Now Online: the Beijinger Nov/Dec 2016 Issue!

As we head into November and December we hit an array of international holidays and festivals: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, and the preliminary preparations also begin for the biggest Chinese festival, Spring Festival, which lands particularly early this year.

Holidays, combined with fear that stems from the harshness of Beijing’s elongated winter, means that you are probably thinking of getting out of town. With that in mind, we have outlined some of our favorite adventurous domestic travel ideas. If it’s a sunny escape plan that you’re after, Robynne Tindall shares her favorite warm and nearby international travel getaways.

And of course there is always our favorite city that we love to hate: Shanghai. Tracy Wang takes a look at the Shanghai beer scene, perfect for a weekend of exploring suds outside our city.

Luckily Beijing also has its fair share of activities, even during this time of year, as Kyle Mullin explores our suburbs’ skiing facilities, and also looks into the city’s best ice skating rinks and the rapidly growing ice hockey scene. If you are sticking around, you’ll want to pay heed to Tom Arnstein’s winter essentials feature, which lists everything you need to know to survive this time of the year.

We hope you enjoy the November/December issue of the Beijinger, which you can read here via Issuu, via the PDF here, or in hard copy at all of your favorite venues across town.

And as for this month's cover models who braved it in the cold before this year's Pizza Cup: Jingjing Shen is a professional model who spends her free time taking photos and skateboarding. As for Shen's winter plans, she'll be heading out to Wanlong for a snowboarding road trip, when she's not at Nanshan, or further out at Chongli near Zhangjiakou (all of which are mentioned in this month's where to ski/board roundup). Chris Cordner, a certified personal trainer, will most likely be keeping up with his Krav Maga, archery, exploring the city with friends, and playing the ukulele. He loves surfing in San Diego, but will probably be staying in Beijing this winter to work and train.

Equipment for the shoot was borrowed from Blue Hawaii and Family Snow Equipment Store, located in Sanlitun and Jianwai Soho respectively.

Image: the Beijinger