The best things to do this week

Your weekly forecast of the capital's best events

With more brilliant events heading your way, there's plenty of good excuses to get out of the house (terrible pollution be damned). Don't forget to also check out our guides to the Bookworm Literary Festival and Francophone Film Festival for the best ways to inject some culture into your week.

MONDAY

Dali's Fantastic Universe

Yang Art Museum. Until Mar 31. 180RMB; 90RMB (students)

A collaboration between Shenzhen Mao Industries Company, Dali Universe and Espace Dali Paris, this exhibition features hundreds of works by the late Spanish surrealist, including sculptures, paintings, furniture and more.

TUESDAY

Sinica podcast live recording

The Bookworm. Tue 13. 50RMB

The Sinica Podcast returns to the city where it all began with this live show. Join host Anthony Tao as he takes a deep dive into the fascinating evolution of jazz in China alongside guests Jess Meider (one of China's best jazz vocalists) and David Moser (an academic who has played jazz piano for 25 years in Beijing).

WEDNESDAY

Mogwai

Tango. Wed 14. 450RMB; 360RMB (presale)

Iconic instrumentalists Mogwai make a very welcome return to China, as New Noise present the internationally-renowned Scottish band in Beijing. They'll be touting new album Every Country's Sun, which the blurb says, 'takes two decades of Mogwai's signature, contrasting sounds – towering intensity, pastoral introspection, synth-rock minimalism, DNA-detonating volume – and distills it, beautifully, into 56 concise minutes of gracious elegance, hymnal trance-rock, and transcendental euphoria'. Sounds pretty damn good to us.

THURSDAY

The Eggner Trio

NCPA. Thu 15. 160-280RMB

The acclaimed Austrian trio play a programme of Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, and Schubert’s Piano Trio in B Major and Piano Trio in E Major.

Environment in China: change in the air?

The Bookworm. Thu 15. 60RMB

Chinese authorities have issued multiple directives recently to indicate that they are now taking the war on pollution extremely seriously. The question remains, however – both domestically, and with large-scale international development projects like the Belt and Road initiative – will these measures be enough? What else could and should be done? And will China become the global leader that drives forward the Paris Climate Accord and other key international environmental agreements?

FRIDAY

The Shape of Water

In cinemas around 48 30947 48 14940 0 0 1869 0 0:00:16 0:00:07 0:00:09 2958 Beijing on Fri 16

Reliably, director Guillermo del Toro’s mind goes to squishy, sexual places. He's a true voluptuary, not just the guy behind those bony creatures from Pan's Labyrinth but also, per 2015's Crimson Peak, a believer in grand, melodramatic flourishes. Del Toro's latest, the tremblingly romantic The Shape of Water (winner of this year's Academy Award for Best Picture), should be an orgasmic flood for his fans, who want their fantasies served with a side of adultness. If you can imagine an aggressively adorable (and somewhat effortful) version of Amélie in which our hero sleeps with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, then you'll totally be feeling this.

SATURDAY

Giorgio Gigli

Lantern. Sat 17. 80RMB; 50RMB (presale)

Italian DJ Giorgio Gigli plays hypnotic, ambient sets characterised by industrial echoes, robotic tricks and deep groove. A pure techno night at Lantern with heavy support from Elvis T, Weng Weng and Jackson Lee.

SUNDAY

Beach Fossils

Omni Space. Sun 18. 230RMB; 180RMB (presale)

New York indie-rockers Beach Fossils are undertaking their first China tour, touting their 2017 album Somersault as they do so. Somersault, which features guest appearances from Slowdive's Rachel Goswell and Cities Aviv, was described as 'an acrobatic leap' for the band by Pitchfork, with orchestration and powerful rhythm sections replacing their previous dream-pop sound and resulting in 'some of [co-founder Dustin Payseur's] best songs to date'. 

Francophone Film Festival 2018

Various locations. Mar 8-31. Prices tbc

Centred around a different theme each year, this year's festival is a celebration of women, with a programme of 16 French-language films that feature an array of intriguing female characters confronting very different realities around the world.

To see a full listing of screening times and locations, scan the QR code below.

For the best things to do in Beijing this March, hit 'Read more'.

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