Secrets of the manufacturing world – Tours of wine, cashmere and juice factories

Beijing’s last International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo (ICCIE), held in November, promoted industrial tours suitabe for the bitter cold winter, when sightseeing is better done indoors.

Warm indie rock tunes from Montreal

Patrick Watson, a Canadian indie rock band, promises to warm up the winter when it performs in Yugongyishan on January 17. The Montreal-based group, which has performed with Feist, The Dears, Phillip Glass and James Brown, is often described as producing “cinematic” and “wildly eclectic” music.

Friday, January 1

New Year Concert
Where: Yugongyishan, 3-2 Zhangzizhong Lu, Dongcheng District
When: 8 pm
Admission: 150 yuan
Tel: 400 680 6840

Saturday, January 2

Nufang and the Search for Mermaid in the Desert
Where: Sunday Cafe, 1/F Building C, Fangheng Guoji, 6 Futong Dong Dajie, Chaoyang District
When: 8 pm
Admission: 30 yuan (includes a drink)
Tel: 8478 5882

Sunday, January 3

The 11th National Exhibition of Fine Arts
Where: National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng District
When: Until February 3, daily, 9 am – 5 pm
Admission: 20 yuan
Tel: 6400 1476

Stage in February

Concert

New Year’s Ode to Jo –Song Fei Erhu Recital
Where: Concert Hall of the National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 Xi Chang’an Jie, Xicheng DistrictWhen: February 2, 7:30 pm
Admission: 80-580 yuan
Tel: 6655 0000

Agassi’s tale of setbacks, victories

Tennis hero Andre Agassi thrilled fans with his ace serves and power-charged hits that brought new life to the game. The former world’s best professional American tennis player was an icon of physique and discipline. But his story was never told.

Philosopher dissects modern art

Philosophers in the West have long explored the meaning of art. In The Origin of the Work of Art, Martin Heidegger defined it as the concepts of being and truth. French philosopher Michel Foucault’s writing clarified the role of the modern medium.

Bookworm book listing

The Pool of Unease
By Catherine Sampson, 320pp, Pan Publishing, $6.99
The scream – feminine, high-pitched, terrified, breathless, a wordless, formless, plea for mercy – arrived from silence and was cut off, abuptly strangled, leaving a gurgling echo in its airy wake. Robin Ballantyne is investigating the murder of a British man in Beijing. Meanwhile, late one freezing night, Chinese private detective Song rescues a young boy from a fire on a building site.

China Starts to Lift Region’s Web Blackout

Nearly six months after gruesome ethnic rioting on the western frontier of Xinjiang, Chinese authorities gingerly began to lift an Internet blackout on Tuesday, allowing partial access to a pair of official news sites.