City News

Women Free to Carry Condoms
Chinese women can breathe a sigh of relief: Police can no longer convict and punish them for prostitution based only on the fact that they carry condoms, Agence France-Press reported last month. While officials claimed condom ownership has not been considered adequate evidence of prostitution since 2001, interviews with women serving sentences for prostitution in labor camps tell otherwise. This welcome policy change is aimed at AIDS prevention, since heterosexual contact has become the major channel of HIV transmission in China.

Next Stop Clean Air
Last month Beijing Public Transport put the first of 2,000 new and improved buses on the road, replacing old vehicles on the busy lines 723 (Qianmen-Chongwenmen-Majuqiao) and 458 (Beijing Nanzhan-Yungang Nangong). The new buses conform to European IV emission standards (buses in use now only make it to level III) and are more comfortable and easier to handle for drivers. Great news for the 200 people who can be crammed into one these “green” monsters.

CW News

Improving Guanxi We’ve all come to rely on the City Weekend Guanxi service to tell us the address of the club that our friend blurted–okay, slurred–out as he disappeared into the nearest cab. No problem, we know we can find it by texting the club’s name in English or Chinese to Guanxi. Moments later, we always receive the address and number of the club texted back to us. But, now, Guanxi has a new number. To get your favorite listings via SMS, now text 1066-9588-2929.

Food News

You've Never Seen One This Long
This Christmas Eve, watch a new world record being set at Afunti, where hundreds of people will work together to create the longest yangrou chuan’er in the world. This 30 meter behemoth is poised to give Chinese street food the place it deserves in the Guiness Book of World Records, whose judges will be standing by. The question remains: who gets to eat it?

Bar News

Another Migration
Goose and Duck, the venerable sports pub at Chaoyang Park West Gate, has spread its wings and flown to a new home: Green Lake International Tower, Chaoyang Park East Gate. True, the new location is farther away for most patrons, but the extra distance should be worth it. The new Goose and Duck is three times larger and features batting cages, basketball courts, beach volleyball and a golf simulator, not to mention home-brewed beers.