The Beijinger – May/June 2017: Lap Up the Sun: Beijing's Best Patios, Courtyards, and Rooftops
After the rebirth following a long, dreary Beijing winter, there’s nothing quite so freeing as to sit on a Beijing rooftop sipping on a cold glass of wine (or any chilled beverage of your choice) and catching up with friends. That feeling of the sun on your skin for the first time is a liberating one, at least once your body remembers how to produce that sacred vitamin D.
We have Beijing’s solid outdoor dining culture of chuan’r with a Yanjing on a stool to thank for the plethora of outdoor drinking and dining spots, and after lots of deliberation, we decided to put together our editorial brains to curate a list.
We’ve foregone said barbecue joints in lieu of the current demolition currently sweeping Dongcheng and Chaoyang districts (but you can find those on the blog here). Even without those to consider, it wasn’t easy to pick just 20 of the city’s best rooftops and patios, and we can’t wait to make the most of them.
In view of the free time coming this summer for many of you, we also explore two domestic destinations. Tom Arnstein travels to Datong, and is a tad disappointed. Robynne Tindall, on the other hand, enjoys herself by taking in the sights in Suzhou.
Elsewhere in this issue, Kyle Mullin interviews old China hand Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, and Tracy Wang looks into the easiest fix for crawling out of the doghouse: online florists. That’s right, you now don’t even need to move to get your loved one a bouquet of flowers, freeing up all your time to purvey one of our recommended al fresco spots.
We hope that you enjoy this issue of the Beijinger, and have a great start to your summer!
Read the issue via Issuu online here, or access it as a PDF here. Expect hard copies out on a shelf near you within the coming days!
Image: the Beijinger