The ground has now been broken on what will become Beijing’s tallest building. It will be located directly southeast of the CCTV HQ on Guanghua Lu and is being built by Beijing’s very own CITIC Group. China Zun (so named as it is shaped like a zun, which we all know refers to an ancient Chinese wine vessel) will dominate the city’s skyline upon its completion in 2016.

At 510m tall it will spank Beijing's current tallest, China World Trade Center Tower Three aka the Summit Wing. My word, what a dressing down it is. China Zun will dominate by 180m – that’s 54% of Tower Three’s 330m height.

This weekend, enjoy a Brazilian block party a la documentary festival DocBrazil, set in everybody’s favorite “new Nanluogu Xiang,” Wudaoying hutong; reward your trek to Caochangdi with at least five new exhibit openings; commemorate 9/11 with a documentary screening at the Beijing American Center; and catch ballet, piano, orchestras and more.

A recent Shanghaiist post revealed rumors that 70% of actresses are whores, including one whose name “begins with ‘G’ and is a little bit older, but still very sexy.” Hmm. Pulitzer Prize reporting this is not, but it’s a timely conversation starter in light of several women’s arts festivals going on this weekend.

Award-winning architect Frank Gehry was in town over the weekend for the official opening of “Frank Gehry. Architect”, a Sanlitun Village North exhibition surveying the highlights of his 40-year-plus career. The exhibition features photos and sketches of some of Gehry’s key projects, as well as exhibits illustrating various aspects of the architect’s technique, including his pioneering use of computers. A whole corner, complete with a scale model, is devoted to Gehry’s most celebrated project, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Though her background is in finance, one of native Beijinger Shauna Liu’s great passions is art. Here, she tells us how her many years of globetrotting influenced the design of Yi Hotel – 798’s first and only boutique hotel – and why art should always be inclusive.

“Sanlitun Bar Street is a place full of vitality.”

So says Kengo Kuma, the heralded Japanese architect that, with the design of the enormous, recently-opened Sanlitun Soho, has made his mark on the neighborhood. Before the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the development in early June, Mr. Kuma fielded questions about the project that is a mammoth addition to the area.

Qianmen Dajie

After extensive renovation Qianmen Dajie has arisen from the construction dust as a Qing Dynasty Disney with only a few laozihao shops and restaurants to keep it going. At the northern end two trams provide the first photo stop, with posing and cries of “qiezi” also culminating from outside the Quanjude further south of the Dang Dang Che. As over ninety percent of the shop fronts currently lie vacant, the street only really offers one very long photo opportunity, if you’re after some shopping turn right onto Dazhalan (Beijingers say da shi lan'r), however, card-carrying philatelists should continue down to number 84 for the China Post Philately Hall. Unfortunately, we found that the few restaurants on the strip had already been booked out for lunch by 11.30am on a Tuesday, so it’s best to eat elsewhere. Although tea and jade stores seek to be the main draw, we preferred the scattered old black and white photographs, birdcage streetlights and door stone trashcans.

Until recently, the local front in the Nike versus adidas war has been played out on the billboards lining Wangfujing and Xidan. The two global brands are also struggling to be the providers of whatever sporting apparel athletes choose, or are instructed, to wear at the Beijing Olympics. The competition between the two brands in the Chinese market heats up with the opening of adidas' flagship store at Sanlitun's village tonight. The Beijinger's Fashion and Beauty Editor Halla Mohieddeen got a chance to take a sneak peek at the store yesterday and gives us her take below. Images by Simon Lim

adidas Brand Center
Daily 10am-10pm. Bldg 11, South Area, Sanlitun Village, 19 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District.
朝阳区三里屯南路19号11幢

Designed to create a village within a city, the striking development in the heart of Sanlitun is slowly taking shape. The boards have come down, and we're now starting to see more of the eclectic mix of structures that will make up the shopping and entertainment district. The first store to throw open its doors is the new adidas Brand Center, adidas' global flagship store.

Boasting 3,170 sqm of floor space, this new store will be adidas’ largest worldwide. What's more, it brings together all the brand's concept lines under one roof, another first for the brand. This means that whether you want shoes, kids clothing, accessories and apparel, or lines such as Y-3 or adidas by Stella McCartney, it's now all available under one roof.

Update: (May 27, 9.30am) Soho China have just announced that they've acquired a new large-scale commercial development project in Beijing for RMB 5.5 billion. Formerly known as the Kaiheng Center (Kaiheng Dasha), the property is on the southwest corner of the Chaoyangmen intersection (south of the boat-like CNOOC building and across from the Ministry Foreign Affairs building), and surprise surprise, will be renamed Chaoyangmen SOHO.

As the walls surrounding the Village at Sanlitun project come down to reveal an ultra modern, but as yet unopened, complex, urbane editor Alex Pasternack gives us his impression of the official launch of Soho China's new Sanlitun project.

At the tail end of Beijing's Olympic transformation, amidst government building restrictions and market jitters, it is getting a bit harder to spot those amazing, surreal moments of destruction in the city proper, when the old goes quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) in the face of the new.

But a vivid moment was offered up earlier this month courtesy of Soho China, which launched its new Sanlitun project with a big, brash grand opening. Hundreds of people pressed into their showroom to get a glimpse of classy, high-end apartments, gulp wine, and watch a pop cover band play beneath a screen showing a documentary set in Cultural Revolution-era China. The most exciting and surreal moment was when wiry models in suits serenaded the glassy architectural model with a flashlight dance (see video below).

Those planning to head up to the Olympic Green this weekend to catch the 2008 China Athletics Open at the Bird's Nest, should keep their eye out for the small Beiding Niang Niang Temple that stands just a few hundred meters south of the Water Cube. The 500-year-old temple is currently fenced in and not really lit up, so it's very easy to walk past without noticing as you marvel instead at the nice lights flickering across the bubbly exterior of the Water Cube. The Temple is located just east of the southwest entrance to the Olympic Green, directly south of the Water Cube, which was moved 100m north of its originally planned position so as not to impact on the integrity of the temple.

The temple was built in the Ming Dynasty and is one of five Niang Niangtemples that surrounded the imperial capital, four located on the outskirts of the city in each of the cardinal directions and a fifth temple just south of the Imperial City itself. Each of these Niang Niang temples were devoted to worship of a Daoist goddess of fertility, who was said to be the daughter of Tai Shan, and catered to ordinary residents of the agricultural land outside the walled city.