There's something for almost everyone this weekend! As always, what's a weekend without the usual parties galore? The TICT rooftop party is bound to be one of the hottest parties in town. Music fans, delight yourself with the sounds of Afrosonic Orchestra, oh and that English guy, James Blunt, is also in town! If you're a sports enthusiast, you can still catch the Nike Festival of Sport, as well as cricket with the Hong Kong Cricket Club. For foodies, there's an "all you can eat" barbecue, and for the families, there's a fun day at the beach in store. And if that's still not enough, head over to our calendar for more.
Weekendist: Colm Toibin, a rooftop party and another day at the beach!
China's got a... national cricket team?
With the Asian Games coming up in November 2010 in Guangzhou, host China is of course looking to make the best showing that it can in every sport. To that end, China's senior national cricket team entered its first competition last week in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Playing at the Asian Cricket Council Trophy Challenge, an event that does not include such powerhouses as India and Pakistan, China showed it has a ways to go to become a competitive team. The team lost by wide margins to Iran, Thailand and Maldives before finally beating Myanmar in the seventh-place game by 118 runs (complete tournament results here).
Chinese cricket and golf, Olympic journalism and fake ski slopes
Not content with the prospect of being the next world power in cheerleading, China has now set its sights on cricket. The quintessentially British sport that is played mostly in Commonwealth nations has had a surprisingly long history here though, with the first recorded match played in Shanghai in 1858, between a team of officers from the HMS Highflyer and a Shanghai XI. Now the Asian Cricket Council wants China to start playing the game in a big way, sending cricket experts and coaches from Australia, Britain, India and Sri Lanka to help develop the sport. Now, Bhutan isn't exactly the greatest sporting nation, but in this clip we find out that they do beat China in at least one sport: cricket. Golf, as it turns out, is doing much better here. Thanks to corporate sponsors, prize money for certain tournaments has been bumped up 100 times to about US$5 million, and set to rise further (although as far as we understand, most of that money is being won by foreign golfers so it remains debatable what good is being done for Chinese golf). Liang Wenchong (梁文冲), China's top golfer, is only 30 but has made waves last year by making it to the top of the Asian Tour's Order of Merit. He is now Asia's top player, 83rd worldwide and has a permanent place in the European Tour. For golf aficionados out there, here's a shameless plug: Watch out for Par for China, a book that is currently being written by Shanghaiist's managing editor.

