Sanlitun nightlife: Bar Street, the lanes and Gongti

Where Beijing has gone out since the 1990s, in three layers that guides still confuse: the original Bar Street on Sanlitun Rd north of the mall — now a strip of touts, cover bands and tourist prices; the lanes east of and behind the mall, home to the craft-beer bars, cocktail rooms and the restaurants foreigners actually use; and the clubs and big venues around the Workers' Stadium a few hundred metres west. The 'Dirty Street' of cheap bars behind the South Village was cleared in a clean-up around 2017 and no longer exists. Free, open all night, and the one part of the city where English is the default after 22:00.