Having racked up an impressive resume in the last 20 years releasing a flurry of albums, co-headlining with the likes of NOFX, Screeching Weasel and Green Day since the late 80s, and even being honored with a personal invitation from Marky Ramone to tour Europe and Asia in 2007 as part of his band, punk rock cult legends, the Queers, are finally kicking off their first tour in China on New Year’s Eve at the MAO Livehouse. The Beijinger talked to frontman, Joe Queer, about his experience in Beijing, his views on the local punk rock scene, what Ursula Finally Has Tits means to him, and how he plans to ring in the new year at the Mao Livehouse.

the Beijinger: You have already been to Beijing before with Marky Ramone in summer 2007. What do you think of Beijing?

If you think office cockroaches are the only wild animals in Beijing, think again. Nature finds its way into most big cities, and Beijing is no exception.

The capital’s winding hutongs are a long way from the steppe, but they still seem to appeal to Siberian Weasels. Known locally as huangshulang (“yellow rat wolf”), these night prowlers terrorize Beijing’s rodents after dark, and are relatively common inside the Second Ring Road: the Confucius Temple is a popular weasel hangout. (To read more on the huangshulang, pick up the 2009 edition of the Insider’s Guide to Beijing: Gabriel Monroe has the full weasel scoop on page 577.)

This is the book that plugs you into Beijing like no other guidebook can. It’s fully updated every year, which means that the 2009 edition is about Beijing today – not the pre-Olympics capital, but the city outside your window right now. Every listing (hotels, restaurants, galleries, tourist sites, bars, shops, businesses and more) has been individually checked and updated.

In every city there are local tales of unexplained circumstances and “haunted houses”.  Beijing, being such a large city still covered by much ancient architecture has inevitably gained its own reputation for being home to many haunted houses and accompanying ghost stories.

Chaonei Dajie No.81 building is one of the most famous haunted places in Beijing. On the bustling strip of Chaoyangmen Neidajie; No.81 is a rundown multi-leveled building with an ominous appearance.  This particular western structure looks quite obtrusive and unique among the flourishing Chinese architectures that surround it.

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.

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

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.