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INTRO ('Ideas Need To Reach Out'), an outdoor electronic music festival, takes place in Beijing's D-Park Plaza. Against the dramatic backdrop of a Bauhaus-designed power station dating from Mao's time, ravers lose themselves in hypnotic beats.

Fresh energy is infused into the theatres across Beijing as young Chinese choreographers present contemporary dance works for the Beijing Dance Forward Festival. Dance lovers partake in a week-long programme that includes lectures, master classes and workshops.

The Meet in Beijing Arts Festival brings a month-long programme of theatre, music and dance to China's capital. Chinese and international performances take place at both indoor and outdoor venues, including the famous National Theatre and Forbidden City Hall.

Beijing filmmakers taking part in The 48 Hour Film Project have just two days to create a short film from scratch. The finished products are screened at a gallery in the 798 District, where audiences vote for their favourite entries.

China's Dragon Boat Festival, Duanwu, commemorates the death of ancient poet Qu Yuan. At this time in Beijing locals eat zongzi (bamboo-wrapped rice dumplings) and watch vibrant dragon boat races on nearby lakes, such as Qinglong and Houhai.

Leaping down steps and grinding rails, Beijing's skateboard community tour the city's best skateparks and outdoor spots for the Vans Go Skateboarding Day held in cities across the world. Show your own skate skills or just watch the show.

Beijing's grand National Centre for Performing Arts hosts the NCPA Opera Festival. A series of classical and original productions are held in the venue's Opera House and vocal recitals are performed in the Concert Hall.

The Tutti World Youth Music Festival sees master classes and performances being put on by school-aged musicians and singers from across the globe. Hosted at Beijing's Dulwich College, the event features various music groups including brass ensembles and symphonic wind bands.

Taking place in summer, selected young string musicians from around the world are given lessons from faculty members of different conservatories including Shanghai Conservatory. Young artists then display their musical talents in three public concerts held in Beijing Concert Hall.

Exhibitors and art lovers from around the world flock every year to this exposition, also known as Contemporary Beijing. Held at the Beijing China World Trade Center, it acts as a platform for both art transactions and academic communication.

Discover new must-reads or fresh insights into the authors you love at the Beijing International Book Fair. The huge China International Exhibition Center is filled with publishers, literary organizations, and writers from across the world.

Vogue magazine is the brains behind Fashion's Night Out. Stylephiles in capital cities all over the world, including Beijing, celebrate their love of fashion at evening events. Shops and malls usually host late-night shopping, celebrity-studded parties, makeovers and style seminars.

Jazz orchestras, big bands and talented trios entertain audiences with their laid-back rhythms during Beijing's NineGates Jazz Festival. Concerts take place at venues across the city, like Chang An Grand Theatre, Peking University Hall and leisure complex Sanlitun Village.

Musicians from France to Japan gather at the Beijing Concert Hall for this premier classical music event. Focusing on a different instrument each edition, Beijing's International Music Competition also brings masters and emerging talents together onstage and hosts public concerts.

More than 100 performances are staged in various theatres across a 20-day period during the Beijing Fringe Festival. Featuring avant-garde plays, concerts and script readings, this festival is a popular mainstay especially amongst the city's contemporary crowd.

Beijing's Yugongyishan art space presents a range of short films as part of the Manhattan Short film festival which takes place simultaneously in 200 venues worldwide. Expect films that are short on time but big on impact and ideas.

Beijing's already vibrant parks become even livelier during the three-month Beijing Park Festival. Their stages and open spaces host a wide range of performances and activities to showcase the city's history and culture.

Brave the massive crowds as National Day celebrations happen around the city. Floral sculptures grace Chang'an Street, while concert series and large-scale fireworks displays in major parks entertain in the evening, marking the day the Communist Party came into power.

Beijing Design Week brings new meaning to the phrase "Made in China". Exhibitions and events across the city serve as platforms for industry professionals to meet and for Chinese and international designers to showcase their innovative, high-quality creations.

Crowds scale Badachu Park's hills during the annual Double Ninth Festival, a day when climbing up to high places is believed to banish danger from your life. They also drink chrysanthemum wine to help live longer lives.

The China Tennis Open, on the ATP and WTA tours, sees world pros compete at Beijing's National Tennis Center, a former Olympic venue. The steep stands in the lotus flower-shaped courts give excellent views of the action.

The New Beijing International Movie Festival screens the best foreign and Chinese films - chosen from submitted entries - at venues around the capital. Filmmakers compete for Golden Duck Awards and the Beijing Crying Monkey award for "Best Art Film".

Starting at Tian'anmen Square and finishing at the National Olympic Sport Centre, the Beijing International Marathon is one of the world's top ten races. Spectators line the streets to cheer on thousands of runners, and television viewers top 100 million.

Beijing's 798 District, a bohemian cluster of trendy galleries, spills over with even more contemporary art than usual during its annual Art Festival. Venues host special exhibitions and performances, while outdoor sculpture displays take over the streets.

Beijing's Music Festival brings the best of Western classical music (including opera, chamber music and classical jazz) into the heart of the Chinese capital. Performances and masterclasses take place in grand city venues, such as the Forbidden City Concert Hall.

Experimental music fans discover new sounds at the Jazz-E Festival. Swing artists and DJs combine jazz melodies and electronic beats to form a new music genre: electro-jazz. The fusion performances take place at Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall.

Documentaries, animated cartoons, short films; the list goes on at the week-long International Student Film and Video Festival, hosted by the Beijing Film Academy. Visit the campus to enjoy numerous international films, produced by students from all over the world.

Step onto the cutting edge of film with the Nordox Nordic Documentary Film Festival. Held at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, a venue as hip as its event, contemporary documentaries on subjects including socio-politics and the environment are showcased.

Get to know the new faces of European cinema at the annual European Union Film Festival. This event features showings of one contemporary film from each European Union country in various cinemas. Participating Beijing venues include the Broadway Cinemathèque MOMA.

Launching themselves from a massive kicker, top snowboarders compete to get the biggest air and pull off the most stylish tricks in the Oakley Air and Style. Spectators pack the Beijing National Stadium to watch this great show.

Beijing's top choir, The International Festival Chorus, perform their annual rendition of Handel's Messiah at the International School of Beijing. The choral group, boasting members from across the globe, invites a different conductor each year to lead the festive concert.

The National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing hosts its annual concert to see in the New Year. The China National Symphony Orchestra, along with world-renowned musicians and conductors, perform a carefully selected repertoire in the grand Concert Hall.

Cyclists fly incredibly fast around the polished, banked track of the Laoshan Velodrome in the Chinese leg of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup. The competition, held in four cities across the globe, draws the world's best track cyclists.

Crowds of people head to the Yonghegong Lama Temple to celebrate the Laba Festival. The temple's lamas chant sutras and give out steaming bowls of rice porridge which are supposed to bring good luck.

Held on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival marks the end of China's New Year celebrations. In Beijing, traditional dancers in colourful costumes take to the streets and, at night, lantern-lit parades illuminate the city.

Throw yourself into Beijing's vibrant Chinese New Year celebrations, a time locals traditionally spend with their family. Also known as the Spring Festival, pretty fireworks light up the night sky and high-energy dragon dances shimmy through the streets.

The majestic Longqing Gorge, 80km outside Beijing, is the scene for the annual Ice and Snow Festival, a colourful fiesta of ice and light. Massive blocks of ice are carved into animals, lanterns and figures of all shapes and sizes.

This New Year Print Art Festival celebrates the delicate art of printmaking with exhibitions at Beijing's Shin Kong Place shopping centre. View intricate prints from the Socialist era and the present day, then create your own woodcut at workshops.

Avid readers flock to this Literary Festival at popular Beijing bookshop The Bookworm. Meet novelists and poets from across the globe at lively debates or refined literary dinners. Budding authors can hone their skills at inspiring workshops hosted by professionals.

For one April weekend, Beijing's golf courses fall quiet as fans of the sport head to the China National Convention Center. Whether you're after some new clubs or high-tech training equipment, the China Golf Show has it all under one roof.

Brightly coloured kites dot the sky above Chaoyang Park during the Beijing International Kite Festival. With decorative kites shaped like dragons and acrobatic ones doing tricks, this event is a great celebration of a 100-year-old Chinese tradition.

Delve into Beijing's underground arts scene at the Jue Music + Art Festival. Alternative art exhibitions, theatre and music concerts inject life into January's grey wintry days at venues across the city, such as the MAO Livehouse and Capital Theatre.

Galleries from across the globe unite under the China World Trade Center's roof for CIGE, Beijing's buzzing arena of contemporary art. Thousands come to see imaginative creations from well-established artists, and discover emerging Asian talent in the Mapping Asia section.

Get into the swing of things and party on one of the world's Seven Wonders during the Great Wall Swingout. Workshops are held and swing bands play for this groovy three-night dance event at the Great Wall of China.

Get a slice of raw local culture with the Beijing Students Film Festival. Screened at selected universities across China, it opens at the Beijing National University with the participating domestic films produced by young film-makers all over the country.

The Modern Sky Music Festival shows how huge the Chinese indie music scene is right now. Beijing's Haidian Park is packed with fans eager to catch well-known international acts and local bands giving their own distinct take on the genre.

The fairs Art Beijing and Photo Beijing take place at the same time in the capital's Agricultural Exhibition Centre. Galleries from across the world present their best contemporary art and photography for enthusiasts, collectors and critics to view.

Legendary rock event Midi Music Festival returns to Beijing for the May bank holiday. Crowds gather around open-air stages in Haidian Park for a packed weekend of live performances by guitar heroes, as well as jazz, electronic and rap artists.

Beijing celebrates International Labour Day with a public holiday. The celebrations centre on Tiananmen Square. Join the crowds of thousands at this historic site on 1 May to see the early morning flag-raising ceremony.

The Concert Hall at Beijing's National Centre for Performing Arts hosts a May Festival of chamber music. The programme consists largely of string, brass and wind ensembles, with one-off performances in genres like jazz or Chinese folk music adding some variety.