Those staying in town over Christmas and over the New Year, will be pleased to know that the capital doesn't slow down over the holiday season and that there are plenty of great live music, nightlife and other quality events to choose from this week. Pick of the bunch is our very own Xmas Charity Funk Throwdown taking place on Saturday night over at Block 8. DJs Eddy LV, Pimp Daddy Suiki, Dan Stephenson and Omar will be spinning some soul-sweating funk into the wee hours and proceeds from the RMB 100 entrance fee will go to Ping’an Medical Foster Home - you can take a look at this earlier post for details of the kids that the money goes to helping.

The 100 kuai donation also gets you a free drink voucher that you can swap for a Cosmopolitan, White Angel or Grapefruit Julep at the bar. Also get there early for a free Santa hat. Speaking of Santa, the Sexy Santas of years past will be back again offering up "Santa shots" to partygoers. Everyone also has a chance to win some great luck draw prizes - with everything from a two-night stay in the luxury Fraser Residence to bar and restaurant vouchers and free skiing at Nanshan ski resort up for grabs. So head down there on Saturday evening for a chance to not only get down to some good ol' fashioned funk but also to help raise money for a good cause.

Listen in for an update on the best events going on around town as host Willy Sier talks to editors from the Beijinger about their picks for the coming weekend. Managing editor of agenda Iain Shaw tells you why it's a great idea to get down to Block 8 on Saturday night for the 7th Annual the Beijinger X-mas Charity Funk Throwdown. Nightlife editor Jonathan White reveals details about an interesting party at Paddy O'Shea's and web editor Paul Pennay talks about a documentary all about one of Beijing's best live music venues, Yugong Yishan.

Also listen in for this week's trivia question as Jonathan gives you a chance to win two tickets to Yen's New Year's Eve Party.

The opening up of direct flights, post and shipping between the mainland and Taiwan on Monday (or the liang'an santong) is good news for those who regularly commute between Beijing and Taibei. The price of a roundtrip Beijing-Taiwan flight has dropped by about RMB 600 and now goes for something in the vicinity of RMB 3,700 including tax. The length of the flight has also been cut by over an hour with the direct flight taking a mere 3 hours and 10 minutes.

The Beijnger has been throwing booty-shaking, soul-sweating Christmas charity funk parties since way back in the heady days of 2002. In the past five years we've helped raise money for charities such as the Tibetan Poverty Alleviation Fund, and since 2005, we’ve been donating the proceeds of these sweaty nights of funk-filled abandon to orphans at the Ping'an Medical Foster Home.

Despite earlier reports that a large chunk of Beijing cops were going to start patrolling the city on electric bikes, traffic cops in the Tian'anmen area won’t be following suit. This week they've enjoyed revving up the 1700cc engines of three new Harleys for the cameras. Harley Davidson has donated the three bikes to the Municipal Traffic Administration Bureau. Each bike is worth about RMB 400,000.

Beijing got it's first sprinkling of snow yesterday morning, with early-risers being surprised by very light falls in the urban areas at about 7.30am. Falls were larger in the hills to the north and west of the city. The above photograph was taken at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall.

Links and Sources
Sina: 组图：北京迎来入冬第一场雪

Listen in for an update on the best events going on around town as host Willy Sier talks to editors from the Beijinger about their picks for the coming weekend. This week we're proud to welcome special guest Thomas Gaestadius of White Rabbit to the podcast. Thomas tells us a bit about the Take Me to Sweden show at White Rabbit this Friday and also answers a few questions about the electronic music scene in Beijing.

Dining editior Jessica Wang gives a roundup of the many Christmas Tree Lightings taking place around town this coming week. Our new arts and culture editor Mary Dennis previews the ongoing European Film Festival and managing editor of agenda, Iain Shaw, recommends a series of events to all the Francophones out there.

A warning to all listeners, the Qbert show that managing editor Lisa Liang talks about in this week's podcast, has been postponed.

Also listen in for this week's trivia question as Thomas gives you a chance to win two tickets to Take Me to Sweden.

We've just had word from the promoters of the DJ Qbert show in Beijing that the gig has been postponed until next year, with something hopefully coming together in the spring. The performance was to have taken place tonight at Mix. An e-mail from organizers vaguely explains that the postponement was down to "irreconcilable issues with scheduling and sponsors"

Sorry to those people who entered the competition to win free tickets to the show in this week's 7 Days newsletter. Hopefully we'll be able to offer more tickets when Qbert returns in 2009.

It's not all bad news for hip-hop fans as their is still a party tonight down at Mix. Their Re-creation night will go on as intended, just without the star attraction. Ch-ch-check it out.

The Beijing Bureau of Meteorology released an alert at 5pm yesterday - the first of its kind since 2004 - warning of a "cold wave" that will result in temperatures in the capital plummeting to -9 deg celsius overnight. According to the forecast,  force 5 to 6 north winds will begin buffeting the city tonight and during the day tomorrow the temperature is unlikely to rise above 0 ℃. According to authorities, the cold front will only affect Beijing for the next couple of days and temperatures are likely to rebound over the weekend. That said, they're unlikely to reach the relatively mild temperatures we've been experiencing lately.

Links and Sources
Beijing Times: 本市首次发布寒潮预警  平原地区气温下降至-9℃
Hexun: 北京首发寒潮预警(图)

European Film Festival
Many of the European embassies in Beijing have come together to present China’s first Annual European Union Film Festival. The schedule consists of films from over 20 countries and includes popular films like Once from Ireland, La Môme (My Life in Rose) from France and The Last King of Scotland from the UK. For a complete schedule click here. The screenings will take place in four locations: the French Cultural Centre, Instituto Cervantes, Italian Institute of Culture and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. Each film will be screened in its original language, with English and Chinese subtitles. Free. ID required at certain locations.