Beijing gets its first ever rock 'n' roll cafe
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The Singapore-based Hard Rock Cafe Holdings invited The Jakarta Post to the recent grand opening of Hard Rock Cafe in Beijing. Here is the report. ---------------------------------------------------------------
By Harry Bhaskara
1 col 8 pt
BEIJING (JP): The very name North Dongsanhuan Rd. in this city's Chaoyang district sounds anachronistic once you step inside this American cafe.
The only clue that you are still in China is a depiction of Chairman Mao on the domed mural of the cafe which looks more like a rock 'n' roll museum.
More than 30 guitars plucked by famous rockers and heaps of other celebrity memorabilia fill the walls.
With or without any Chinese ambience, this 400-seat cafe, located in the heart of Beijing's embassy, hotel and entertainment belt, was thronged with some 800 people each day during the four weeks of its soft opening.
"You see, we are not yet open, and it is already full of people," a beaming Art Levitt, president and CEO of the cafe told The Jakarta Post on the eve of the grand opening.
Full of people in this communist country?
"This has no relation to politics," said Levitt, who had just flown in from Florida, "we serve all people."
Beijing's stamp of approval was evident with the presence of Beijing Tourism Administration director Dong Chun-sheng at the official opening on May 14.
"This is a momentous occasion for both the People's Republic of China and the Hard Rock Cafe," said Colin Syn, director of Hard Rock Cafe Holdings. "It's an opportunity to expose the Chinese to not only traditional American fare, but also to what a typical American-style cafe is like."
As night fell and the chilly spring wind roared outside the Landmark Tower where the cafe is located, Beijing's belles took to the dance floor to tunes by American blues guitar legend B.B King. Ironically, all under the watchful gaze of Mao, who purged hundreds of Chinese artists and intellectuals he considered to have been influenced by decadent Western values.
Also on hand were a number of artists including Mike Love from the Beach Boys and Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau.
Not for commoners
The warm atmosphere, the multi-racial clientele, the high decibel music, the rock memorabilia lining the walls, the Elvis Presley stained glass panels, the energetic waiters, are all reminiscent of Hard Rock Cafes in Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Taipei or Jakarta.
Plans are afoot to open future Hard Rocks in Shanghai and Guangzhou.
However it is too early to say whether the US$3 million cafe, powered by a 250,000-watt sound system purchased by Singaporean tycoon Ong Beng Seng, will reach a mainstream audience.
The original Hard Rock Cafe, founded by two Americans in London in 1971, was originally intended to cater to commoners.
"The prices are too high for a more mainstream clientele," moaned a Beijing resident.
"It will end up catering to foreigners and the bourgeois," predicted Liang He Ping, a noted local jazz musician.
Besides, he added, China has its own rock musicians.
A drink and a meal in the cafe easily comes to 150 yuan (roughly $20) in a city where common people earn 400 yuan a month. A cover charge of 100 yuan is imposed once the band starts.
Perhaps it is decades of repression that stirred reactions akin to culture shock and alienation at the grand opening.
"The fancy decorations with all the guitars make you feel that you are not in China," said a student of Beijing University.
She also complained that the people who should have been present for the occasion had not been allowed in.
"The organizer," she said, "looks down on local Chinese. They not only barred local rock musicians from coming, but also local Chinese."
A local journalist said he observed a noted Chinese rock musician being turned away at the door although the musician was holding an invitation card.
He also said that the event was exclusively for foreign journalists. He said he was present because a foreign journalist friend had given him an invitation card.
Denial
The organizer denied such discriminating treatment, saying that it was highly doubtful that such a thing could happen.
Whether the cafe will end up catering to common Beijingers or only well-heeled night owls and foreigners like the Jakarta Hard Rock Cafe remains to be seen.
A British national studying at Beijing University who enjoys dancing said that the cafe is but another addition to the many dance places in Beijing.
"I may come here once in a while," said Caroline Hoy.
So far the clientele is about half tourists, one-third expatriates and the rest Beijingers, said Nicholas Ong, the cafe's general manager.
Clienteles can change and the attitude of local customers counts, said Nina Laraswati, an Indonesian youth who counts herself a regular at the two-year-old Jakarta Hard Rock Cafe.
"There are more teenagers these days compared to before," she said, "besides, Jakartans are constantly on the lookout for new entertainment hot spots."
Changes in clientele don't bother Scott Hensarling, regional manager for London, Jakarta and New York.
"Launching a new cafe is like nurturing a newly born baby. It is demanding but also very rewarding," he said.