Beijing Boyce

Know what this street needs? Rich entertainment companies...

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China Daily reports that, “The managers of Nanluoguxiang, one of Beijing’s most popular streets with a 742-year history, plan to restrict the number of bars and cafes in the popular tourist precinct.”

According to the story, the vice-director of the government office that manages the street, says the plan is to “work with rich entertainment companies to turn the street in an area promoting popular culture.” The article further states:

“All businesses in Nanluoguxiang contribute a total of no more than 500,000 yuan in tax every year,” [vice director] Yu said.

“There are more than 120 shops registered in this area, but they are all family businesses. To play up the cultural aspect of the area, we would prefer to cooperate with entertainment companies and performance theaters with a strong cultural background.”

“We will use a total of 13 million yuan to develop the quality and diversity of culture represented by the street by 2011,” he said.

Yes, “rich” entertainment companies fit the feel of Nanluoguxing instead of those pesky family business. Um, maybe not.

The China Daily cites one of the owners:

“The rent for a 30-sq-m shop was 1,000 yuan per month back in 2005, but now I have to pay more than 10,000 yuan. The rent has been raised by 10 times, which makes my business tougher,” said Yin Qi, owner of Chinese painting shop Color Together….

“I mainly relay on my regular customers to maintain my business, and I am worried that I could even lose them if Nanluoguxiang changes to a so-called culture featured street without the traditional Chinese art elements.”

I think the real problem is that too many people are having a good time in Nanluoguxiang. In other words, the place works. We can’t be having that now, can we?

(Hat tip to Vegemite Vinyl)

The Grey Cup / La Coupe Grey

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Canadians not only celebrate Thanksgiving ahead of their American neighbors, but they also hold their football championship about two months earlier. It’s all about freeing up time to watch ice hockey and visit Tim Horton’s, my friends. For those wishing to catch the ninety-seventh Grey Cup – with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes playing in Calgary - The Irish Volunteer (map) will show the action this Monday at 7:30 AM.

The Frank

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Two decades ago, if someone said, “Let’s get a drink,” there was a good chance you would end up at Frank’s Place, then near Workers Stadium. Registered in 1989 and opened in 1990 by ex-oil industry man Frank Siegel, it helped kicked off the non-hotel bar scene in the capital. And it drew a diverse crowd – teachers and students, businesspeople and diplomats, journalists and tourists.

Now located in Lido, Frank’s Place (map) will hold a party this Saturday not only to mark its twentieth anniversary, but also to pay tribute to Frank Siegel aka The Frank*.

I have known The Frank almost as long as I have been in Beijing, whether as a patron at John Bull Pub, which closed a few years ago, or the numerous Sequoia Cafes that he runs with wife Jennifer. I have attended about 50 of his Friday night wine tastings, visited my first Chinese winery – Taillan – on a organized by him, and discovered the joy of tequila sans salt and lemon after he held a tasting of more than a dozen brands – each presented by a visiting distributor from Mexico – a few years back. Good times.

In any case, this Saturday’s party will have free food and booze from 5 PM and 7 PM, with “super happy hour” prices for the rest of the night and music from rock band Deuces Wild. There will also be a tribute to The Frank at 7 PM.

For more about The Frank, see this talk I had with him in 2007.

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* I think we need a Pantheon of Peking Pub People – a kind of Hall of Fame – and The Frank would surely be a first-ballot inductee. Qualifications might include any of the following: at least five years in the Beijing bar scene, being known by a single name – “Frank”; and so on. Will work on this in coming weeks…