Head over to the Beijinger Gallery to view some of the great images that we've snapped at various events over the past week. We've just uploaded pics from last weekend's Halloween Parties as well as images from Kanye West's show at Workers' Gymnasium. If you've got any images that you want to share with us, send an e-mail to blog@thebeijinger.com.

The Water Cube gets it's first post Olympic scrub down.

Links and Sources
The Star Daily： 奥林匹克公园要建成5A级景点

Head over to the Beijinger Gallery to view some of the great images that we've snapped at various events over the past few weeks. We've just uploaded pics from the Beijing Kids 2008 Little Pirate Treasure Hunt, Pecha Kucha at the Orange, Plastered T-Shirt's Hutong Catwalk at the NLGX Street Festival, the House Nation Block Party at Block 8 and the The Tongli Bazaar Autumn Halloween Fair.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Reform and Opening Up policy, 12,000 people gathered in Daxing’s stadium on Monday to take part in a freestyle talent competition involving local performance groups.

Links and Sources
The Beijing News: 大兴农民“舞动奇迹”(image)
Capital Civilization Office: 区举办庆祝改革开放30周年暨大兴乡风文明创新节目大赛

Head over to the Beijinger Gallery to view some of the great images that we've snapped at various events over the past few weeks. We've just uploaded pics from our 7th Anniversary Party, Midi 2008, Modern Sky, the Diesel XXX Party, the Grand Opening of Drei Kronen 1308 and Eric Abrahamsen's talk at the China Culture Center.

Head over to the Beijinger Gallery to view images from some of the best events that took place in Beijing over the October holidays. We've just uploaded pics from the NO+CH 2008 Festival, Air's performances at Yugong Yishan and Acupuncture's First Anniversary Party at Star Live.

The Fuwa might have won some over with their antics at the beach volleyball and other Olympic events, but seriously, how can they compare to Fu Niu Lele. Lele, the official mascot of the Paralympics, has proved a hit (and broken a few hearts) at terminal 3 with a robotic version of the mascot providing directions to visitors in 12 languages! Beat that Fuwa.

Update: NBC have also published a photo gallery of images from last Friday's Opening Ceremony.

Over at ESWN you can find some amazing images of the ceremony plus some translations of some responses from Chinese bloggers. Shanghaiist has collected some videos of the ceremony as captured by people on the street in various locations and also offer a handy compendium of news reports and initial reactions to the event from media around the world. Chinese blogger Wang Jianshuo has made some interesting observations and explanations about the finer details of the ceremony that you might have missed the first time round. Also, if you thought that really cool shot of the fireworks exploding along the central axis of Beijing was fake - you were right.

The above photo was taken on July 16 and is part of a great 24-image gallery that was published on Boston.com earlier this week. You can view the rest of the gallery at Beijing 2008 Preparations - Three Weeks to Go

Today's New York Times features an in-depth article about the much discussed transformation of Beijing's old hutong districts. The story is accompanied by a slide show and a detailed map. It also links to a related article about foreigners who are renovating their own siheyuan in the capital, which also comes with an accompanying slide show.

Another place to find some well-researched and authoritative writing on the changing face of Beijing is the latest issue of China Heritage Quarterly. The issue is titled Beijing, the Invisible City and as the introductory essay explains,

At a time when the city of Beijing is more visible than at any point in its dynastic, Republican or recent history, we consider the heritage of invisible Beijing, aspects of the city that cannot so readily be discerned. This issue is also about a Beijing unrealized, as well as the lost city and its heritages.

It also features some amazing photos from Lois Conner (above).