A nightlife guide for beijing

Posted: 02/09/2007--25/11/2008 || Rate this Article: 3 || Views|| Sign In || Register ||Hello Guest

There are not many Mainland Chinese cities that can boast nightlife such as that of Beijing. Over the last few decades, Beijing has enjoyed the success of a wealth of bars, clubs and pubs and an ever expanding night time entertainment scene. The majority of bars and pubs, however, are concentrated around two main districts in Beijing C Sanlitun Lu and Haidian.

Sanlitun has streets that are literally lined for blocks with bar after bar. This is a great place to party and a common area hangout for visitors to the Chinese capital.

If you prefer a bit of variety, however, head to Haidian. Located in the university part of Beijing, its trendy, young and considerably cheaper than Bar Street where the owners think it reasonable to charge less expensive prices for their visitors.

However, the a-list of the more interesting bars and pubs is actually rather short. The Durty Nellis is a favorite. Durty Nellies, Beijing's first Irish pub, is a pretty lively spot on any evening. With a diverse and growing selection of traditional Irish food and drinks you will quickly see that Beijing takes pride in being able to cater to different tastes.

If you want to get your boogie on, try the NASA Disco. Like most of the nightspots in Beijing, NASA Disco is built to convey a theme to intrigue their guest; the NASA does not disappoint. Built around and aircraft hangar, and filled with army jeeps and helicopters, this nightclub is always jumping and is a preferred music top spot. You can now hear classical zither or bamboo tunes, jazz, deep house, or head banging on most every night of the week.

If pubs and clubs arent really your scene, then dont panic. You will find live music in most of them but there are other venues that might be more to your liking.

The Beijing Concert Hall is always an option or you could check out the Beijing Opera. Regardless of how diverse your taste, the Opera is always worth a visit. Your eyes will simply pop out of your head when you take in the exploits of the highly recommended Chinese Acrobats.

Orchestral and chamber music concerts can be heard here the Beijing Concert Hall. Usually, visitors can enjoy performances by the China National Symphony Orchestra, the China Opera Symphony Orchestra, the China Traditional Music Ensemble and the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe. If you happen to miss one of those fine performances there are many other groups that frequently perform here at the hall. The music is a combination of oriental and Western, classic and modern. Concerts are performed every night and weekend afternoon.

Yet, for something completely different why not check out some authentic Chinese puppetry at the Puppet Theatre on Anhua Xi Lu. It doesn't matter whether you know Chinese or not; you could enjoy the shows by just watching the fighting and dancing of the extravagantly prepared puppets. The Puppetry combines the different art forms of drama, singing, dancing, music, painting and sculpture. You will definitely find yourself amazed at the realism of the puppets.

And for the very solitary but exciting evening, there is always the Chinese cinema. Cinemas these days are dedicated to feeding a seemingly insatiable appetite for kung fu movies. However, there is plenty of opportunity to catch the serious and fairly controversial movies emerging from both the east and western younger filmmakers.