066kms. The racetrack was designed in shape of the Chinese character of Shanghai. The current track record is 1:32.238 minutes held by Michael Schumacher. All tickets are valid for Friday (practice day), Saturday (qualifying) and Sunday (race day). Ticket holders of the two-day tickets can access all areas on Friday.

Contact: 400-610-3721

2016 AFC Champions League - Shanghai Sipg VS Melbourne Victory

Date: April 19 - 7:30 pm

Venue: Shanghai Stadium

Price: 50-380 yuan

The AFC Champions League, commonly known as the Asian Champions League, is an annual continental club football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Introduced in 2002, the competition replaced the Asian Club Championship which had run since 1985 and which had replaced the Asian Champion Club Tournament (1967-1971) after a 14-year hiatus. It is the premier club tournament in Asia, equivalent to the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores, and the UEFA, CAF, CONCACAF and OFC Champions League competitions. A total of 32 clubs compete in the round robin group stage of the competition. Clubs from Asia's strongest national leagues receive automatic berths, with clubs from other nations eligible to qualify via the qualifying playoffs and, in addition, they are also eligible to participate in the AFC Cup. Since 2009, the champions do not qualify automatically for the following year competition. The winner of the AFC Champions League qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup. The most successful club in the competition is the Pohang Steelers with a total of three titles. The reigning champions of the competition are the Guangzhou Evergrande.

(China Daily 03/26/2016 page20)