5 Things to Taste, Smell, Touch, Hear, and See This Weekend
Beijing can be overstimulating to say the least. Let’s be real, sometimes even our sixth sense gets a decent workout, the one where you know that stick of chuan'r will get you sick for the next two days (but you gobble it up anyway). With the variety of events, restaurants, and gigs to attend, below we suggest bathing each of your five senses into one, if not all, of the nourishing cultural goings on below.
Hear
July 7: Soul Squad Label Showcase
Didn’t think you could enjoy the music you don’t get the lyrics of? Well, try some Chinese hip-hop. It’s not only going to make your jaw drop but leave you desperately craving for more and going through your Spotify account, wrecking ‘similiar artists’ section (which I can prove pretty fruitless for music from China). While Higher Brothers are changing the face of trap music and we are hopefully getting to see Bohan Phoenix at the end of July, dive into some serious Chinese hip-hop in Modernsky lab, laced with English interventions. Maybe it’s time to attend an event that doesn’t have an English description. Live a little. Who knows, you might just be the only foreigner there and who doesn't like that. More information here. If that doesn't suit you, there's plenty more aural fun happening.
See
July 7: "Summer Park" Film screening
Camera Stylo not only rocks my world for cute and usually empty rooftop terrace with a view over the roofs of less-explored Zhangzizhong Lu hutongs but for intimate movie screenings as well. This Friday they are inviting us to peek into the adventures out in Beijing suburbs in Summer Park. This short film follows a 17-year-old summer when she explores the outskirts of Beijing with a goodhearted teenager Park. The film has been accepted to over 20 international film festivals so stay for a Q&A with a director after the screening. Warning: the film might inspire a repressed urban (or suburban) explorer in you so have a vehicle ready right outside Camera Stylo. They usually host film-related events every day of the week so drop by any night. Screening starts at 8pm.
Smell
July 8: Sinology Institute Hutong Tour
Beijing crowd seems to have fallen even deeper in love with the hutongs once the city masters started shaking them and taking it apart brick by brick. Pay a proper tribute to apparently-not-eternal alleyways. Smell the herb gardens and two trees (yes, they have to be two and you’ll learn why) in siheyuans or the homely aromas of rubbish sorting stations followed by a fresh breeze of shampoo in HouHai Lake. Join the Sinology Institute for a free and nicely personal two-hour-long hutong and siheyuan tour on Saturday at 1.30pm. It will take you around the old courtyards and factories while also telling stories about Chinese chives and why broken bikes are locked tighter than new ones. Walks take place every Saturday but RSVP to make sure there is enough crowd for the tour. Check out their other free events while you are at it.
Touch
We are definitely looking forward to pet the new soft sleepers on the trains to Shanghai and see how soft they actually are. End-to-end bunks look pretty cozy to sink in and the window helps if you are not a fan of tight spaces. The D311 train takes almost 12 hours to get to Shanghai, but with a tiny compartment of your own and a phone charging port might as well be five days. Tickets for the soft sleeper go for RMB 732, so go book your bed while they're still nice and padded and sunflower seed-free.
Taste
"You will not break our spirit" and "We stand with our hutongs" should be the slogans of this summer in Beijing. A more specific one could be ‘for hummus we pray’ when we visit Moxi Moxi in their new spot on 22 Beixinsantiao. With several outdoor tables, staring into a majestic hotel (that I suspect is just a cover some serious business) Moxi Moxi got themselves into a fairly comfortable and wide street. Promising to open a rooftop in a little while, they still serve possibly the best hummus in town. Bonus round: you can also sip some homemade lemonade and maybe spice it up with a shot of vodka if your weekday night needs a little kick. Show your support for Moxi Moxi by paying them a visit and help bring some livelihood and good will to Beixinsantiao and the surrounding hutongs.
