Change is the only Constant

I hate to use an annoying cliché, but it does describe Beijing well. Probably the biggest change in my area has been the transformation of SanLiTun. A swathe of the western side of the SanLiTun Lu is turning into a crazy shopping area. When I arrived there were only husks of buildings, but now most are nearly completed and some of them are already open for business. The architecture is very interesting, but sadly the stores are just big single-brand stores: Levi’s, North Face, Adidas, Nike, Nautica, etc.

My main hope is that the area behind the 3.3 mall stays like it is. It is a random collection of “older” buildings housing restaurants, bars, and clubs. It’s a major hotspot on Friday and Saturday nights. It would be tragic if the planning authorities decided to tear it down and put something new there.

Another change has been the movement of DVD stores further underground as the authorities tighten things up prior to the Olympics. Tom’s shop, the undisputed best DVD store in Beijing, is closed temporarily. I was surprised this weekend to see that even the small DVD shop behind 3.3 was closed and had its windows draped closed. I did discover that the store is in fact still open; you need to use an alternate entrance through other shops via a network of disused hallways and unmarked doors. I’m sure it won’t be long before a secret knock is required.

Yet every time something closes, something else opens. Recently two clubs opened within 50m of each other, one called China Doll and the other called Chinadoll. A pair of bars shut down a couple months ago, Pure Girl and Pure Girl 2, have been replaced by A Little High and Higher and Higher.

It still remains to be seen how tight the nightlife clampdown is going to be as we get closer to the Olympics. Vics and Mix, the Worker’s Stadium megaclubs, are definitely going to shut down. But just how deep the shutdowns go is not yet clear.