Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WHAT ARE THE BEST VENUES FOR ROCK?
Mao Livehouse is a great venue for rock. It's really well designed so that people go
there to really focus on the music. Yugong Yishan is cool, too, and Old What is a
great tiny punk venue just meters from the Forbidden City. Everyone loves Old What,
and it's such a cool place for young bands to play their first gigs.
WHAT ARE THE BEST THINGS ABOUT MUSIC IN BEIJING?
It's easy to get shows if you're a young band, and there are lots of bars to play in.
Practice places are cheap and easy to find, and you don't need to take your gear. All
the bars have backlines so you just come with your guitar and you can play. The fans
are open-minded; any band can play with any other band and usually people don't
mind.
If you do want a hard copy, there are pirated CDs available in the DVD stores, or, for
the real thing, you can purchase genuine copies from online stores such as Amazon.
Chinese music itself is largely pop and highly commercial. Canto pop is a favorite on
the musical menu, as is anything by Korean boy bands. Live music of both niche and main-
stream varieties is, however, plentiful. You won't often see concerts on the scale of U2 or
Madonna here, but on almost any night of the week you can drop by a bar or club for some
jazz, rock, indie, electro, or folk music.
One of the most important ways for you to ensure you have an enjoyable and fulfilling life
in Beijing is to connect with other people, and in Beijing it is incredibly easy to build a solid
circle of friends with very little effort at all. The expat community is geared to network-
ing and socializing, and no matter what kind of lifestyle you enjoy, you'll be able to find
like-minded people here. There are specialized professional networking groups, mothers'
groups, events for party people, and even hiking groups. Whatever your interest, you'll be
able to find something compatible. Moving to a city that seems as foreign as Beijing may
feel a little daunting, but you'll soon discover there are many other people in exactly the
same situation as you and many more who are willing to lend a hand or give you their per-
sonal pointers.
