Love it or hate it, Halloween is here again. As ever, bars, clubs and events promoters are throwing parties and encouraging you to dress up, look ridiculous and have fun. These are some of the horrific highlights – most are for adults only, but a few are suitable for kids and families. All parties take place on October 31 unless otherwise stated.

The weekend feels shorter after the week-long holiday, but here are three shows worth checking out (or to miss) over the coming weekend.

The lack of DJs at Modern Sky Music Festival may have been disappointing to some, but fear not, the label has got even bigger plans - The ZOO Electronic Music Festival will be held on Oct 16 and Oct 17 at Haidian Exhibition Hall (inside Haidian Park), featuring DJ Spook, Pet Conspiracy, The Death Set, Classixx, Patrick Yu, LIman and many many more DJs and electronic bands. The party start at 8pm and last until midnight.

So the party is over, the holiday is finished and we’re all back at work. But if by some miracle you missed the televised parade on October 1 (and the endless re-runs ever since), check out this cool little video put together by UK newspaper The Guardian.

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, when the moon is said to be fuller and brighter than at any other time of year! Reason to dig out the binoculars and get onto Beijing’s best bar terraces and rooftops. It’ll also be one of your last chances to enjoy outdoor drinking before many terraces close or are frosted over for the winter!

Mid-Autumn Festival, or Zhongqiu Jie in Chinese, is one of China’s most important traditional festivals. The festival, which dates back over 3,000 years, falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, meaning the date on which it is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar changes from year to year.

Since all foreign acts for Modern Sky Music Festival are cancelled, you might want to get some of your money back. Despite the festival will still be held on time at Chaoyang Park, Modern Sky just came out with a refund plan with many options to go.

We wouldn’t normally link to an academically-inclined journal, but this recent essay from China Heritage Quarterly published by the Australian National University is a fascinating overview of past National Day parades, and they way the events have reflected the changing priorities of the People’s Republic of China. Besides, the National Day respite from work offers the ideal opportunity to do some deeper reading.

If you're getting all excited about going to Chaoyang Park in the following week to see The Buzzcocks, The Futureheads, British Sea Power, The (Internaitonal) Noise Conspiracy...get ready for the disappointment - all 14 international acts have been cancelled for "unforeseen circumstances". That means half line-ups of the main stage will not be there.

Despite that, The 2009 Modern Sky Music Festival will still be on with two stages putting together to make up for the loss. The organizer is also coming up with a full refund plan which allows people who have already bought the tickets. Stay tune at our website for updates on that.

This is from Modern Sky: 

Well, of course the big one is on Oct 1, and we’ll be celebrating the Big Six-O by either staying at home (and waiting for all TV channels magically turn into one!) or getting out of Beijing (if you’ve been lucky enough to get a flight/train/bus/boat/kite/fire balloon/submarine ticket, sadly it’s too late now if you’re reading this)...