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Beijing Nightlife

Written by Matteo Updated Jun. 16, 2025

As the capital city of China, Beijing not only has fabulous cultural and historical scenic spots, but also offers lots of night activities. In the past, it was said that the people in Beijing are conservative compared with people living in South China.

Most married people like staying at home and watching TV or movies, or chatting with friends. But the young people go out in the evening and spend their time at cinemas, theaters, nightclubs, song and dance halls, karaoke clubs, restaurants, sports facilities, and bars with live music. There are numerous choices of places to unwind.

Main Bar Area

Young people like to go to pubs to relax after a day's work. Here they can chat with their friends or make new friends. Salitun District, Nanluoguxiang Hutong Area, and the Houhai Bar Area are the most popular places.

Sanlitun District

Located in the Embassy District, Sanlitun has become a popular area for its different kinds of bars among locals and foreigners. It's regarded as the source of Beijing's nightlife culture, full of relaxation, charm, and uniqueness. Most bars in the area open till 4:00 am or later.

If you want to experience an old Beijing style, the northern area of the district is recommended. Boy and Girls, Lan Gui Fang, Milan Club, and the Tree are the most popular establishments. Popular disco bars include Day Off Bar, Top Club Beijing, Swing Bar, Baby Face, and MIX Bar.

Houhai Bar Area

Houhai bar area is located around a man-made lake to the north of Beihai Park. Walking beside Houhai Lake, shopping in Yandaixie Street, boating on the lake, drinking in the stylish bars, or dining at the lake-view restaurants, together, is the essence of the area. It seems to be taking over from the Sanlitun District as the major bar area in Beijing.

If you want to experience an elegant and traditional Chinese-style atmosphere, these bars are worth a try: No Name Bar, Jiading Fang Bar, Houhai No. 5 Bar, Blue Lotus Bar, and Amber Bar.

Nanluoguxiang Hutong Area

The bars in this area are full of Beijing's local style, with old courtyard houses, red lanterns, and limited space. Almost all bars in Nanluoguxiang offer a peaceful and elegant atmosphere for visitors to have a drink.

Bars and Nightclubs

Establishments in Beijing change business hours all the time, and it's always a good idea to call before running across the city.

Charlie's Bar

Despite the large number of new bars and clubs springing up around Beijing, Charlie's Bar, located in Beijing's first Sino-foreign joint-venture hotel, continues to attract a large number of returning businessmen, diplomats, and journalists.

A live Filipino band every night. The clientele is mainly expatriate and visiting businesspeople in their 30s and up.

The Courtyard

Try The Courtyard's Asian fusion cuisine, or a drink or cappuccino as light jazz plays in the background. Or light one up in the cozy cigar divan on the second floor that overlooks the moat of the Forbidden City.

Customers here are a well-heeled crowd of successful Chinese and Western businesspeople and artist types. There is an art exhibit in the basement and a cigar den on the second floor facing the Forbidden City.

Hard Rock Cafe

Typical American food and drinks. Visiting businesspeople and Chinese come here each night to dance to live music by foreign bands. A cover charge of CNY100 is required starting at 10:00 p.m. when the tables are rolled back to open the dance floor. Good place to rub elbows with locals.

John Bull Pub

Quiet British pub in the diplomatic area. On those days when the place is not so quiet, patrons can be seen playing pool, darts, or watching live satellite sports broadcasts. Frequented by expatriate businesspeople and young Chinese. John Bull, Kilkenny, and Guinness on tap.

Press Club Bar

This posh bar looks more like a bar in an exclusive British club of days past. Very quiet and a good place to talk business or chat with friends. Or head out to the hotel's immensely impressive Garden Lounge lobby bar, sink into one of the huge sofas with a drink, and listen to soft music played on the piano.

The clientele here is sophisticated and well-to-do Chinese, as well as foreign businesspeople.

Vogue

One of Beijing's poshest dinner/dancing venues. Popular with the Chinese "in" crowd and young expatriates from their 20s to 40s. The dance floor is thrown open each night around 10 p.m. For a quiet chat, retreat to the comfortable sofas and armchairs in the cigar room on the second-floor loft.

Popular Nightlife Activities

Providing full information on all kinds of nightlife activities in Beijing.

Beijing Opera

The quintessence of Chinese culture, Beijing Opera, also known as Peking Opera, is a must-see while you are in Beijing, equivalent to seeing an opera in Italy.

Beijing Opera was formed nearly two hundred years ago. It originated from Hui Ju of Anhui Province and later absorbed the best parts of Han Xi, Qing Qiang, Kun Qiu, and other local operas, and was formed in Beijing, which is why it is called Jing Ju by the Chinese.

Beijing Opera combines stylized acting of singing, dancing, musical dialogue, martial arts, facial makeup, and attractive costumes. Its colorful facial makeup fascinates many foreign friends. The painting on performers' faces is not for its nice appearance, but to represent different characters.

Red means loyal and brave, black represents powerful and wise, yellow and white stand for fierce and guile, blue and green show the characters of greenwood heroes, gold and silver indicate mysterious or supernatural.

The roles of Beijing Opera can be roughly divided into four: male role (Sheng), female role (Dan), painted face male (Jing), comedy actor or clown (Chou). Every role has its facial makeup, decoration, and costumes.

Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), perhaps the best-known master ever, acted a Dan role. It is he who introduced Beijing Opera to the Western world. He acquired a global reputation and was regarded as the leader of PearGarden (the Chinese opera circle). His masterpieces include Farewell My Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji), The Drunken Concubine or Drunken Beauty (Gui Fei Zui Jiu), Scattering Flowers (Tian N¨· San Hua) etc.

Most people used to think Beijing Opera is loved only by older people, but as a matter of fact, people from little kids to older men or women love it very much. In the First National Piao You (Beijing Opera Fans) Competition this year, a four-year-old girl won a gold medal, and the oldest gold-medal winner is eighty-four years old.

Acrobatics

Chinese acrobatics has a long history and is one of the most popular art forms among Chinese people. It has got a worldwide fame for its wonderful skills and marvelous acts.

Wansheng Theatre is a special place for the performances of the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe. The performances of this troupe have gained many national and international prizes, such as Little Diabolo Girls, Morning Exercise, and it puts on performances at 7:15 every night.

Wansheng Theatre is in Xuanwu District. In Chaoyang District, there is another famous theatre, Chaoyang Theatre, where you could see acrobatics and other programs of entertainment. It opens at 7:15, too.

Ballet and Opera

Foreign visitors can enjoy ballet and opera in Beijing, such as the operas Madame Butterfly and Carmen. The Central Ballet Troupe of China has put on some classical performances many times, like The Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty.

Besides classical ballet shows, they also pay attention to new ballet shows from all schools. The Nutcracker was put on in December 2001. They also show the life of Chinese people in the form of ballet. Italian operas could also be enjoyed in Beijing.

Modern Chinese Drama

Modern Chinese Drama began in the early this century and soon attracted large numbers of fans because of its realistic contents of the daily life of common people and its wide range of Western works by Shakespeare, Moliere, and Chekhov.

Chinese playwrights have created many plays about the changing life before and after the foundation of New China. The most memorable ones are Thunderstorm (Lei Yu), Teahouse (Cha Guan), The Family (Jia), and The Peking Man (Bei Jing Ren), etc. There are still new ones coming continually, reflecting the life of China today.

In Beijing, the People's Art Theatre is the most famous one to watch a drama show. Today, drama theaters have many difficulties in developing, because more young people become fans of pop music and a large number of TV programs.

Museums and Exhibition Center

The word "museum" hadn't been introduced to China till the late 19th century, and the first public museum was opened in 1905 by Zhang Qian (1853-1926), a national bourgeoisie businessman. The person who made people know more about the social value of museums is Cai Yuanpei (1848-1940), a famous educator. He said various museums could improve the sentiment of common people.

We could say that in modern society, the number of museums is one of the criteria of the civilization of a city and especially for an international big city.

Museums in Beijing can be roughly divided into different kinds as listed below (Go to this link to find them): historical and revolutionary museums, art museums, relic museums, national and religious museums, special museums, former residences of celebrities, folk custom museums, and scientific and technological museums.

In addition, there are many nongovernmental ones collecting and exhibiting personal collections of stamps, chopsticks, antiques, books, and all sorts of things.

Exhibitions Centers

Exhibition is more than showing something; it is usually a way of bringing about a prosperous economy. If you are doing business in Beijing, then you have many choices when choosing a place to exhibit your products and seeking copartners.

Puppet Show

Puppet shows in China date back two thousand years, and most of the shows today are still based on folk tales and their like. It doesn't matter whether you know Chinese or not; you could enjoy the shows as well by just watching the fighting and dancing.

Puppet shows are attractive both to children and to grown-ups. It's beautiful, consumers, its rolling eyes, deft fingers, moving lips, except for its size, a puppet looks like a real person.

But it's not. It has to rely on sticks or strings. There is another kind of puppet called a glove puppet (Bu Dai Mu'ou), which is like a glove covering your hand, in the form of a little person or an animal.

Teahouse

Tea is a Chinese traditional drink, like coffee in Western countries. Many Chinese drink tea every day; those who don't do so will make tea during the Spring Festival or when entertaining friends, which is a way to show their respect to others.

A teahouse used to be a place both for drinking tea, watching traditional performances and having snacks and doing business, entertaining friends, and for reporters, it is even a place of gathering news.

So the old-style or Jing-Style teahouses are quite bustling. Lao She Teahouse (Lao She Chaguang) and Tianqiao Happy Teahouse (Tianqiao Le Chayuan) are of this sort. They are a window for visitors to know about Beijing folk customs and folkways.

There is another kind of teahouse in Beijing; we may call them new-style teahouses, which are quite tranquil. In these teahouses, you will find everything matches each other: the best teas, fine tea-pots, and a nice atmosphere. That is what we call the Tao of Tea (Cha Yi).

Chinese, especially southerners, pay great attention to tea and everything that goes with it. Gongfu Cha (a way of making tea), for example, is a little fastidious, you may say, about tea sets, teas, water, and the most important one: ways of pouring and drinking.

In new-style teahouses, besides having good teas and nice snacks, you could learn more about Chinese culture, especially the culture of tea. The best thing is its Chinese traditional atmosphere, making you relax and feel comfortable.

KTV/ Karaoke Clubs

Beijing locals like to go to karaoke clubs to sing songs on weekends or at night. There are thousands of KTVs in Beijing. People can easily find a karaoke club for a party. Party World (Qiangui), Tongyishouge KTV, and Melody Karaoke club are the most popular among locals.

Night Markets

Beijing local snacks attract lots of people. There are two night markets popular among travelers, Donghuamen Night Market and Wangfujing Night Market. In these streets, people can find some odd street food, such as deep-fried insects, scorpions, sea stars, and silk worms. Traditional Chinese snacks can also be found, such as Bingtang Hulu (sugar gourd), spring rolls, dumplings, stinky tofu, and mutton kebabs.

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