The dReamcatcher.: Beijing : 798, Caochangdi & beyond.

Great day in Beijing, the day of the big party!! Rob Minkoff (actually his Chinese American wife, Crystal) threw a big party for the kickoff of the Beijing Film festival. They have had an apartment in Beijing for five years & Rob has become a fixture in the film industry here. Crystal's brother (both of them from LA) moved here in '97 & has become a Chinese pop star of sorts, so we have met some very interesting people over the last week. We spent the majority of the day in 798, the place to go to see Chinese Contemporary Art, comparable to Soho. It is a very polished version of Caochangdi, which we went to later in the day to see the month long photo exhibit that just started. Caochangdi is a small village a little farther out than 798, you have to walk through very confusing streets to finally find this modern art mecca buried in the nucleus of old Chinese culture. Awesome. We left mid afternoon to go back & get ready for the party. One of the best things about China is how cheap the services are, so I was able to have a facialist come to the room, get my hair blown out & then my make up done...I felt like a real woman!! I could get use to it here...The party was very cool in an old China, 1920's sort of way, with many Asian movie stars, models dressed up in ball gowns with masks, cotton candy & far too many "Minkoff's", champagne with vodka & lime (a good drink btw)! To top the night off we ended up at Spark to see Lil John perform, a very random & amazing experience to have in China. To read the LA Times article about the party, click: HERE.