<< I'm going to be spending a week, mostly in Beijing, but also some
outlying areas and have two questions:
Any recommended areas not to miss with my recorder in the area around
Beijing?>>
I got some interesting recordings in a little cottage-industry
cloisonne factory somewhere in the area between Beijing & the Great
Wall. A very low tech, earthy operation with interesting clicks &
buzzes from electrical relays feeding some very funky old machines.
<<Any issues recording in public areas or bringing gear in or out of
the
country. (other than the usual crime and etiquette issues we all try
to be careful of).>>
Just take out what you bring in. A couple weeks ago our production
director nearly missed our flight from Shanghai to Singapore because
the Chinese customs officials just couldn't deal with the fact that
some gear which we had FedExed to Shanghai was being taken with us as
checked baggage. Too confusing paperwork-wise for a very entrenched
bureaucracy. Other than that, I would say that the sense of being in a
police state experienced 10 years ago is very much relaxed now. Much
more tourist friendly.
Scott Fraser
|