Only yards away lies another bar Hutongr (alleyway). On its second-floor terrace, where customers have a bird's eye view of the area, two Macedonians were attracted by the bar's red lanterns.

"Those made us think of the movie "Raise the Red Lantern" by Chinese director Zhang Yimou," said Alexander, stressing it was "very special and traditional."

Alexander was not alone in the metropolis among those seeking a place to accommodate their curiosity for Chinese culture. For 41-year-old Brian, who came from England and did business in the country, The World of Suzie Wong bar in the city's eastern Chaoyang Park West Gate attracted him more with its fancy Chinese culture and Western-style entertainment.

The bar's furniture all followed the style of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) with giant Chinese paintings of royal families, a classic gramophone, Tiffany lamps and lotus plants, all of which seemed to tell an Oriental story, he said.

The businessmen had traveled to Shanghai, Urumqi and other places in China, but was fascinated with the bars in Beijing.

"I often miss the bars in Beijing when I am on errands. There's my favorite black beer and of course, the amazing stories behind the city and bars," he said.

However, for 25-year-old Luke, a beverage in Suzie Wong was too expensive. What the Brit preferred were bars with distinctive artistic design and a relatively cheaper price.

In Zhangwang hutong, a place near Guloudajie, the pioneering Bed Bar, carved out of an old siheyuan (a compound normally occupied by several families of Beijingers) has proved a great conversation piece.

Its warren of rooms, kang-style bed seating (a sleeping platform made of bricks or other forms of fired clay) and artistic design enables customers to have a nice conversation, said Moling, a Canadian-born Chinese.

The owner of the bar, a Malaysian artist, initiated the idea of bed-themed bar and had it updated to include a collection of 16 beds of different styles, manager Lulu said.

With a Chinese name of Liu Ye, Lulu had been in China for 12 years. Her father was a Russian and mother Shanghainese.

"It was Chinese culture that united us here," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2008)