To No One’s Surprise, Shanghai International Film Festival 2022 Canceled

The fate of this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) has finally been announced: On June 6, the organizing committee revealed that the 25th edition of SIFF, which had initially been planned for June, has been (unsurprisingly) postponed to next year due to the ongoing pandemic.

For a city that has just lifted its two-month-long lockdown, the cancellation of its A-list international film festival — the most prestigious in China — is a bitter pill to swallow.

Even so, the official announcement merely confirmed the writing on the wall. The festival’s lineup was set to be released in May, a time when Shanghai was in a prolonged, stringent lockdown; after it failed to surface, speculation became rife that the event would be rescheduled or canceled.

SIFF is not the only international event that has been called off or postponed in the city (Shanghai Fashion Week, notably), or the only one nationwide.

An announcement by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in early May revealed two significant cancellations: The 2022 Asian Games, which would originally have been held in Hangzhou in September, have been postponed until 2023. Likewise, the Asian Youth Games in the southern Chinese city of Shantou will no longer happen this December.

The postponement of SIFF has caused many to fret over the fate of the Beijing International Film Festival, which has been scheduled for mid-August this year.

To comfort glum cinephiles, SIFF’s organizing committee has plans to roll out film exhibitions and other activities in the second half of 2022, circumstances permitting.

Nonetheless, the suspension of SIFF only adds to the woes experienced by the Chinese film industry, as cinemas struggle to survive, box office sales plummet, and fewer films are released.

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Cover photo via Depositphotos

Zhou Shen, Bai Jingting to Appear at Bilibili’s Summer Graduation Concert

Chinese streaming platform Bilibili has announced the official lineup for its 2022 summer graduation concert, which will be held on Thursday, June 16, at 7 PM. The star-studded list includes Bai Jingting, the lead actor in one of China’s hottest TV shows, Reset, and Taiwanese indie rock band Accusefive.

A collaboration between Bilibili, some of China’s best universities — including Shanghai Jiatong University and Wuhan University, and famous pop stars and influencers, the graduation concert has been held annually since 2020. It serves to honor high school grads who recently sat for China’s notoriously competitive gaokao.

Given that fresh graduates have few outlets to celebrate in light of China’s strict Covid prevention and control policies, the concert announcement couldn’t have come at a better time.

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A poster of Bai Jingting to promote Bilibili’s upcoming graduation concert

On the microblogging platform Weibo, a hashtag for the online event has garnered 170 million views.

Chinese netizens seem pumped over the participation of two stars in particular: Bai Jingting and Zhou Shen (aka Charlie Zhou).

Bai Jingting Bilibili Concert

Chinese actor Bai Jingting

Bai, a favorite among Chinese youth for his cool looks and sharp sense of humor, is best known as the lead actor in C-dramas like You Are My Hero and Reset.

Many comments under the concert’s Weibo thread revolve around the 28-year-old, including the following: “My complexion hasn’t been good recently. The doctor told me to take vitamins, but I don’t need them because you, @BaiJingting, are my vitamin E.”

Zhou Shen Bilibili Concert

A poster of Zhou Shen to promote Bilibili’s upcoming concert

Musician Zhou has also been feted since the concert was announced.

A fan of Zhou’s even thanked Bilibili for featuring the star, “The gift is well received, thanks! I hope everyone can stay young at heart just like Mr. Zhou Shen.”

The 29-year-old, known for his boyish appearance and angelic vocals, has sung for countless TV shows and movies, including the Chinese animated film Big Fish & Begonia and the 2018 Oscar Best Picture The Shape of Water.

All images via Weibo

Get to Know Guo Pei, China’s Queen of Couture, in New Documentary

Guo Pei is the Chinese queen of couture. Sometimes compared to Chanel, the fashion designer marries traditional Chinese elements and French haute couture with effortless grace.


Get to know the trendsetter in a new short documentary titled Guo Pei: Embroidered Dreams. The film was released in May, a collaboration between global video channel Nowness Asia and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.


Guo Pei: Embroidered Dreams is not the first documentary to spotlight the fashion designer. But while Pietra Brettkelly’s 2018 documentary Yellow is Forbidden covered Guo’s emergence on the international scene, Guo Pei: Embroidered Dreams is tied to Guo’s ongoing exhibition Couture Fantasy (extended until November 27) at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco.


“Her career is emblematic of a shift in global fashion narratives and China’s rise as a fashion leader,” commented Thomas Campbell, CEO of the museum, in an interview with Vogue.

Guo, whose designs break the boundaries between reality and fantasy, fashion and art, and East and West, is one of the most globally recognized Chinese designers.


Not only is Guo the first Asian couturier to be inaugurated as a member of the highly exclusive Trade Association of High Fashion in Paris, but her designs also have a place on the runways of Paris Fashion Week.


Warning: Spoilers ahead!


In a scene from Embroidered Dreams, Guo fondly recalls her grandmother’s keen knowledge of traditional Chinese clothing. As someone who grew up during China’s Cultural Revolution, Guo never had the opportunity of knowing such embroidered splendor, and has since aspired to reproduce it in her designs.


Guo’s ambition led her to conduct extensive fieldwork in Northern China: “I went from door to door, asking women who knew how to sew. I wanted to find these lost things and to pass them on [to future generations].”

The film also reveals how Guo’s younger self dearly loved the color yellow but was warned by her grandmother that it could only be worn by emperors. For this reason, yellow has come to represent the ideal and unattainable to the designer.


Colloquially called the ‘Yellow Empress Dress,’ one of Guo’s most iconic creations is a cape gown weighing 48 pounds that Rihanna wore at the 2015 MET Gala.

This article was updated at 12:00 PM on August 29 to reflect that ‘Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy’ at the Legion of Honor museum has been extended until November 27, 2022.


Cover image via YouTube

Actress Qi Wei Breaks Tradition, Bestows Second Child With Her Surname

On May 27, Chinese actress Qi Wei made a joyous announcement to her 48 million followers on Weibo: Qi and her Korean American husband Li Chengxuan (aka Nathan Lee) are expecting their second child. Chinese netizens have been especially invested in Qi’s second pregnancy ever since the actress announced that her second child would inherit her family name, Qi.

Contrary to naming traditions in the West, women in China do not adopt their husband’s surname after being wed. Nonetheless, it is common practice for children to inherit paternal surnames in China, which makes Qi and Lee’s decision atypical.

“Before I even gave birth to Lucky [the couple’s first child], we discussed and agreed that if we had children in the future, our first child would take Li’s last name while the second would take mine,” said Qi in a livestream.

qi wei

A screenshot of Qi Wei’s livestream in which she announced her second child’s last name. Image via Weibo

Not only has the hashtag related to Qi’s announcement accumulated more than 200 million views, but many have also written in to applaud the couple’s decision.

“This is how it should be. No law requires a child to inherit its father’s surname,” posted a netizen on microblogging platform Weibo.

“For a public figure such as Qi to be doing this sends a nice message. I hope more women can fight for their rights to pass their last names on to their children,” wrote another.

Some have shared their hopes that matriarchal naming traditions will be normalized: “I hope this practice can be more common in the future.”

On the other hand, others think it matters not whose last name the child adopts: “It is the couple’s child. Taking dad’s last name or mom’s last name is the same thing.”

According to state-back online publication Sixth Tone, the Chinese surname inheritance system is “a defining characteristic of the country’s traditional patriarchal family structures, which greatly emphasized the need to have sons to carry on the family name.”

If anything, Qi’s big announcement underscores an increased awareness of the importance of challenging old-fashioned traditions, including passing down a father’s surname to the next generation.

Cover image via Qi Wei’s official Weibo

UFC Fight Pass Inks Deal With Top Chinese MMA Promotion

Global MMA fans will be able to experience the mayhem of one of China’s top mixed martial arts promotions, JCK MMA, after subscription-based video streaming service UFC Fight Pass secured a multi-event agreement with the company. The next JCK MMA event is in Haikou, on China’s hot and humid Hainan Island, and will be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass on June 4 at 7 PM in China (7 AM on the United States’ East Coast; 4 AM at UFC’s headquarters in Vegas), according to a media release.

According to Tapology, the main event will be flyweight fisticuffs between Longlin Fight Club’s Yin Shuai and Quan Li Combat Club’s Li Peng.

Yin Shuai

Yin Shuai will exchange blows with Li Peng on June 4 in the main event of JCK MMA’s Fight Night in Haikou

For those unacquainted with China’s burgeoning MMA scene (we recommend you check out episodes one and two of RADII’s documentary on Chinese MMA, Way of the Warrior), JCK was founded in 2020 and has since held more than 340 individual bouts over 51 events.

The fight promotion operates a tournament-style format separated into seasons. Participating athletes are promised five fights each season to determine fighter rankings.

Li Peng

Li Peng channeling his inner Shaolin monk

“It’s a historical moment for JCK MMA to be the first-ever Chinese promotion on UFC Fight Pass,” said Joe Qiaobo, director of international development at JCK MMA, in a media release. “This partnership showcases JCK in front of a global audience. We are proud to have JCK represent Chinese MMA on a world stage.”

Thirty-eight athletes from a range of weight classes are participating in the 2022 season, which boasts several noteworthy additions, including a women’s strawweight division and three new men’s divisions (middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight).

The current season will conclude with a finale where winning fighters walk away with an oh-so-sweet 1 million RMB (approximately 150,000 USD).

For MMA fans unfamiliar with JCK MMA, former Bellator athlete and current JCK Fight Night commentator Vaughn Anderson tells RADII that they can expect elite athleticism from fighters on the UFC’s radar.

“The focus of athletics in China is often immediately as a career path. This same mentality that brings China so much Olympic success also propels combat sports talent up the ladder quickly,” says Anderson. “JCK showcases top new blood, well-trained, well-rounded, well-conditioned — all gunning for that huge payoff and glory JCK offers to every division winner every year.”

According to the press release, several current UFC Academy athletes are participating in this JCK season, such as Shang Zhifa, E Yong, Zhu Kangjie, Cui Liucai, Jiniushiyue, and Taiyilake. Previous seasons of JCK featured UFC Academy alumni Shayilan Nuerdanbieke, who now trades blows in the UFC’s Octagon.

Hungry to learn more about China’s MMA scene? Then take a look at our Way of the Warrior series.

All images via Twitter

‘Erewhon,’ the Otherworldly Art Exhibition by Geng Dayou

An online art exhibition that’s literally out of this world, Erewhon by Geng Dayou is set in a sprawling alien world that begs to be explored. Geng’s first virtual solo exhibition, which was built using virtual reality development software Unity, was released in April but is still running today.

WSJ. Men’s Style China has described Erewhon as the “closest contemporary art practice to the metaverse under the current technology.”

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Born in Shandong province, south of Beijing along China’s East Coast, 24-year-old Geng is an artist, curator, writer, and the co-founder of Vrch Studio, an interdisciplinary art, design, and tech collective.

While terms such as ‘spatial-web’ and ‘mixed-reality technology’ might be incomprehensible jargon to most, they’re just part of the transdisciplinary artist’s daily vocabulary.

With a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in contemporary art procured in London, the Shanghai-based artist is deeply influenced by Eastern and Western philosophies.

Human consciousness is his most significant interest, confides Geng in RADII: “I decided to study psychology because I wanted to understand myself better, to become self-aware. Trying to understand my work equates to trying to understand my own consciousness.”

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A video game enthusiast since he was 3 years old, Geng grew to love psychology and theater as he got older. As such, Erewhon is a culmination of the artist’s three-way interest in gaming, theater, and psychoanalysis.

“In my opinion, video games are the best medium to enhance interaction,” says Geng. “But when making Erewhon, I saw myself more as a theater director. I didn’t want to feed my work to an audience; I wanted them to interact with it freely and without directions.”

geng-dayou-erewhon

Sure enough, there are no arrows plastered on the walls in Erewhon to encourage visitors to follow a particular flow or gallery attendants handing out maps — just a sense of unlimited (perhaps overwhelming), open-world freedom. ‘Gallery-goers’ even have the option of interacting with one another in addition to the artworks on display.

Coined by English novelist Samuel Butler, who also penned a namesake book, ‘Erewhon’ is an anagram of ‘here’ and ‘now.’ Geng took it to mean that to deconstruct reality, we should not reject it but reverse it.

German composer Richard Wagner served as Geng’s second muse for the project. An admirer of Wagner’s concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, or ‘total artwork,’ the vicenarian believes that all artistic disciplines are interconnected.

“Contemporary art should always be interdisciplinary, so artists are never limited in the process of creation,” says Geng.

geng-dayou-erewhon

“AR and VR experiences are already pushing the boundaries [of art]. But I feel like technology is almost its own animal. So maybe, with art, we can find a way to guide technology in a more human and humane way,” muses the artist.

Check out Erewhon by Geng Dayou by clicking here.

All images courtesy of Geng Dayou