PEOPLE AND CULTURE - Living Abroad in Beijing - page 68

Around town you'll also find many Protestant and Catholic churches or communities,
including Chongwenmen Christian Church (2 Hougou Hutong, Dongcheng district, near
Chongwenmen subway station, Lines 2 and 5, exit B, 东城区后泡胡同丁2号 , tel. 10/
6522-9984), which runs bilingual services; BICF (Beijing International Christian Fellow-
ship), an international nondenominational church ( www.bicf.org ) , which runs services in
various locations in both Chaoyang and Haidian districts; and Nantang Catholic Cathed-
ral (also known as Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and St. Mary's, 141 Qianmen
Xidajie, Xicheng district, near Xuanwumen subway station, Lines 2 and 4, exit F, 西城区前
门西大街141号 , tel. [phone]). This is Beijing's largest Catholic church, and it runs
English services on Sunday at 10:30pm. Our Lady of China Beijing also holds various
Catholic services around Chaoyang and Shunyi districts, including Saturday at 5pm in the
Shunyi area (passports required), Sunday at 10am at the Canadian Embassy (passports re-
quired), and Sunday at 4pm at St. Joseph Church in Wangfujing. For full details contact
[e-mail] .
Jewish groups also have several places to worship and gather, including Chabad House
near Lido (Fangyuan Xilu, Chaoyang district, next to the south gate of Si De Park, 朝阳区
芳园西路，四得公园南门旁 , tel. [phone], www.chabadbeijing.com ) and at the Cap-
ital Club Athletic Center with Kehillat Beijing (3rd Floor Ballroom, Capital Mansion, 6
Xinyuan Nanlu, Chaoyang district, 朝阳区新源南路6号京城大厦旁边的京城俱乐部3层 ,
tel. [phone], www.sinogogue.org ).
The Arts
ART
Art in Beijing is confined mostly to art districts, including the most famous of them all,
the 798 Art District near Lido in Chaoyang district, as well as Caochangdi, a little farther
east and closer to the airport. These districts are often repurposed factories, converted into
mazes of galleries of varying scale—some good, some terrible—as well as artists' studios.
It's not clear exactly how many working artists live in Beijing, but some wager there may
be as many as 10,000. The city is considered one of China's major art locations, and most
Chinese artists are drawn here at some point in their career for a period of residency. In the
past, artists dreamed of heading to the West, but now they see Beijing as an abundant source
of inspiration and potential.