In 1999, if you wanted to party in Bei­jing, San­l­i­tun (三里屯） was to place to be. The Embassy dis­trict was home to a bunch of Night­clubs, Western-style restau­rants and a lot of action.

But San­l­i­tun changed. We did find the “Bar Street” (三里屯酒吧街） but I found it quite dark and depress­ing, not to men­tion seedy. See­ing “Lady Bars”, girls and a few pimps — right besides the Embassy com­pound — con­firmed me in my first impres­sion. This wasn’t my San­l­i­tun. This wasn’t the place where I had so much going to disco at barely 16. This wasn’t where I danced all night long, went bowl­ing, munched on Wester food because I was sick and tired of eat­ing rice.

We acci­den­tally dis­cov­ered the new heart of Beijing’s nightlife a few days later, walk­ing around the Old Bei­jing. Most of the trendy bars are now in Hou Hai (后海), by Bei­hai. Bars, dis­cos, restau­rants and night mar­kets are set around the lakes. It’s busy yet friendly and the lakes, in which the lights reflect beau­ti­fully, bring a cool breeze. The place was a weird mix of old and new. We walked through a few Hutong (small tra­di­tional alleys) to get there, but we spot­ted a Star­bucks and a lot of Bud­weiser signs. Cal­lig­ra­phy brushes were dis­played for sale right by the usual Cul­ture Rev­o­lu­tion mem­o­ra­bil­ias… and next to (fake) brand new Iphones! Once again, these are the many sides of Bei­jing…

Related arti­cles:

1. Bei­jing Memo
2. Bei­jing By Night
3. Mod­ern Beijing （现代北京）
4. Gone To Beijing!
5. Above Ground