Awesome Chinese

Musicians Bei Bei Zheng and Vera Yaqi Mackay perform a unique arrangement of Dick Dale and the Del Tones’ 1963 surf rock classic Misirlou, giving it a distinctively Asian flair when led off by a 21-string Chinese instrument known as a guzheng, with accompaniment on piano.

DIY expert Li Zikai cooked a hearty winter meal consisting of fermented tofu and a hotpot with mutton. She prepared the tofu more than a month in advance, including making it from scratch. The shots of the pets are a nice bonus.

Chinese lion dancing is a beautiful and vibrant artform that has gradually been fading from existence. In this wonderful documentary by Law Chen, we meet Sara Lai, a dancer who has trained to become the head of the lion in the traditionally male-dominated performance.

Musician Michell Kwan plays a brilliant cover of Guns N’ Roses classic Sweet Child o’ Mine on her Guzheng – a traditional Chinese string instrument that dates back to the 5th century BC. We can almost hear Axl’s singing along.

Headed stateside this March, this lighthearted Chinese action film follows a kitchen cleaver made from the most deadly swords in the history of martial arts, and the tales behind the blade.

This brilliantly illustrated, thoroughly entertaining tale of a hungry mutt’s trip through Chinatown combines hand-drawn animation from Shanghai with 3D effects and backgrounds from Australia.

In an attempt to keep up with Japan’s giant Gundam, China has built a 32-foot tall version of Transformer’s big bot, using 10,108 junk car parts. Check it out the next time you’re in Beijing.

2 different videos here for Chinese farmer Wu Yulu, who has created an army of homemade scrap metal robots. Some of his self-described “sons” will be at the Shanghai Expo in person later this year.

There’s no release date, but we’re liking this first trailer for Shaolin; starring Andy Lau with a special appearance by Jackie Chan, it pits the Shaolin masters against feuding warlords.

You needn’t be a history buff to get the gist of The Warlords (in theaters 4/2/10); this featurette with director Peter Chan reveals that it’s essentially a story about three blood brothers.

Lenovo’s China-only Lephone includes a snap-on keyboard a-la the Ideapad U1; the phone itself features a 3.7″ touchscreen, 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU, and two cameras (one front-facing).

NSFW: this trailer for Donnie Yen’s 14 Blades is largely wordless, which is fine as it lets its weapons do the talking: it features crossbows, the occasional vase, and oh so many blades.

To promote Red Cliff, we’re giving away two posters signed by John Woo plus three other movie DVDs. Update: this contest has concluded. Congrats to the winners and thanks to all who participated!

Celebrating three years in Hong Kong, Maison Martin Margiela’s ultra-clean Mahjong Set is only available to big shoppers: you’ll need to spend over $8,999 HKD (~$1,160) to get one.

Mixing urban fashion with Chinese culture, Akunfuncture’s t-shirt line takes ancient symbols and legends and gives them a fresh coat of ink; above: Monkey King Urban rocks.