Saturday, September 08, 2007


At the euphemistically-named Beijing Pop Festival today, a mostly Chinese audience came to see headliner Public Enemy and scores of Chinese bands. Also performing during the two day festival: the New York Dolls, Brett Anderson of Suede, Nine Inch Nails and Cui Jian, China's godfather of rock and roll. In its first year, the festival drew mostly foreigners. Now in it's third year, the event has a majority Chinese audience and the approval of the Ministry of Culture, so long as Public Enemy is referred to in the program as "P.E."