In the cut-and-thrust world of Beijing nightlife, any bar clocking up one year in business can consider itself a success. (On that note, a happy first birthday to George's – one this Saturday!) Five years? Indicative of near-legendary status. Ten years? Virtually unprecedented. Which Beijing bars have been around for ten years or more? The Den. Frank's Place (and in name only, as long as John Harkness holds off on his threat of changing the name to Johnny Duck's – Frank's has changed location and proprietor on more than one occasion). Mix. Jazz-Ya. Charlie's in the Jianguo Hotel. The Tree (OK, another one that moved – it was once The Hidden Tree, on the old Sanlitun South Street). Hard Rock Cafe. A few of the bars on the "ladybar" Sanlitun Bar Street – and that's about it. (If you know of any more worth mentioning, drop a note at the bottom of this post.)

And then there's VICS, which celebrates its 11th birthday this weekend. Read on for a fantastic ticket giveaway!

Just before the world ends (if you're not reading this on Thursday afternoon, or in Beijing, this is kind of a "you had to be there" moment), a quick roundup of what's going down this weekend.

Vics is celebrating its 11th anniversary on Saturday night with a massive party. Expect huge displays of public drunkenness, with free drinks until midnight for everyone, and special prizes to be won. Entry is RMB 50, but we'll have a competition to win invitation tickets tomorrow, so look out for those. We've also been asking around the office, collecting some our colleagues' memories - or what passes for memories - of vintage Vics nights. We'll share those with you tomorrow if they turn out to be any good.

We've hardly stopped writing about it this past seven days, but George's, the latest project from former Q Bar manager George Zhou, has its official launch party tonight at 8.30pm. Zhou will be mixing drinks for tasting, so if you're into your drinks and liqueurs, go down and see what the master has got in store. If you've no idea who George Zhou is, check out our interview with him here.

“Yo, leave that door open my friend, leave that door open, ‘cos I don’t like smokin,’ and y’all been smokin.’” Fat Joe doesn’t like smoking, we learned, as he settled into a shiny red leather sofa in a private room at Vics to face the assembled ranks of Beijing media a few hours before his show at the Gongti club last Friday night. We'd been waiting 45 minutes for Fat Joe to arrive, and were unsure what to expect. We had been told we had 5-10 minutes for a group interview with the rapper. Would we find an exhausted Joe keen to get in and out as soon as he could? Were certain topics off-limits? As he sipped on an iced soda water, massive diamond encrusted watch to match the stud in his ear, Fat Joe seemed at ease, happy to be here and holding court on topics ranging from 50 Cent to Guru, Wesley Snipes and weight loss.

The date of the Fat Joe show that was originally announced for Fri, May 28th, was moved to tonight, May 14 after the last issue of the Beijinger went to press. The legendary South Bronx MC (D.I.T.C, Terror Squad) brings his hardcore street rhymes for the first time to Beijng tonight at Vics, starting at 10pm.