South Bar Street in Sanlitun, the city's most popular collection of watering holes, has been demolished. Sanlitun's first bar opened here in 1995. Hundreds have followed. Mutability has become such a feature of Beijing life that it is milked by sharp entrepreneurs. The staff of the Hidden Tree wear and sell sweatshirts emblazoned with the character chai, which means demolish, and the profile of a local artist, Zhang Dali, who uses condemned buildings as the canvas for his graffiti. Read the article. [from the Guardian, Sat Feb 12, 2005]

The last 3 photos, which were taken by Ilian, show the Hidden Tree building has now been levelled, and the namesake tree is no longer so hidden, firmly keeping its roots. Lets just hope it survives into the new era of the area. [27th Sep, 2005]

A very sad day, and a crying tree. Even though there is a restriction order on all trees of a certain size around Beijing, unfortunately the tree marking the spot of the Hidden Tree bar has been chain-sawed down to make way for the new development. [20th Oct, 2005]