To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Time Out magazine, the Beijing edition has joined local editions of the listings magazine around the world in choosing a list of forty "heroes" of the city.
Or rather, two lists, because Time Out Beijing comes in both an English and a Chinese edition. Although the lists overlap somewhat (ten of the heroes appear on both lists), there are some notable differences:
· Scope: While both lists include heroes from the worlds of modern art, music, theater, film, and the printed page, the Chinese list also contains some big names from sports and business, and the English list includes expatriate residents of Beijing.
· Age: The youngest person on the Chinese list is Zhang Ziyi, born in 1979. The English list features two "post-80s" names (Xander Zhou and Li Yuchun), and one selection that's even more recent (the cartoon Olympic mascots known as Fuwas).
· Preference: Any list of this sort is going to be arbitrary to some degree, but having two competing lists makes it all the more obvious. For fifth-generation directors, for example, the English edition has Chen Kaige; the Chinese, Zhang Yimou. For architects, English: Ma Yansong; Chinese: Cui Kai. For novelists, English: Yan Lianke, Xinran, Ma Jian, and Jiang Rong; Chinese: Wang Shuo, Ah Cheng, and Hai Yan.
The English list also seems to have a few ringers put there for the express purpose of provoking controversy (see if you can spot them). Chinese Time Out ran a concurrent online poll (linked below) where netizens could vote for their favorite "Beijing Heroes." Hutong artist Kuang Han, Olympic Committee honorary president He Zhenliang, and TV classics lecturer Yu Dan beat out all the magazine's picks, and Sohu CEO Charles Zhang (Zhang Chaoyang) also made the top eight, along with list members Wang Shuo, Li Ning, Xu Tao, and Ge You.
The English edition's list identifies each of the names for the benefit of readers who might not know who they are (bolded names are on both lists):
Artist Ai Weiwei 艾未未
Designer Xander Zhou 周翔宇
Director Chen Kaige 陈凯歌
Architect Ole Scheeren
798 founder Huang Rui 黄锐
Hang On The Box punk Gia (王悦)
Film mogul (Huayi brother) Wang Zhongjun 王中军
Actress Zhang Ziyi 章子怡
Rock legend Cui Jian 崔健
Supergirl winner Li Yuchun 李宇春
Writer Ma Jian 马健
Viola player Su Zhen 苏珍
Women's rights pioneer Wang Xingjuan 王幸娟
Writer Yan Lianke 阎连科
MIDI founder Zhang Fan 张帆
Red Gate Gallery founder Brian Wallace
Ullens director Jerome Sans
Yugong Yishan founder Gou Zi 狗子
Architect Ma Yansong 马岩松
Modern Sky Records founder Shen Lihui 沈黎晖
Iraq journalist Chen Si 陈思
Film producer Fang Li 方励
Explorer Liang Zi 梁子
Director Li Yu 李玉
Migrant children charity founder Jonathan Hursh
Entertainer Dashan 大山
CCTV presenter Yang Rui 杨瑞
Writer Xue Xinran 薛欣然
Photographer HS Liu 刘香成
Classical guru Su Lihua 苏丽华
Environmentalist Ma Jun 马俊
Writer Zhang Lijia 张丽佳
Artist Chen Danqing 陈丹青
The Fuwas 福娃
Great Wall preservationist William Lindesay
Gay rights pioneer Li Yinhe 李银河
Theatre director Meng Jinghui 孟京辉
Writer Lu Jiamin (Jiang Rong) 姜戎
NAMOC director Fan Dian 范迪安
Environmental lawyer Wang Canfa 王灿发
喜极而泣！ 
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