Santa Claus(es) are Coming to Town

Neither Beijing's winter temperatures nor those gusty Siberian winds nor freaked out public security officials can stop the annual drunken onslaught of people dressed as Santa toasting their way across town known as Santacon.

With origins in San Francisco in 1994, the Santacon bar crawl phenomenon has spread to 44 countries around the world. This year's Beijing Santacon will take place December 13 and all you need to do to participate is a set of Santa duds and a rather durable liver.

Keep in tune to the bjsantacon.com website for updates on the itinerary. Meanwhile, here's what organizers have to say about the event so far:

"Its that time of year again, Beijing! Time to dust off your Holly Jolly and start getting your Joy an Ode-ing. Santa has sent word to his elves, SantaCon will happen on Saturday, December 13!

SantaCon is the global non-denominational, non-religious and totally non-sensical celebration of all things Santa! Beijing Ren will join fellow revelers all across the world in donning their finest Santa suits and walking around the city, spreading good cheer and partaking in the milk, cookies and libations that will abound the route.

Follow this space for updates, as in the coming days Santa will be giving out sage advice on how to best prepare for the party, tips on ways to have the most fun and, most importantly, where to go.

There will be multiple starting points in varous locations around Beijing, with a central meeting point for all Santas to converge on. There will also be a final celebration with a legendary local band that everybody will love."

Photo: bjsantacon

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Fromt the Santacon website:

SantaCon Kicks off at 11:30am tomorrow at Sugar Shack in Wudaoku, 4 Corners in Gulou and The Brick in Shuangjing! We’ll go all day long and into the night. We won’t stop moving until we wrap things up with a party at Parlor, featuring a special performance by Tavey Lean and the Solid Gold Dream Machine! Here are the particulars:

Starting Points
Wudaokou
Location: Sugar Shack Pizza
Address: Huaqing Jiayuan, Building 12 (basement, below the 7-11), Wudaokou, Haidian District
Phone: 8286-6240
Gulou

Location: 4 Corners
Address: Dashibei Hutong, 27, Xichedng District
Phone: 6401-7797
Shuangjing

Location: The Brick
Address: 2-11 Tianzhijiaozi, Shuangjing
Phone: 5623-4322

SataCon moves from place to place all day and the various groups will converge sometime in the afternoon. At the appropriate time Santa will send out a message letting everybody know when it’s time to move on. These messages will be sent via Twitter, Facebook and WeChat. Follow the hashtag “#BJSantaCon” to see the Tweets, or get on touch with somebody at SantaCon and have them pass the message along to you.

 

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