2016 Year in Review: 8 Things We Don't Want To See Again in a 2017 Beijing

This year was ... interesting to say the least. Not just on a global level, but plenty of the action also happened right here in good ol' China. Below are some of the things we saw in 2016 Beijing that we never want to see again. We'll start with eternal false hope.

False Hope
Ah, false hope. The disappointment that just kept going throughout the year. Uber was cheap, then there were phantom drivers scaring the shit out of everyone, and then Uber was gone. Marks & Spencer was great, then Marks & Spencer was closing. Metallica was coming to play in Beijing, then tickets were instantly sold out. The Bookworm literary festival was a highlight, then the literary festival was indefinitely postponed, and then it was announced that The Bookworm's closest semblence to a competitor in the capital, Page One, might actually be closing down. There was also the Roosegaarde Smog Tower that was hyped for what felt like a thousand years, promising to solve all of our smoggy woes and showering everyone in smoggy diamonds, but actually turned out to be completely useless

Must we go on? 

Foreigners Giving Other Foreigners a Bad Name
We understand the daily battle with road rage, but we're kind of fed up of foreigners giving other foreigners a bad name. Don't lose your shit in public, yo. Control that rage. If you're worried you're giving foreigners a bad name, why not start by learning some basic Chinese phrases? Yes, there are any number of things (driving and arbitrary rules being just two of them) to grumble about while living in China, but in order to avoid sounding like a conceited fool, you might want to check to see which annoying things foreigners already do.

People Being Mauled by Tigers
Let us be clear: We're not blaming the tigers, but we do believe there were a few too many incidents of animals mauling humans in 2016, starting with elephants and moving onto tigers attacking humans. But needless to say, let's hope that we won't be seeing any more of that happening in 2017.

Police Raids
While not specific to 2016, police raids continued through the year, the latest incident taking place at Destination, Temple, and Dada in November and Modernista and Mado Bar prior to that in June. We're not saying that the police shouldn't work in the best interests of the people but we are saying this is a terrible way to end a night out.

Terrible Art
Why do terrible paintings and art exhibitions with spelling mistakes still keep taking place? We don't want to see it, and we most certainly do not want to pay for it. What we do like is when unsuspecting people turn out to be incredible artists, as was the case with one lucky Shandong farmer.


Changes to the Visa System
The neverending battle of trying to understand the country's visa regulations is getting a little bit old. This year, a new system was set in place (but not yet implemented fully) to grade foreigners according to their age, experience, sector, and education, making us feel a little bit like the slabs of meat pictured above.

The Eternal Closing Down of Our Favorite Restaurants
What do Two Guys and a Pie, Modo Urban Deli, Tafelspitz, Rumi, Sweet Tooth, The Smokeyard, and Union Bar and Grille have in common? Yup, you guessed it.

The Yashow Market Saga
It was refurbishedrefurbished again, and then it was left for dead. We're bored of not being able to source cheap clothing and bits and bobs from the center of town anymore. Maybe somebody will listen to our seven suggestions about how to reanimate Yashow Market and business will be back to normal come the new year. Or not. Let us keep the China Dream alive into 2017.

More stories by this author here.

Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
Instagram: s.xuagram

Images: the Beijinger, craveonline.comdiepresse.com, the Beijinger, courtesy of Yashow

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schreursm wrote:

admin wrote:

Don't forget the mysterious closure of Max Renn's Chocolate Bar, which didn't even last long enough to have one winter hot chocolate season

Honestly that closure was a little too mysterious, with the chocolate still churning for a few weeks after ...

 

I got a cryptic message from their corporate PR that said simply "We confirm it is closed and we do not know if and when it will open again"

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Let's not forget the Meat Cleaver Woman cutting people for racist reasons - let's hope in 2017 no foreigners will be injured or dead like in 2015 and 2016 right after the forum.

admin wrote:

Don't forget the mysterious closure of Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar, which didn't even last long enough to have one winter hot chocolate season

Honestly that closure was a little too mysterious, with the chocolate still churning for a few weeks after ...

the Beijinger

Don't forget the mysterious closure of Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar, which didn't even last long enough to have one winter hot chocolate season

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Wow, I thought 2016 was a bad year. Then I read this and realized that it's even worse. I think I'll go hide in a cave for the next 18 days and hopefully run out the clock without incident.