Hi readers!
All of us in the Gou-rou office wish you, our readers, a very Happy New Chinese Year. We hope that you all received enough hongbao, and had fun watching the CCTV New Year Gala, which this year we all watched together here in the Gou-rou offices whilst eating some yangrouchuanr.
This year the Gala was a wonderfully tasteful and subtle affair - classy and low-key. Even the product placement was almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye. Representatives from China's minorities revealed that they too share the common dream. All in all a darn good night's viewing!
Anyhow readers, the turning of the year has brought into the limelight just how modern and hip China is becoming, and in particular our city of Beijing.
I think it would not be too hasty to announce what many of us here in the Gou-rou building have known for a long time... Beijing is the new hip-centre of the world. The evidence is all around us. Take for example some of the recent international superstars who have been getting us boogieing down in Beijing in recent months. We've had Cyndy Lauper, Boyz II Men and Whitney Houston. Ten/fifteen years ago, you could have found these artists bringing in big crowds in cool cities such as New York, London or Paris, but not today readers. Today these prime acts can be found here, the new centre of Inter-cool...BEIJING.
To celebrate this fact, all of the wacky lot here at the Gou-Rou complex have been beavering away preparing this bumper packed issue for you. We have the funky urban chic Angel Chu, who each issue will be letting us know what the hippest members of society have been getting down to. This month our music expert Solomon West (club reviewer) has been checking out some of the DJs who are driving the new cool here. Katie Chambers, sino-observer who has lived here for several months is our featured writer, getting deep into the Beijing-Shanghai debate, and revealing what many of us here at the Gou-Rou compound have known for weeks. Check out the article yourself if you want to find out more. On top of this, we have a host of other features and articles to let you know exactly how to be cool, what to eat, where to go and what to say!
Hope you enjoy it!
Arabella Green
editor, gou-rou.com