avoid the e-cathalon

If you're planning on going to Beijing to party before or during the summer Olympics, you might want to think twice. While there will surely be hot parties, big-name DJs and plenty of pretty men and women in the Chinese capital this summer, the government has officially declared party people to be persona non grata.

The police, the government announced this week, will pay particular attention to bars, clubs and foreigners in an attempt to rid Beijing of "party drug use." Zhao Wenzhong, head of the Beijing police drug-control department, is quoted as saying, "Foreign and youth-oriented bars are becoming a popular venue of drug smuggling and consumption."

A crackdown in the clubbing district of Sanlitun already begun earlier this month, according to Agence France-Presse. The newswire reports that 20 people were arrested, including eight foreigners, and ecstasy and marijuana was seized.

(Above, "Clubbing in Beijing" video set to Beanfield's "Tides").