Blogs

Up-to-date insider information on all Beijing has to offer

How I’ll spend my apocalypse year Happy New Year, everyone; at least, those of us on solar calendars. And even then, as our ancestors knew, the real date is March 25, because that’s when the spring starts and we remember the fall of Sauron ( Lord of the Rings anyone?). You can blame the old new year, by the way, on the fact that the British government of 1752 didn’t want to lose 11 days of tax revenue when switching calendars, which is why the fiscal year starts on April 6. Who says you never learn anything from this column? That’ll be a quiz question soon and then you’ll be thankful. Read more

Beer Man Beers from Beijing’s new Slow Boat Brewery are now being poured full-time at a number of the city’s venues. The permanent availability of its brews at Home Plate, Union Grill and Vietnamese restaurant Susu gives Beijingers daily access to Slow Boat, in addition to continuing ‘pop-up’ events at the aforementioned Sanyuanqiao diner Home Plate. Read more

The Lady Whisperer Hollywood, eh: who needs it when you’ve got Vincent Qi living in your city? Two years ago the man was a player – in every sense of the word – on the city’s pick-up artist (PUA) circuit. Calling himself the ‘Lady Whisperer’, Qi taught would-be studs how to hook women and claims, at his peak, to have met, seduced and slept with ten ladies in a few weeks, while meeting fi ve-to-ten others that he’d landed previously. But now, in true rom-com fashion, Qi’s embraced romantic monogamy and given up the whole PUA game. It’s not something he regrets. Read more

Music news Tears are still being shed across town for the closure of D-22 in early January. For the past six years, the Wudaokou club has been a second home to the city’s punk, noise-rock and experimental music scenes. But don’t worry, the club’s new space around Xinjiekou area is expected to open this summer. However, the word is that it will be more geared towards the experimental music crowd and other art-related activities. So where will all the punks and rockers go? Old What Bar (an even smaller venue) has played host to a number of D-22 regulars over the past few months, but whatever the outcome, this is truly the end of an era. Read more

George Glitz: male stripper I’ve always been interested in fitness and did some dancing work in a Maltese nightclub when I was 19, but I didn’t come to China with specific plans of earning a living stripping. During my first year in Beijing, myself and a friend found work as topless bartenders in a club near Sanlitun. It was running a regular ‘ladies night’ and we were featured as part of the stage show. One thing led to another and before long we were getting bookings in clubs all around the country. Read more

Home brewing takes a great leap forward With technology increasingly taking over our lives it’s not surprising the DIY philosophy has a number of ardent devotees. Though growing your own fruit and vegetables is hardly practical in urban Beijing, the possibility of brewing your own beer is very much on the table and there are even experts on hand to walk you through the tricky bits. Read more

Beijing freeze If you happened to be walking through Sanlitun this weekend, you might have come across a strange sight. Participants in what the organisers called the ‘Beijing Freeze’ were told to look out for a yellow Winnie the Pooh balloon. On Saturday at 1pm 40 people froze on the spot for two minutes. Read more

Music news and gossip Sk8er bois, watch out – the fringe is back! Avril Lavigne (pictured) has confirmed that she’s set to play Beijing’s Wukesong Arena on February 14. Sure, going to an Avril Lavigne concert might seem a little bit like stepping back in time to high school, although life now is probably less ‘complicated’ (see what we did there?). Read more

Mohanik interview Mohanik are a garage rock band from Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia. Having gained domestic popularity with their power-pop-infused punk sound, they played their first out-of-country show in Shanghai in April of last year. This Friday will be their Beijing debut, also D22’s last show before it closes for good. Read more

There's something in the air tonight The climax of 2011 saw a tragic end to one of Beijing’s longest-running and most creative fictions: the daily pollution monitoring reports. The air-quality monitoring centre has been forced to conform to dull fact by including such little details as, well, pollution. Read more

Long Island iced tea Best known as simply one of the quickest ways to get plastered, the Long Island iced tea has long been a subject of scorn for mixologists the world over, largely thanks to its use of pretty much every house liquor behind the bar. The drink is said to have been created in the mid-1970s by Robert Butt, the bartender at the Oak Beach Inn on New York state’s Long Island. Another story, however, claims that it was actually invented in the ’20s in a community called Long Island in Kingsport, Tennessee, and then later perfected in the ’40s by another local chap called Random Bishop (how random!). Whether true or not, this drink has certainly entered popular culture at full speed, becoming a dear friend to poor students wanting to get hammered and housewives of the desperate variety alike. Read more

The end of D-22 This is just in. D-22 will be closing down next week after hosting Mongolian garage punk band Mohanik on Friday 13.

Expect a farewell gathering at a Zoomin’ Night gig on Tuesday 10. Read more

Food bites Fans of Wudaoying Hutong’s Vineyard Café will be pleased to discover it has a new sister in the form of Vine Leaf, just around the corner. We’re sure the new venue’s fish and chips – and its draught beers – will be of interest to Beijing’s British expats. It gets packed out during brunch hour, though. Read more

Av@r at CMoDA Step into an exhibition that lets you create your own music videos, understand the art of gaming or play with artists’ music samples. Then watch artists do the same with software they’ve designed, building performance pieces that change at every show.

Situated in the underground floor the China Millennium Monument is the new Chinese Museum of Digital Art (CMoDA). Read more

Masked girl comes to the rescue for Beijing beggars A young lady wearing tight clothes, a black silk cloak and a blue mask appeared on Christmas Eve in Beijing to distribute food and clothing to homeless people on the streets.

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