Year 8 student Tony Yun (Canada) from Dulwich College Beijing was recently awarded first prize in the CCTV 2014 Piano Competition. The prestigious competition is held every three years and attracts a large number of talented participants who travel to Beijing from all over China. Competing in the “15 and under professional” category, Yun was the youngest of the three finalists and played Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor (third movement) as his final round piece. Notably, Yun played the piece with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in front of a live TV audience. Tony answers a few questions about playing piano and his recent win.

When did you get started playing piano?
I started playing piano at four years old. Now I play 3-4 hours during school days and 5-6 hours on weekends and holidays. I will practice more if I am preparing for a concert.

Where you nervous to play in front of so many people?
I felt nervous at the CCTV competition much more than other competitions and performances. I think it is because of the intensity of the competition. The atmosphere of the scene made me feel a little stressed.

How does it feel to be the youngest of the three finalists?
I didn’t think too much about the age. I just wanted to play well.

Do you hope to play piano as a profession or do you consider it more of a hobby?
My dream is to become a concert pianist. I love music and I really enjoy playing on the stage.

Photos: Courtesy of Dulwich College Beijing

Last month we caught up with CCTV news anchor and recent author Neela Eyunni at The British School of Beijing (Sanlitun capus). The American journalist answered questions from a Grade 5 class about her job and shared a bit about the first book of her new series, Cee Cee’s World Adventures: Beijing Bound. Eyunni sat down recently with beijingkids to tell us about the story behind her new series. See Eyunni’s conversation with BSB students here.

What inspired you to start the series?

There are a lot of things about Beijing that I love and wanted to share with other people, particularly children. A lot of expats write books about their China experiences, but I didn’t really see any for kids. Hopefully this will inspire them to come to Beijing or at least spark their interest in this place. It was also fun, but surprisingly tough, to get the chance to be really creative and do something much lighter than hard news. Finally, the book helped me remember why I live here in the first place and all the cool things about this city.

Do you have kids?
I don’t have any kids but my niece Desi who is almost four years old was actually one of my sources of inspiration for writing the book. I always talk to her on Skype and she is full of questions about China. She’s really curious, just like the main character Cee Cee. 

Where will the next book in the series take place?
Cee Cee’s next adventure will take her to New Delhi, India. I’m half Indian and have travelled there a number of times. It’s important to me to write about a place that I have spent a decent amount of time in and really care about. I’m not interested in writing about a place through the eyes of a tourist or after reading a travel guide.

Cee Cee’s World Adventures: Beijing Bound is available on Amazon and is sold in select bookstores worldwide. Eyunni is also available for interviews, workshops, book signings, charity events, and other public appearances to promote her book. Click here to see a more information about the book or contact Eyunni directly. See below for contact information.
Email: contact@neelaeyunni.com

Photos: Neela Eyunni

You might recognize CCTV News Anchor Neela Eyunni from Asia Today or News Update, the two live shows that she hosts for the network. The American journalist began her Beijing journey in 2006 as a university student studying abroad. After writing for print publications in Colorado and moving back to Beijing, Eyunni eventually landed a position with CCTV as the first foreign reporter on their reporting team. Recently, students from the British School of Beijing, Sanlitun flipped the script as they became the ones to ask the questions and Eyunni sat in the hot seat.

Hannah Thurbon, 10, Australia
Are you ever nervous about interviewing someone?
I get nervous before I interview people all the time, but I don’t think of it as a bad thing anymore. Now I think of it in terms of “I’m nervous because I’m excited.”

Sarina Soleimani, 11, Iran
What does being a journalist mean to you?
It means learning what’s going on around the world and being able to share that information with others. I want to tell meaningful stories and grab the audience’s attention.

Quinn McKissack, 10, Australia
How did it feel to be the first foreign reporter on the CCTV reporting team?
It was nerve-wracking at the beginning. I had to learn a new editing system, how to communicate with the cameraman, and do interviews in Chinese. It was like jumping into the deep end [of the pool]– challenging but very rewarding.

Chelsey Dong, 10, Australia
If you could interview anyone, who would it be and why?
Hillary Clinton would be a good person to talk to, because I’m doing a lot of political news right now and my focus is on international relations.

William Flanders, 10, US
What is your favorite part about being a reporter?
Becoming a temporary expert. My job forces me to learn about things that are really interesting. You really need to understand what’s going on in order to ask good questions and present the news in an intelligent way.

Lucas Taylor, 10, US
What job did you want when you were small?
I wanted to be a doctor but I took a broadcast journalism class in college and changed my mind. My teacher wasn’t actually in the classroom. He was on a live feed from Washington DC. Everyone had microphones and we would buzz in to ask questions. The first three classes, I was so nervous I couldn’t even ask a question. When I finally did, it felt really good and that started my interest to go into broadcast journalism.

Adam Portch, 10, UK
Where do most people get their news from these days?
Most people get their news online, whether it’s websites or social media. That’s really important as a journalist today because news networks and companies want someone who can do it all. For past jobs, I’ve had to write for the blog and the newspaper, and take my own pictures for the website. It’s really important to understand and be able to work in those mediums.

Hadijia Shimbo, 11, Tanzania
Why did you become a journalist?
It started with a love of writing and developed from there. When I first completed an article, I felt really fulfilled and great about it. Also, I’m a really curious person and that’s key for a journalist. If you see something, you have to want to know more and tell the story.

Sandra Arika, 10, Kenya
Have you had embarrassing moments on air?
I make mistakes all the time. One of the first times I was on camera, I messed up the order of the stories so the video and what I was saying was off. They can also be little mistakes, like mispronouncing a word. But I don’t think people focus on your mistakes. You just have to let it go and remember people aren’t watching a robot.

Isaac Scrimgeour, 10, Australia
What was your most interesting interview?
My day-to-day interviews with correspondents. The other day, I was talking to our correspondent in Ukraine and, as I’m asking her if the fighting is over, there was a big explosion. It’s those moments when you really get a sense of what exactly is happening at that place, at that time.

This article originally appeared on p40-41 in the October 2014 issue of beijingkids. To view it online for free, click here. To find out how you can obtain your own copy, email distribution@truerun.com.

Photos by Dave PiXSTUDIO

Neela Eyunni, an American journalist and current CCTV news anchor, recently published the first book of her new children’s series called Cee Cee’s World Adventures: Beijing Bound. Young readers and those new to Beijing may find they have a lot in common with the story’s main character Cee Cee as she discovers all Beijing has to offer. See description below.

When ten-year-old Cee Cee’s parents tell her they have a surprise for her, she can’t imagine what it could be. When she learns it’s a trip to Beijing, China to visit her uncle Phil, she can’t believe her luck. Cee Cee loves to have adventures and take pictures, and now she’ll get to do both! Young readers join Cee Cee on her trip, experiencing the sights, sounds, and people of Beijing right along with her, learning about the history and culture along the way. First, stop at a local restaurant to watch noodles being made and to watch Cee Cee’s little brother Jay try to eat a noodle that’s almost as tall as he is! Then, visit the Great Wall of China for sightseeing and a history lesson, where Cee Cee learns that the Great Wall is the longest man-made structure in the world and how long it might take to walk its entire distance! The next stop is the local market, where Cee Cee is excited to see all of the colorful scarves, pieces of jewelry, and handmade items spread out around her. The perfect souvenir for the trip is sitting right in front of her, she just knows it. Finally, try the ancient Chinese martial art of Tai Chi right along with Cee Cee – a practice, it turns out, that is a little harder than it looks. As their day winds down, go with Cee Cee to have dinner with a local Chinese family. There, Cee Cee gets to help in the dinner preparations with the family’s ten-year-old daughter, Ling. When Cee Cee realizes that she will have to eat her dinner with chopsticks, Ling steps in to teach her. Cee Cee can’t believe her luck – a trip to Beijing, and a new friend! Cee Cee’s dream is to travel around the whole world, and her trip to Beijing has been the perfect start. She can’t wait to see what else is out there and meet more new friends on even more adventures.

Eyunni was inspired to start the series by her experiences living and working as a reporter in China for the last four years, giving her insight into Chinese culture and society. Cee Cee’s World Adventures: Beijing Bound  is now available on Amazon and is sold in select bookstores worldwide. Eyunni is also available for interviews, workshops, book signings, charity events, and other public appearances to promote her book. For more information about the book, contact Eyunni directly or visit her website. See below for contact information.

Email: contact@neelaeyunni.com

The Wall Street Journal ‘s China Real Time Report blogs about the growing international  appeal of China’s homegrown cartoon phenomenon "Pleasant Goat" (a.k.a "Xi Yang Yang" 喜洋洋) whose ubiquitous animal characters have now supplanted the likes of Mickey Mouse and Garfield as the country’s number one childhood obsession.

According to the post, "Pleasant Goat" is being distributed by Disney "in over 52 markets around the Asia Pacific region" in such markets as "Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the Philippines and India with voice-overs in many different languages and dialects," and its producer boasts that many of its overseas fans "may not even know the show originated in China."

While the show’s overseas success of can be construed as a step up for China’s ongoing struggles with projecting "soft power,"  I daresay that one well-received children’s cartoon makes little difference in the bigger picture when it comes to China’s PR issues abroad. After all, even Hollywood’s juggernaut of American pop culture propaganda hasn’t dissuaded anti-American sentiment in some corners of the world.

Geopolitics aside, "Pleasant Goat" isn’t all that "soft" either — I’m going to state for the record that as a parent I loathe this show. The episodes I’ve watched with my daughter appear to be of little educational value and are riddled with violence. Granted, it’s of the cartoon variety  – in the vein of old school "Tom and Jerry" (from which this show seems to have drawn inspiration) – but with virtually an entire age bracket of kids in China aping the show’s regular displays of shoving, punching, kicking, slapping, clubbing  and other forms of physical assault on themselves and one another, it raises some serious questions about what (aside from money) the producers are thinking.

Of course this is not a culturally specific phenomenon – I was exposed to a steady stream of cartoon violence when I was growing up in the US in the 1970s and 80s (even today, I wonder how my own psyche and perceptions of violence in society were shaped, or warped, by the types of programming I watched as a child) – but the sheer number of kids, particularly little boys, I see running around hitting, shoving and bopping each other on the head as they imitate "Xi Yang Yang" (the main goat character) and "Hui Tai Lang" (the Wolf character) is still troubling. Other factors are at play, of course, and most of these kids will turn out just fine, but these counterbalancing factors don’t make the show any less repugnant to me – I can’t help but wonder what long-term effects shows like these have on kids in general.

Some parents, especially those who say and do nothing when their kid walks up and hits another kid for no real reason, are well-deserving of criticism; but it’s much more complicated: in a society where kids are exposed to a steady barrage of Pleasant Goat imagery on posters, cups, t-shirts, bags and even primary school walls, it’s hard to imagine how all the merchandising and desensitized violence would not leave an indelible impression on small children.

There are, of course, problems and issues with raising a kid in China that far outweigh one poorly conceived (and received) cartoon, but China’s warp-speed pace of change means that the effects exerted by all these societal pressures on kids are all-the-more amplified. 

I’m fully aware that kids are by nature, kids – boisterous, mischievous and at times inherently violent. Nor do I necessarily subscribe to the "absolutely no TV" rule in some households (we had these rules in our family for a few years and it only made TV seem so much more like tempting forbidden fruit to be indulged at any opportune moment). But surely China’s biggest central programmer can produce something better than this swill for the hundreds of millions of kids out there? And as for Pleasant Goat’s great potential for "projecting power" – I wouldn’t disagree, but in this case I’m not quite sure "soft" is the correct term. 

A not-altogether inaccurate parody of "Bad Bad Wolf" in the acrylic painting "Hui Tang Lang Day" by "btchvsjoel," for sale on etsy.com

After living and working around the Shuangjing area for three years, I’m finally starting to feel like our ‘hood is shaping up into a fantastic area for family life.

Mind you, I use the geographic term loosely – "Shuangjing" is technically a bridge south of Guomao on the east Third Ring Road – but most expats seem to use it as a blanket term for the entire area running south of the Tonghui River/Jianwai Soho complex and east to Dawang Qiao/Dawang Lu. The southern border is essentially the south side of Guangqumennei and Guangqumenwai Dajie, which intersects Shuangjing Qiao itself.

Years ago, when I had just arrived in Beijing, traveling south of Guomao was like a trip to the badlands – decaying roads, decrepit factories and dust were just about the only features of the place (the land where Pingod now sits was once a beer factory) – and I never would have imagined raising my family here, much less moving to the area.

Yes, the area still has a ways to go – from finishing up all the construction projects to improving the overall transportation situation (especially along Baiziwan Lu), but a spate of new venue openings in the past year has truly invigorated the entire area.

But as with the rest of Beijing, what a difference a decade makes – it’s now quite evident that after a few key construction projects are done (not least of which is the CCTV Tower complex and giant air force housing compound just east of the Third Ring Road along Baiziwan Lu), Shuangjing will be one of the most desirable places to live in Beijing.

Firstly, there’s the Pingod complex, which lies just south of Baiziwan Lu about 500 m east of the Third Ring Road and encompasses the blooming 22 International Art Street and Today Art Museum on its northern side. We spent a pleasant weekend here with our daughter and our friends’ families re-exploring our own backyard.

Sunday lunch consisted of a grilled fish (kaoyu) lunch at the hip, but kid friendly, If Yu Yuan, lying just east of the Today Art Museum on the north side of the Pingod compound. Like most of its neighboring restaurants (including the ever-crowded Xiao Xiao Jiu Jia and the nearby Sushi Bar), this place tends to attract youthful hipsters and trendy media types, but is entirely accommodating to families with small kids and serves very good fish and jia chang cai to boot. A few other restaurants new-ish looking places have opened up (more on this to come) along the strip and there is a Beijing-style dairy dessert shop towards the east end that attracts lots locals.

On the other side is the 22 "Art Street" itself. When we first moved to Pingod in summer 2008, this place was depressingly deserted, more of a dusty wind-tunnel than burgeoning gallery district (all it needed were some tumbleweeds to complete the effect).

But things started picking up last year with a spate of new gallery and cafe openings, including Dao Le and The Place Cafe that have added variety, culture and class to this hipster haven. The strip is also home to a host of design firms, hair and nail salons, clothing boutiques, the Modern Sky Record Label offices and theaters.

My personal favorite remains Unconditional Love Cafe, which has been serving some of Beijing’s best coffee (not to mention a good selection of imported beers) from this spot since 2008. Their frozen coffee drinks are sublime and this cafe is a great place to sip al fresco while you watch your little ones wreak havoc on the surrounding public sculptures.

Of course the main attraction of 22 Art Street is its many galleries, as well as the Today Art Museum housed in an iconic brick building at its western end. Over the weekend, the Fat Art Exhibition (a collaboration between curator Karen Smith and Beijing music label Modern Sky) was going on in Exhibition Hall 3 of the Today Art Museum and featured exhibits of eye-catching installation works by notable artists like Wang Jinsong and Liu Wei. Though edgy, most of the pieces are "kid"-accessible and it’s worth taking a look if you’re in the area.

More Fat Art displays are on the fourth floor of the Today Art Museum, with a few provocative pieces by Chen Wenlin ("How to Flee"), Hong Lei and Yue Minjun.

The Fat Art exhibit is going on until May 24th and there is also an exhibition entitled "Absolut Art," curated by former tbj Art Editor Carol Yinghua Lu, going on the third floor that runs until May 22.

There’s certainly much more to Baiziwan than just the Pingod Art complex itself – two blocks south of the 22 Art Street is the Tianzhi Jiaozi complex, home to another batch of great eateries and bars, including Lily’s American Diner, Grinder’s, The Brick and Zhuang, as well as The Loop just around the corner – all of them are great for a post-Pingod pit-stop.