SOHO IN BEIJING First the progressive architectural office Soho China shocked Beijing residents with gaudily coloured concrete and the fluorescent blue they used to paint their Soho New Town. Then they built fantastic modern holiday houses at the Chinese Wall. Now the offbeat architects have designed an entire district of Beijing. Jianwai Soho (East Third Ring Road, Changan Avenue) is a stylish residential and entertainment complex with shops, restaurants, offices and futuristically furnished flats for foreign business travelers. All of it is housed in monumental skyscrapers or lower buildings in the style of country houses. The buildings, which at night are illuminated by a clever lighting system that makes them sparkle and glitter, were designed by the Japanese star architect Riken Yamamoto and stand amidst the city's largest green area with gardens and waterways. Incidentally, cars are taboo here: they have been banished underground. 
