Wagas’ sandwiches are not only light and nutrient rich— they’re also symptomatic of a new era for sandwiches in Beijing's dining scene.

The holiday is now upon us. The Beijinger has written quite a bit on how to enjoy it, so here is a complete collection of what to do, where to do it, and how. 新年快乐! 万事如意! (Happy New Year from the Beijinger!)

Anybody Home? Where You Can Still Dine Out During Spring Festival Even feasting on jiaozi gets a bit old after a few days. Here's a list of restaurants that will be open during the holiday period.

With its cold-fighting stodge and preponderance of wheat, the food of northern China is not often mentioned in the same breath as the word “refined,” so it may seem like an odd choice for a flagship Chinese restaurant in a high-end hotel. Yet the Rosewood Beijing has managed to take this rugged cuisine and elevate it to greater heights, by virtue of rustic-casual restaurant Country Kitchen. No fancy water glasses here.

Migas Restaurant teamed up with food importer and supplier Jiarui to hold a two hour talk and tasting session on beef on February 12. 

Two news items and a couple of tips before the holiday.

A Chinese firm has received approval for its acquisition of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the flagship of that brand owned by Hilton Worldwide, for USD 1.95 billion. It’s kind of funny that Hilton owns the Beijing outlet, which only opened in 2014, and an insurance company in China will own the New York location. Talk about globalization.

In case you hadn't realised, today is Mardi Gras, also known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day (among other things) depending on which country you hail from. Being the last day before lent, people traditionally indulged in the richer, fattier foods that they were intending to give up over the next 40 days, hence the name Mardi Gras or 'Fat Tuesday'.

Oh the shame ... once again it appears that a fine mix of international acts will tour China and skip Beijing in the process.

Katy Perry will play in Shanghai and Guangzhou this April but not in Beijing; her Super Bowl companion Lenny Kravitz will also do Shanghai in March and skip Beijing.

[Updated Feb 16] If the thought of staying in Beijing for Chinese New Year makes you flinch, fear not. While the subway cars become abandoned your stomach needn't fear the same empty fate. Although some of our hotspots will be closed across the entire Chinese New Year holiday schedule (Feb 18-25) others are leaving their doors wide open for you to come in and try some of their cuisine without the hassle of waiting around. Check below for where you can still go: 

The official population of Beijing grew by only 368,000 people in 2014, as government officials claimed credit for keeping the city's growth under control. 

Beijing now has 21.516 million permanent residents, over eight million of which live "outside the city," Caixin Media reported, although it was not specific as to how "outside" was defined.