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Short Suit Productions Bi-Weekly China DSLR video list is here! Videographer Jim Fields has gathered some great links here. For more info on this, see this post.

Short Suit Productions has begun a biweekly roundup covering Chinese film, language and culture. This is a bi-weekly newsletter that aims to cover these topics at least marginally, providing relevant information for people living in China, China watchers, or perhaps just people with an interest in film (specifically, in DIY and DSLR film production).

Film 电影

Here’s a simple article about the sometimes confusing term – Depth of Field. Aimed at an amateur audience, but offers some hints for the beginners. I don’t agree with the guy’s statements about using shutter speed to control light intake if you have a set f-stop – most professionals would use ND filters in that situation – but this still offers a good basic rundown for most people.

现在有一篇关于有时叫人混乱的东西的文章—景深。以业余读者为目标，同时这篇文章也为好多初级者提供了不少有效提示。我不是特别认同一些读者关于利用快门速度去控制一组光圈光量的相关评论—大多数专业人士在这样的情况下可能都会采用ND滤镜—–但是通常文章所述的方法对大多数人而言其实是可行的。

180 Degree Shutter – Learn It, Live It, Love It
On that note, here’s a note about shutter speed on DSLRs and the 180 degree rule- this is slightly more technical… basically, the gist of it is, if you multiply your cameras frame rate by two, you should set your cameras shutter speed to be as close as possible to that number. This will ensure that the quality of your motion blur has a standard “film look”. Changing the shutter speed in either direction will result in either a staccato or a blurry look – both of which can be used if desired, but shouldn’t be approached blindly.

这篇帖子里提到了与单反快门速度以及180度规则相关的信息—这帖子稍微有些高科技……基本上，它的要点在于，如果你把相机帧频加快一倍，你同样需要把你的快门速度调整到相应的、可以匹配这种情况的标准。这样可以保障所得到的画面可以拥有标准“电影”一般的模糊地动态画面。不论怎样调整你的快门速度，你都会得到断章效果或者模糊动态画面—如果你想要二者之一，可以考虑采取相关的办法，但是不要盲目尝试。

Panasonic GF3 Hands-on Review
This is a review of the Panasonic GF3, which is a tiny, large-sensor DSLR camera that accepts any micro 4/3 lens – which basically means putting a lot of DSLR abilities into a very small, easy to use package. I often tell people that in China, being a filmmaker, you have issues if it APPEARS that you’re shooting with professional equipment – but if you’re just mucking around with a small DSLR, you’ll almost never have issues. However, these small cameras are able to shot high quality HD footage – which creates a situation where you can shoot run-and-gun, no permit stuff that looks good without invoking the ire of any local security people.

这是关于松下GF3的一个评述，GF3是一种机身轻巧、感光好、能够与任意一种微4/3镜头兼容的相机—这表示所有单反的功能都被融聚在这样一个小巧又便利的机器里。我经常告诉中国的朋友，作为一个电影人，如果你带着非常专业的设备出现在片场的话，你一定会有好多麻烦—但是如果只是拿着一个小机器到处转悠，你肯定不会有任何麻烦。当然，这些小照相机还能拍摄高清画质的镜头—这样你就能一边儿走一边拍，不需任何许可更不会惹怒任何地方的保安人员。

David Simon / Eric Holder Public Exchange
Eric Holder, the former US attorney general, made a plea for David Simon (the creator of the Wire) to make a sixth season the show. David Simon then responded: “The Attorney-General’s kind remarks are noted and appreciated. I’ve spoken to Ed Burns and we are prepared to go to work on season six of The Wire if the Department of Justice is equally ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanising drug prohibition.” Burn.

艾瑞克▪霍德尔，前美国总检察官，向大卫▪西蒙（电视剧“火线”的创造者）提出请他拍摄第六季电视剧的请求。随后大卫▪西蒙答复道：“非常感激艾瑞克总检察官的提议。我和我的同事爱德讨论了相关问题，如果司法部门准备重新考虑并撤销对于‘火线’误导大众、破坏社会和谐、非人性化的禁毒行为等的起诉，我们愿意继续第六季作品的筹备。”

Canon 44-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II Lens for Cropped Sensor DSLRs
Pretty versatile lens for Cropped Sensor DSLRs (like the Canon 60d, for instance). Seems like a good lens that Canon just released for prosumer DSLRs. Little slow for my taste, but cheap. Image stabilizer looks good too.

适用于可变感光器类单反相机（比如佳能60D）的多才多艺的镜头。看起来佳能是为了准专业单反而打造了这个镜头。对我个人而言这个镜头有些不够用，但是相当物美价廉，画面稳定性也算相当不错。

DSLR Solutions Announces a Simple, Inexpensive DSLR Follow Focus
DSLR Solutions has created a pretty cool, small, inexpensive system for setting focus points and switching between them without a bulky, rails-based follow focus system. Seems like you might be trading off a bit of ergonomics and stability, but regardless, seems like a cheap and effective tool for a lot of low-budget DSLR productions.

DSLR Solutions为了避免又大又复杂的跟焦器所带来的不便，于近期推出了一个非常酷、小巧又敏感的调整焦点的系统。这一系统可能会牺牲一些人体工程学的舒适性和稳定性，但是对很多经费有限的单反摄影师而言是个值得考虑的好东西。

Jag35 Monitor X
Jag35 Monitor X is a “great, affordable viewfinder” which basically works by magnifying the screen of your DSLR so you can more easily see what’s in focus in what’s not. It fits most 3″ screens, including 5D mk2, 7D, 60D, T2i, and the Nikon D7000. Just bought this to use with a 60D, pretty excited for it to arrive here in China.

Jag35监视器是一种“强大但大多数人买得起的监视器”。它可以通过放大单反的显示屏来轻而易举实现您对焦点的监控。它适用于所有3英寸显示屏，包括“无敌兔”，7D,60D和尼康D7000。本人刚刚买了一个Jag35就是为了配我的60D，非常期待他快点来到中国。（再次要强烈感谢乔纳▪凯塞尔给我介绍了这么好的产品）

VBAG Camera Support Concept
This is a great concept for a camera support that is a bag filled with tiny pellets, and a vacuum system that can suck all air out of the bag once you’ve set the camera in a desirable but difficult location (on top of a fire hydrant, hanging from a beam, etc etc). Can’t believe no one has done this yet- very cool. Definitely a pretty penny, but potentially worth it for medium budget productions.

这是对于相机支持的一个伟大构想：这个设备拥有一个真空系统，可以在你将相机放在一个异常理想但比较“艰苦”的位置（比如消火栓上面或者房梁上等等）时把相机内所有的小颗粒吸出来。尽管尚未有人真正把这个构想变为现实但是，这是个挺酷的想法。虽然这只是个小东西，但是对于中等预算的作品而言是个好帮手。

Canon EOS 3D Rumor
When will this camera be released? Noone knows. Speculation from Cinema5d.

这款相机什么时候才发售啊？不得而知。先从Cinema5D开始幻想一下吧。

I think there’s a filter on your filter on your …
This is an interesting piece on Gizmodo comparing cheap and expensive ND filters, through the bizarre test of stacking up to 50 filters atop one another. Interesting from a quality perspective, though it begs the question – if you only have one or two filters on your camera, what sort of compromise are you really making? Anyway, good food for thought and some pretty funny pictures of 50 filters stacked atop one another.

Gizmodo近日发布了针对便宜和昂贵的灰镜的对比评测文章—通过不断叠加多至50个滤镜的奇怪的测试，他们得到了一些结论。从质量角度而言非常有趣，但这个评测也引发了话题—如果你的电脑只配有一两个滤镜，在相关的需求面前你该何去何从呢？不管怎么样，这是一个有意思的评测文章，而且50个滤镜落在一起的图片看起来听有意思。

Dark Magic (Lytro) Camera That Let’s you Adjust Focus in Post
This is a STILL camera that ACCORDING TO MARKETING MATERIALS allows you to adjust the plane of focus in post-production. Apparently it works by using a “new type of sensor” that “gathers much more information about light coming into the camera than the sensors found on all types of digital cameras”…. naturally this evokes some skepticism from a lot of people. Can you adjust aperture size in post? What does wide or shallow depth of field mean for a Lytro camera? However, this is a newsletter about new video/photo developments, and this certainly counts as one – we’ll see if it stands up to the hype. One can salivate endlessly about the potential for video projects – being able to selectively pull focus during post would be a dream for DSLR shooters, if it is in fact a real feature.

这是一款根据市场需求应运而生的、让你在拍平面照片时刻调整焦点的静态相机。显然，这种相机是通过一种“将所有光源”集中起来的与大众型数码相机有区别的“全新感光器”来实现共做的。这自然引起了很多人的怀疑。比如你能不能在后期调整光圈，对于光场相机而言景深的深浅有何意义？当然，这只是一条关于视频/照片相关发展的一则新闻，我们要最后看到它是不是一项炒作，随后才能把它算在其中。一个人对视频制作会永远心潮澎湃—对于一个单反摄影师来说，能在后期剪辑师有选择性地调整焦点简直是个梦想，如果能在不远的将来成为现实就太牛了。

Zhang Ziyi’s favorite films
Sort of bridges the gap between film and Chinese news… here’s a list of Beijing-born Zhang Ziyi’s favorite films. Surprised to see “21 Grams” among her favorites.

来点儿介乎于专业与中国之间的新闻…..这里是生于北京的章子怡最喜欢的电影清单。能在她最喜欢的片子里看见“21克”的名字，有点儿让人吃惊。

China/Chinese 中国/中文

‘Plastered’: Beijing’s Original T-Shirt Brand
Article about Plastered, the popular clothing store here in Beijing (and apparently elsewhere). Say what you want about the store, but they have a pretty successful operation, and certainly seem to be a staple here in Beijing.

一篇关于创可贴，北京（也可能那儿都有）最有名的服装店的文章，你可以对于这个商店畅所欲言，但是他们的运营可谓相当成功，甚至可以算得上是北京的“特产”。

7 Words for Condom in Chinese
Here are seven words for condoms in Chinese. They all reveal something unique about Chinese perceptions of sexual health – with words like “insurance cover” and “hygiene cover” serving as terms for condom. Interesting when the language does so much to reflect a culture.

在中文里，避孕到有七种说法，它们都分别涉及到中国人对性健康的独到的观点—比如说会用‘安全套’、‘卫生套’来代表避孕套。能够从语言来体现文化是一个很有意思的现象。

John Huntsman Speaking Chinese Becomes Hindrance to Evangelical Republicans
We wrote last week about how John Huntsman has been (awkwardly) speaking Chinese on the campaign trail. However, as Newton’s third law states, every action has an equal and opposite reaction – which is this case, came in the form of invoking the “Manchurian Candidate” fears of a wide swath of evangelicals. Kind of fun to watch this play out.

上一次我们写到了约翰▪亨斯迈在宣传片里说中文（蹩脚的）。然而根据牛顿第三定律的阐述，每一个动作都会产生大小相等、方向相反的另一个动作—就像这个事儿，产生了“满洲候选人”恐惧一般的、充满大片色彩的效果。真希望快点儿看到这个事儿的结局。

崩溃 bēngkuì To crumble, collapse, to fall apart
This word is appearing EVERYWHERE. If you listen to any talk show on the local radio you’re guaranteed to hear this at least once or twice. Comparable to 给力 in its ubiquity (is that a word?). Here are some example cases:

bēngkuì To crumble, collapse, to fall apart 支离破碎，土崩瓦解。这个词儿貌似随处可闻。如果你收听当地广播节目，你最少能听见这个词一到两次。比起‘给力’，这个词（能算得上一个词么）更算得上是无处不在。先来点儿示例：

Accidental Chinese Hipsters
NOTE: I’m not endorsing what some might call the borderline racism of this site… however, I’m offering it for your consideration. Make your own decisions. This is a blog that documents something called “accidental Chinese hipsters,” primarily around SF. It is basically based on the phenomenon of the complete lack of attention certain Chinese immigrants in the bay area pay to Western conceptions of “fashion”… which sometimes coincides with the supposed “hipster” instinct to flout fashion conventions. Anyway, the humor of the site derives from the face that you have these staid Chinese immigrants wearing outfits that would absolutely seem appropriate on the average Urban Outfitters shopper. Check it out if you dare.

注：我并不认同有人称这个网站是个边缘种族歧视网站……我只是把这个网站给你们看看，然后你们自己做过判断。这个博客里有好多被称为“中国人意外地追时髦”的内容，可能大多数是在旧金山拍到的。大多数片子都是关于在旧金山海湾地区中国移民盲目追从西方“时尚”的现象拍摄的，这其中大多所谓的“时髦”人都没能本能地正视所谓的时尚惯例。不论如何，这个网站的幽默之处在于，那么多看起来稳重的中国移民穿着看起来更适合商店到够穿着的服装。如果你有胆量还是自己亲眼看看吧。

You are a CANNIBAL and you didn’t even know it …
(To be read in the voice of Dwight Schrute): FACT: If you read the ingredients of a loaf, of bread, you’ll often see an ingredient called L-cysteine. FACT: This amino acid is contained in most commercials breads, pizza dough and pastries. FACT: This amino acid is harvested from hair that is gathered from the floors of barbershops and hair salons around China.

（请用德怀特▪施鲁特的声音阅读以下文字）事实：如果你查看面包的成分你会经常看到一种叫做L -半胱胺酸的成分。事实：这种成分在多数面包、披萨饼面团及糕点中都存在。事实：这种成分大多来自中国大部分的美发店或发廊的地板。

Chinese Works Build 1-meter Wooden Road on Vertical Cliff Face
Can someone PLEASE go make a short doc or video piece about these guys?

谁愿意给这些人拍个纪录片或者短片么？

Chinese Actors Play Muscle Role in Construction Gig
200 Out of work Chinese actors were recently picked up from the gates of the Beijing film studio and hired for 60 yuan to work a day as security in Fengtai, basically to fend off Fengtai locals angered about subway line construction in their suburb. 60 yuan per day isn’t a bad rate, though.

近期，200名无业中国籍演员聚集北京电影制片厂大门前，等着接受一天六十块钱薪酬、在丰台扮演保安的工作，他们并不是去表演，而是要去以真正保安的身份来平息丰台地区民众对于当地地铁建设的不满。不管怎么样，一天六十块钱其实还凑合。

Jobs/Gigs/Misc 工作/演出/其他

1) Short Suite Productions is looking for a 3D video artist /VFX specialist to do some work – specifically, someone who can animate 3d transformer models. If you provide the 3d rigged models, or if you already have them, that’s a big plus. Email shortsuitproductions@gmail.com with samples and typical rates for a 30-second piece for more information. Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon!

短西服产业现在正在寻找一位志同道合的3D专业技师/特效专业师完成相关合作工作-特别是能够完成3D变形金刚建模及后续工作的专业人才。如果您可以提供3D操纵模型，亦或您已拥有相关变形金刚的3D模型，那就更完美了。有意者烦请将您的作品样片、30秒相关水平制作报价及您的简介一并发送邮件至：shortsuitproductions@gmail.com 非常感谢！敬候佳音！

2) Short Suite Productions recently got contacted by a friend at a large (unnamed) tech company has a marketing position that just opened up locally in Beijing – they’re seeking candidates with a marketing/entrepreneurial background, who can communicate with 100% fluency in English and intermediate proficiency or better in Chinese. Local and foreign hires both acceptable. Working here in Beijing. Email shortsuitproductions@gmail.com (include your background and English/Chinese resumés) for more information.

近期，我的一位就职于庞大高科技公司（未涉及名称）的朋友正在全北京寻找可应聘市场相关职位的人才—他们需要有市场/企业相关背景、可以讲流利英语（中等水平也可以）也可以说中文的人才。不论是外籍人士还是中国人都可以应聘，工作地点在北京，有意者烦请邮件至shortsuitproductions@gmail.com（请附上您的中英语个人简历及个人简介）。

3) Short Suit Productions is looking for DSLR shooters to work on a wide range of projects. We’re seeking one-man-band operations where the person has a camera, a few lenses, audio equipment, and the tools to use them all as a one-person crew for a varety of corporate and events footage. Please send your reel and list of equipment and CV to shortsuitproductions@gmail.com.

短西服产业工作室现诚招单反摄影师来协作完成大量拍摄工作。我们急需“身兼数职”型的人才—希望您有自己的机器、多个镜头、录音设备以及所有相关拍摄设备以便您能独立以“个人团队”的形式协助或完成拍摄工作。有意者请发送您的个人简历、作品及设备清单至shortsuitproductions@gmail.com。

That’s all for now! Hope to hear from you soon!
以上全部！希望能够尽快得到您的回复！

Jim Fields
Short Suit Productions
短西服产业

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Short Suit Productions | 短西服产业
Email / 电子邮箱: shortsuitproductions@gmail.com
2011 Reel/短西服产业2011影片集: YouKu Vimeo
Phone/手机: (English/英语： +86 139 1079 7627）
(Chinese/中文： +86 186 1005 2800）

NOTE FROM JONAH: This is Part VII in “A Guide to Chinese Musical Instruments” a video series for Danwei.

• Guzheng 古筝 | Wu Fei 吴非 | Yuzhou Changwan – Fishermans’ Evening Song 渔舟唱晚
• Erhu 二胡 | Liu Hong 刘虹 | Jiang He Shui – Running River 江河水
• Dizi 笛子 | Zhang Zhongzhong 张钟中 | Mumin Xinge – New Shepherds’ Song 牧民新歌
• Zhongruan 中阮 | Wang Yiping 王一平 | Yi Dance 彝族舞曲
• Pipa 琵琶 | Dong Nan 董楠 | Chunjiang Hua Yueye – Moonlit Night on the Spring River 春江花月夜
• Flowerpot and Paigu Drums 花盆鼓、排鼓 | Wang Jun 王军 | Improvisation 即兴

From Wikipedia: The dizi (Chinese: 笛子; pinyin: dízi, pronounced [tǐt͡si]), is a Chinese transverse flute. It is also sometimes known as the di (笛) or hengdi (橫笛), and has varieties including the qudi (曲笛) and bangdi (梆笛).

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DIZI 笛
Zhang Zhongzhong 张钟中
Mumin Xinge – New Shepherds’ Song 牧民新歌

PHOTOGRAPHY
Jonah M. Kessel | jonahkessel.com
Kit Gillet | kitgillet.com

PRODUCTION
Jeremy Goldkorn | Danwei.com
Jonah M. Kessel | jonahkessel.com
Kit Gillet | kitgillet.com

Thanks to all the featured musicians & teachers from China Conservatory of Music and China Conservatory High School.

Special thanks to Dong Nan for organizing musicians and venues.

谢片中所有的演奏家的精彩表演，感谢中国音乐学院附中以及中国音乐学院的支持。特别感谢琵琶演奏家董楠对此片的演奏家联系和拍摄场地的组织工作！

NOTE FROM JONAH: This is Part V in “A Guide to Chinese Musical Instruments” a video series for Danwei.

• Guzheng 古筝 | Wu Fei 吴非 | Yuzhou Changwan – Fishermans’ Evening Song 渔舟唱晚
• Erhu 二胡 | Liu Hong 刘虹 | Jiang He Shui – Running River 江河水
• Dizi 笛子 | Zhang Zhongzhong 张钟中 | Mumin Xinge – New Shepherds’ Song 牧民新歌
• Zhongruan 中阮 | Wang Yiping 王一平 | Yi Dance 彝族舞曲
• Pipa 琵琶 | Dong Nan 董楠 | Chunjiang Hua Yueye – Moonlit Night on the Spring River 春江花月夜
• Flowerpot and Paigu Drums 花盆鼓、排鼓 | Wang Jun 王军 | Improvisation 即兴

From Wikipedia: The guzheng, also spelled gu zheng or gu-zheng (Chinese: 古箏; pinyin: gǔzhēng, pronounced [kǔt͡ʂə́ŋ], with gu 古 meaning “ancient”); and also called zheng (箏) is a Chinese plucked zither. It has 13-21 strings and movable bridges. The guzheng is a similar instrument to many Asian instruments such as the Japanese koto, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The guzheng should not to be confused with the guqin (another ancient Chinese zither but a fewer number of strings and without bridges).

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GUZHENG 古筝
Wu Fei 吴非
Yuzhou Changwan – Fishermans’ Evening Song 渔舟唱晚

PHOTOGRAPHY
Jonah M. Kessel | jonahkessel.com
Kit Gillet | kitgillet.com

PRODUCTION
Jeremy Goldkorn | Danwei.com
Jonah M. Kessel | jonahkessel.com
Kit Gillet | kitgillet.com

Thanks to all the featured musicians & teachers from China Conservatory of Music and China Conservatory High School.

Special thanks to Dong Nan for organizing musicians and venues.

谢片中所有的演奏家的精彩表演，感谢中国音乐学院附中以及中国音乐学院的支持。特别感谢琵琶演奏家董楠对此片的演奏家联系和拍摄场地的组织工作！

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Friend and film maker Jim Fields of Short Suit Productions has begun a bi-weekly roundup of China based video, film and DSLR news. Here’s what Jim has to say about his new email venture:

Short Suit Productions has begun a biweekly roundup covering Chinese film, language and culture. This is a bi-weekly newsletter that aims to cover these topics at least marginally, providing relevant information for people living in China, China watchers, or perhaps just people with an interest in film (specifically, in DIY and DSLR film production).

Short Suit Productions (SSP) is a Beijing-based production company run by Jim Fields and Stephen Goldberg. We offer start-to-finish, bilingual video production services, ranging from advertising, to short film, to various publicity pieces. We’ve worked with many Chinese and Western clients in the past – diverse companies like China’s BTV, Under Armour, International Bridges for Justice, and Nokia.

这是一封旨在将关于在中国生活、与中国动态相关或者仅仅是与电影相关(特别是对独立制作影片 或单反电影制作的电影人来说)的信息传达给您的半月刊性质的邮件,如果以上相关信息没有您喜 爱或关注的,烦请移动您的鼠标至邮件最下方:您可以点击相关链接,取消此邮件的订阅。

While Short Suit Productions gets their web site together, I’m happy to share with you their links for this addition. There are a ton of great resources for DSLR shooters and film makers out there and there are tons of great China news roundups; however, Jim and Stephen have localized information to those in China who have an interest or work with video — and for the past month they’ve found some great links. Here’s Jim’s Reel along with the links they’ve so graciously collected and shared. If you want to get on the list to receives these emails click here.

From below on, assume any reference to “I” is Jim speaking.

This email, will be split into three parts: (1) Chinese linguistic and cultural updates (2) Film updates, gear, production techniques, screenings (3) Jobs/ Gigs/Misc, which is just what it sounds like.

Chinese

Wen Jiabao Playing Basketball:
… apparently, Premier Wen Jiabao can really hoop it up. Pretty unbelievable footage

Chinese Immigrants Crash New York City Onboard Luxury Liner:
… an enterprising Malaysian guy named Fatt Kwee Wong recently tried to sneak 9 Chinese immigrants on a cruise ship from Dubai to NYC. Very ostentatious.

The People of China’s Ad Industry: Tom Doctoroff

"There are two key differences. First, all benefits in China are externalized; Chinese egos are huge — I always say every Chinese has a dragon in his or her heart — and they demand societal acknowledge for their contributions to and success within society. They are not individualistic in a Jeffersonian sense as are Westerners, who respond, in many cases, to “internalized” benefits."

…Awesome interview with Tom Doctoroff about advertising here in China. Really valuable points about the strengths and weaknesses of Western and Chinese approaches to advertising, and a good read too –

Jenny’s Guide to Chinese Accents
Good, easy-to-understand differentiating between Beijing, Dongbei, Fujian, Guangdong, and Shanghai accents. Quick, fun read.

Mobb Deep Shook Ones Part 2 (YOUKU; WITH CHINESE SUBTITLES):
… someone went through the trouble of translating Shook Ones Pt. 2 and translating it into Chinese. Great for anyone looking to brush up on their Mandarin gangsta terminology. Lot of gems throughout the video.

GOP12.com: Jon Hunstman Speaking Mandarin Chinese (YOUTUBE)
Every article about Jon Huntsman has some brief mention of his “fluent mandarin Chinese…” watching this clip sort of freaks me out. His pronunciation certainly isn’t “fluent” but he’s not horrible either. Interesting that he’s using Chinese on the campaign trail.

Rapping Chinese Grandma
… just what it sounds like. Fun video.

The Bilingual Advantage
Knowing another language besides your native tongue can delay Alzheimer’s, make you a better multitasker, and even make your neural processes faster in general – whoo hoo!

The Perils of Subtitling and Translation in Video
… this kind of falls in between Film and Chinese, so I’m putting it last. Excellent article about how to go about faithfully communicating people’s meaning and voice in interviews, written by excellent visual journalist Jonah Kessel.

Film

Philip Bloom – Short Film on Arri Alexa with 3D Mic Pro
Philip Bloom, as usual, showing off the best equipment available. Wish I could get my hands on an Arri Alexa for a shoot; looks like an awesome camera. Shooting in ProRes has got to make production such a breeze. 3D Mic Pro is interesting too – not sure why you wouldn’t just do more sound design in post with the 1,600 US price tag, but hey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.

The Minimalist Video Production Kit
How to use a golf bag, a toolbox, and small camera case to one-man-band productions. Seems a lot easier to move around than the kit I personally use – he says it only takes on trip from the car to his set.

Online Video Start-Ups seek Niche Beside YouTube
Interesting NYtimes piece about Blip.tv and other online video services that prioritize good content, unlike the free-for-all YouTube model. Seems like an encouraging development for any aspiring filmmakers out there with good ideas, but without an obvious path to distribution.

Black Swan VFX Before and After Video (YouKu) (YouTube)
… I finally watched Black Swan, about 4 years after everyone else. In any case, i was pretty blown away by the VFX throughout, which are showcased in the above video. Slightly different videos on YouTube and YouKu, but same basic content in both. Very cool stuff.

TeraDek Streaming from 5DMk2 to iPad
VERY cool stuff for any DSLR filmmaker out there… stream from your 5d to an iPad for easy monitoring during shoots.

Jobs/Gigs/Misc

1) We’re looking for a 3D video artist /VFX specialist to do some work – specifically, someone who can animate 3d transformer models. If you provide the 3d rigged models, or if you already have them, that’s a big plus. Email shortsuitproductions@gmail.com with samples and typical rates for a 30-second piece for more information. Thanks!Hope to hear from you soon!

短西服产业现在正在寻找一位志同道合的3D专业技师/特效专业师完成相关合作工作-特别是能够完成3D变形金刚建模及后续工作的专业人才。如果您可以提供 3D操纵模型，亦或您已拥有相关变形金刚的3D模型，那就更完美了。有意者烦请将您的作品样片、30秒相关水平制作报价及您的简介一并发送邮件至：shortsuitproductions@gmail.com 非常感谢！敬候佳音！

2) Nathan’s Hot Dogs is looking for Chinese citizens to participate in a Hot Dog eating competition this upcoming Saturday, June 18th! If you have any friends who are both a) Chinese citizens and b) big eaters, send an email toshortsuitproductions@gmail.com. The contest will be held in Beijing, so obviously the person should be local here. The winner of this contest gets a free trip to NYC to participate in another hot dog eating contest there! There are less than 15 people participating, so if you have any friends who want a free trip to NY, encourage them to come out and munch down some dogs. ALSO! If they do win, they will need a PASSPORT in order to travel, so please seek out your passport-carrying friends if you want them to participate.

3) I recently got contacted by a friend at a large (unnamed) tech company has a marketing position that just opened up locally in Beijing – they’re seeking candidates with a marketing/entrepreneurial background, who can communicate with 100% fluency in English and intermediate proficiency or better in Chinese. Local and foreign hires both acceptable. Working here in Beijing. Email shortsuitproductions@gmail.com (include your background and English/Chinese resumés) for more information.

That's it for now! Have a great week!

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NOTE FROM JONAH: This is Part IV in “A Guide to Chinese Musical Instruments” a video series for Danwei.

• Guzheng 古筝 | Wu Fei 吴非 | Yuzhou Changwan – Fishermans’ Evening Song 渔舟唱晚
• Erhu 二胡 | Liu Hong 刘虹 | Jiang He Shui – Running River 江河水
• Dizi 笛子 | Zhang Zhongzhong 张钟中 | Mumin Xinge – New Shepherds’ Song 牧民新歌
• Zhongruan 中阮 | Wang Yiping 王一平 | Yi Dance 彝族舞曲
• Pipa 琵琶 | Dong Nan 董楠 | Chunjiang Hua Yueye – Moonlit Night on the Spring River 春江花月夜
• Flowerpot and Paigu Drums 花盆鼓、排鼓 | Wang Jun 王军 | Improvisation 即兴

From Wikipedia:The Chinese paigu (排鼓; pinyin: páigǔ; also spelled pai gu) is a set of three to seven tuned drums (in most instances five are used), traditionally made of wood with animal skin heads. It is played by beating the heads (and sometimes also the body) with sticks. Most drums are double-sided and turnable. Both sides have different tunings. Tuning is done through the use of Allen keys.

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Flowerpot and Paigu Drums 花盆鼓、排鼓
Wang Jun 王军, Improvisation 即兴

PHOTOGRAPHY
Jonah M. Kessel | jonahkessel.com
Kit Gillet | kitgillet.com

PRODUCTION
Jeremy Goldkorn | Danwei.com
Jonah M. Kessel | jonahkessel.com
Kit Gillet | kitgillet.com

Thanks to all the featured musicians & teachers from China Conservatory of Music and China Conservatory High School.

Special thanks to Dong Nan for organizing musicians and venues.

谢片中所有的演奏家的精彩表演，感谢中国音乐学院附中以及中国音乐学院的支持。特别感谢琵琶演奏家董楠对此片的演奏家联系和拍摄场地的组织工作！

NOTE FROM JONAH: This is Part II in “A Guide to Chinese Musical Instruments” a video series for Danwei.

• Guzheng 古筝 | Wu Fei 吴非 | Yuzhou Changwan – Fishermans’ Evening Song 渔舟唱晚
• Erhu 二胡 | Liu Hong 刘虹 | Jiang He Shui – Running River 江河水
• Dizi 笛子 | Zhang Zhongzhong 张钟中 | Mumin Xinge – New Shepherds’ Song 牧民新歌
• Zhongruan 中阮 | Wang Yiping 王一平 | Yi Dance 彝族舞曲
• Pipa 琵琶 | Dong Nan 董楠 | Chunjiang Hua Yueye – Moonlit Night on the Spring River 春江花月夜
• Flowerpot and Paigu Drums 花盆鼓、排鼓 | Wang Jun 王军 | Improvisation 即兴

From Wikipedia:The erhu (二胡; pinyin: èrhú) is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a “southern fiddle”, and sometimes known in the Western world as the “Chinese violin” or a “Chinese two-stringed fiddle”. It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. A very versatile instrument, the erhu is used in both traditional and contemporary music arrangements, such as in pop, rock, jazz, etc.

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Erhu 二胡 by Liu Hong 刘虹
Jiang He Shui – Running River 江河水

PHOTOGRAPHY
Jonah M. Kessel | jonahkessel.com
Kit Gillet | kitgillet.com

PRODUCTION
Jeremy Goldkorn | Danwei.com
Jonah M. Kessel | jonahkessel.com
Kit Gillet | kitgillet.com

Thanks to all the featured musicians & teachers from China Conservatory of Music and China Conservatory High School.

Special thanks to Dong Nan for organizing musicians and venues.

谢片中所有的演奏家的精彩表演，感谢中国音乐学院附中以及中国音乐学院的支持。特别感谢琵琶演奏家董楠对此片的演奏家联系和拍摄场地的组织工作！

NOTE FROM JONAH: This is Part I in “A Guide to Chinese Musical Instruments” a video series for Danwei.

• Guzheng 古筝 | Wu Fei 吴非 | Yuzhou Changwan – Fishermans’ Evening Song 渔舟唱晚
• Erhu 二胡 | Liu Hong 刘虹 | Jiang He Shui – Running River 江河水
• Dizi 笛子 | Zhang Zhongzhong 张钟中 | Mumin Xinge – New Shepherds’ Song 牧民新歌
• Zhongruan 中阮 | Wang Yiping 王一平 | Yi Dance 彝族舞曲
• Pipa 琵琶 | Dong Nan 董楠 | Chunjiang Hua Yueye – Moonlit Night on the Spring River 春江花月夜
• Flowerpot and Paigu Drums 花盆鼓、排鼓 | Wang Jun 王军 | Improvisation 即兴

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While most of you know me as a photographer, videographer, designer or wonderer — I’m also a musician. Before photography took over my life, I was playing some instrument around the clock for years and even grabbed a minor in music from university.

A few weeks back, when I was talking to Jeremy Goldkorn, I mentioned it would be cool to film some Chinese musicians for Danwei. I didn’t realize exactly how literal Jeremy would take this statement and within a week, Jeremy and his Guzheng playing wife Wu Fei had a venue and musicians lined up. They actually had the same idea on the shelf for awhile.

For me this was a real treat: combining a love for music and photography.

And while I have heard plenty of ear breaking erhu’s and hollow sounding pipa’s on the streets of China, shooting these musicians really changed my impression of ancient Chinese instruments.

Normally when you hear a pipa, erhu or other ancient Chinese instrument the sound falls into the realm of “cheesy.” This is because normally you hear them on the intrinsically cheesy CCTV or during touristy activities where the point is to paint a picture of stereotypical China, and therefor, the stereotypical music gets used over and over.

However, if you wonder the halls of the China Conservatory of Music this is not the case.

The instruments and players are simply much more real. While the vibe is serious at the conservatory and you can tell these students take their crafts extremely seriously, the community seems to be light hearted and happy.

So — with the Danwei team and Kit Gillet we were privileged enough to have a single stage, a single musician (at a time) and a couple of cameras record solos and show that these instruments don’t have to be cheesy.

Breaking Traditional Barriers

While my impression of traditional Chinese instruments has certainly been changed from shooting these videos — what has become clear to me is how traditional these instruments really are.

Western instruments are used in myriad creative ways now. A trumpet can play rock music, classical music or punk music. The piano or guitar span any and all musical categories. However, very rarely do you see a pipa being used for other purposes beyond traditional Chinese music. So if musicians are on the creative side of people, why aren’t Chinese instruments being used creatively outside of the sphere of traditional music?

The answer to this might be rooted in Chinese history, culture and perhaps even in communism — which hasn’t been the best tool to motivate independent thinking or creativity. Perhaps generations of relative mono-thinking has stopped these instrument from evolving into non traditional forms. There is certainly an artistic boom going on in China — however, weather the boom spans all art forms is debatable. I noticed this a lot working with Chinese designers at China Daily. Getting people to think outside of the box could be very difficult. However, they were pretty good at following instructions. The problem with creativity – is there is not a finite set of instructions. Telling someone to be “more creative” doesn’t always produce good results.

When you apply this to Chinese instruments, you might ask — can they improvise? If you put a pipa player in a jazz band, can they listen and play? When I asked featured guzheng musician Wu Fei about this she said “Chinese musicians who play traditional instruments are not very open-minded to integrate internationally due to the culture and contemporary history.”

However, Wu has certainly been amongst a small crowd of Chinese musicians who is toppling barriers in traditional instruments. Fei contributed music to my recent film The Fate of Old Beijing, documenting hutong redevelopment in Beijing. While the music for this project isn’t neccessirly tradtional, its not the normal guzheng we are used to hearing. However, she has gone much further than this. This video of her playing “Akramachamarei,” a composition from John Zorn’s second Masada series “The Book of Angels,” really shows a different view of the Chinese instrument.

Fei is not the only one pushing barriers with these ancient instruments. The “current situation is that the growth of chinese and western (or world instruments) integration is much faster than 10 years ago,” Fei says.

I asked Fei for some examples and she pointed me toward Xu Fengxia (based in germany) a guzheng/san xian player and Wu Man (based in california) a pipa player. Both of these musicians are incredibly talented and are certainly pushing creative boundaries. Perhaps not ironically, both of these Chinese musicians — don’t live in China. According to Fei, things are changing — however, there’s probably a good bit of time before we start seeing more punk pipa or electro-erhu.

If you are into creative music I strongly suggest checking out Xu Fegnxia and Wu Man out, as well as Fei’s music here.

Behind the Scenes

For A Guide to Chinese Musical Instruments, I made six videos for Danwei, each featuring one instrument and a couple remarks about the instrument from the musician.

The videos were shot with a stationary Canon 5DMII with a Canon 24mm f/1.4 and a moving Canon 7D with a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8. While two cameras were rolling audio was recorded with the tremendously useful Zoom H1 Handy Recorder and synced in post production with Plural Eyes. I made the decision to turn the detailed shots from the 7D into black and white as a representation of these instruments’ ancient histories.

I really love the two camera approach, especially for interviews that could otherwise be mundane. Now that I’ve gotten used to, I can’t really imagine only shooting with one camera at a time.

It gives news a more cinematic feel. For more on this check out a great post “CNN’S CUBIE KING ON SHOOTING DSLR AND DEVELOPING A MORE CINEMATIC APPROACH TO JOURNALISM” on DSLR News Shooter from a couple weeks ago. Cubie King gives a what would be boring interview a cinematic effect by continually switching between frames.

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A few months back I shot a polo match in Beijing for the Wall Street Journal. Yes … the Chinese now play polo, too.

While watching galloping politicians, champagne guzzling Shunyi housewives and China’s crème de la crème socialize on a polo pitch on the outskirts of Beijing, I realized I had seen this before. However, I’d never been to this part of Beijing. I’d never hung out with so many ambassadors and furthermore I’d never even been to a polo match before, let alone photographed one.

The reason I had seen this before, is because its was the same story. Its the quintessential example of the world’s fascination with China’s nouveau riche.

You’ve seen it before and you’ll see it again: the Chinese now like premium wine, Chinese are now wearing Prada or the Chinese are now buying luxery helicoptors — it all fits the same bill, regardless of the material position du jour.

And while there are plenty of men wearing uncomfortably tight clothing and silly hats holding long sticks all of the world — when the Chinese do it, its news.

While I watched the man whose pants were two sizes too small grab another panda cigarette out a gold colored box, I wondered when the world get sick of the nouveau riche China story?

What would all of us journalists do?

We’d probably need to start reporting on other things, like exploding watermelons or brain-eating parasitic worms.

However, to be fair the world has always been interested in the rich. Since before the days of yellow journalism, the world was always fascinated with the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Furthermore, the spending habits of the Chinese alude to greater trends in the global economic power shift. For as long as the Chinese are buying cars and horses, we can bet that everyone is doing a little better than in previous times.

60 years ago, many of these people’s families didn’t have enough food or clothing to last through the winter. Today they ride around on $30,000 horses while their wives sip on Don Perrion and their drivers wait for them in their black Audio A6’s smoking a much cheaper cigarette, behind the pitch.

While the world is fascinated by China’s nouveau rich, because its apparently more interesting than reading about the rich with similar colored skin, on a ground level I’m caught somewhere in between disgusted and flabbergasted about the dichotomous nature of what surrounds me everywhere I go.

On the street that my office is on, I can buy breakfast for 3 RMB. 100 meters down the road, I can buy a Farari for 3 million RMB.

I enjoy a 3 RMB breakfast regularly, but when I see people enjoying their 3 million RMB Farari’s the dichotomy just seems greater than in the West. Its simply interesting that these two things happen in the same place.

Back at the polo field, a short fat man with a cowboy hat is showing his son how to hold a polo stick.

It is indeed a different view of China. It is indeed interesting. And they are seemingly so rich, they are just looking for ways to burn money while making sure the world watches. And they do.

I think it will be some time before the world will get sick of reading about China’s nouveau riche.

NOTE FROM JONAH: This is the continuation of a photo series from India. If you’re just joining us, here’s what you’ve missed:

1. I’m not alone here
2. People ‘like’ my diarrhea
3. Dancing In(dia) the Streets
4. Indian trains: Contemptibly cozy, crammed and claustrophobic
5. Feeding a City Part II: From Macro to Micro
6. Confusing realities of child labor
7. Enlightined in Bodh Gaya बोधगया
8. Kathmandu — You’ve met your match: Varanasi वाराणसी
9. Varanasi वाराणसी: Full Photographic Spectrum
10. From sea to sand: Welcome to Rajasthan
11. Holy cow!
12. Gender inequality in a Blue City
13. Indian Failwhale Tiger Tracking
14. Good Light and Good Luck: The Taj Mahal
15. India in a row
16. A Barefoot Metaphor: China vs. India

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While shoes aren’t completely necessary in life and I generally prefer not to wear them, in places like India — you’d think it would be a good idea to wear them given the general state of cleanliness in the massive subcontinent. This cleanliness factor and some crazy super bacterias floating around combined with the various animals that share space with the human population, it would seem like shoes are a good idea.

However, the Indian population certainly doesn’t think so.

While traveling across India, I was constantly amazed about how many people weren’t wearing shoes. In both rural and urban areas tons of people seemed to think the ground was enough shoe for them. As someone who has lived and traveled in the South Pacific, I’m quite used to the barefoot way of life. I’ve seen people walk across fire or develop calluses on their feet so strong they could walk on coral reef that would tear my feet to shreds. However, I’ve not seen so many people in urban environments develop calluses like the people of India.

So what do barefeet have to do with China?

I think some of this behavior can certainly be attributed to poverty. People aren’t wearing shoes, because they can’t afford them. This is not the only reason, but I think its safe to say when you see a barefoot child collecting trash of the train tracks, he doesn’t have any shoes.

This is a bit strange because any day of the week you can read a story about India’s booming economy. However, unlike in China the impact of this boom doesn’t seem to trickle down to the impoverished population’s feet.

I’ve mentioned earlier, my natural inclination to compare India and China. What do they have in common? They are enormous countries both in population and in physical size. They both have rapidly developing economies which would leed one to believe “things are better there” now then in previous times. And in fact, they are.

Although I wasn’t in China or India twenty or thirty years ago, the impact of China’s growing economy is very visual. While the income distribution is certainly not equal, from rural areas of Anhui to small cities in TIbet to desertified lands in Inner Mongolia or even the state of public bathrooms in Beijing, you can really see China has created massive infrastructure improvements and increased living standards for an enormous population.

I’m sure there are many in China walking around barefoot; however, walking around Beijing or any other major city I don’t really see that. In Delhi and beyond, you continually do.

Although this is a small metaphor that refers to the general living conditions of people from both of these “booming” countries the hint of truth in it might shed light on governmental and social constructions of both countries.

China’s transformation from pre-cultural revolution days to now has not necessarily been a smooth one, and certainly there are many issues that still need to be ironed out, including many human rights issues. However, the China’s communist model vs. India’s democratic model combined with the caste system certainly produced different results.

I certainly don’t claim to be an expert on Indian or Chinese history, politics or sociology but from the visual perspective, these countries and their developmental states couldn’t be more different, with or without shoes. Beyond policy obviously many other societal behaviors and practices (religion, environment, physical space, history) are key indicators when comparing these two countries, the governmental building blocks of democratic India don’t seem to be as strong as in China.

Flooded tunnels snake beneath the streets of Beijing

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Its hard to imagine a secret city built beneath a city — but in China, anything is possible. And Mao Zedong did just this. Beneath the booming Chinese capital that over 22 million people call home, is a city that has not had a single (legal) resident. Built just in case the cold war went south and people were to have to revert to a Futurama style post-apocalyptic subterranean life, the infamous Chinese chairman ordered the construction of a hidden city.

This weekend, journalist Kit Gillet and myself published a fun and creepy article documenting the remains of this enormous area that covers much of Beijing’s second ring road. This article published yesterday in South China Morning Post’s weekend Magazine Post.

Many people in Beijing have heard of this city, said to be able to hold over 300,000 people — but not many actually know too much about it, how to get down there or if its even actually there. At some points in time, a small area of the underground city was used as a tourist attraction, however now the entire area is blocked off and entrances have been boarded up or completely destroyed by Beijing’s expanding subway system.

While access to this area is a bit difficult to find, photographing is even more difficult. Here’s the situation: You are in a dark tunnel — 10 meters below bustling hutongs above. The tunnel is filled with icy cold water that changes in height from your shins to your upper thighs. The water is a bit brown or green in color and the only noise you can hear is dripping water and rats swimming in the stagnant body of liquid. Now, pretend your blind. There is absolutely no light. As you walk through, you might encounter various electrical chords hanging or spiderwebs blocking entire tunnels — but essentially, you are blind.

Now — take pictures, but try not to be distracted by that rat swimming by your thigh.

You can probably imagine this is quite difficult, but it does make for some interesting imagery. While this was a print story, we also have some incoming interest in video content from this area, which I believe might give people a better perspective on this massive area. More on that coming up …

And while I am not a wordsmith, I’ll let Kit give his take on Mao’s Underground City. Here is the article that appeared in this week’s Post magazine.

A large concrete door marks the entrance to the tunnel system

Tunnel vision

Beneath the bustling streets of Beijing lies an eery labyrinth of rooms that was built during the cold war to shelter 300,000 residents in the event of a nuclear strike

By KIT GILLET, May 08, 2011

Silence envelops our small group as we descend from the bustling street level into the cold, dark, flooded tunnels beneath the heart of the city. Peeling paint and mould flash before the solitary torch beam, as do rusty bicycles and broken pieces of furniture – all housed in a crumbling remnant of the mainland’s isolationist past. “There used to be lights down here but, now, because it is flooded, all the lights are gone,” our guide explains, as he points with his torch and leads us down the cracked steps into a warren of nominally off-limits tunnels beneath Beijing – otherwise known as the underground city.

As a local entrepreneur with the right connections, our guide, Todd (he prefers not to use his real name), was initially taken into the tunnels by a local official attempting to show off. Since then, Todd has befriended those living above the entrance and acts as an occasional and informal gatekeeper to one of Beijing’s lesser-known historical sites.

“Anyway, it would be too dangerous for us to use the lights – if one of the wires came down we would all die,” Todd says, as the icy water reaches up to our knees and the darkness swallows everything but the torch’s steady beam.

As the beam flicks from right to left, the three of us following him catch glimpses of tunnels stretching off into the distance, claustrophobic rooms left empty except for unusable light bulbs dangling from thin wires. Here and there, messages are scrawled on the walls pointing to emergency exits or extolling those below to dig deep and not spread secrets to the enemy.

Tunnels veer off in many different directions creating an underground labyrinth.

In architectural terms, the network of tunnels and rooms seems more like London’s Victorian sewage system or a long-flooded cellar in a French vineyard than a “city” built to house hundreds of thousands of refugees, complete with schools, offices, cinemas and hospitals. Yet that is what it is – or was, until the early 1970s.

In the 60s, Beijing was a city under threat. Already cut off from the world’s capitalist powers by its communist government and its cold war alignment with the Soviet Bloc, the mainland’s relationship with the Soviet Union disintegrated fast and, fearing the threat of a large-scale military confrontation, the country’s leaders ordered tunnels built beneath the streets of the capital, to provide refuge in the event of a nuclear attack.

At the height of the Cultural Revolution, amid widespread persecution and as students across the country were being sent to the countryside to learn about agriculture from peasants, hundreds of thousands of Beijingers were called upon to dig tunnels, often having nothing more than their bare hands or discarded pieces of wood with which to labour. The digging, which started in 1969, would continue for almost a decade, and the tunnels eventually stretched under a vast section of the city and into the hills beyond; from the central government district of Zhongnanhai to the countryside near the Great Wall. There was supposedly room enough to house 300,000 people for the several months that it was estimated the population would have to live underground before re-emerging to continue the fight or to pick up the pieces of Chinese civilisation.

A sign from 1977 with one of Mao’s favourite sayings at the time: ‘Dig deep tunnels, store more food, don’t seeking hegemony.

The nuclear war never came, of course, and, with the gradual thawing of relations between China and the outside world, the tunnels remained unused except by those too poor to find accommodation elsewhere – as with old air-raid shelters in the basements of building blocks, sections have been turned into dosshouses for migrant workers and the so-called “ant tribe” of unemployed graduates – and the local government, for storage purposes. Large sections of the tunnels were destroyed to make way for the many subway lines that now criss-cross Beijing while others were swallowed up as buildings got taller and their foundations went deeper.

One section, near Tiananmen Square, was opened as a tourist attraction for a while – foreign visitors would be led by guides dressed as soldiers past busts of Mao Zedong to a silk shop (a common feature of mainland tourist sites) – but was closed a few years ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The sections that have survived are now in danger of being sealed up by the government, which increasingly sees them as a hazard.

Rooms that would once have been dormitories, hospitals, schools etc were long used for other (uncertain) purposes. Now they, too, are abandoned.

In December, a legion of subterranean hoteliers, some of whom have been in business for decades, emerged into the daylight to protest against government plans to eradicate accommodation that can be as cheap as 100 yuan (HK$120) a month for a bed-sized room. For millions of housemaids, labourers, waitresses and taxi drivers, the only affordable accommodation in a city where property prices have more than doubled in two years is to be found underground, in basements or in the tunnels. Municipal authorities say the clear-out is for health and safety reasons, but critics say it may be designed to remove a poor inner-city population.

Hundreds of hostel owners braved freezing winds to rally in Chaoyang Park and hand out leaflets that criticised the authorities for ruining their livelihoods and failing to pay adequate compensation.

“This is incomprehensible to everyone in our business,” said a petition in the name of Civil Air Defence Shelter Industry Workers.

A side tunnel leads to a long-abandoned entrance. Above, the sounds of a family in their home can be heard.

“This is all people like me can manage. I tried to rent a place above the ground but it cost nearly all my salary,” said Xiao Lin, a migrant from Hubei province who earns 1,200 yuan per month at a nearby Korean restaurant. “If they ask us to leave, the only thing I can do is go back to my hometown.”

“It’s a shame,” said a hotel manager, who gave only her surname, Li. “In the past, officials from the civil defence bureau praised our contribution to the city because we make otherwise empty spaces profitable.”

The head of the municipal civil defence bureau, Wang Yongxin, has said that this year, accommodation in shelters will be phased out because the residents pose a security risk and sometimes create a disturbance. He said: “Civil defence shelters will become public facilities to meet the demand for parking and places for public activities.”

Years of neglect have left large portions of the remaining tunnel network blocked off, but some entrances have survived, hidden in nondescript buildings often only a stone’s throw from busy shopping streets.

Rubbish fills many of the tunnels.

It is through one of these entrances, hidden within a small, easy-to-overlook building housing migrant workers, that our group enters. The workers, resting on shabby bunk beds surrounded by a few possessions and pictures of girls cut from magazines stuck on the walls, greet our guide like an old friend. We make our way down a dark stairwell to a massive blast door.

Made of thick concrete, the blast door now stands immovably open, offering a view down the few remaining steps to the level below, roughly eight metres beneath street level. Electric lights are still in operation here and we can see long-dead trees in oversized pots, which brightened up the streets during the Olympics before being unceremoniously dumped down here.

It would be easy to become lost in the endless series of tunnels, passageways and rooms that are sprawled far beneath the surface.

Light fixtures hang dangerously in the damp abandoned tunnels.

“The Sino-Soviet split started in the early 1960s,” says Professor Zhang Xiaoming, a specialist in cold war history at the School of International Studies, Peking University. “The relationship took a long time to fully breakdown.”

Nonetheless, military clashes became increasingly frequent along their 4,200-kilometre shared border.

“There was also a serious incident in Xinjiang in 1962-63, when about 60,000 Chinese crossed the border into Soviet territory,” says Zhang. “They were all minorities wanting to migrate – they wanted to live in Russia and Russia let them in. The Chinese were not happy about that.”

It wasn’t until after the Zhenbao Island incident, in March 1969, when Chinese troops ambushed their Soviet counterparts and were bombarded in retaliation, and finally forced to quit the island, that Mao acted.

“It was from mid-1969, after the Zhenbao Island incident, that Mao released the call for the whole population of Beijing to start digging the underground city, though some digging had actually started at the beginning of the 60s,” says Geng Yongcheng, a professor at the school of civil engineering at the Harbin Institute of Technology. “Other cities also began digging their own underground shelters.”

Furniture, long abandoned in the damp tunnels, has developed thick layers of mould.

People of all ages were called upon to dig.

“It started in 1969,” says Bai Shixiang, who was 12 when the construction began and still lives in the same hutong neighbourhood near the Drum and Bell Towers, a few miles north of Tiananmen Square. “We would use chunks of wood stripped from the city walls as tools to dig with, so by digging the tunnels we dismantled the old walls.

“I remember it being quite fun as I was very young and could help out. The local residential committees organized when to dig and where; we just followed their instructions. We mostly dug in the larger courtyards but we filled in nearly all of the entrances a few years later,” he says. “There were one or two main years of effort but I have no idea how much we actually dug.”

Furniture, long abandoned in the damp tunnels, has developed thick layers of mould.

Few verifiable pieces of information about the full extent of the tunnel system, both at its peak and today, seem to exist, at least in the public sphere, and most discussion about the subject seems to be based more on urban legend than solid facts. Among some of the more persistent rumours – repeated by nearly every Beijinger who expresses knowledge of the tunnels but verifiable by none – is that, even to this day, there exist huge tunnels, four lanes wide, that can be used to transport vehicles the size of tanks directly under the heart of the city; that the tunnels covered an area of 85 square kilometres and stretched as far as the Western Hills, to the northwest of Beijing (so that government officials and military officers could escape in the event of an attack); and that the military used the tunnel system to move soldiers around during the night of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, on June 4, 1989.

Some truths may never be known but the tunnels that do remain and can be entered help paint a picture of what life might have been like had the worst happened.

“Some rooms were hospital rooms, some offices – they were all designated for different uses,” says Todd, as we pass several differently shaped rooms, all now dark and most filled with traffic signs, discarded rubbish bins and long-rusted bicycles. “I would guess that this was a government official’s room,” he says, flashing his torch around a dark space that, with a few steps leading up to it, has so far escaped being flooded.

A more recent bathroom shows that at one time locals lived or at least utilized some of the space.

Enjoying the chance to escape the icy cold water we have been standing in for 20 minutes, we spend a few minutes poking around the 10 metre by five metre room. It is hard to imagine the realities of living underground for several months with no natural light – and perhaps no light at all, for periods – many other people and little or no fresh food, all the while waiting for the dust to settle above to see if there is a world to return to.

The survivors were apparently to be fed from vast storage rooms and fungus cultivation and were to drink water supplied by 70 wells dug deep into the earth. Living quarters would have been cramped for all but the top officials.

“It has a living area plus an office space and also a way to get out,” our guide says of the room we are standing in and pointing to a small chute leading to a traditional courtyard. “This would have been his living room,” he says, waving his torch around the nondescript dark rectangular room. “And this would have been his office,” he says, pointing to an equally dark and nondescript room, albeit a slightly bigger one.

Thick mould has grown on the few items of furniture that look like they have been here since the tunnels were functional.

Rooms that would once have been dormitories, hospitals, schools etc were long used for other (uncertain) purposes. Now they, too, are abandoned.

We stumble further into the labyrinth, stepping gingerly to avoid the occasional large holes under the water and passing dozens of rooms. Most are filled with nothing but water and cracked bricks and paintwork. Door signs have long since gone – as have many of the doors – so it is hard to tell what most of the rooms were intended for. In fact, beyond the occasional sign pointing to an emergency exit, the only one we see is dated 1977 and extols citizens to, “Dig deep tunnels, store more food, don’t seek hegemony,” a popular slogan during the Cultural Revolution.

Following one emergency exit sign leads us to a small stone staircase that ends with a padlocked and rusty trapdoor. Listening carefully we can hear people talking above. The tunnels continue to stretch off beyond the range of the torch beam in a disorienting yet still claustrophobic way, although many end abruptly in piles of wood, presumably placed there by government workers to prevent people from getting lost under the city.

“The tunnels go on longer down there,” Todd says, pointing down a path. “But I wouldn’t recommend it unless you want to get lost or you have brought a ball of string with you.”

Flooded tunnels snake beneath the streets of Beijing.

We have no string, so we head back to the surface.

A few weeks later I enter another section of the underground city, this time taken by friends, who found the entrance by chance next to a popular hutong restaurant. Sneaking around stacks of soft-drink crates and down steps leading past several doors, behind which, by the sounds of it, are people, I’m led to a large, pitch-black space that resembles an industrial warehouse and that was clearly dug more recently, as storage space. Beyond porcelain toilet bowls and piles of smashed glass doors, on either side of the vast room there are small entrances leading back into the much-older tunnel system. These tunnels, similar in design and their state of disrepair to the others, are several kilometres from the ones I first entered, highlighting the fact that, despite the building boom that has taken place above, Beijing’s bomb-shelter tunnel system remains extensive.

More officer quarters are apparent as we make our way down one side of the tunnels, as is what could be another possible layer of tunnels above, visible through a large, empty shaft held open by a skeleton of wooden beams. Soon we reach a downhill section that’s submerged in water. Piles of rubbish block other tunnels and we are forced to imagine what might be ahead of us.

A side tunnel leads to a long-abandoned entrance. Above, the sounds of a family in their home can be heard.

The underground city belongs to an era that many people would sooner forget and, as such, there seems to be little desire to preserve any of it as a reminder of those uncertain times.

“The site’s numerous fire hazards, cracking walls and leaking tunnels pose a great threat to the safety of anyone entering the area,” an anonymous official was quoted as saying in the state-run Global Times newspaper recently. “The [underground city] finished its mission as an underground bomb shelter in the 1970s. We’ve long since upgraded the standards for building bomb shelters.”

Tunnels veer off in many different directions creating an underground labyrinth.

“Nowadays the Sino-Russian relationship is very good,” Zhang says. “Though it is unpredictable; no one knows what could happen.”

Whatever does happen, though, it is unlikely the residents of Beijing will make use of the cracked and flooded tunnels that, for now, serve as a reminder of more volatile times.

– Additional reporting by Guardian News & Media