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4 Reasons Why Being Old in Beijing is Awesome

Beijing old people
It’s always party time in Jingshan Park

Never mind Beijing’s dolled-up youth having it large at Sanlitun’s superclubs or Gulou’s indie dives. Their parents grandparents are the true party cats in this town. They are literally dancing until dawn. Well, from dawn in any case. Here are 4 reasons why Beijing is bouncing for the blue rinse brigade.

1. Beijing’s parks are like social centres

Beijing old people
The Beach Boys on their long awaited China Unplugged tour

Mosey on down to Beijing’s green spaces (like Jingshan Park) from about 7am and it will be heaving with partying seniors, mashing up the genres by jamming live under pavilions, line dancing, performing tai-chi, ballroom dancing or group singing sessions. This truly is a Beijing spectacle not to be missed – set the alarm clock!

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Bespoke Discovery: Our Signature Beijing Hutong Tour

Beijing Hutong Tour
Who lives in a place like this?

Meet Frank, your Bespoke Beijing Hutong Tour guide

Did you know that the word ‘hutong’ comes from those swarthy horse masters, the Mongolians? Frank does. He also knows that to ‘eat someone’s tofu’ is not going to endear you to your hutong neighbours. Or your wife. And that, behind an innocuous hutong door like this one, vast sums of money might rest on the fortunes of chirping insects. That’s the sort of stuff you know when you’ve spent half a century as a denizen of Beijing’s grey-brick alleyways.

Beijing Hutong Tour
Frank is most definitely a good egg.

On Frank’s tour you get to share his hutong world, observing the customs and culture of Beijing’s unique residential treasure. You’ll eat auspicious snacks, climb ancient towers, discover tiny private museums, encounter a grouchy, 40-year old tortoise, and truly get inside the beating heart of Beijing. And if you choose to combine our Beijing Hutong Tour with our Meet a Cricket Trainer Tour, you’ll get to hang out with Frank’s pal and one of the most colourful hutong characters of all, ‘Cricket’ Liu (and his remarkable menagerie of animals.) Trust us, you don’t want to miss this one.

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Hidden City: Beijing’s Best Museum You’ve Never Heard Of

Beijing has its fair share of celebrity cribs-turned-museums. There’s the Forbidden City for starters, the humble abode of 24 emperors. Cixi’s Summer Palace – more of a holiday home, to be fair. Other notables include Prince Gong (Qing Dynasty statesman), Mei Lanfang (Peking opera star) and Lu Xun (author).

Madame Soong Ching Ling

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Just Buggin’: Bespoke’s Quirkiest, Chirpiest Experience

Great Wall? Check. Forbidden City? Check. Learning how to turn a chirping insect into a fighting champion? Ch… oh, hang on. Bespoke’s ‘Meet a Cricket Trainer’ signature experience is one of the many fun things we do that other travel companies don’t. OK, so this one is pretty far out, but Beijing cricket trainer ‘Cricket Liu’, a champion trainer of fighting crickets, is an absolute hoot and a well of knowledge on this ancient and still thriving pastime. We hooked up local magazine The Beijinger with our man and they had a blast.

Read all about it below, and if you find the primal urge to go antenna-to-antenna on our ‘Meet a Cricket Trainer’ signature experience, visit our website or get in touch at info@bespoke-beijing.com.

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Sex, Drugs and Celebrity with Bespoke Beijing’s New History Tour

Hutong in Qianmen area 1900-10
A hutong in the Qianmen area, 1900-1910

Beijing a city of vice? Actually yes! When the Communist Party of China came to power in 1949, they re-educated around 35,000 prostitutes, most from Beijing’s former red light district of Dashilan. And — most amazing of all — some of the brothels and opium dens that once littered this centuries-old area still exist (though no longer in business, of course). Want to see them? Of course you do! Well, Bespoke Beijing and Beijing Postcards has the key.

Beijing Postcards’ Simon – not much about these hutongs has changed!

Our first ever limited edition historical Walking Tour – Sai Jinhua and the Brothels of Dashilan – has already sold-out and is underway this May. But if you missed out on a place, don’t despair! You can view an exhibition of maps, prints and photos of the former red light district in its heyday (from the personal archives of Beijing Postcards historians Lars and Simon) at the wonderful Ubi Gallery, open Wednesdays to Sundays from 10.30am-18.30pm. The exhibition will run throughout May and June, and the gallery can also be opened by appointment for journos and the like – contact Zhang Fan on 137-1791-8120.

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