What's happening in Beijing this week?

Monday is Beijing's dead day for sights. The Forbidden City (built 1420, still the city's gravitational center) closes every Monday, and so does the National Museum of China on the east side of Tiananmen Square. The Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, at the square's south end, also closes Mondays and only opens mornings Tuesday through Sunday, roughly 8am to noon. Most galleries in the 798 Art District, out in Chaoyang near Wangjing, follow the same Monday shutdown. That said, Monday works well for the Summer Palace, 12 km northwest in Haidian, which stays open all 7 days. Treat Monday as your temple-and-park day. Temple of Heaven's park grounds open at 6am regardless, and the retired regulars who gather for badminton and jianzi near the Long Corridor tend to be friendlier on quieter weekday mornings. Tuesday through Thursday mornings are your best window for the Forbidden City itself. Arrive at the Meridian Gate by 8am. At that hour, your footsteps on worn stone are often the loudest sound on the central axis to the Imperial Garden. By 10:30am on any day, tour groups fill the Hall of Supreme Harmony courtyard.

Saturday and Sunday mornings at Panjiayuan Antique Market (southeast Third Ring Road, near Panjiayuan Bridge) start before dawn. The serious dealers set up by 4:30am under fluorescent lights. Jade, Mao-era propaganda posters, and old porcelain cover the concrete tables. By 8am the crowd thickens and the bargaining gets theatrical. The asking price for a decent Cultural Revolution print starts around ¥200 (roughly $30) but the real price is half that. Mind you, the weekday market, Monday through Friday, is a skeleton crew of permanent shops and not the same experience. Sunday mornings at Temple of Heaven park draw Beijing's retired population in force. By 6:30am the cypress-lined paths fill with tai chi groups, couples waltzing to portable speakers playing 1940s Shanghai jazz, and a circle of men singing Peking opera excerpts near the Echo Wall. The sound carries strangely well off the circular stone architecture, and the park-only ticket costs ¥15.

Beijing's evenings split along a clear geographic line. West of the Drum Tower, the Houhai lakeside bars light up neon around 7pm nightly. The water smells faintly of algae in the summer heat. Most bars run drink specials before 9pm, and the live-music spots along Lotus Lane on the north shore play covers of Chinese pop and Beatles songs at competing volumes. It is touristy. It is also fun at 9pm on a Thursday with a cold Yanjing beer sweating in your hand. Friday and Saturday nights push the crowd east to Sanlitun, where bars near Workers' Stadium North Road stay open past 2am. For food after dark any night of the week, Gui Jie (Ghost Street, Dongzhimen Inner Street) runs 24 hours. The street glows red under roughly 1,500 hanging lanterns, and the air is thick with mala crawfish and cumin lamb. A crawfish plate for 2 runs ¥150 to ¥250 depending on size and season, about $22 to $37.

Summer temperatures currently sit around 29.9°C with 76% humidity. It feels closer to 36°C in the moisture. Afternoon thunderstorms are the weekly metronome through summer. They tend to build between 2pm and 4pm, drop heavy rain for 30 to 45 minutes, and clear by dinner. Plan outdoor time between 6am and 11am, then retreat to air conditioning until 4pm. The National Centre for the Performing Arts (the titanium-and-glass dome west of Tiananmen, opened 2007) runs afternoon performances most days and stays cool inside. After 5pm the city comes back outside. Post-rain evenings often drop to 26°C with a breeze, and the light over the Forbidden City's western walls turns a hazy gold that photographers wait for all year. Visit Tiananmen Square in the early evening rather than at noon. The crowds thin with the heat, and the flag-lowering ceremony, timed to sunset, currently around 7:20pm, gives the visit a natural endpoint.