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Advanced: Nanluoguxiang: the cafe district

Five years ago there wasn't a single cafe in this old hutong district a mere ten minutes east of Houhai and the Drum Tower. Despite the explosion of small bars and coffee shops since, Nanluoguxiang remains one of Beijing's most pleasant areas. The neighborhood's older and more traditional architecture offers a welcome break from the oppressive vastness of other parts of Beijing, while the noise here is generally under control and aggressive peddlers have yet to descend on the area.

This has made Nanluoguxiang less of a party street and more of a community for Chinese and foreign translators, writers, photographers and artists. The sense of community on the street is palpable, and it doesn't take long to learn people's names and find a favorite cafe. Whether you want some coffee or are just looking for a quiet place to grab a drink and tackle some work, Nanluoguxiang is a good choice.

Join us in today's podcast as we learn a bit more about this street, see its gradual commercialization through the eyes of Echo, Apple and 9527. Although this recording is much more Chinese podcast than explicit lesson, we've highlighted some of the more difficult words and names on the vocab page. If you have trouble listening to Chinese at speed, you'll probably want to check it out before hitting the podcast. Enjoy.

orbital

said on

November 11, 2008

Never been to Nanluoguxiang, although I was in Houhai a few years ago when it was a sleepy cafe district and Sanlitun was the dominant bar area. Sounds like things have changed though. Which is a pity, Houhai was a great place to have an afternoon drink down by the water, especially in the winter when the whole area was quieter, and more like a park than anything else.

It's funny how quickly things like this change in China, especially in the areas where real estate prices are low and it's easy for people to set up shop. I prefer going to a nice quiet place to catch drinks with friends over hitting jiuba street and having to deal with the constant selling, selling, selling... but all it does is feed the cycle by encouraging more bars to open up. And it's hard to enjoy a cup of coffee when the five bars next door are all blasting "Hotel California" at top volume in their increasingly viscous struggle for pedestrian traffic.

Maybe one of these days I'll open my own.

stratman1

said on

November 12, 2008

我去年差点每天都去一家酒吧就叫pool bar在南锣鼓巷和鼓楼东大街的那丁字路口旁边，在Mao的对面，也经常去南锣鼓巷的咖啡厅、餐馆吃东西。我可以给大家一些建议。。那条街有一家咖啡厅叫Alba，有全北京最好吃的三明治，还很便宜，只要15到25块钱。我觉得的Fish Nation也比较好吃，不太贵。。还有北京最好吃又便宜的越南餐厅，就在那丁字路口往西走3、4分钟就要到了

我跟很多外国人，中国人聊过那边，大家都同意，在南锣鼓巷有北京最好看最时髦的人

三里屯也有时候也好玩，但多去的话感觉有点脏，在那大家的素质不一定很高，有时候觉得太乱了

stratman1

said on

November 12, 2008

@orbital

Yeah, houhai's a terrible place to have a coffee. I wonder how that one street overlooking the water full of always empty, overpriced cafes survives.

Houhai's still good for iceskating and a leisurely walk though. It's actually a pretty nice short walk from houhai to nanluoguxiang.

barrister

said on

November 12, 2008

我认识那个the pool酒吧 -- 去过一两次. 还有Mao和Alba. 但是我不同意大家对后海的歧视. 南边的那个荷花市场又吵又贵,但是如果你从银锭桥往北走,不需要时间j就会到一个很舒服的小地区. 咖啡厅安静点儿. 我以前有的时候在那里跑步了.

还需要说后海那儿有"胡同Pizza" -- 北京最好的小pizza店. 他们的咖喱鸡肉pizza太帮了. Still a great place, even if 银锭桥 deserves getting nuked.

Echo

said on

November 12, 2008

原来大家都是老北京阿 :)

大家都说到那个pool bar，什么风格的？介绍一下吧，去南锣鼓巷的时候总是经过，但是从来没去过。（它旁边的包子店倒是去过几次 :) )

确实忘了提胡同批萨，我也特别喜欢它的咖喱鸡，沙拉也不错。还有一家小小的新疆饭馆，在南锣鼓巷北口马路对面的，叫“快乐新疆”,炒面片和馕都不错。

我很同意S说的，三里屯偶尔去一下还可以。不过现在在靠大马路边上，也就是3.3的南边开了三里屯village，不知道大家知不知道，集吃喝玩乐穿一体的现代化综合shopping mall，刚开了几个月，建筑风格不错，在年轻人中也很火了。苹果店也在。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

swigr

said on

November 13, 2008

Sorry, but i'm a bit baffled by the humming or whatever that was at the beginning of the podcast.

brett

said on

November 13, 2008

sounds like the cheerleading squad :)

trevelyan

said on

November 13, 2008

@swigr - it's an audio teaser we whipped up. just experimenting with a few things.

trevelyan

said on

November 13, 2008

@brett - you are welcome to the cheerleading squad :)

nkletnieks

said on

November 13, 2008

This reminded me how much I miss this part of Beijing. At 小心　the fuwuyuan taught me the invaluable 意大利式特浓咖啡 in exchange we provided practice for the English pronunciation of 草莓奶昔. The yeasty pizzas were the only western style food I was ever tempted by in Beijing, though the almond cake wasn't bad either. We'd see the fuwuyuan riding along 帽儿胡同 to work there in her pink down coat and go for a coffee after skating on 前海. How did it survive the widening of 南锣鼓巷 - we left shortly after and it seemed to take a big slice off?

(What am I doing still in Australia?)

Echo

said on

November 14, 2008

@nkletnieks,

听你的描述，感觉一幅活生生的画面就在眼前，充满了怀念的气息。有时间要回来看看啊 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

trevelyan

said on

November 14, 2008

@nkletnieks - never had the almond cakes at Xiaoxin's, will try them out sometime. To be honest, I just came back to Beijing myself earlier this summer - probably left for Shanghai about the same time you left China - they'd just finished ripping up the street as part of their cultural improvement project.

Mao'er is a still a bit of a mess - they're re-opening the waterway on the east side of Houhai and turning the south side of it into a park, so they've ripped down the hutongs on the south side of the road and have encased the entire area in those sheet metal construction blinds. They've also dressed up the area with these black Victorian lamps, so there's a bizarre contrast to it all. I don't know what the hutong just south of Mao'er is called, but it cuts right through the construction and is a nice walk: lots of crickets in the summertime. If you walk down it at night you also come from the quiet of a dark alleyway right into the bustle of Houhai.

As the street itself gets busier, a lot of the crowd that prefers quiet is slowly migrating to some of the places near the Drum Tower or Lama Temple. There are a few more upscale shops on Gulou Dong Dajie itself (bakery, wine shop, etc.) but it's all pretty much the same otherwise, especially on weekdays. Am writing this from Zhazha's, which would be exactly the same as you remember it.

nkletnieks

said on

November 17, 2008

@echo, @trevelyan Thanks for your comments and update. The rebuilding south west of the canal was I think inevitable, as it was excluded from the preservation plans for the area. The street lamps are a bit of a worry though. I should be back for a while at least in the next year or so.

borneoherbs

said on

November 23, 2008

why not have a video of this conversation so we could see the..mmm.. cheerleaders? i suppose seeing their lips movement could also assist in our learning, hehe.

barrister

said on

November 23, 2008

video? let me second the request for a video of either Apple and Echo, although I'll probably skip the famous-male-podcaster series.

ngothu259

said on

December 15, 2009

我想这里是高级播客的，所以大家应该用汉语说话。什么时候不知怎么用汉语表达自己的意思才用自己的母语表达。

ckristiansen

said on

July 16, 2010

@ngothu259

我非常同意！像我这个人，中文过会儿不用，写起来就会发生一些问题了。大家向你说的做，希望大家都可以互相帮助，改正错误。

Echo

said on

July 17, 2010

@ckristiansen,

向你说一声不算太迟的“欢迎”，欢迎你加入我们的泡泡中文大家庭！我看到你的介绍上说你是中文专业毕的，你的中文用得很流利 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

Xiao Hu

said on

July 22, 2010

@Christiansen,

我相信你会很喜欢加入我们泡泡中文家庭。这里有 Echo, Brendan（何毖大哥）, David （幽默先生）这么多的好老师和教材。再过了几个月你的中文肯定会更流利！而且这里的博客的内容又幽默又令人难忘的所以好记一些。

我觉得你的中文很好！你的普通话是在哪里学的？你有没有来过中国？你有机会来到我们重庆的话我可以带你去吃重庆老火锅或老鸭汤！好吃街的东西都特别好吃。两个都是我们重庆的特产。你可以吃辣的吗？我也可以教你一些重庆土话。

我也觉得我们用中文交流然后遇到障碍的话才用自己的母语去交流比较好。

请问你有什么兴趣爱好？你是哪个国家的？你的中文学了多久？

Echo

said on

July 22, 2010

@Xiao Hu,

哈哈，好久不见啦，小虎！你说的重庆美食已经把我弄得流口水了～～我超级爱吃辣，不过可能没有你那么厉害，我吃不了特别辣的。有一次我和幽默先生在北京的簋街吃火锅，有一家叫“孔亮”的四川火锅，我们要的微辣的，但还是特别辣。它的锅是中间有一个小的圆的部分可以放不辣的，周围一圈是辣的。结果我们俩吃了5分钟以后，就一直把菜放在中间的不辣的部分里涮了，周围辣的一圈没敢再用。后来我们俩再也不敢去那家餐厅吃火锅了。但是好像何毖先生特别喜欢他们家的火锅...

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

paglino9

said on

July 22, 2010

On the impending fate

of our beloved 南锣鼓巷. Piece by the New York Times.

The "Time Cultural City" planned to replace Gulou, not surprisingly, is being sponsored by Cartier

Xiao Hu

said on

July 25, 2010

@Echo,

呵呵，好久没见！你最近好吗？你能够来到这边吃老火锅的话我保证这是令人很难忘的一件事。当然泡泡-ies 都知道我是辣菜大王，当然我的辣量很高不过吃老火锅连辣菜大王也会觉得很辣的！这里的好的火锅店很多很多！南山火锅，奇奇火锅，赵二火锅，这些店的名气最大但没有名字的火锅店也算特别好吃！我小区大门外的火锅店也非常好！这里的烤鱼也好吃，有一家店很有意思，它没什么装修，坐位是在外面，环境很破，但是鱼的味道最爽。