That's Beijing – December 2016 Issue Out Now!
The December issue of That's Beijing is out now – paper-and-ink-form citywide and digital pdf form. Click "Read more" at the bottom of the page to view this month's magazine on your phone with Issuu.
Editor-in-Chief Oscar Holland introduces the magazine:
President-elect Trump. Let those words sink in for a moment.
Because just when you thought this annus horribilis couldn’t get any odder, America elected a reality TV star with the attention span of a senile carp to be its commander-in-chief.
Just months earlier, I watched from afar as my own country (the ironically named United Kingdom) chose to distance itself from European neighbors and the world. And then there was Harambe. In sum, 2016 sucked.
I acknowledge these events in my Editor’s Note because failing to do so in our annual Year in Review issue would feel negligent. But including them in our cover story (page 40) would take us beyond our China-based remit.
For once, events here seemed prosaic. Things plodded along at their usual breakneck speed, with a stability and predictability that may become increasingly enviable to the rest of the world. Nonetheless, we’ve rounded up some of the happenings that made headlines in China this year.
Frankly, 2016 will not be remembered for the events documented in this magazine. It will be remembered as the year in which the neo-liberal world order began to tremble.
The best we can offer is an entertaining distraction.
Elsewhere in the magazine:
Dominique Wong meets the adult superfans of Mandopop teen sensations TFBoys (page 10);
I find out how to make a pollution mask from expensive sneakers (page 22);
Andrew Chin profiles two of the capital’s most unusual bands, Hoochie Coochie Gentleman and the reggae five-piece Long Shen Dao (pages 32 and 33);
And Noelle Mateer goes in search of halal food in Beijing’s Muslim quarter, while bringing you her characteristically caustic roundup of the month’s food and drink openings (from page 52).
And hey, we redesigned the magazine in time for the new year. I hope you like it.
Here’s to 2017 being more normal.
To view the December issue of That's Beijing on your phone (VPN required), click "Read more" below.