(Beijing weekend)
Updated: 2007-05-18 10:59

The new Vics boasts a big increase in space - and just as well, given the huge crowd that turned out for its re-opening bash.

Some one thousand clubbers came for the party last Friday, with celebrity faces among the crowd, which spilled into the square of the nearby Workers Stadium awaiting entry.

Chinese hip pop king Huang Lixing was there, as was TV star Li Xiaolu.

After months of silence, Vics, a big star of Beijing's old night scene, ushered in a new look, and has increased its size from 300 square meters to 2,000 square meters, making it one of the city's biggest clubs.

Its style also turns to a spectacular blend of modern and Chinese classic dcor, with rich purple drapes inside. The first thing to hit you is the graceful image of flying Apsaras in Dunhuang fresco, covering the entire entrance wall. Traditional Chinese lotus patterns are printed everywhere - on the floor, windows, and private boxes.

Two flights of stairs lead to the heart of the club. Here is the Relaxation Zone where minimalist furniture and trance music are combined, while downstairs is the old sweaty Vics Zone with hip hop and R'n'B tunes booming out of the new sound system.

The club's walls and ceiling shine like man-made starry skies, with light thrown down from multiple embedded spot lamps.

Throwing some of Beijing's earliest hip hop parties, this re-vamped fashionable club was known for its dancefloor grind, and the inevitable couplings that followed. Owned by the same people as the Den, Vics draws in a mixed crowd of party-friendly foreigners and hip Chinese.

Opening hours: 8:30pm-late
Address:Inside Workers'Stadium north gate
Tel: 010-5293-0333