Halloween in Beijing

Last night was Halloween. I went to two different events, both of which are worth writing about.

The first event was a Beijing University-sponsored dance. I was expecting it something to be like an 5th grade dance from the 60's--guys sitting on one side and girls on the other. I didn't expect that because of anything cultural, although that played into it. The main reason is just that the population of Beijing University, being that only the smartest, hardest-working students get in, aren't exactly the most social bunch of college students. In general, and this is a huge generalization, the students here are pretty socially awkward, by Chinese and Western standards. So, in a dance setting one might expect something like that to be horribly magnified.

When I got there, it was 6:50PM--about 10 minutes before the event was scheduled to start. Everyone was already there, about 100 people... sitting down... in desks. Members of the sponsoring student group were in costumes handing out candy. Then, the event started off with the hosts introducing themselves and then introducing an all-girl hip-hop dance team that came to perform. They danced to some obscure mainstream-style rap that I didn't recognize, but it wasn't bad at all. The dancing had lots of Western hip-hop elements but also a lot of very Asian-style moves--the kind of stuff I see all the time in commercials or on TV. Then, the hosts had some game-type events on stage. One of the things they did was bring up everyone in costumes for a picture. One of my classmates is black. She wasn't wearing a costume, but they asked her to come on stage. I thought that was interesting. Soon after, the dancing began.

To my surprise, about half the crowd got up and went towards the dance floor. Not everyone was dancing, but a good amount of people were. They started out with hip-hop/club music. The Chinese style of club dancing is much different than the American one. Grinding doesn't exist. If it happened, it would probably be too provocative for people to handle. Club dancing in China is mostly just bouncing up and down doing something with your hands alone or with a group of people. It's very rarely just one guy and one girl. There's no pressure to look cool or guys to appear really masculine or girls to be sexy while dancing--it's just dancing. Then, they played some latin rhythms. Some people actually knew how to salsa, and started. Others, I think, didn't notice the change in music. It went on like that for about an hour and a half, and then people started to leave at around 9:00PM.

The second event of the evening, was a Halloween party at a nearby bar, D-22. It was punk night. I walked in the bar and felt like I could be somewhere in America. They place is owned by a Westerner, and he got the atmosphere perfectly. Dimly light, grimy-looking yet clean, long bar, pictures on the wall of all the bands that play there and celebrities who have come through. They also had some interesting sketches on the wall that were blatantly anti-Chinese government.

I didn't know what to expect from the music, but I was happily surprised. The first band was all white people, I'm guessing from America. It also seemed like they didn't speak any Chinese. The drummer had a long beard and a shirt that said, "God is busy... Can I help you?". They played covers of classic punk songs, and they actually sounded quite authentic. There was even a little inter-cultural mosh pit going on. The second band sounded even more authentic, and they were a mix of Westerners and Chinese. They're drummer was a Chinese girl who opened their set by singing a harder version of The Misfits' cover of "Monster Mash". I think it was a pretty cool place, but a bit too crowded with expats. They deserve a whole blog post for themselves.

Halloween in China was a good time. 万圣节快乐！Happy Halloween!