While we're focusing much of our attention on the Beijinger's Tenth Anniversary Party on Saturday, another long-running Beijing institution is celebrating a birthday of its own on Friday night. Chaoyang Park West Gate veteran Suzie Wong's (or The World of Suzie Wong, to give the club its actual name) hosts its ninth birthday party on October 14, and we've got a few tickets to give away!

We've got good news for fans of electronic dance music. The man who has featured in DJ magazine's Top 10 every year since 1998 is returning to Beijing – and we've got tickets to give away. Paul Van Dyk's "Evolution World Tour 2011" hits Tango's third floor this Thursday. To win a pair of tickets, all you have to do read on.

Beijing’s hotels have done pretty much all they can to make dining experiences interactive. From the near-ubiquitous open kitchens giving you a distant look at what the cooks are up to, and champagne brunches with chefs slicing tuna, carving roast duck and making omelets at “live cooking stations,” to cooking classes and demonstrations, you’d think there’s not much more they could do.

And yet the Westin Chaoyang has a new idea: cooking for your own private dinner party. The hotel’s “Into the Frying Pan” promotion, which is ongoing throughout June and July and beyond, gives parties of six to ten diners the chance to get into the kitchen at Grange and work with chefs to make their own four-course dinner party: cook your food, then sit down and enjoy it.

"S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G, we're shopping" sang the Pet Shop Boys and we listened. Shopping is exactly what we did for the December issue of the Beijinger to bring you a Cover Feature that's jam-packed full of a whole heap of wholesale and specialty markets in the city. There's tips on where to go and when plus handy advice for picking up a bargain. Whether you're after a pig, a poncho, a plate or a plant we've got the lowdown on where you should go down to just in the nick of time for the holiday season.

Grazing is good. Ask cows. Or kangaroos. Three square meals a day is for squares. It's all about snacking. Beijing's got more than its fair share of indigenous snacks and this issue the Beijinger tells you how to get your nibble on the old school way. Pancakes and pastries, buns and broths ... we've eaten our way through all of these snacks for you to feast on our guide to traditional xiao chi.

Also in this month's veritable banquet we've got a focus on China's endangered wetlands and how China's youth are fighting climate change. We spoke to Gao Zhenghua, the last bastion of nailao, and we got drunk on fermented duck eggs. We spoke to a environmentalist-turned-cocktail supremo, an electronica maven-turned-restaurateur and we found out who is most certainly not the smartest bartender in Beijing. We decided for ourselves who China's top athlete is, made some noodles and tried shearling on for size and went on a sustainable trip to Mongolia.