Party Like the World Is Ending

Ever since Y2K failed to unleash global catastrophe, doomsdayers have had us fretting about the 2012 apocalypse, said to coincide with the last day of an ancient Mayan calendar, which happens to be this Friday. While survivalists and suckers have been bracing themselves for the end, Beijing nightspots are using the occasion to throw some parties worthy of being your last.

Throughout China, people have been making plans to survive – or at least make money off the gullible. A Xinjiang man has spent two years and his life savings building a modern day “Noah's ark,” while inventors and entrepreneurs have been taking orders for disaster-proof survival pods in Hebei and Zhejiang. One karma-conscious university professor in Nanjing mortgaged her house and donated her worldly possessions to charity. Weibo rumors of “three days of darkness” have had candles flying off the shelves in Sichuan. And we couldn't have an end-times prophecy without a kooky cult waiting around for Jesus.

Once your survival pod is stocked with non-perishables, and you've done your final good deeds, the only thing left to do is party. Beijing bar and club owners are giving us good reason to crawl out of our bunkers and go out with a bang, with apocalypse-themed parties happening throughout the city on Friday, December 21. Rock out with the devil at Temple's free-to-attend end-of-the-world event, featuring music by Devils at the Crossroad. If impending doom makes you want to dance your fears away, there's "End of the World" at Haze, with Donald Summer, Pancake Lee, Max Feelgood, Kaize, and Zhi Qi providing tunes. Beiluoguxiang's Siif hosts Doomsday, a no-cover drum & bass/dubstep party, and the bar promises a free drink for those in costume. Fubar is handing out freebies like there's no tomorrow with free entrance, a free first drink for all, and free shots in honor of "Fumaggedon." L.A.-based hip-hoppers Far East Movement will spend their last hours in Beijing performing at Latte's "Party for Doomsday." Tickets go for RMB 200.

Those of us who don't get raptured this weekend can keep the good times going with Goodbye Humanity at 2 Kolegas on December 29. Billed as a "doomsday psychedelic journey," this encore Armageddon event features music from Whai, Acid Live, and Mico of Junglemico.