Located in the center of Haidian District, Wudaokou is nicknamed 5DK among its fans. Two of China's best universities, Beijing University and Tsinghua University, are locate in the west and north. In the east, they connect to Xueyuan Lu, or Campus Road, where more than ten of the top campuses are situated. That's one of the reasons why Wudaokou will keep you forever young.

Wu means five and "daokou" is a word describing the crossroads where a train passes. Following suit, this area is where the fifth corner Beijing-Qinhuangdao train passed. Nowadays, there is still evidence of t train tracks, like a rusty sword cutting into a modern landscape.

Searching online, you will be amazed at how many Wudaokou lovers there are. It naturally attracts young people with its academic style, but also upper class workers have fallen in love with its cafes, restaurants, bookstores and neon lights.

Looking around in the street, you can find blue-eyed beauties, muscular black guys and dark-haired Asians. Beijing Language and Culture University is here, so the many overseas students have brought the area an international flavor.

Sitting in a little cafe, you may be unaware that the young man sitting at the next table is the manager of some international enterprise. Yes, this is also a hub for talent. When Google and Microsoft moved here a few years ago, they supplanted Zhongguancun as a second Silicon Valley in Beijing.

Sometimes I wonder why people love Wudaokou so much. In reality, this place is as common as the crossroads in Sanlitun or Houhai. One year after I graduated from a campus near here, I went back to conduct interviews, and I suddenly discovered the reason why.

Tequila and youth at Propaganda

Josh Wu went into ecstasy when I mentioned Propaganda. "That's where I spent my spare time when I was at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). I went there arly three times a week. So I have many fond memories."

Propaganda was the first pub to play hip-hop music in Josh's memory. "I remember that was back in 2003. Beyonce had just won the Grammy, and Propaganda began to py her song, 'Crazy in Love,'at that moment because it was in fashion. At first, Propaganda only attracted foreign BLUC students. Gradually, Chinese students followed the trend and started frequenting the place and that's how Josh became a Propaganda fan. However, the main attraction was the good taste in music which was highly recommended around the community. Eventually, there were even many Sanlitun guys coming toPropaganda for fun.

Josh said it was a place to create memories. "For us poor students, we could only order a five-yuan Tequila," he smiled a little bit. "It was a place where my campus life began to focus. Ah, careless youth. Aries of related things happened after Propaganda nights. For example, I had to skip school, an occasional day, to catch up on sleep and, as a result, didn't hand in my homework on time. Blame it on youth.Some would spend the whole night sitting on the stairs of Propaganda, possibly dumped by a boyfriend, some quarreled and fought with each other, some girls were escorted home by unknown Korean guys. "That was my time when I was young" Josh said. That was a pub! And, yes, it is still crowded there. It's a place we can enjoy as long as the night is young and so are we, right?