Announcing: Subway Line 2 Halloween Party This Friday [UPDATE]

Halloween Subway Line 2 party
We at Beijing Cream do not actively condone buffoonery, excessive alcohol intake, or buffoonery as the result of excessive alcohol intake, but understand we are surrounded by all of the above anyway -- and that it can be fun. And so it's with no small amount of ambivalence that we announce: this Friday, November 1, revelers in Halloween costumes will be gathering around 9 pm (+30 minutes or so) at Dongzhimen Subway Station and riding south on Line 2 for this year's official Halloween Subway Party. BYOB.

Driving The Volkswagen XL1, The World’s Most Efficient Car

XL1 with Ali
I test drove the Volkswagen XL1 on Friday at the Chaoyang Sports Center. What’s the XL1, you ask? Only the most efficient car in the world — efficient in every way, from weight to energy usage to fuel consumption (it can go 100 kilomters on one liter, thus the 1 in XL1). ”Are there any areas in which you think you can do more optimization?” I asked Dr. Volker Kease, technical project manager.

Here’s A Whole Team Of Adidas-Garbed Runners In Blackface At The Beijing Marathon [UPDATE: Adidas's Response]

Blackface at Beijing Marathon
Obviously the practice of smearing one's face with black paint has no racial context in this country -- one that's relatively blunt about race on all occasions, usually without offense intended -- but for a team of runners sponsored by a global company like adidas, someone really should've tapped an organizer on the shoulder and nixed this photo-op, yeah?

Beautiful Day Greets Beijing Marathoners, But…

Beijing Marathon 2013b
The 33rd year of the Beijing Marathon yesterday saw 30,000 participants run underneath a blue sky and a beautiful little sun. Those who completed the full course started west from Tiananmen and then turned north toward Olympic Green, with Ethiopian Tadese Tola winning the men's race with a new event record time of 2:07:16 and China's Zhang Yingying winning the women's title in 2:31:19. By all accounts, it was glorious.

Boris Johnson Rides Beijing Subway, Ogles Tea Lady

Boris Johnson on Beijing subway
Oh Boris. He of this hilarious Sina Weibo account is in Beijing this week for trade talks, and isn't it just so like him to bring an entourage of reporters onto already-congested Subway Line 1 to do... what is the point of this video, exactly? Just skip ahead to the final three seconds of it, beginning at 0:50. Trust me, just do that, and you'll be fine.