Beijing

May's Midi festival

Dubbed "China's Woodstock", Midi Festival 2013 in Beijing presents a musical carnival for fans. It's the 13th year of the outdoor music feast. This year, about 100 rock bands from home and abroad will perform on five stages. It will be held at a suburban park known for its mountains and grasslands. With picturesque scenery and passionate music, it's a good opportunity to enjoy rock with friends and family.

2-10:30 pm, April 29 - May 1. China Music Valley Grassland Park, 688 Dawangwu village, Donggaocun county, Pinggu district. 400-610-3721

Fans of painting

Ancient Chinese calligraphers and painters were fond of painting on the folds of fans. Their excellence has left a wealth of magnificent works. A fan painting show features 90 Ming and Qing (1368-1911) dynasty calligraphy and painting works on folding fans. They have been selected from the collection of the National Museum of China. The theme of these fan paintings fall into four categories: natural landscape, flowers and birds, figure and calligraphy.

10 am-2:30 pm, until May 29. National Museum of China, 16 East Chang'an Avenue. 010-6511-6400

Shanghai

Taipei beauty

Taiwan writer Pai Hsien-yung's short story The Eternal Snow Beauty has been adapted into an original play, in the Shanghai dialect. In the play, the aging Snow Beauty (Yin Hsueh-yen) looks back on her days as the belle of Shanghai's Paramount ballroom, while she is still the center of attention at upscale mahjong soirees she arranges in her Taipei home.

7:30 pm, May 4-12. Shanghai Culture Square, 597 Fuxing Middle Road. 021-5461-9960

Poetic portraits

Two artists will hold a joint exhibition with paintings featuring portraits of Chinese women in mystical and poetic poses. Wang Xaiojin, who hails from Shandong province, has been exhibiting since 1993. The other artist, Xu Zhigang, is originally from Liaoning province, but is now based in Beijing.

10 am-8 pm, until Jun 20. Rong Gallery, 1F, Sheraton Pudong Hotel, 38 Pujian Road, Pudong New Area. 0137-6408-7294

Group show

The artist group "island6" works in new media and is holding a show titled Body-City-Mechanism. Through interactive video, photography, oil on canvas and sculpture, the artists explore themes of man and cyberspace with humor, irony and concern. The works are based on a project based on Plato's metaphor of the city as a bionic entity of body and soul.

10 am-6 pm, until Jun 28. Studio Rouge, BK 7-109, 50 Moganshan Road, Putuo district. 021-5252-7856

Hong Kong

Gondola melodies

The canal city of Venice is the hometown of Vivaldi. Chamber ensemble I Solisti Veneti, founded by conductor Claudio Scimone in 1959, and credited with bringing Vivaldi's and Venetian works to the world stage with more than 5,000 concerts across 80 countries. In a performance featuring classical guitarist Riccardo Tamai (pictured), the strains of Albinoni, Rodrigo and Vivaldi will transport audiences into an 18th century world of baroque sounds.

8 pm, April 30. Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall, 5 Edinburgh Place, Central. 852-2668-3022

Seoul connection

The inaugural exhibition at the Rem Koolhaas-designed Lehmann Maupin gallery in Hong Kong showcases new installations by South Korean artist Lee Bul. Acknowledged as the leading artist of her generation, she references utopian ideals from art, literature and architecture in her sculptures while pushing the boundaries of mixed media. Hand crafted in polyurethane, works resemble miniature ruins and are finished with patterned brush strokes for a painterly feel.

10 m-6 pm, Tue-Fri; 10 am-7 pm, Sat; until May 11. Lehmann Maupin, 407 Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central. 852-2530-0025

Macao

Emperor strikes back

Napoleon Bonaparte was one of France's most colorful rulers and his influence upon decorative arts was legendary. Napoleon and the Decorative Arts: Treasures of the Imperial Palaces includes his throne - on loan from the French Senate - alongside tables, chairs, beds, vases, chandeliers, paintings and tapestries. Glimpse how the "Little Emperor" lived, as part of Le French May. It is the first time the collection has been shown outside of its home country.

10 am-7 pm, Tue-Sun, until July 14. Gallery of Exhibitions I and II, 2/F and 3/F, Macao Museum of Art, Avenida Xian Xing Hai. 853-8791-9814

China Daily

(China Daily 04/28/2013 page15)