Beijing's nightlife and entertainment scene is undergoing a revolution, as modern Beijingers seek to offload disposable income their parents never dreamt of. In recent years, numerous new bars and nightclubs have opened city-wide, though many have closed again just as quickly. The music at these Western-style clubs covers a wide range, with techno and house being hugely popular, and international ‘superstar DJs' performing with increasing regularity. Many nightclubs are open until the small hours of the morning and charge entrance fees. The most popular bar area (heavily frequented by foreigners) is Sanlitun. The bars here all offer draught beer at Western prices, and are generally much livelier than any of the hotel bars. New bar districts are opening up all the time, particularly near the Workers' Stadium, the lakeside area of Houhai and around Nanluogu Xiang. Most bars open until about midnight but are liveliest around 2200.
The three best city listings magazines are
The Beijinger (monthly) (
www.thebeijinger.com), which also publishes the extremely helpful
Insiders' Guide to Beijing handbook,
City Weekend (every two weeks) (
www.cityweekend.com.cn) and
Time Out Beijing (monthly) (
www.timeout.com/cn/en/beijing).
Bars: Situated in the older part of Chaoyang's Sanlitun bar district are the ever-popular English pub
Poachers Inn, 43 Bei Sanlitun Lu, and the equally welcoming pub,
The Tree, 43 Bei Sanlitun Nan (
www.treebeijing.com.cn), - the latter serving over 40 Belgian beers and excellent pizza. Beijing's weekend
bar du jour is
Song, B108 The Place, 9 Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang district, which features regular live DJ sets.
Passby Bar, 108 Naluogu Xiang, Dongcheng District, is a hip, relaxed and ambient bar located in an old
hutong.
Bed, 17 Zhangwang Hutong, Xicheng District, is a minimalist lounge bar in a renovated
hutong house with an über-cool minimalist décor, undressed cement floorings and walls, and beds for its ‘beautiful people' clientele to sit on. Offering strong cocktails, thumping house music and an eclectic local/international crowd,
i-Ultra Lounge, Block 8 Complex, Chaoyang Gongyuan Xilu (
www.block8.cn), is a popular weekend party venue.
Clubs: Undoubted king of clubs is the cavernous
Vics, inside the Workers Stadium's north gate (
www.vics.com.cn), which mixes up a nightly thrash of soul, R&B, pop and reggae, and is popular with visiting celebrities and music stars.
Tango, Ditan Park's south gate, Dongcheng District, is another super club with a giant dance floor, smaller lounge bar and live music. For lovers of underground drum and bass beats,
White Rabbit, C2, Haoyuan Jie, 29 Lucky Street (
whiterabbitclub.blogspot.com), is the capital's hippest venue to hit the floor.
Live Music: Successfully straddling the alt-mainstream club line is
Yugong Yishan, 2-3 Zhang Zizhong Jie, east of Ping'an Dadao, Dongcheng District (
www.yugongyishan.com), a throbbing live music venue which hosts everything from rock to jazz and DJ sets. Live jazz sets top the bill from Thursday to Sunday at the
East Shore Live Jazz Café, 2 Qianhai Nanyan Lu, Xicheng District, owned by legendary jazzman Liu Yuan.
MAO Livehouse, 111 Gulou Dongdajie (
www.maolive.com), is a raw and rocking live music venue located in an old movie theatre.
