Discover the best things to do in Beijing with our weekly roundup of art and exhibitions, music and performances, and trending activities to do around town. To recommend an upcoming event or activity, please contact li-ping@chinadaily.com.cn.
Broadway Musicals Wicked
As one of the most successful and award-winning musicals on Broadway and the West End, Wicked has been staged in 14 countries, attracting more than 50 million viewers worldwide.
An international company with over 70 cast and crew members and musicians has landed in China and will tour in major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Based on the international best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire that ingeniously re-imagines the stories and characters created by L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Wicked tells the incredible untold story of an unlikely, but profound friendship between two sorcery students.
If you go:
2:30pm / 7:30pm, May 20 - June 11. Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, 9 Tianqiao South Street, Xicheng district. 400-635 3355
Ticket: 180-1,280 yuan ($30-180)
The Borodin Quartet
As part of the May Festival in Beijing for the 190th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's death, Russia's Borodin Quartet is staging a show in Beijing next week.
For seven decades, the Borodin Quartet, founded in 1945, has been celebrated for its insight and authority in the chamber music repertoire. In their upcoming show in Beijing, the Quartet will play classical melodies of Beethoven, Shostakovich, Schubert and Borodin.
If you go:
7:30 pm, May 24. National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district. 010 - 6655 0000
Ticket: 50 -180 yuan
Great Wall Run Festival
This is definitely a unique opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and enjoy some quality time with friends and family.
The 2017 Great Wall Run Festival is kicking off this weekend at the Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing, combining a five-kilometer fun run with a musical carnival.
If you go:
1 pm, May 20 – 6 am, May 21. The Great Wall.
Contact : info@greatwallfestival.com; WeChat account- seedance
Ticket: 560-680 yuan; An extra 120 yuan is charged for shuttle bus from downtown to the festival and back.
Lithuanian play based on Gorky's book
A two-act play from Lithuania, The Mother, adapted from Russian author Maxim Gorky's novel of the same title, will make its debut in China at the ongoing Meet in Beijing Arts Festival.
The play tells the story of Vassa Zheleznova, a woman whose alcoholic husband assaults her and does not do enough to care for their son while alive. She works in a factory for years and raises her son but eventually she and her son clash.
"The conflicts between materialism and spirituality, and between sociability and individualism have been presented well in The Mother. We may see it as a Lithuanian story but at the same time it's recognizable in every society," director Kirill Glushajev said.
If you go:
7 pm, May 20-21. Tsinghua University, Haidian district.
Ticket: 60- 280 yuan
A glimpse of Lithuania through modern art
For people interested in Lithuanian art, nearly 70 art pieces from Lithuania are on show in Beijing. It includes paintings, statues, photographs, art installations and videos, reflecting the Eastern European country's art traditions, development and internationalization.
If you go:
9 am- 5 pm, through July 2 (closed on Mondays). National Art Museum, 1 Wusi Avenue, Dongcheng district. 010 - 6400 1476
Ticket: Free
Playing with the dunes
Spanish painter Borja Gonzalez will work with his band to perform Dreams of Sand, a show that combines sand art, live music, giant puppets and "speed painting" in Beijing.
Since 2014, when the show was created, Dreams of Sand has been performed at festivals and venues in Spain, France, Greece and the United States.
If you go:
3 pm and 7:30 pm, May 20 / 3 pm, May 21. Nine Theater, Chaoyang Culture Center, 17 Jintai Xili, Xiaozhuang, Chaoyang district. 010-8599 11883 pm, May 22, Bei Hang Sunrise Concert Hall, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 37 Xueyuan Road, Haidian district. 400-818 3333
Marking history on canvas
A painting by the late Li Binghong, which marks the founding of the People's Liberation Army, is now available for public viewing at the National Art Museum.
The ongoing exhibition showcases 300 oil paintings, watercolors and sketches by Li Binghong, including the 1960 reproduction of the oil painting Nanchang Uprising, Landscape of Xishuangbanna and Hydropower Station.
Li Binghong (1913-86) is not a household name, but his oil painting Nanchang Uprising marks a significant moment in China's history. His 1959 work depicts armed resistance under the leadership of the Communist Party of China that took place on Aug 1, 1927, in Nanchang, in the Eastern Jiangxi province.
If you go:
9 am-5 pm, through May 24 (closed on Monday). National Art Museum, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district. 010-6400 1476
Ticket: Free
