Back in the day Beijing shut down at dusk and everyone went to bed well before the witching hour. But as the roaring 90s rolled in, a new class of wheelers and dealers emerged and China’s once-sleepy capital started to stir after dark. This was the birth of Beijing’s now-famous nightlife scene, and today Sanlitun is ground zero for everything from bespoke cocktails, flaming steaks and spicy fajitas to boutique hotels, fast-fashion accessories and Apple gadgets. All this, plus a constant parade of people from all walks of life, not only make Sanlitun a prime destination for food, fun and drinks, but also a constant topic of conversation here in Beijing and in the international press.
To mark the occasion, we present this run-down of “Sanlitun Firsts” – a list of fascinating facts that matches the dazzling dynamism of Beijing’s most vibrant, cosmopolitan and cutting-edge district.
5. Sanlitun's First Bars
The Insider’s Guide to Beijing, our old guidebook series, marks Sanlitun’s first bar as Frank’s Place, which opened its doors in the spot of what is now The Den in 1990 (in fact, Yours Truly was one of its earliest patrons that summer, when he as studying Chinese at Beijing University). According to the New York Times, several Chinese publications have also cited Café Café, which opened on Sanlitun Bar Street proper in the “mid-1990s” as among the area’s first drinking establishments.
4. Sanlitun's First Clubs
Back in the day, Vogue was the swankiest and most swinging nightclub in Beijing
Throughout the 1990s, Sanlitun establishments mostly consisted of bars, cafes and pubs – a good portion of which were on the seedier side. All of this changed in 1999 when Henry Li, a former hotel bellhop-turned bar owner, upped the ante and opened Vogue (a.k.a. 88). Located on Xindong Lu just beneath the current location of Sanfine Hospital (in what is now Shimao Plaza), this two-story nightclub attracted a steady stream of hip locals, glazy-eyed expats and Chinese celebrities (plus a few foreign ones, including Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino, who was in town at the time shooting Kill Bill).
3. Sanlitun's First Touch of Class
Sanlitun Bar Street once doubled as an outdoor clothing market
If you were shopping back in Sanlitun in the 1999-2000 you'l probably remember a time when Sanlitun was home to a smaller version of the old “Silk Alley” (Xiushui Jie) – which consisted of rows upon rows of outdoor stalls selling all varieties of clothes, knickknacks and accessories. These stalls were open by day on the sidewalks lining the main bar street, until they were whisked away at night to make way for the bars and punters. In the early 2000s local authorities cleared out the stalls in early years of the 2000s to make way for Sanlitun's first major retail development, which you may now know as the Yashow Clothing Market.
2. Sanlitun's First International Coverage
Sanlitun's Apple Store started drawing huge crowds from the get-go
Sanlitun had the occasional spot of coverage in guidebooks and articles before the 2008 Olympics, but it was The Village (now known as Taikoo Li), with all its swank, sleaze and craziness, that truly put it in the international spotlight. That summer, in addition to all of the star athletes hitting the clubs, NBC’s Today Show rolled into town to check out Sanlitun as part of a series on Beijing nightlife. Unfortunately a few years later, in 2011, things turned ugly when fights and a near riot broke out in the teeming throngs of people queuing up in front of the Apple Store to buy the latest iPad.