Best of the Blog: Notable Happenings from July
Every month we tally the hits from thebeijinger.com and bring you the most viewed blogs from our website.
1. Five Arrested for Beijing Uniqlo Sex Romp
Five people have been arrested in connection with a sex video shot in the changing room of the Uniqlo flagship store at Beijing’s Taikoo Li shopping area, according to the Associated Press. The Japanese clothing retailer is still under investigation as to whether or not it instigated the video as a publicity stunt.
2. Tsinghua University Installs Standalone Outdoor Air Purifying Stations
A structure resembling a bus stop was recently unveiled on the Tsinghua University campus. They are in fact air-purifying stations, which cost about RMB 600,000 and work like smaller, indoor units but on a much larger scale, drawing in air from an inlet located at the bottom, removing PM10 and PM2.5 particles through a bag filter, and emitting the newlypurified air out through a vent overhead.
3. Beijing City Government to Move to Tongzhou
Beijing will move its municipal government offices to Tongzhou in an effort to reduce pollution and traffic congestion in the city center, city officials confirmed in July. Beijing is looking to improve conditions in the center of the city, while the central government wants to more closely integrate Beijing, Tianjin, and surrounding Hebei province.
4. Fire Breaks Out in Fengtai, Smoke Visible Throughout Beijing
A fire broke out at a saw mill at Dahongmen, Fengtai District, around 3pm on June 30, the smoke from which could easily be seen throughout the whole city, obscuring an otherwise blue sky. There were no casualties, and residents of nearby neighborhoods reported seeing more than 10 fire trucks and ambulances in service outside of the scene of the fire.
5. City Approves Sanlitun Subway Station on Line 17
Officials released their final designs for Line 17, another major track cutting across the city north-south, connecting the Tiantongyuan, Wangjing, and Guangqumen residential areas with the commercial and bar areas of Sanlitun, Gongti, and Xindong Lu. Line 17 will begin construction by the end of this year and it predicted to be operational by late 2018 or early 2019.
6. New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club to Expand to Beijing
New York’s famous Blue Note Jazz Club will expand to Beijing in 2016, The New York Times reported. Blue Note Beijing, scheduled to open in March, will occupy a 16,000-squarefoot basement space in a neo- Classical building near Tiananmen Square. Built in 1903 as Beijing’s first American Embassy, it was more recently home to upscale French restaurant Maison Boulud.
7. Second Annual Beijing Autumn Craft Beer Festival Announced
On September 25 and 26, Slow Boat Brewery will host the Second Annual Beijing Autumn Craft Beer Festival at the EAST Hotel grounds. Last year’s event featured 11 different breweries from seven different provinces in China, as well as ten of Beijing’s best restaurants and food vendors. Over 3,000 craft beer lovers made their way to the festival grounds to eat, drink, listen to music, and be merry.
8. Maroon 5, Robbie Williams Cancel Concerts
We thought this might be a summer with some big musical names coming to Beijing, but it seems it’s business as usual. Maroon 5 and Robbie Williams have decided not to entertain us, canceling their China and Asia tours, respectively. The official statement from Mr. Williams only said something about a situation “beyond the artist’s control.”
More stories by this author here.
Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com
Photos: hungertv.com, cri.cn, tongzhou new city, alianshui.com, wikipedia, baidu, lumdimsum.com