Wise Hit: Episode 4 'THE BULL'
BY TOM BIRD
It was hard to know where to place this review in the magazine. Part coffee shop, part bar, part record store, part bookshop, part live house - we could have conceivably placed Old Heaven in any of our sections. But where-ever it belongs; Old Heaven doesn’t seem to belong in this ultra-modern, high-tech age. Many of the LPs on sale are older than Shenzhen itself. The shelves reach to the ceiling with classic works and academic texts. There’s no Da Vinci Code in sight! And the live music on offer is of the folk and traditional variety. So as the name Old Heaven suggests, the shop really is a homage to the past.
Opened by SZ radio DJ Afei and his designer wife, Weizi, along with fellow culture aficionados Ding Lu and Jie Ci, Old Heaven is one of the first establishments to open in Phase Two of the OCT Loft. The interior is blissfully retro with old laps illuminating rugged sofas where the bookish gather to read or chat. There are some outdated stereos and 80s ghetto-blasters serving as ornamentation. And a genuine record player (remember vinyl?) hums in the background.
“We wanted a real place to sit and read. We wanted a place of culture,” explains Afei, languishing in the joy of realizing his lifelong dream. “The books are all high-level. No trash. And having the record player playing provides something many Chinese haven’t heard or seen before.”
When asked what foreigners in Shenzhen can get from Old Heaven, Afei was quick to reply. “We’re selling CDs of all China’s top indie bands, so they can learn a lot about local music. We’re going to have live music shows and we’re open to cultural events: Chinese corners, English corners… whatever. And we’d like to buy and sell second-hand English books as well. We can offer RMB20 for anything good.”
To this end, Old Heaven is your one stop culture shop. So if your idea of a good time is to sit in Starbucks, humming along to a Lady Gaga MP3 and thumbing through Harry Potter on your Kindle, Old Heaven really isn’t for you. But if modern life is wearing you down, Old Heaven truly offers sanctuary from the commercial saturation of modern life.
// No.120, Block A5, OCT Loft, Nanshan District, Shenzhen (0755-86148090) 深圳南山区华侨城文化创意园A5栋120.
