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Oktoberfest (in November), live Beijing hip hop, and tunnel rave this weekend

Posted: 11/7/2013 2:11 pm

Halloween’s gone, but the party isn’t stopping.  Check out what’s happening tonight and this weekend in Shenzhen:

Nov. 7-12th - 8th Annual Shenzhen Oktoberfest - The Oktoberfest at The Venice hotel is one of the most anticipated parties of the year offering great entertainment and lots of delicious foods. Don’t miss it.

Nov. 7th – Learn to throw a Frisbee by the SZUPA – The SZUPA is an organization with the goal of spreading the sport of Ultimate frisbee to Shenzhen and China. They meet weekly for many activities related to their sport as well as social activities to reach out to the Shenzhen Community. Join them tonight if you’d like to learn the basics of throwing and catching a frisbee.

Nov. 8th - Beijing’s Purple Soul debuts their W.T.F Album @ B10 Live – B10 continues to bring you the true experience of live music and performance artists from the best of local and international acts. Come experience some of Beijing’s newest and brightest Hip Hop groups.

Nov. 8th – Adidas Originals Electronic Party Series – “Superstars” Featuring Jack Beats @ Pepper Club – Club Pepper continues to be an important club in Shenzhen drawing in international DJs and throwing popular themed events. Check them out as they take part in a Nationwide DJ series presented by Adidas featuring Jack Beats supported by Wonky Kong DJs.

Nov. 9th - Coaster Raid – Explore all of Shekou- Join Coaster Raid as they further explore the ever-changing city of Shenzhen. This time they focus on Shekou. Time to find out if it’s more than just expat bars and restaurants.

Nov. 9th - Tunnel Rave Presented by The Real Deal Inc - The Real Deal Inc continues their series of rave parties in Shenzhen’s now not-so-secret IKEA tunnels. People do love to party in the dark.

Nov. 10th - FRANKIE’S 2nd Annual Marine Corps Birthday Party – Frankie’s is Shenzhen’s most authentic American bar offering quality food and drinks. Come celebrate the birth of the United States Marine Corps.

Nov. 10th – Sunday Ultimate Frisbee by the SZUPA – Join a growing group of expats and local Chinese players play the fast growing international sport: Ultimate.

If you attend any of these events, please email me at [email protected] and we may include some of your reviews in a future post. Let’s keep your event organizers working to provide better and better events!

(Editor’s Note: We’re looking for dining and nightlife writers in Guangzhou and Dongguan. If you’re interested, please get in touch with us at [email protected])

Haohao

Halloween party buses, standup comedy, breakdancing and magic in Shenzhen

Posted: 10/31/2013 4:12 pm

Halloween’s finally here! The city is full of frightful fancy festivities. Check out what’s happening tonight and this weekend:

Oct. 31st - Halloween PARTY ON WHEELS - Join the FRESH Crew on a party bus driving all over Shenzhen stopping at different locations to dance and act scary in your best Halloween costumes.

Oct. 31st – Halloween Frisbee Trick or Treat @ The Children’s Palace - Learn skils of throwing and catching a frisbee, and maybe how to decapitate someone. Earn free candy if you come in costume. Frisbee Trick or Treat!

Oct. 31st - FOREPLAY presents: Bar hopping Halloween! – The second Halloween party bus in town hitting up different locations around town. Foreplay is a relatively new crew to Shenzhen offering unique parties and events.

Oct. 31st – Dream Night Magic Show by Yunke (Spanish Magician) – A real magician in town on Halloween? Sounds like something fun and interesting to do rather than the played out same bars in Shenzhen.

Oct. 31st - Halloween Party @ Coyotes Mexican Cantina – One of the only Mexican restaurants in Shenzhen is having a Halloween party in their Shekou branch. All you can eat Mexican snacks for 100RMB and Half Price Margaritas?? Por Favor!

Nov. 2nd - Hustle and Freeze 8 – Breakdancing Competition – Breakdancing can showcase some of the coolest movements in dance that sometimes seem impossible. Come out to Shekou to watch something really special.

Nov. 2nd – Takeout Comedy! English Standup Comedy Show in Shenzhen – THIS SATURDAY! – Takeout Comedy returns and this time they are invading Shekou. Trimmed down to only the best comedians from their last show and including two more seasoned performers. Guaranteed to leave you laughing. Vivek the headliner is hilarious. – Postponed to Nov. 9th

Nov. 3rd – Sunday Ultimate Frisbee by the SZUPA – Join a growing group of expats and local Chinese players play the fast growing international sport: Ultimate.

If you attend any of these events, please email me at [email protected] and we may include some of your reviews in a future post. Let’s keep your event organizers working to provide better and better events!

(Editor’s Note: We’re looking for dining and nightlife writers in Guangzhou and Dongguan. If you’re interested, please get in touch with us at [email protected])

Haohao

International Beverage Expo wraps up in Shenzhen with a focus on wine

Posted: 09/1/2013 2:28 pm

The International Beverage Exposition and Competition (IBEC) 2013 was held over the weekend at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian District.

The IBEC is “quickly becoming one of Asia’s premier beverage events,” according to the official website. The event showcased wines, spirits, beers, and even non-alcoholic beverages such as coffee from international producers, importers and distributors. The website lists Carrefour and Wal-Mart among the large retailers taking part in the forum.

“Wine consumption in China is clearly on the rise, with the younger generation leading the way with increased knowledge and sophistication. Cocktails and spirits are becoming more popular drinks of choice. Shenzhen is an ideal location for the IBEC due to the age demographic and fast-paced growth of the city,” IBEC says on its website.

IBEC is certainly correct when it says wine consumption in China is on the rise. It is already the world’s largest market for fine wine, and locations such as Yinchuan City are being hailed by many as China’s future wine capital.

However, President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on extravagance among officials may be having unintentional consequences for the country’s wine industry, with a recent report by the South China Morning Post on Tuesday claiming that sales in Hong Kong are down, and that “Value of re-exports to the mainland has dropped 27 per cent since [the] president ordered cadres to curb their lavish lifestyle.”

Photo credit: Shenzhen Daily

Haohao

Shenzhen this weekend: live music, anniversary parties and more

Posted: 08/29/2013 4:26 pm

Shenzhen is getting set to close out August in style. Check out what’s happening this weekend:

August 29th-30th – L A X Bar 1st Anniversary Party – Win a RMB3,000 Wine card, trip to Disneyland, and free champagne with an RMB1,000 purchase for the night. 8:00PM-4:00AM

Club LAX will have it’s 1st anniversary party.

August 29th-31st – International Beverage Exposition and Competition (IBEC) – IBEC is one of the highest quality and most professional beverage shows in China. Meet suppliers and try products. (All Day Event)

August 30th – Stabil Elite LIVE @ B10. The German New Wave Band – STABIL ELITE Tour in Shenzhen, China. Friday 8:30PM-11:00PM

August 30th – Lone I Club Opening Party – 2 free cocktails or glasses of champagne. 8:00PM-4:00AM

August 31st – Ailand – A House and Trance Musical Journey 10:00PM-6:00PM

 

August 31st – Fresh Presents: Back to School Block Party – Come celebrate the birth of Hip Hop music at an outdoor block party in a public plaza in Dongmen. 6:00PM-2:00AM Jesse has let us know that this has been postponed until a later date.

August 31st – Chinese Folk Songs Concert – A concert featuring Chinese folk songs composed by renowned songwriter Wang Luobin (1913-1996) will be held Aug. 31 in Shenzhen. 8:00PM-10:30PM

September 1st – Ultimate Frisbee @ Happy Valley Park – 2:30-6:00PM Hosted weekly by the ShenZhen Ultimate Players Association

If you attend any of these events, please email me at [email protected] and we may include some of your review in a future post. Let’s keep your event organizers working to provide better and better events!

(Editor’s Note: We’re looking for dining and nightlife writers in Guangzhou and Dongguan. If you’re interested, please get in touch with us at [email protected])

Haohao

Takeout Comedy brings stand-up to Shenzhen

Posted: 08/19/2013 6:00 pm

Eight comedians performed live at B10, Loft, OCT, in Nanshan on August 10th for the Takeout Comedy English Comedy Festival. The event was heavily promoted as a brekout of sorts for standup comedy in Shenzhen. Around 100 people showed up, which is a pretty good turnout for something relatively new in the city. I was fortunate to be there, so thought I’d share some thoughts on the night.

Below are the names of the comedians who performed in bold, their introduction provided by Takeout Comedy in italics, and my comments afterward. Let’s get started.

Nick Milnes, a British comedian living in HK, who performs regularly in TOC HK. He hosted the event and introduced all the other comedians. He started off the night with some standup of his own and had a few bright moments, but I didn’t feel he was a good fit for the audience, which was mostly American and Chinese. He tried his best and got a few laughs throughout the night, but for the most part he couldn’t hit the audience’s funny bone.

Andrew Chu, came second in the 2007 Chinese comedy festival, and came first in the 2010 English Funniest Comedian Competition. That however just makes me question who he was competing against. He definitely has a funny – but mostly creepy – look and some of his act seemed ok for an occasional chuckle. He also had a few callbacks to previous jokes which are important in comedy, but no really memorable moments.

Jim Brewsky, was a finalist in the 6th Annual Hong Kong International Comedy Competition and has opened for comics Paul Ogata (Comedy Central), Al Ducharme, Wali Collins (Comedy Central), Barry Hilton, Brad Upton (Comedy Central) and Butch Bradley (HBO). Jim was one of the shining stars of the night. He definitely knew how to work the room and had people cracking up throughout his whole set. His jokes and facial expressions were hilarious. I look forward to seeing him again.

Earl Young, has opened for Wali Collins (USA), Paul Ogata (USA/JPN), Ruben Paul (USA) and Al Ducharme (USA). He has performed in Shenzen and Guangzhou, China and the Philippines. He also was the headlining act at Comedy Masala #63 in Singapore in December of 2011. Earl also put on a strong comedic performance. He seemed more experienced than many of the other acts besides Jim Brewsky, who was maybe the best of the night.

Jayjay Ma, is a new but shining STAR in Shenzhen, he has been performing on Chinese stage for 2 years, and with an English major background, his recent English comedy show was awesome. I’m sorry, but if you are going to bill this as an English standup show, they need to speak much better English. He had – maybe – two laughs throughout his whole set. Maybe he’s a funny guy, but not many understood him. One of the worst of the night.

Victor Maltsev, is a Russian citizen. His style is oriented to George Carlin, Louis CK, Bill Hicks, humor with a bit of education, asking and answering question to himself and audience, true examples and situations from real life. Oy…Comparing yourself to George Carlin? Louis CK? Those guys are legends. Those guys are funny. Those guys are understandable. During the set and after I had people asking me, did you understand what he is saying/said? He came off as angry at the world without being funny. Even less funny than Jay Jay…

Kevin Zou, is the founder of Takeout Comedy Shenzhen branch. He is a bilingual regular performer and recently he is on TV Talent show in China. Kevin comes off as genuine nice guy that’s been practicing for a while. He has a good grasp of the English language and did a fairly good job with some good laughs throughout his set.

Vivek Mahbubani, crowned 2007 Chinese and 2008 English Funniest Comedian in Hong Kong and was the host of the TV series “Hong Kong Stories” by RTHK. He had high praise from my friends in Hong Kong before I had heard him and he really delivered. He played with the crowd and was funny enough to just riff and make fun of the audience. I dare someone to try and heckle the guy. He seems really smart, very likeable, knows how to work the audience, and best of all, he’s funny.

I would definitely come to another Takeout Comedy show, but I hope they would either replace some of the less funny acts, especially the ones who can’t speak English well, or focus on just the funnier comedians. I guess comedy is a matter of personal taste, but it was clear the audience, as a whole, preferred some comedians over the others.

The Takeout Comedy Club schedules most of their events in Hong Kong, but they do visit Shenzhen from time to time.  I’d recommending coming out next time and experiencing this for yourself. Good or bad, entertainment options in Shenzhen are sorely needed and nothing is perfect in the beginning.

You can get more info from the Takeout Comedy Club on its website: http://www.takeoutcomedy.com.

Haohao

Universiade tickets are now on sale

Posted: 07/13/2011 9:10 am

Photo: Shenzhen Daily

The wait is nearly over for the start of the Universiade. With the opening ceremony only a few weeks away, tickets are now finally on sale.

A press conference was held yesterday to announce that tickets can be purchased at 31 branches of the China Merchants Bank in Shenzhen, as well as select Merchants Bank branches in Dongguan, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. Tickets can also be purchased online at szpiao.com.cn, but we couldn’t find an English version of the site. As with train tickets, you’ll need your ID card or passport to buy tickets.

Oh, and some sports are restricted, meaning you’ll be limited to two tickets.

The Shenzhen Daily has some details:

Tickets are priced at 30 yuan (US$4.5) to 300 yuan, depending on the popularity of the sports. No less than 1.8 million tickets would be available for residents, accounting for about 65 percent of the total number of tickets, said Wang Zhi, director of the Games tickets center.

The rest of the tickets would be allocated to athletes, sponsors and media staff, Wang said.

“Ticket prices are cheaper than the Beijing Olympics and Guangzhou Asian Games,” he said. Wang did not say whether tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies would be for sale. The ceremonies are among the highlights of the Games.

You can get more details at sz2011.org.

 

Haohao
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