16 brilliant things to do in Beijing this week

Your weekly guide to the best of Beijing

Happy Monday, Beijing! With music, films and parties galore, it's shaping up to be another great week. Read on for our top picks.

Africa Week 2019

Art Afrik 2018. Photo: EB Photography

Various locations and times. Until Sun 26. 

This May sees the return of Africa Week, bringing with it a fantastic programme of events dedicated to celebrating and promoting African culture and achievements in Beijing – and beyond. Brought together by Kente & Silk, a Beijing-based social enterprise engaged in a range of initiatives aimed at enhancing Sino-African relations, the week’s activities will highlight the very best of Beijing's African community, across the arts, food, business and much more. Click here for a full rundown of the happenings.

Live With Less

National Art Museum of China. 1.30pm. Sat 25. Free.

Head to the Cultural and Creative Center of NAMOC this Saturday to swap, sip and snack. Hang out with the community while giving away what you don't need anymore and taking what you do. Any clothing, accessories, bags, shoes, household items, book and children's things in good condition can be bought along, with giving and taking not needing to be equal. For more information, click here.

Film and Board Game Night

Camera Stylo. 7.30pm. Fri 24. Free.

This Friday, Camera Stylo returns with another film and board game night. Catch a screening of cult film Super Mario Bros then spend the rest of the evening playing table-top games (while sipping on some boozy bevs). There will be several tables so multiple games can take place. Have a specific game you'd like to play? Bring it along – the more games, the merrier. To register, click here.

Midnight in Peking walking tour

Near Beijing Railway Station. 6.30pm. Sun 26. 450RMB.

Based on Paul French's bestselling murder-mystery, the Midnight in Peking walking tour retraces the footsteps of those embroiled in the grisly death of Pamela Werner (a British diplomat’s daughter) in 1930s Peking – a death that shocked the foreign community to its core. From the ominous Fox Tower to the gritty 'Badlands' and the former foreign legation quarter, two historians who have carried out painstaking additional research into the Chinese side of the case will beat a path through the little known areas of old Peking, painting a vivid picture of a period in Beijing’s history it would rather forget.

Wine and the City: Hermitage vs Barossa

Morton's. 7pm. Fri 24. 888RMB.

Want to know the difference between syrah and shiraz? Then join the folks at the Regent Hotel as France (Hermitage) takes on Australia (Barossa Valley) in this ultimate battle of the reds. Menu highlights include smoked salmon rillettes, steak tartare with white anchovies and centre-cut filet mignon with truffle mashed potatoes. 

Vijay Iyer Trio

Blue Note. May 23-24. 380RMB (table seat); 280RMB (side seat).

Trailblazing pianist Vijay Iyer, one of his generation's brightest jazz luminaries, explores jazz, pop and electronica vanguards with equal curiosity. You can hear the eclecticism throughout his impressively prolific portfolio from the past few years, including chamber works, a multimedia collaboration and a curatorial position as Musical Director of the Ojai Music Festival. Join him as he performs over two nights at Blue Note.

Rye Music Festival

Changyang Music Theme Park. May 25-26. 450-800RMB. 

Rye Music Festival is back at it again, bringing another round of stellar international and local artists including Scottish shoegazers The Jesus and Mary Chain, Aussie duo Angus and Julia Stone (pictured) and Taiwanese pop stars Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai. 

Joyce Jonathan

Mao Livehouse Wukesong. May 26. 240RMB; 190RMB (presale).

With several China tours under her belt, as well as her ability to sing in both French and Chinese, 29-year-old singer-songwriter Joyce Jonathan has already developed a sizeable Chinese following. She's now five albums in (including French-Chinese album Ça ira) and her sound has been compared to Tracy Chapman though, to us, she sounds more like a French Katie Melua.

Timmy Trumpet

One Third. From 9pm. Fri 24. 120RMB (early bird, includes one cocktail).

Currently ranked number 33 on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list, Australian house DJ and producer Timmy Trumpet is fairly unusual in the world of electronic music. Previously on course to become an alumnus of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music until his expulsion, Timmy's developed a style which falls halfway between live instrumentation (that's where the trumpet comes in) and a traditional DJ set. See if you can go and come out without 'Freaks' getting stuck in your head. 

Francois X

Lantern. From 10pm. Sat 25. 80RMB; 50RMB (presale).

François Xavier-Zoumenou, aka François X, is a DJ and musician from Paris who's forged his position as an artist of note in the world of electronic music, characterised by his love for warm, earthy compositions. François' own label DEMENT3D (noted by Resident Advisor as a key cog in the French music renaissance) established in 2011, has been the home of his last five releases and also helped developing artists such as Polar Inertia, Valentino Mora, In Aeternam Vale and Voiski. Get your tickets here.

Aladdin

On general release from Fri 24.

Disney brings Aladdin to a whole new world in this live adaptation, with Will Smith attempting to fill the very big shoes left behind by Robin Williams. Aladdin (Mena Massoud) is a scrappy street kid who finds a magical lamp that, thanks to the genie living within it, has the power to grant him his deepest desires. Not so coincidentally, he also happens to fall in love with the lovely Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott). But when the Grand Vizier-slash-evil sorcerer Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) discovers the power of the magical lamp, he decides to try to take it away from Aladdin. For those of you already familiar with the animation, Aladdin should tread some pretty familiar ground (but we'll nevertheless still be catching it in cinemas).

Vegan film screening: A Plastic Ocean

Camera Stylo. 3pm. Sat 25. 35RMB (includes one free drink).

Touted by Sir David Attenborough as 'the most important film of our time', A Plastic Ocean follows journalist Craig Leeson, free diver Tanya Streeter and an international team of scientists and researchers as they travel to 20 locations around the world over the course of four years, exploring the fragile state of our oceans and uncovering alarming truths about plastic pollution. For more information, click here.

Society Guidance: Part I

Artwork: Photo-2 by Chen Shaoxiang (1998)

UCCA. Until Aug 18 (open every day except Mon). 60RMB.

Featuring work by Chen Shaoxiong, Ren Jian and New History Group, and Wang Jin, Society Guidance focuses on the creative trajectory of Chinese artists at the outset of the 1990s, working against the backdrop of the sweeping social transformation that occurred as economic reforms initiated in 1978 deepened and gathered speed. The exhibition provides an opportunity to revisit the early 1990s, an era which, though well studied in terms of individual artists and their work, is still processed in art historical narratives more as a period of transition than a distinct epoch.

Rudolf Buchbinder and the Staatskapelle Dresden

NCPA. 7.30pm. Tue 21-Wed 22. 280-1,280RMB

Renowned for his comprehensive repertoire encompassing everything from Bach to the present day, acclaimed Viennese pianist Rudolf Buchbinder once again joins the Staatskapelle Dresden to perform a programme of classical favourites.

Music Fans Classical: Canon in D

Beijing Concert Hall. 7.30pm. Fri 24. 100-580RMB.

Music Fans Classical play across the country, infusing a new love into classical greats. This week, they come to Beijing to perform Pachelbel's beloved Canon in D as well as other greats, including Greensleeves, the theme from Schindler's List and more.

Christoph Eschenbach and China NCPA Orchestra

NCPA. 7.30pm. Sat 25. 50-480RMB.

Christoph Eschenbach, former Music Director of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, leads the China NCPA Orchestra and guest flautist Stathis Karapanos in a programme of Mendelssohn, Bach and Ibert this Saturday.

For more great things to do in Beijing, hit 'Read more' below. 

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