One Night in Beijing Launch party.

From the people who brought us The Insiders Guide to Beijing and Mandarin Phrasebook, a new book called One Night in Beijing came off the press and was given a lavish launch party at Block 8 tonight. I, along with BARRYFUN and a few of my students I'd invited came along with me for a spectacular evening of social mingling with drinks on the house.

As I was flipping through one of many copies of One Night in Beijing around the bar, I was somewhat disappointed with the photographs within it. The ones I liked were the ones which I'd already seen in That's Beijing magazine as selected previews of this photo album. And at a 150 RMB per copy (120 RMB launch party special), it made owning one even less desirable.

I was fortunate to have met Walk Hall, one of the honoured photographers sitting across from me at the bar. While I was deeply engrossed with the book and pointing out the merits of certain photographs with a student of mine, he had broken my concentration and introduced himself to me with a name card. He was the photographer mentioned in That's Beijing magazine and again in a toast at tonight's party for his unrivalled contribution to the book, the photographer who scampered from sunset at Gulou to shoot at the Forbidden City, then popped into a CCTV editing studio, before blazing out to the Marco Polo Bridge in Fengtai District. From there he ventured to Zhongnanhai, and then to an early morning flower market, before catching sunrise over the Ming Dynasty City Wall Ruins. One night, seven locations... no sleep. Quoted straight from the magazine.

What was even more interesting was that he spoke German! We both had a lot to talk about.


If you're interested in the book, check out Amazon.com. You can even search inside!

Publishers excerpt:

16 million people. 35 photographers. One extraordinary night. From dusk to dawn on August 8-9 2007, exactly one year before the start of the 2008 Olympic Games, 35 of Beijing's most talented photographers fanned out across the city. Their mission: To create a composite portrait of the buzzing metropolis and its incomparable residents. Collected in this handsome book, their photographs capture the beauty, energy, faces, and fleeting possibilities of one night in Beijing: from the official 'festival of jubilation' in Tian'anmen Square to a gathering in an old courtyard home, and from late night in a tattoo parlor to breakfast in a Buddhist nunnery. From place to place, moment to moment, photographer to photographer immerse yourself in the colors, character and élan of One Night in Beijing.