Best bets for the holiday

The traditional courtyard houses in Beijing become venues for art shows and activities during the National Day holiday.[Photo/Xinhua]

Beijing Design Week has been an annual event in the capital since 2009. This year's ongoing events under the theme Design 2020 continue through Oct 7.

During the National Day holiday, there will be a lot going on in Beijing's Dashilar hutong area in relation to arts, design and lifestyle. Here are some highlights:

Exhibition: I Am We

Time: through Oct 7

Venue: Beijing Quanyechang, Dashilar

As the main exhibition in Dashilar during Beijing Design Week, I Am We presents works and projects from around 50 artists, designers and studios from home and abroad.

The exhibition is divided into three parts, covering every aspect of design, including furniture, installations, architecture and digital graphics.

One feature of the exhibition is the collaboration between recent pop-up studios and traditional time-honored brands, such as the Ruifuxiang silk store, the Neiliansheng shoe store and the Yidege calligraphy ink store.

Exhibition: Open Source Hutong

Time: through Oct 7

Venue: 82 Yanshou Street, and 6 Cha'er Hutong, Dashilar

Co-hosted by Yeah Archkids studio and curator Yue Luping, the project explores how to combine art, design and technology in the hutong, making the hutong an open community for technology workshops, artists and designers.

DIY workshop: Eggshell Carving

Time: 10-noon, Oct 3

Venue: 90 Yangmeizhu Xiejie, Dashilar

Yang Xiaokang is an artist who carves and paints on eggshells. An inheritor of intangible heritage, Yang uses red-shell eggs as a medium, where she paints and carves designs inspired by stories of ancient and modern China.

Using blades, pens and brushes, Yang brings together her understanding of traditional Chinese culture on the thin eggshells, giving them an eternal life.

Yang will show and teach visitors eggshell carving. Cost: 100 yuan ($15), which includes the materials fee.

DIY workshop: Shadow Puppet

Time: 2-4 pm, Oct 6

Venue: 90 Yangmeizhu Xiejie, Dashilar

Lu Hongwei is the seventh generation of the Beijing De Shun shadow puppetry group. Instructed by his father, shadow puppet play master Lu Lianda, he learned the performance art in childhood.

Now, after years of practice, Lu Hongwei makes shadow puppets as well as other decorative items, combining shadow puppet play with traditional Chinese painting.

At this workshop, participants will learn about shadow puppets and how to color them. Cost: 100 yuan, which includes the materials fee.

DIY workshop: Woodblock Printing

Time: 2-4 pm, Oct 2

Venue: 90 Yangmeizhu Xiejie, Dashilar

Among the decorations people buy before the Chinese Lunar New Year are pictures printed using woodblocks.

Zhang Kuo, who has lived in Dashilar for most of his life, has mastered the art of producing traditional woodblock New Year pictures, thanks to his study of the subject. From wood selection and carving to printing, he knows it all, even as he continues to experiment with new designs.

Workshop participants will learn about woodblock printing and coloring traditional New Year pictures. Cost: 100 yuan, which includes the materials fee.

Activity for children: Finger Zoo－A Body Memory Project

Time: 2-4:30 pm, Oct 1

Venue: 8 Cha'er Hutong, Dashilar

Fingers are the most dexterous parts of our bodies. People use fingers to pick up objects, touch the people they love and feel the world.

Body Memory is a project about casting and duplicating body parts that have a special meaning to them. Children's hands are constantly changing in the first decade of their lives. So, it is a nice memory to have a cast of a baby's hands, especially for the parents.

In this workshop, artist Zhou Yi will teach parents and children how to make a cast of their fingers, and then lead a finger-drawing activity around the theme. The activity is for children, ages 5 to 10 accompanied by parents.

Send names and contacts to micro-yuaner@dashilar.org to reserve a spot.

Activity for children: Playable Design－When Lego Meets Shakespeare

Time: 2-3:30 pm, Oct 3; 10:30-noon, Oct 5; 10:30-noon, Oct 6

Venue: 8 Cha'er Hutong, Dashilar

What is it like when literature, design and a game are put together?

Team Lego has developed a new product－characters in Shakespeare's plays－to let children construct scenes from Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream, to make it easier for children to experience these masterpieces. The activity is for children, ages 6 to 14.

Send names and contacts to micro-yuaner@dashilar.org to reserve a spot.

Design talk: The Future Home in Hutong

Time: 10 am, Oct 5

Venue: 8 Dawailangying Hutong, Dashilar

Traditional hutong areas are places for meetings, chats and hanging out for Beijingers. But with the increase in residents, household items have been put and stored in the narrow alleys, which have damaged the function of the hutong as a public space.

In dealing with the conflict between private and public interest, design firm C + Architects proposes an idea of "scattered home" in its renovation plan for Tiaozhou Hutong. By separating the space for different functions, the plan aims to bring a new experience of "a living room in a hutong" for the neighborhood.