Flick through any guidebook to Beijing, and you're unlikely to find Maliandao, Beijing's tea district, listed in the must-sees. It's a wholesale area for one (look at the photo) - not exactly wispy-bearded old men weighing out bunches of priceless dahongpao in back alleys. It's also in south-west Beijing. Where? Exactly. Nevertheless, Maliandao is a must for any Beijingers wanting to take the next bold step beyond Jasmine tea, Lipton with milk and that pot of pu'er you had at the dim-sum buffet.

Cry yourselves a river, because over the weekend it was announced that both Beijing and Shanghai Oasis concerts have been canceled indefinitely. Ticket sales for the April 3 and 5 shows were put to a halt on Feb 28, according to Jinghua.cn, and tickets which have already been sold will be refunded.

Reasons for the cancelation are still TBD, but rumors have it that it had something to do with an "internal company issue."

For details on how to get a refund for your tickets, stay tuned to www.emma.cn. And keep on The Beijinger blog for our pre-cancelation interview with the band!

More to come...

Jose Gonzalez
RMB 150.
8pm. Yugong Yishan (6404 2711)

Last night’s snow didn’t stop hundreds of Beijingers from heading over to Yugong Yishan to catch Swedish indie icon, José González. The crowd paid little attention to the soothing melodies of the acoustic guitar/harmonica playing opener, Wu Zhuoling, choosing instead to catch up with one another over a drink in anticipation of the main act. However, the crowd hushed in expectant silence as the lights dimmed and Gonzalez - who proved not to be a big fan of on stage chit chat, saying very little throughout the show aside from the occasional polite xie xie - dove right into his first song.

Update: Despite an earlier announcement, looks like the tickets to see Oasis in Beijing are still in the "booking available" stage, though Shanghai tickets are available. You can pre-book the Beijing tickets and they'll call you when they become available - which according to the guy on the phone, should be sometime in the next week. According to one source, all the RMB 200 tickets have already been booked.

As part of their Dig Out Your Soul World Tour, Oasis will be playing three shows in China. Tickets to the Beijing show (Apr 3 at the Capital Gymnasium) were supposed to go on sale at 9am this morning but are still only able to be "pre-booked". Tickets can be booked through Emma/Ticketmaster and prices range from RMB 200-1,600. You can call the ticketing hotline on 400 707 9999. More details here.

--Exclusive Interview with Organizer, Michael Vonplon

Switch back ten years ago and you’ll find the roots of this weekend’s SWITCH ON touring event. The cross-cultural event linking Swiss and Chinese electronic artists kicked off last Friday in Shanghai, gathering together more than 350 clubbers. The tour arrives in Beijing this Friday night at Tango with BaiCai’s special guest, Luciano, founder of Cadenza Records. The outstanding DJ and prolific producer is headlining the two-story extravaganza that will run between Mango and Tango’s main floor. On Saturday night the tour closes at White Rabbit with a notable line-up of live acts, visual artists, and DJs.