Friday, May 12, 2017
EDITOR HELEN PAN
12 CULTURE
Classic movie takes on
new form
By Helen Pan
Photo by Helen Pan
Things to Come is
regarded widely as the first
true masterpiece of science
fiction movies. In the hands of
a group of French artists, the
Neirda & Z3 RO duo, and
Keyboard player Stephen
Besse, this classic movie is
now transformed into a
remarkable visual concert.
On May 6, the cinematic
concert of Things to Come
was presented at the Wuhan
Creative Capital in front of
hundreds of audience members.
As lights dimmed, and the
movie began, the artists began
their musical performance. The
music varied according to the
plot, changing from acoustic,
to electro-rock psychedelic.
Aided by Chinese subtitles, the
audience were able to
comprehend what was going
on in the movie by following
the music.
Six Changjiang Weekly
readers were invited to watch
the show for free. They were
quite impressed by how this
movie was represented. Among
them was Ben Boer and his
students from Wuhan
University. Ben regarded the
film as a prescient work. He
went on to say he thought the
concert version was quite
melodramatic. Ha Lifang,
another reader remarked, "To
create music that fits
seamlessly into this 90-minute
film was not easy. I give a big
thumbs up to the performers."
The concert is part of the
Croisements Festival in Wuhan.
As the sole local print media
partner of the event, Changjiang
Weekly will provide more
opportunities for readers to
participate in the various
activities in the coming days.
DESIGNER WU XIAOLIN
Earliest modern prison in
China located in Wuhan
By Wan Jianhui
One of the earliest modern prisons
in China is situated at
Wenchangmenzheng Street in Wuchang
District. Zhao Hengyu, dean of the
Department of Architecture, SouthCentral University for Nationalities, said
Wuchang Model Prison (Wuchang
Mofan Jianyu), which was built in
1907, was one of the earliest to
introduce the Western prison
management system in China.
In May, 1905, Hunan and Hubei
Viceroy Zhang Zhidong set a precedent
by building a large Western prison in
the east of what was then Jiangxia
County's office building (on today's
Wenchangmenzheng Street). The prison
covered 20,000 square meters and was
equipped with prison cells, an
infirmary, bath rooms, teaching
buildings, a tailor and umbrella
department, and a drug-decocting
room.
The surviving building complex of
the prison is only as half of what it
once was, with a three-story Western
building and eight black-brick twostory buildings surrounding it.
Taking books from Zall
bookstore to read at home
By Ouyang Chunyan
KillASon rides the wave of the French
Miracle Tour to Wuhan
By Helen Pan
French rapper KillASon
arrived in Wuhan on May 2 as
part of the French Miracle Tour.
During his stay, the rising star
held two workshops on music
creation at the Wuhan Institute
of Design and Sciences (WIDS).
He had an exclusive interview
with the Changjiang Weekly to
talk about his music career.
KillASon was born in an
artists' family in France. His
parents often took him to watch
dance performances when he
was a toddler, and music from
different backgrounds and movies
are two main sources that he
considers to be an inspiration to
his music. Now a great hip-hop
dancer and rapper, who mixes
Stage photo of KillASon
his own hip hop, electro and
pop music, he has released two
albums which have had positive
feedback by critics from the
French and English media. In
contrast to his imaginative and
extravagant show on the stage,
KillASon is quite modest in real
life. When asked about the
report by The New York Times
for his first album Rize, he said
it was a cooperative project, and
he had only made a small
contribution.
KillASon enjoyed his busy
days in Wuhan. In the workshop
held at WIDS, he showed
students how to compose a
track, and invited local rappers
to contribute their own rap.
"Rappers share the same
language," said KillAson. The
ambitious young singer hopes to
go far in the Chinese music
market. "I will return to Wuhan",
he said emphatically.
Borrowing books from a bookstore
and taking them back for home
reading is the book sharing plan Zall
Bookstore launched with Jiang'an
District Library in the middle of April.
General manager of Zall Bookstore,
Wang Sujuan, said about 200 readers
have borrowed 400 books in 20 days
as of May 4. "As our first try, it is
pretty good."
Except for books from a select
few categories, most books priced less
than RMB100 can be borrowed for
free with a library card from the
Jiang'an District Library. Every cardholder can borrow two books at a
time with a loan period of 30 days.
The ceiling for the number of books
that can be borrowed is 10.