After living and working around the Shuangjing area for three years, I’m finally starting to feel like our ‘hood is shaping up into a fantastic area for family life.
Mind you, I use the geographic term loosely – "Shuangjing" is technically a bridge south of Guomao on the east Third Ring Road – but most expats seem to use it as a blanket term for the entire area running south of the Tonghui River/Jianwai Soho complex and east to Dawang Qiao/Dawang Lu. The southern border is essentially the south side of Guangqumennei and Guangqumenwai Dajie, which intersects Shuangjing Qiao itself.
Years ago, when I had just arrived in Beijing, traveling south of Guomao was like a trip to the badlands – decaying roads, decrepit factories and dust were just about the only features of the place (the land where Pingod now sits was once a beer factory) – and I never would have imagined raising my family here, much less moving to the area.
Yes, the area still has a ways to go – from finishing up all the construction projects to improving the overall transportation situation (especially along Baiziwan Lu), but a spate of new venue openings in the past year has truly invigorated the entire area.
But as with the rest of Beijing, what a difference a decade makes – it’s now quite evident that after a few key construction projects are done (not least of which is the CCTV Tower complex and giant air force housing compound just east of the Third Ring Road along Baiziwan Lu), Shuangjing will be one of the most desirable places to live in Beijing.
Firstly, there’s the Pingod complex, which lies just south of Baiziwan Lu about 500 m east of the Third Ring Road and encompasses the blooming 22 International Art Street and Today Art Museum on its northern side. We spent a pleasant weekend here with our daughter and our friends’ families re-exploring our own backyard.
Sunday lunch consisted of a grilled fish (kaoyu) lunch at the hip, but kid friendly, If Yu Yuan, lying just east of the Today Art Museum on the north side of the Pingod compound. Like most of its neighboring restaurants (including the ever-crowded Xiao Xiao Jiu Jia and the nearby Sushi Bar), this place tends to attract youthful hipsters and trendy media types, but is entirely accommodating to families with small kids and serves very good fish and jia chang cai to boot. A few other restaurants new-ish looking places have opened up (more on this to come) along the strip and there is a Beijing-style dairy dessert shop towards the east end that attracts lots locals.
On the other side is the 22 "Art Street" itself. When we first moved to Pingod in summer 2008, this place was depressingly deserted, more of a dusty wind-tunnel than burgeoning gallery district (all it needed were some tumbleweeds to complete the effect).
But things started picking up last year with a spate of new gallery and cafe openings, including Dao Le and The Place Cafe that have added variety, culture and class to this hipster haven. The strip is also home to a host of design firms, hair and nail salons, clothing boutiques, the Modern Sky Record Label offices and theaters.
My personal favorite remains Unconditional Love Cafe, which has been serving some of Beijing’s best coffee (not to mention a good selection of imported beers) from this spot since 2008. Their frozen coffee drinks are sublime and this cafe is a great place to sip al fresco while you watch your little ones wreak havoc on the surrounding public sculptures.
Of course the main attraction of 22 Art Street is its many galleries, as well as the Today Art Museum housed in an iconic brick building at its western end. Over the weekend, the Fat Art Exhibition (a collaboration between curator Karen Smith and Beijing music label Modern Sky) was going on in Exhibition Hall 3 of the Today Art Museum and featured exhibits of eye-catching installation works by notable artists like Wang Jinsong and Liu Wei. Though edgy, most of the pieces are "kid"-accessible and it’s worth taking a look if you’re in the area.
More Fat Art displays are on the fourth floor of the Today Art Museum, with a few provocative pieces by Chen Wenlin ("How to Flee"), Hong Lei and Yue Minjun.
The Fat Art exhibit is going on until May 24th and there is also an exhibition entitled "Absolut Art," curated by former tbj Art Editor Carol Yinghua Lu, going on the third floor that runs until May 22.
There’s certainly much more to Baiziwan than just the Pingod Art complex itself – two blocks south of the 22 Art Street is the Tianzhi Jiaozi complex, home to another batch of great eateries and bars, including Lily’s American Diner, Grinder’s, The Brick and Zhuang, as well as The Loop just around the corner – all of them are great for a post-Pingod pit-stop.
