Zhongguancun-中关村

This prestigious German organization, with a staff of native speakers and professionally trained Chinese teachers, holds German courses all week. Their library collection – free and open to the public – includes over 10,000 mostly German books and multimedia. A library card costs RMB 200 per year, students RMB 120.

Haidian’s newest one-stop shopping center runs alongside and above Carrefour. Featuring outlets of famous labels such as Lacoste, ONLY, and Sephora.

(Guomei) In its 14 stores across the city, Gome stocks a wide range of home appliances as well as PCs and DVD players from the cheap to the mind-blowingly expensive. The sales assistants are very capable. If taking your player to another country, ask if it has encoding restrictions.

The Novotel's buffet restaurant serve European and Asian food prepared in show cooking stations, with grilled fish and meats cooked on-the-spot. Breakfast buffet is RMB 148, lunch is for 168 and dinner is RMB 215. A la carte available 24 hours.

Located in the university district, this store is up there with Xidan and Wangfujing in terms of range of English-language titles. Head to the third floor for English books, which can be found alongside a broad selection of textbooks for Chinese-language study.

The place to see "State-owned" singers belt our nationalistic tunes.

Looming between neon pillars along Zhongguancun Beidajie is the monolithic 180°, the largest club in Haidian. 180°'s biggest asset is space, and even with several hundred clubrats dancing to the standard mix of hip hop/techno it doesn't feel too crowded.

The brightly lit aisles of this French cosmetics store are filled with upscale makeup and skincare products.

Tianchu Miaoxiang, which opened in 2003, is dedicated to making meat-free dishes to promote healthy diets and humanitarianism. The menu is well-organized and extensive. The menu mainly focuses on Chinese dishes, but also serves vegetarian pizza, “steak” and pasta made from beancurd, gluten, and mushrooms. Suzhong sanwei (素中三味) – a “three flavor” combination of sausage, fish and duck – is a perfect example of Buddhist mock meat dish. Another one is heijiao niuliu (黑椒牛柳), the most popular dish.

See and be seen at these Taiwanese hipster eateries, perfect for late night sweet treats (shaved ice with mango, anyone?), divine claypot tofu, and the splendidly numbing Chongqing lazi ji. The Gongti branch’s compelling people-watching offers a tasty respite from a long evening of dancing at the nightspots nearby. And any place that gives all its staff a compulsory basin haircut has to be worth a visit, right? Voted "Outstanding Kung Pao Chicken" and “Best for Late Night Dining” in the Beijinger's 2011 Reader Restaurant Awards.