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Synopsis

When James West, a 23-year-old journalist from Sydney lands a job at a state-run radio station in Beijing, he imagines he knows a lot about China. But then he arrives and finds himself at a rave, dancing on the Great Wall. But is one night of hedonism on China’s most well-known landmark an accurate reflection of the “Real Beijing?” Or an anomaly in an otherwise tightly controlled culture, still dealing with the aftershocks of the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square?

To find answers West talks to the next generation about their experiences and frustrations, about politics and about the China they will create for themselves long after the attention of the 2008 Olympic Games has faded away. Throughout Beijing Blur we meet a wide and wonderful assortment of characters – from students, entrepreneurs and blue collar workers – to China’s new frontier of bloggers, rock musicians, and the underground gay (tongzhi) and lesbian (lala) communities.

Timely, insightful and magically droll, James West provides an intimate examination of modern China – a nation poised at one of the great turns of the global historical tide.