School, a small bar and live house venue which has been a unique platform for indie bands and rock musicians, celebrates its 10th anniversary in an understated manner, behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

Liu Fei imagined thousands of ways to celebrate the 10th anniversary of School, a small bar and live house venue tucked away in a hutong in downtown Beijing, which he co-founded in 2010. Maybe a party with beer flowing quenching the thirst of hundreds of guests was one such imagined scenario. However, he didn't envision that it would be celebrated in such an understated manner.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all potential public gatherings have been canceled. To mark the 10th anniversary of the two-floor venue, Liu invited 20 Chinese bands, which have performed at the venue, to release a compilation album, titled Collection 2010-2020.

The compilation album, with 40 songs－two songs from each band－was released on April 27.

On that same day, a documentary reviewing the past 10 years of School was also released on Chinese video streaming website Tencent Video.

"The compilation is like a summing up of School over the past decade. It also kicks off another decade, which makes me excited," says Liu, a Beijing native, a former band agent and music festival organizer.

The past decade saw about 4,000 bands perform at School.

"It's a place that has been connecting like-minded people. We selected the 20 bands because they are independent and very popular among our audiences."