What's happening in Beijing this week?

Beijing's real week starts before dawn. By 5:30am at the Temple of Heaven's south gate, retirees are already deep into sword forms and fan dances along the Long Corridor. The sound carries. Metal blades cutting air, erhu strings from a portable speaker, the slap of shuttlecocks against rubber paddles. Ritan Park and Jingshan Park run similar scenes, but the Temple of Heaven crowd is the largest. You might see 200-300 people on a quiet Tuesday. The park grounds open at 6am in summer, the temple buildings at 8am. After 8:30am the tour buses arrive and the atmosphere changes completely. Weekday mornings at Beihai Park tend to be quieter, maybe 40-50 locals doing tai chi near the White Dagoba. Weekend mornings are busier everywhere. If you're jet-lagged and wide awake at 5am, lean into it. This is Beijing at its most unguarded.

The Palace Museum, which has occupied the Forbidden City since 1420, closes every Monday, all year. So does the National Museum of China on the east side of Tiananmen Square, and the Capital Museum on Fuxingmen Wai. Plan your Monday around hutong walking instead. Nanluoguxiang is the tourist-heavy lane. Wudaoying Hutong, about 500 meters northeast, has better coffee shops and fewer selfie sticks. The 798 Art District in Dashanzi keeps Tuesday-through-Sunday gallery hours, but the outdoor sculpture and cafes stay open daily. Tuesday through Thursday the Forbidden City's 80,000 daily ticket cap rarely sells out. Friday and Saturday it does, often by 10am on the WeChat mini-program. Book 7 days ahead. Tickets run 60 CNY in peak season (April through October), about $8.85 USD at current rates. The Summer Palace stays open all 7 days and tends to be less crowded on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

Panjiayuan Antiques Market in southeast Chaoyang is the weekly anchor. Saturday and Sunday from 4:30am to around 3pm, more than 3,000 vendors fill the dirt-and-concrete lot with ceramics, Mao-era propaganda posters, jade (assume it's all fake), and Tibetan jewelry. The early arrivals between 4:30 and 6am get cooler air and first pick. By 10am in late June, the pavement radiates heat at 35°C and the crowd thickens to shoulder-to-shoulder. Weekday Panjiayuan still operates, but at maybe 20% capacity in the permanent indoor stalls. For food, the rhythm is more daily than weekly. Breakfast at any neighborhood jianbing cart, the egg crepe folded around crispy wonton skin and scallions, runs 8-12 CNY and dries up by 9am. Ghost Street (Gui Jie) near Beixinqiao station stays open nightly until 2am for mala crayfish. The smell of Sichuan peppercorn and cumin hits from the subway exit, and the shells pile up in red-oil-slicked bowls at every table.

Late June in Beijing means afternoon highs around 33-35°C with humidity above 80%. Today's 23.7°C drizzle is typical of the season's pattern. Short, hard rain cells tend to build between 2pm and 5pm most days, then clear by evening. Carry a packable rain jacket, not an umbrella. The wind during Beijing downpours defeats umbrellas. Evenings drop to 24-26°C and the sidewalks fill again. The Houhai Lake bar strip gets loud and neon-lit after 8pm, packed on Friday and Saturday. For something quieter, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (the titanium-and-glass dome west of Tiananmen, opened 2007) runs evening performances most nights at 7:30pm. Tickets range from 80 to 680 CNY ($12-100 USD). Wednesday and Thursday audiences tend to be smaller, around 60-70% capacity. Weekend shows sell out. The Drum Tower's ceremony runs every half hour from 9am to 11:30am and 1:30pm to 5pm. The deep boom of the 25 drums is audible from the hutongs below.