Are you sick of the cold Beijing winter blues? Well, there’s an exhibition in 798 that’s perfect for lifting your mood. Meet You Museum’s “Naked Flowers” exhibition is just the place to give you a bit of colorful blossoms to lift your spirits during the cold winter.

Created in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the return of Macau, this exhibition uses 3D living carving digital technology to create a 1,300-square-meter space with 12 themed units, presenting the beautiful scenery of different seasons. It takes you through all four seasons as you experience the wildflowers in spring, the lotus pond illusion in summer, the maple leaf path in autumn, and the micro-flower language in winter.

There are also prop flowers and space diffusers on site, allowing the whole family to be fully immersed in the wonderful world of flowers and scents.

The exhibition will continue to run until Feb 16, 2025. Tickets range from RMB 58 for students to RMB 78 for adults. This unique experience offers a great opportunity for family members to spend quality time together, enjoy the beauty of art and nature, and enhance family bonds. It is a place where parents and children can create beautiful memories and have a fun and educational experience.

But this isn’t the only exhibition that Meet You Museum has to offer at the moment. While you’re there, be sure to check out “Meet Ancient Egypt: Mummy Life and Death in Ancient Egypt,” where you can discover the mysteries of the ancient world. Click here to learn more about that exhibition.

Find it:
Meet Museum · Beijing 798 Art District, E02-1, Ceramic Street, 798 Art District
遇见博物馆·北京798馆，798艺术区陶瓷一街E02-1楼

Images: Pexels

Tired of sitting at home hiding from the heat? Why not explore some family-friendly activities perfect for these hot summer days, or begin to check out schooling options for your child?

Meet Huijia Private School’s Principals

Meet the principals and find out how current students see their educational journey at the Open Day and Senior Salon events at Huijia Private School on Jul 28.

Huijia is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School providing high quality education to students aged 3 to 19. As a boarding and day school, it combines both Chinese and Western educational methods to offer the best of both worlds to its students.

Scan the QR code to register for the events.

Where: 157 Huaichang Lu, Changping District
When: Jul 28, 8.30am-12.30pm
Price: Free

BCIS Early Childhood Center One-On-One School Tour

If you’re looking for a kindergarten for your child, BCIS offers exclusive one-on-one tours for prospective parents. You’ll get to visit the school grounds, speak to the staff, and learn all you want to know about the school’s curriculum and teaching methods.

 

When: Scan the QR code to book an appointment
Where 11 Dongbai Jie, Chaoyang District
Price: Free

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Beijing New Talent Academy Open Day

BNTA invites prospective parents to book an appointment and explore what this private boarding school with A-level and AP curricula has to offer. Scan the QR code on the poster to register,

Where: 9 Anhua Jie, Shunyi District
When: Scan the QR code for an appointment
Price: Free

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Dehong International Chinese School Open House

Dehong Beijing International Chinese School opened in 2019 and is a sister school to Dulwich College International School. To visit the school and learn more about its teaching methods, facilities, and staff, scan the QR code to book an appointment. Appointments can be made until Aug 30.

Where: Dehong International Chinese School, Block 2, Zone 2, Bifu Lu, Luneng Gelasi Town, Tongzhou District
When: Until Aug 30, 9am-3pm
Price: Free

Other then school events, there will be some other fun things to do in the coming two weeks:

Free Trial Acting Class for Kids

The “Horizon of Khufu” exhibition is “a unique VR expedition to discover the wonders of Egypt,” as their marketing proclaims. You “get to explore the Giza Plateau and the Great Pyramid of Giza as if you were really there,” it hypes.

This traveling exhibition has already been in London, Montreal, and Atlanta before coming to Beijing. So rest assured that language is not an issue, as you can choose from English, Chinese, and French for the whole thing.

BONUS: If you are a jingkids reader, there will be an exclusive tote bag or other free gifts when you follow the official “Horizon of Khufu” account on WeChat and show them that you’re following the jingkids official WeChat account as well.

Tickets are available through their WeChat miniprogram: 凤凰中心

Where: Phoenix Center, 3 Chaoyang Gongyuan Nanlu
When: Every day until Aug 25
Price: RMB 238 per adult, RMB 198 per child on weekdays, and RMB 298 per person on weekends. Children under 1.1m are not allowed to enter.

Kids’ Cooking Classes at EAST

Let your little chefs join a culinary adventure where they’ll get to mix and roll their way to delicious cakes at Domain. Classes are available every weekend, from noon until 2 pm. Scan the QR code to register.

Where: EAST Beijing
When: Saturdays and Sundays, noon-2 pm
Price: RMB 248/July and August, RMB 198/September

Free Prenatal Class at Beijing United Family Hospital

The class will be taught by Cindy Yan and Grace Yu, two midwives with a combined 50+ years of international experience. The class will be offered for free and includes light snacks and fruit.

The purpose of this class is to educate parents on researched information, empowering them to make informed choices during their labor and instilling confidence regarding the birth experience. We highly recommend the prenatal classes for all first-time parents, whether you plan on giving birth at BJU or elsewhere. BJU would like to make this special time in your lives even more special!

The class will help parents-to-be work on:

– Developing a delivery plan
– Understanding the labor process
– Familiarizing themselves with the hospital and tips for the initial days and months after the birth

Where: BJU Bldg 2, 5/F, 2 Jiangtai Lu, Chaoyang District
When: Jul 27, 28; 9am-1.15pm
Price: Free

La Leche League (LLL) Monthly Meetings at Beijing United Family Hospital

La Leche League meetings are back at BJU, and the next session will be happening on Jul 27, so if you need breastfeeding support, advice, or information, make sure to join. The meetings are free of charge and all caregivers are welcome. To book your spot, scan the QR code on the poster.

Where: Auditorium, 5/F, Beijing United Family Hospital, 2 Jiangtai Lu, Chaoyang District
When: Jul 27, 10.30am-noon
Price: Free

Swim or Explore With Beijing Hikers

This kid-friendly hike is a mostly flat up-and-back walk up to a fun riverside picnic spot in Yunmeng Gorge, where you can have a picnic or go paddling and splashing in the pool.

A little further down the river are shallow rock pools where you might find bunches of frog eggs … or maybe tadpoles!

A further 20-30 minutes up the gorge is a small village (best for older kids who want more exercise).

If you’d prefer to concentrate on swimming, just relax in the water or in the nearby area. The guides will let you know when it’s time to head out.

Where: Pickup from Liangmaqiao and Lido
When: Jul 27, 7.30am
Price: RMB 400/non-members, RMB 360/members, RMB 220/kids 6-18 years old, RMB 200/kids 4-5 years old

Images: Pexels, Courtesy of the organizers

If you’re looking for a fun afternoon with your family then I would consider going to Pacowhys graphic novel art exhibition.

Why you should go

This exhibition is becoming the perfect place to take your kids to introduce them to art.

Pacowhy art style is colorful and full of energy and this exhibition exudes just that. Rather than going to Louvre-like experiences this case-free environment allows your kids to organically enter the world of art. Considering the inspiration for this gallery is the visuals in graphic novels, it’s one out of a-thousand theme. As an artist and consumer, this theme is something very unusual. Often time people call inspiration from past experiences but Pacowhy does this all while introducing new topics.

Graphic novels are the most popular form of book for young children. with this in mind, I think your kids would be enthused and excited to see these pieces outside the pages of a book.

Located inside the 798 art district, you can find many cafes and restaurants to try, making a visit to Pacowhys exhibition an all-day family event.

If you’re looking for classic Chinese food you can head down to Shenji restaurant, or if you looking for something sweet you can try Bolaery Desert House. There are also multiple other galleries you can visit alongside Pacowhys. And best of all it’s free!!! 

He uses a multitude of mediums, oil paint, charcoal, graphite, pastels, and more. Combining aspects of real life and combining them with fiction. These pieces are simply the bare minimum of what artist Pacowhy has to offer. Looking at the opposite side of his artistic spectrum (the more maximalist side) we see the piece “the way to find me”. Defying initial expectations by changing the size of the creatures and their looks. He places a cat with tiger stripes near the bottom of the canvas. reflection on this specific work he states that “Time passes, and as you grow up, you become a tiger. As time passes, as you grow up, you become a cat. Yes, what’s important is the potential it has.”

The exhibition

The exhibition started on May 13 and is ongoing until June 20. Hosted at the Commons Art Center, Pacowhys art solo art exhibition ” Pacowhys graphic novels”, includes finding your identity, comic strips, a gold card, the Rabbit of 2023, and the Tiger of 2022.

The theme showcases the visual aesthetics illustrators use when creating graphic novels. This exhibition is also co-created by QuChen Xu (a trend art curator), and visual label manager Li Jiamu from modern sky MVM. This is Pacowhy’s second solo art exhibition following a successful one in Hong Kong. Even though he’s an up-and-coming artist these successes do not go unnoticed. 

Find it:
Common Art Center, 707-b03 Hongshi Square, No.2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District

Images: Common Art Center

The IOMA Art Center (爱马思艺术中心) prides itself on exploring work that is diverse and pushes the boundaries between art and life. And their latest exhibition, which just opened Oct 30, certainly fits the bill.

Titled “Nonsense Machine Factory,” the exhibit is the result of a Chinese-Japanese collaboration that spanned months of long distance communication, due to Covid-related travel restrictions. For the first time in modern history, hundreds of installation works were carefully boxed up and shipped from Kyoto to Beijing. The contents of the boxes? Silly, funny, even ridiculous inventions that subvert the common expectations of practical machinery.

It was no coincidence that the exhibition is taking place at this time, which marks the 50th anniversary of the normalisation of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations. No wonder the exhibit has transformed the entire 3,000sqm museum space into a creative workshop involving technology, music, design, and even religion! 

To begin, the first-floor gallery is dedicated to – get ready for it because your kids might scream – toys. But these aren’t ordinary, run-of-the-mill toys that you’ll find in any kid’s room. These toys were created specially by Minghe Electric, the Japanese side of this collaborative effort. There are no words to describe them since they really don’t resemble anything logical: think electric sushi, a fish rope, and a dog gun. Not to worry though, as the creative processes and engineering drawings behind some of the creations are also on display. And yes, this gallery is interactive, so kids with itchy fingers will definitely want to visit!

The second floor houses the futuristic “Voice Machines” series which showcases auditory art. Various mechanical installations create strange sounds from unexpected places. Which is to say, don’t be alarmed by the simulated laughter and singing that fills the environment.

Music takes center stage on the third floor, where unique musical instruments pepper the exhibit. One of the must-tries in this area is the interactive drum set that kids will doubtlessly want to get their hands on. And there’s also a mechanical band that performs “live!”

Things get deeper as you move to the fourth floor – existentially speaking – where we begin to ponder our existence alongside the creator of the NAKI fish series, which is itself a response to the question, “What am I?” Here, there’s a surprise workshop that you just might be lucky enough to catch and provides a better understanding of this more abstract, but equally intriguing, part of the exhibition.

As you take the stairs back to the first floor, you’ll wonder, “Is it over?” Well, it doesn’t have to be! You’ll have the opportunity to bring back several fun momentos from the exhibit at the gift shop.

The Nonsense Machine Factory exhibition will run from Oct 30 to Feb 20, 2022. Tickets start from RMB 139, and kids under 1.2m enter for free! Early bird tickets priced at RMB 78 are available until Nov 30. Buy your tickets through IOMA’s official WeChat account or on DianPing by searching 爱马思艺术中心 (Ài mǎ sī yìshù zhōngxīn).

KEEP READING: WATCH | Step Into the Paintings of Van Gogh, Literally!

Images: Courtesy of IOMA Art Museum

One of the most exciting things about living in Beijing is that it’s a city that nurtures creativity and helps you bring your dreams to life.

That’s why an upcoming art exhibition recently caught my attention: 容貌焦虑 róng mào jiāo lǜ, which translates to Appearance Anxiety, at a space called Power Girl Style. All of it struck a chord with me. Created by US artist Rebecca Slivinsky, the exhibition was inspired by the pressures of self-image that women face on a regular basis, no matter their age or background. “Being a woman myself, and having many friends who are women and talking about our self-image and how we feel about our bodies and appearance and the pressures surrounding it, I knew this title would resonate with many people,” Slivinsky tells us.

To find out more, we asked Slivinsky to share her story:

While I was in graduate school, I felt lost. I had no idea what type of work to do and was beginning to think I was making a mistake in pursuing a degree in art.

A few months later, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. This was the first time I was living far from home and could not physically be there to support my mom. I decided one way I could go through this journey with her was to shave my head in solidarity. While this was something I did to support my mom, it opened my eyes to the way I have been perceived by others my whole life. I had been subconsciously using my long, curly hair as part of my identity and no longer had this security blanket to hide behind.

I received a few comments about my appearance, which was a shock to me. I remember one specific time when a man who was comparing my freshly shaved head to my license photo, told me unprompted that he liked my hair better when it was long. When my overwhelming shock dissipated, I really began wondering where do women’s beauty expectations come from?

This event led me to the body of work that I created in graduate school, and I am still building upon that here in Beijing.

In school, I was taking objectified and sexualized images of women and obliterating them with cleaning fluids, to allow the woman in the advertisement to reclaim the right to her body. Here in Beijing, I am still focusing on the idea of “beauty” and more specifically my experience as a woman and how women in general manage to navigate a world filled with unwanted opinions and unrealistic beauty expectations of them.

As for my career here as an art teacher in Beijing, I absolutely love my job. I hope to instill technical skills along with allowing my students to explore their own conceptual ideas. I really enjoy watching my students grow into young artists, especially the students who might not care so much about art when they first join my class and then find their own niche in creating art.

As an art teacher in Beijing, Slivinsky is one of many who help shape and inspire young minds. What’s more, her upcoming exhibition gave one of her students, a grade 9 girl and aspiring fashion designer, the opportunity to see what it’s like putting together a show. “I thought it would be a great opportunity for her to see how to set up a show and see first-hand what goes into putting on a solo show,” explains Slivinsky.

To be sure though, the show touches on a deeper and darker issue. According to Slivinsky, not only are images of women shown in glossy magazine pages and on TV, but we now also face the problem of social media.

We have social media in the US of course, but in China, I notice lots of women use filters like the ‘Beauty Cam’ to distort their faces into unrealistic proportions. I think because these images are put out into the world of women with photoshopped bodies, it could definitely have a negative impact on how young girls (and women of all ages) see themselves.

A few of my friends have told me stories about how their parents even tell them about how they are too fat and ugly. Some friends of mine, as adults, are still affected by this (plus the added pressure of social media) and now deal with these anxieties in ways that I would not consider healthy.

If grown women are so greatly impacted by comments made to them about their appearance, I can only imagine how young girls who are just learning who they are and where they fit in the world can also be affected by such pressure.

Slivinsky’s exhibition is a wake up call for those dishing out the comments on other people’s bodies and a refreshing realization for those being negatively affected by it.

After hearing comments from her friends about her body, Slivinsky sports one of her favorite shirts with the slogan, “I do not exist to conform to your idea of beauty. 我的存在不是为了迎合你对美的想法.” and lives by it. After all, our bodies are our own and each is beautiful and unique in its own right.

Appearance Anxiety will be on exhibition at Power Girl Style until Dec 2. It’s open from 10am-8pm and admission is free.

To find out more about the artist, visit www.rebeccaslivinsky.com or follow her on Instagram @rebeccaslivinsky.

Power Girl Style
北京市朝阳区东坝镇半截塔路53号
朗园station A14-5-3 Power Girl Style

We’re happy to report that another of Beijing’s cultural sites is once again open to the public: the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC). We’re doubly happy to report that they’re also allowing foreigners, unlike the National Museum of China and the Capital Museum, both of which reopened just prior to May Day holiday, but due to an oversight with the reservation systems only allowed Chinese nationals to make reservations.

The Dongsi-adjacent museum returns to its regular hours – 9am-5pm (4pm last entry), Tuesday through Sunday – but with an additional hour of closure between 1-2pm for sterilization. They will also observe the usual restrictions on the number of daily visitors and thus require booking ahead via their online registration system for either morning (9am-midday; 300 slots) or afternoon (2-4pm; 200 slots). You will also need to present your valid ID and health kit app upon entry and wear a mask at all times. Otherwise, it’s completely free.

Last year, the museum hosted works by famed French photographer Bruno Barbey, former global chairman of Magnum Photos

Despite its programming occasionally being hijacked for more nationalistic purposes, NAMOC remains one of the best state-run museums in the country. Its bimonthly rotating exhibitions usually highlight masters in the Chinese cannon while its permanent collections focus on Chinese traditional and folk arts (including kites, toys, and puppets), as well as the occasional foreign artist. For more info about the museum’s current exhibitions, click here.

NAMOC is big, so we don’t recommend trying to see the whole thing in one day, especially if you are with very small children, but as it’s free you can take it in bite-sized chunks, and come back as often as you like. Engage older children by asking them to describe the feelings and colors that they spot in various artworks, and play color bingo with little ones: asking them to find 5 artworks with blue in them, 5 with red, and so on. Once you’re all done, you can even cap it all off with a family meal at Jing-A Taproom in the nearby Longfusu complex.

Currently, slots remain through this week but availability over the weekend is already filling up fast. For details on how to register and book (in Chinese), visit NAMOC’s official website here.

KEEP READING: Forbidden City, Nanluogu Xiang, and Other Major Attractions Reopen

A version of this article originally appeared on our sister site, the Beijinger

Images: CGTN, NAMOC, China Daily

At this time of year everyone is going Halloween crazy… and we’ve been right in the spirit of it, suggesting costume ideas, exploring the history of the festival, and helping you find the Halloween party that’s right for you and your brood. But there’s another event around now which also puts the grin on the skeletons’ faces, and that’s Mexico’s “Dia de los Muertos,” the Day of the Dead.

It may not seem like an appropriate festival to celebrate with kids, but on the contrary, the Dia de los Muertos is very much a family occasion. It’s not about fearing or mourning our departed loved ones, but about celebrating their lives. The world got to know the Day of the Dead better through Disney-Pixar’s much-loved 2017 movie Coco.

The 2017 Disney Pixar move Coco made the Dia De los Muertos known around the world

One of the most distinctive visual symbols of the festival is the brightly-painted “sugar skull,” and this image is at the center of an exhibition at the Contemporary Art Culture Center, above Destination on Gongti Xilu. The exhibition will open at 5pm on November 1 in a ceremony at which the Mexican Ambassador, his Excellency José Luis Bernal, will be present. It then runs until November 10, from 10am to 6pm every day except Monday, and is free to visit.

Meanwhile, for the grown-ups, El Barrio is holding a Day of the Dead party on Saturday November 2, with a live Mariachi band, while Pachapapi is rocking it Latin-style on Friday November 1.

But if you don’t fancy getting a babysitter and sampling some tequila, you can still celebrate the Dia de los Muertos with your kids. Why not put together a traditional memorial for someone you’ve lost? Decorate a table with candles, skull decorations, and souvenirs from your loved one’s life: photos, cherished possessions, even their favorite food. Then – and this is the important thing – share happy memories of their life, tell funny stories, sing songs they loved. It should not be a morbid occasion, but a joyous one.

To all Mexican and Latin American friends, and to everyone celebrating this occasion, we at beijingkids say “Feliz, Dia de los Muertos!”

Photo: Gengiskanhg via Wikimedia Commons, rottentomatoes.com, courtesy of【ART·DES】

Beijing’s young learners are encouraged to explore contemporary art through a series of specially designed events at M Woods Museum in the 798 art district. Facilitated workshops and field trips use inquiry-based teaching methods to help students develop critical thinking skills, improve their level of English and creatively engage with materials and concepts.

Students from participating schools are invited into a world of discovery through English-language guided tours, early bird private led or self-guided tours, exhibition analyses and discussion, thematic practical exercises and workshops that can be facilitated in-house or in schools.  Expert teachers guide students in talking about the works that they see, and helping them to think about art as a form of inspiration and reflection of the world and societies we live in.

The six featured workshops; Recipes for Art (ages 4-5), Places and Spaces (ages 6-8), Characters (ages 6-8), Landscapes, Real or Imagined (ages 9-10), Transforming Everyday Objects (ages 10-11) and The artist at Work (ages 12+) have been running from November 3 and will continue until February 24. Each workshop focuses on an exhibition of the works of Nicolas Party.

The immersive workshops are not only held in-house but are consolidated into comprehensive lectures facilitated at schools throughout Beijing and are led by experienced M Woods educators. Students discuss the context of the current exhibition and share their responses to themes. Finally students create their own artwork as a form of exploration of what’s been observed.

The family workshops for parents and groups of up to ten kids include a tour of the exhibition and a creative workshop afterwards. The school field trips for students are limited to 20 participants and also include a workshop. All this insight can be gained for the price of RMB 150 per child or student. Follow and reserve your ticket using the M Woods official Wechat account: MWOODSBeijing or visit www.mwoods.org for more information.

Photos: courtesy of organizers

A retrospective exhibition featuring 150 works by Japanese master photographer Shōji Ueda at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre is an exciting highlight of the year for photography fans and more casual viewers alike.

The exhibition, arriving in China for the first time, documents Ueda’s remarkable photographs, spanning his early to late periods, and includes one of his best-known series, Sand Dunes.

“Papa Mama and Children”

Described as a “sedentary adventurer,” Ueda was extremely attached to his birthplace, Tottori, in western Japan. This small city is best known for its nearby sprawling sand dunes, a setting that Ueda chose for many of his earlier works and for which the aforementioned series was named. Mostly shot in black and white, the photos he took among the dunes capture the outlines of his subjects, who are both playful and meticulously composed, with the landscape acting as a stark backdrop.

The Sand Dunes series has won acclaim globally, leaving a major mark within art history, and winning Ueda recognition as one of the most important figures in 20th-century photography.

“Scenery of the Dune with My Wife”

After the Sand Dunes series, Ueda cemented his reputation with photographs recording ordinary life but often in a blurred, dreamlike style, with hazy landscapes and slightly faded colors, revealing his unique and poetic sensibility.

Aside from his obvious fascination with black and white photography, Ueda was also a colorist. In his later period, he finished a series called Shiroi Kaze (Brilliant Scenes), of which some resemble watercolor paintings, and could fool those more familiar with his monochrome images into believing they’re from another photographer.

“Gitanes”

Featuring pictures in both black and white and color, the exhibition brings together a great many of his lesser-known series, that otherwise there are few opportunities to see.

Shōji Ueda Retrospective Exhibition
10am-6pm Tue-Sun until Nov 25;  RMB 60 at the gate, RMB 50 for booking online (need to be one day in advance), RMB 35 for students, free for children under 12. 155A Caochangdi, Chaoyang District 三影堂 (朝阳区草场地155号A; 6432 2663).

“Kako and A Flower”

Photos: by Shōji Ueda via Three Shadows Photography Art Centre