August’s issue of the Beijinger has hit the streets - and to celebrate, armies of journalists, the world’s finest athletes, thousands of tourists, and heads of state from around the globe have descended on our fair city. They might even stick around for the Olympics.

If they do, they can find all the information they could possibly need in our latest issue – the best places to watch the Games if you haven’t tickets, and, for those have, things to keep in mind when you go to the venues. Of course, the Olympics aren’t just about sport – they’re a celebration of humanity and getting wildly drunk at every opportunity.

Adriane Quinlan gives her tips on the best international houses where you can go and raise a glass to the Games, while Matt P. Jager recommends bars that will offer some respite from the Olympic bedlam. Likewise Venus Lau reminds visitors that the Beijing art scene isn’t all about 798 and Eric Mendel previews the top concert events for August.

In many ways the BBC's Reith Lectures are a classic example of the British public broadcaster's penchant for busying itself with the moral improvement and edification of their listeners. Inviting serious intellectuals and public figures to talk about the "big issues" of the day, the lectures often take on a didactic tone. However, this year's series of five lectures, presented by eminent China scholar Jonathan Spence, manages to do a better job of upholding the institution's stated mission of informing, educating and entertaining (though a few people on our forum disagree). The first two lectures in the China Vista series have already been broadcast and are available on the BBC's website here. We especially recommend the second episode, English Lessons, and also the Q and A sessions that follow both of the talks.

Professor Spence is one of the most well-known Sinologists in the English speaking world. He has published many influential works, including The Search of Modern China (you can read the full text selected excerpts here), which, even today, still serves as a popular choice of textbook for undergraduate courses on modern China. His latest work, Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man, is similar to many of his earlier works in that it draws on the writings of a historical figure to offer broader insights into a particular phase of Chinese history. In this case Spence focuses on the writings of essayist and historian Zhang Dai (1597–1689) and uses them to reveal details about the tumultuous period of Chinese history during which the Qing replaced the Ming Dynasty.

Hi friends and supporters of that’s Beijing magazine:

It's official – our company, the producer of "that's Beijing" magazine since its debut issue in October 2001 right through the June 2008 issue, will now no longer be involved with the brand "that's".

Our publisher, who controls the official publishing license of "that's," has abruptly ended our long-term cooperation mid-negotiation and behind our back hired someone else to produce "that's Beijing" magazine from now on.

Our company, however, will be soldiering on with a magazine you'll find to be quite similar to that's Beijing -- a magazine to be called "the Beijinger" which will make its debut with the July 2008 issue.

It features the same layout, the same content, the same distribution, and most importantly, the same team that has brought you that's Beijing since we created its debut issue in October 2001.

Tom Shanahan is the television presenter for the CCTV-9 program Rediscovering China. Below is his first-hand account of reporting on the scene about the aftermath of last month’s tragic Sichuan earthquake. The first part of the program airs today on CCTV-9 at 1:30pm and 9:30pm, and you can catch the second installment next Monday, June 9, at 5:30am, 1:30pm and 9:30pm.

On Wednesday May 14th we were to travel to Guangxi province for a shoot, however our plane was delayed because it was being used to transport doctors from Beijing to Wenchuan. This was my first indication of just how bad the situation was.

Like most people, we felt the tremor in our office in Beijing, and because the initial shock brought down communications, we initially thought that only 900 students in one school had been buried.

While in Beijing I discussed with the director that we should go to Wenchuan to cover the earthquake. She didn’t have the authority to make this decision so I sent my producer several text messages and calls stressing the importance of this story. He agreed, however he had to contact his supervisor. I knew there would be a lot of red tape as this was a natural disaster and foreigners had never been allowed to cover natural disasters in China before.

The next day in Nanning, the producer told me his request had been approved by the senior officials at CCTV. We were to change course immediately and head for Sichuan.

Hey, Democrats!

To vote in the primaries for the Democratic party, register at this website today. It doesn’t matter if the primary has already happened in your state – this year, Democrats abroad have their own delegates to the National Convention.

Hey, Reppies!

Republicans can visit this site to register by state to vote in the primaries.

And for Americans of all stripes: Visit www.fvap.gov to find out more about getting your hands on an absentee ballot for this November.

Meanwhile, if you're confused about who to vote for, perhaps Su Fei of Sexy Beijing (with the help of Beijing's digua and newspaper salesmen) can help you make up your mind.

that’s Beijing Abstracts columnist and longtime contributor Lee Ambrozy has penned an article on the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), which opened last November in the 798 Art District, for artnet.com. Read more about her description of this seminal 8,000-square-meter non-profit exhibition space devoted to Chinese contemporary art here.

Olympic fever continues this week with news from the Financial Times about a controversy over pigs reportedly reared to help athletes pass doping tests. After FT reported in August that the supplier was planning to “rear organically fed pigs at secret locations in order to provide Olympic athletes with meat guaranteed not to cause them to fail doping tests,” angry netizens lashed out online against the perceived preferential treatment for foreign athletes, particularly in the wake of all the food scandals from this past year.

The company, for its part, denied the rumors, but reportedly failed to elaborate on exactly what it’s doing to its prized porkers. Read more about it here.

The Guardian: Beijing's "bird's nest" stadium to open in April

Test events at the Olympic stadium will start next spring in the run-up the Games in August.

AFP: Beijing rules out car restrictions during Olympics

City officials are hoping that “encouraging people to use public transportation” next August will be sufficient enough to keep road traffic down during the Olympics.

NBA fans will want to tune in this Saturday morning for the first-ever NBA regular season matchup between China’s two biggest and best exports: Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.

The hype is already building over the anticipated game that will pit the Houston Rockets’ Yao, who is increasingly becoming recognized as the best center in the league, against the Milwaukee Bucks’ Yi Jianlian, who was the number six pick in this year’s NBA draft.

Although the season just began, this game should be a huge draw for audiences in China: according to reports, three national Chinese television stations and 15 international print journalists will be on hand to cover the game at Houston’s Toyota Center.

Pandas are perceived as among the cutest and cuddliest of creatures on earth, but like any large, territorial animal, they can inflict serious damage when provoked or startled. Consider 240-pound Gu Gu, one of the Beijing zoo's main attractions who was last featured in the news after being bitten by a drunk tourist last September.

The hapless herbivore is in the news again today, this time unfortunately, for doing some biting of his own - on the mangled leg of a 15-year-old teenage boy who startled the animal when he jumped in its pen and tried to hug him.

Read the full story here.

Links and Sources:
AP: Beijing Zoo Panda Bites Teenage Boy
Shanghai Daily: Panda bites scavenger in Beijing Zoo