13 great things to do in Beijing this weekend

Your weekend guide to the best of Beijing

Dance your weekday blues away this weekend with a solid lineup of DJs and artists heading to Beijing. Then spend time with your loved ones (or by yourself, because you should always treat yo' self) at some great stage events or movies while everyone else shops themselves into oblivion on Singles' Day (Sun 11).

Midnight in Peking Walking Tour

Unspecified venue. Sat 10. 388RMB.

Bonus round! With a winter break drawing near, Bespoke and Penguin are hosting an additional Midnight in Peking tour this November, so this is your penultimate chance to take the murderful mystery tour this year. Walk the footsteps of those embroiled in the grisly death of Pamela Werner, a British diplomat’s daughter, in 1930s Peking, with newly uncovered Chinese police reports on the case detailing several characters not mentioned in Paul French's book, offering critical new perspectives on the murder.

Italian Cuisine & Wines Summit

Various locations. Thu 8-Mon 12. 

In the latest play in gastrodiplomacy, the tenth edition of the Italian Cuisine & Wines World Summit takes place this week, featuring acclaimed chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants cooking at restaurants across Beijing. From November 8 to 12, catch Vincenzo Candiano at Barolo, Sandro Serva at Cépe, Alfonso Caputo at Tavola and Crescenzo Scotti at Flames where they'll be serving up exclusive set menus.

On Sunday, the Ritz-Carlton Beijing will be hosting a pizza-making competition while the aforementioned chefs will also team up to serve an Italian-style weekend brunch. For more information, click here (Chinese only).

The Great Outdoors first anniversary

The Great Outdoors. Sun 11. 168RMB; 128RMB (presale)

A treacherous second half of 2017 saw almost all of Fangjia Hutong's various F&B outlets bricked and shutter, though resilient newcomer The Great Outdoors survived, and now lives to see its first birthday. Celebrate the bar's continued existence with free-flow beer (Brugse Zot Blond, Brugse Zot Dubbel, and Straffe Hendrik Tripel) as well as plenty of other boozy deals. Get your presale tickets here.

Larry Carlton

Blue Note. Fri 9. 360-600RMB

As a solo artist, American guitarist Larry Carlton is probably best known for his smooth hit 'Room 335', but made his name as perhaps one of the most successful session guitarists of all time. His mammoth credits list includes appearances on Michael Jackson's Off the Wall, seven Joni Mitchell albums, and on four albums with the at once awesome but also deeply uncool Steely Dan, notably on their belting jazz-rock opus Aja.

Lydmor + Prep

Dusk Dawn Club. Fri 9. 150RMB; 120RMB (presale).

British quartet Prep join Danish singer Lydmor for an evening of deep beats and electric music. Both outfits are known for their unique take on electronic music, bringing in dreamy synth to complement lifting vocals.

Showtek

Sir Teen. Fri 9. 100RMB. 

Showtek has quite a few chart-topping club hits to their name, including 'Cannonball', 'Booyah' and 'Bad' (with David Guetta). The Dutch brothers, Sjoerd and Wouter Janssen, have worked with the likes of Tiësto and Chris Brown, ranking high on music charts around the world, with their top ranking at number 17 on DJ Mag's Top 100 list back in 2014. They come to Beijing this weekend after a cancelled show in Shanghai. Bad luck for those down south, but excellent news for us.

Drumcell

Dada. Fri 9. 80RMB. 

Los Angeles-born DJ Drumcell returns to China with his hypnotic experimental style. Disregarding genres, his techno blends influences from the digital and analogue, bringing the dancefloor new and expansive dystopian sounds.

Nocturnes + Future Orients

School Bar. Sat 10. 80RMB; 60RMB (presale).

Nocturnes' music has been described as emotional, sultry, atmospheric, and immersive and sits somewhere between the intensity of Foals, the electronic elements of Bonobo and the pop sensibilities of Coldplay. They're joined this Saturday by Future Orients at School Bar.

Jay Hardway

One Third. Sun 11. TBC. 

Yet another Dutch DJ, Jay Hardway (whose real name is a slightly-less pronounceable Jobke Pieter Hendrik Heiblom) is a progressive house producer and DJ. He broke onto the scene in 2013, with his hit single 'Wizard', made in collaboration with similar superstar and similarly Dutch Martin Garrix. He's risen the ranks of DJ Mag's Top 100, hitting number 64 this year.

Roberto Bolle & Friends

NCPA. Sat 10-Sun 11. 160-880RMB.

Roberto Bolle and Friends is a company of ballet dancers that take on ambitious, daring projects to bring dance, stories and history to the world. Performing unusual dances in unusual settings (like the Arena of Verona), the dancers bring history and culture to life. Bolle has danced on stages from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York to the throne room at Buckingham Palace, and his illustrious career has earned him international acclaim (and a UNESCO medal). The friends come to Beijing this November with a special programme of innovative, breathtaking dance.

Jan Lisiecki

NCPA. Sun 11. 50-380RMB. 

Jan Lisiecki is probably what most parents want their musically inclined children to turn out like. At just age nine, the Canadian-born pianist (of Polish descent) performed in his first orchestra. Since then, he's gone on to grace the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall, and has performed with the best orchestras in the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the Orchestre de Paris and the Montreal Symphony. Safe to say, he's made a lot of waves in the classical music scene in his 23 years on this earth. Catch him in Beijing this Sunday to see one of Canada's brightest young stars.

Hu Qingyan: Absent & Superfluous

Galerie Urs Meile. Until Dec 30. Free.

Since graduating from CAFA in 2010, Hu Qingyan has made a name for himself as a highly skilled sculptor and a great conceptual thinker. His explorations of intermediality push the boundaries of his chosen medium, with playful shape-shifting of form, material, texture and mass.

Venom

In cinemas around Beijing from Fri 9. 

Venom, a slick-skinned alien 'symbiote' who first plagued Marvel's Peter Parker back in a 1986 comic, has a Wikipedia entry roughly 10 metres long. That's not to say that the villain deserves his own film...

For even more things to do this weekend in Beijing, hit 'Read more'. 

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