the Beijinger

Here's something you don't see every day -- and soon may never again: a bomb shelter dug in the late-1960s and early-70s, part of an extensive but little-known marvel of human engineering called Beijing's Underground City. Many of us may have heard about the tunnel network below our feet, and we linked to an article last year about a visit to one section of the system. But last weekend I actually got to delve into the underground world myself, a particular segment that may be sealed off forever in the coming months.

You can dress it up however you want, but burlesque, at its core, is about sex. That's the thrust with which female performers subverted Victorian paternalism in the mid-19th century. That's how it found a bedfellow with American jazz and the haut monde of the 1920s and 30s. That's the reason we recognize Dita Von Teese. And as the fine people of Moonglow Burlesque prepare to put on Beijing's first-ever burlesque show, "Moonglow Cabaret 1935" -- June 12, starting a minute before midnight -- burlesque will remain what burlesque is: a dance in the pin-up tradition of sex, swing and seduction.

Staging Giacomo Puccini’s operatic classic Turandot at the National Stadium seemed like a good idea on paper, especially with Zhang Yimou directing and renowned tenor Dai Yuqiang in a lead role. Tickets ran up to RMB 8,800 for the best seats, which, as you’d expect, offered a pretty great view. For those sitting above field level, however – which is to say, the vast majority of those in attendance on Tuesday and Wednesday – paying any price was probably too much.

Unless you’ve been living in a bubble, you know the air’s not that great here. But all of us who’ve been in Beijing a while also know that whining about said air quality is the worst of the expat clichés: we have willingly traded a bit of pulmonary discomfort for the privilege of living in this city of opportunity and excitement.

And so it's always with slight trepidation that I pick up any book about China's environment. It's bad. We get it. But Jonathan Watts, a longtime Guardian reporter and veteran of the China beat, gets it, too, which is why his book about the environment, When a Billion Chinese People Jump: How China Will Save Mankind - Or Destroy It, will soon be a must-have for everyone seeking to understand the shades and layers of China’s environmental challenges and our incredible potential for change.

Expat women in China can probably all recount an unpleasant experience of being objectified and typecast as just wanting to have fun. Miss Laowai China, happening September 11 at 21st Century Theater, can't be said to help perceptions -- after all, what screams objectification more than a beauty pageant? -- but organizer David Sinkala insists his show will be different from the others.

"If the ultimate goal is world peace," he says, intentionally borrowing from the beauty contestant phrasebook, "then what is the initial step to attaining that? If I'm not peaceful in my heart, and I'm part of the world, what world peace are you talking about?"

Using that as a guiding principle, Miss Laowai aims to be -- believe it or not -- a community event that effects good on multiple levels.

Nanluogu Xiang was made for days like these, when sunlight sieves through russeting leaves and visitors toddle to and fro as if their internal stoplight was stuck on amber. Walking around, it’s not hard to imagine how this hutong caught the attention of would-be shop owners six years ago. And it's also clear why landlords are constantly trying to raise rents: this place has become a bona fide tourist magnet.

"Greed," says King Tai, owner of the well known Korean restaurant Saveurs de Corée on Nanluogu Xiang. "It's human nature."

The tale is as old as it is predictable, almost not worth rehashing. But here goes. About five years ago, Nanluogu Xiang was an alleyway frontier, quiet and understated. When a few residents of hutong houses got the bright idea to rent their spaces to bar and boutique owners, the neighborhood began its gradual evolution into a pulsating and contemporary nerve center, a "hub of creativity," as tbj's Iain Shaw put it last November, "a culture -- at least, one side of what modern Beijing culture is." But the bandwagon of consumers and window-shoppers that followed inevitably carried the lure of commerce, money. And sure enough, behind them rode the bandits of Greed.

At some point, successful underground bands and musicians rise out of the rathskellers to play in mainstream venues, at which point they and their promoters leave behind the tatty bars and Monday night performances. As a result, there's always a need for promoters who truly hang out on the fringes in search for the next big thing.

Pangbianr is the latest promotion to do just that. Founder Josh Feola, who launched the bilingual website on June 1, is aiming for high-detail, low-volume promotion that highlights the city's experimental musicians and artists who really, actually deserve your attention.

Malcolm Gladwell, in Tipping Point, describes three types of people with a "rare set of social gifts" who are integral to the success of an idea or development: mavens who accumulate knowledge, salesmen who sell ideas and connectors who put the right people in touch with one another. It's to this final class that Brian Bodecker Gale and William James Heathershaw -- the respective organizers of NetworkClub and ORIENTED -- firmly belong, and if you want to experience the power of knowing the right people, come to their joint event tomorrow at Club Le at 7 pm. Read on to find out how to get half-price admission.