A bar in Beijing's Sanlitun area has set tables and chairs to cater to its increasing number of customers.

A stream of taxis wriggles along the crowded road of Gongti Beilu. Most of them turn at the corner of Sanlitun Road North, stop, and drop off fashionably dressed people.

This is a very ordinary Friday and Saturday night scene in Beijing.

After around 9 pm, people gather from every corner of the city, and walk into the dozens of quaint cafes, bars and night clubs dispersed in the area.

Almost all of them are packed with people, both locals and foreigners.

The music is on. The party is on the go.

Down in Nashville, a saloon that specializes in country music from the United States on Dongdaqiao Xiejie or South Sanlitun Street, a woman in her early 20s is leaning against a man her age, two Caucasians are playing darts, and a lady is in a daze and sips her drink now and then.

There are also three guys playing guitar, doing a fair rendition of "Country Roads" and other famous songs of John Denver.

Welcome to the nightlife of Beijing.

The Sanlitun area, in the embassy district, is the sparkle of the city's night life, as Beijing is hurrying on with its journey to become an international metropolis.

Apart from highrises that appear almost overnight, people's lifestyles are also experiencing fundamental changes.

Beijing's nightlife kicked off almost a decade ago, when two young people invested 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) and opened the first ever bar in the street, called Yunsheng Bar.

They were followed by more investors, and before long the street, as well as the whole neighbourhood, was overrun with bistros and martini bars.

Today the Sanlitun area continues to be popular with foreign expats and tourists alike along with a whole crowd of Chinese who are young and trendy.

And Sanlitun is not the only place people can go for night time entertainment.

Over the past years, similar nightspot-strips have sprouted like mushrooms in many areas.

While Sanlitun mainly caters to foreigners and local white-collar workers, bars in Haidian mainly draw in students.

In between them there is Houhai. The lake area at the centre of Beijing started off as a quiet and attractive alternative to Sanlitun.

Houhai's forerunner is the No Name bar, owned by ex-cellist Bai Feng, who is in his early 30s.

Houhai began to gain attention from people last May, when Beijing was in the grasp of SARS.

In order to decrease the possibility of getting infected, people were advised not to stay indoors. Many bars then set tables in the open air along Shichahai Lake.

There are now more than 70 small bars and restaurants in the lanes of Houhai, with more opening all the time.

In fact, the lake area is surpassing Sanlitun to become the most popular night life spot in Beijing, especially in the summer when people can enjoy a cool breeze from the lake.

As more and more visitors pour into the area, it is becoming more expensive and tourist-oriented than Sanlitun.

"The tacky bars are degrading Houhai rapidly," said Ji Jing, a local who frequents bars. "I prefer Sanlitun again, especially nanjie (Southern Bar Street)."

Thanks to an increasingly open society, more and more trendy young people are spending their spare time in bars.

"I spend almost every weekend in bars. Maybe you can call me a 'party animal,' my life is so closely connected with bars that I would feel uneasy if I did not show up at one of the bars in Sanlitun," says 28-year-old freelancer Tong Yu, who owns a small architecture studio himself.

James Zhang, who graduated from a US university and came back to China last year, says he often goes to bars to relax.

"It is cool that there are so many places I can choose. When I was in the United States, my night life was much more boring," he says, comparing his experience in a small US town.

Zhang says he prefers Dongdaqiao Xiejie, better known as the "South Bar Street," to the "North Bar Street" - North Sanlitun Road.

"This might very well be the hippest alley in Beijing," he says.

"The atmosphere in these bars is friendly and informal. Sometimes I come here alone, other times I come with friends," he says.

Ren Bo, art director from a lifestyle magazine published in Beijing, says besides relaxing, she can also make new friends in bars.

"Beijing is home to a fascinating international community, people who have come here for a variety of reasons from all over the world. As you wander through the night clubs, you have a chance to get a peek at them, or even join them," she says.

Ren Bo says two of her favourite bars are Poacher's and Cloud Nine, which stand no more than 50 metres away from each other.

"They have very different styles. Poacher's is the least expensive and busiest bar in Sanlitun. Local beer is sold at 10 yuan (US$1.20) a bottle there," she says. "Cloud Nine, on the other hand, makes me feel more comfortable with cozy sofas and magnificent music."

(China Daily  April 29, 2004)