Beijing Travel Guide
Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, is the country's political, economic, cultural and transportation center as well as a famous historic city. Beijing has served as the capital of the country for more than 800 years dating back to the Yuan Dynasty. It is undoubtedly the number one place to go as a China tour destination and draws millions of tourists annually. Among hundreds of attractions in Beijing, the Ming Tombs, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and "Peking Man" Ruins at Zhoukoudian were respectively listed as UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage. Beijing's Hutong (narrow bystreets) and Siheyuan (quadrangle) are quite worth a visit.
Charming Beijing Tour 4 Days / $211
Beijing Hot Tour 5 days / $251
Beijing Palace and Royal Gardens Tour 4 days / $214
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QUANJUDE, a famous historied brand of China, was established in 1864 (the third year of Tongzhi of Qing dynasty). During the 136 years, QUANJUDE has experienced business vicissitudes and survived the arduous ordeal of time. Throughout the years, QUANJUDE dishes have been greatly enriched due to developing and innovation.
With its long history, Quanjude roast duck enjoys a high reputation among domestic and overseas consumers for the peculiar roast technique and outstanding quality. It ranks the first not only in Chinese Famous Dishes, compiled by all-China famous chefs under the organization of Ministry of Commerce in 1958, but also in Elite of Chinese Famous Dishes, published by China and Japan in 1982. In many cases, Quanjude lists the first among famous restaurants.
Website: http://www.quanjude.com.cn/
By air:
Beijing Capital International Airport is located 28km (17 miles) northeast of the city center. The main international terminal opened in 1999 and now hosts 66 local and domestic airlines offering more than 5,000 scheduled flights linking Beijing with 88 Chinese and 69 international cities. More than 40 foreign airlines have booking offices in Beijing.
Flight service:
From London is 10 hours 10 minutes; from New York is 14 hours 40 minutes; from Los Angeles is 12 hours 30 minutes; from Toronto is 16 hours 20 minutes and from Sydney is 13 hours 30 minutes. Journey times for domestic services to Beijing are: Harbin – 1 hour 40 minutes; Shanghai – 2 hours 10 minutes; Xian – 1 hour 50 minutes; Guangzhou – 3 hours; Guilin – 2 hours 50 minutes.
By rail:
The main railway stations for domestic journeys are Beijing Station and Beijing West. Beijing West Railway Station, which is Asia’s largest rail terminal, serves the south and west of the city. Other stations in Beijing serve the suburban routes. Both main stations have left-luggage facilities, ATMs, tourist information, shops and restaurants. All Chinese express trains have four different classes - soft sleeper, soft seat, hard sleeper and hard seat.
Rail service:
Trans-Manchurian services to Moscow (journey time - 6 days) and Trans-Mongolian trains to Ulan Bator and Moscow (journey time - 5 days) leave from Beijing Railway Station, as do trains to Pyongyang in North Korea (journey time - 25 hours). The China-Tibet railway opened in 2006 and can be joined at Beijing West Railway Station (journey time - 48 hours). Trains to Hong Kong (journey time - 27 hours) and Vietnam (journey time - 43 hours) leave from Beijing West Station. Journey times for domestic services to Beijing are: Harbin - 14 hours; Shanghai - 12 hours; Xian - 15 hours; Guangzhou - 24 hours; Guilin – 22 hours 30 minutes.
Almost every four-or five-star hotel has facilities for entertainment. Besides hotels, nightlife venues are mostly in the city center. You can see the Peking Opera, acrobatics, dramas, local ballad singing, song and dance performances, or attend a music concert, or drop in at a roadside disco. It's best to stick to places that have been recommended by other tourists or Chinese friends.
Now, the city has witnessed a mushrooming of foreign theme pubs, new exotic bars and locally run clubs. Foreign pubs, bars, cafes and disco clubs attract foreign residents and tourists as well as young Chinese.
New Bar Street
In Beijing, there is "New Bar Street" and "Old Bar Street". New Bar Street is along the edges of Beihai Park (Northwest of the Forbidden City). These bars are where the hip young locals go for a night on the town, whereas the Old Bar Street is a bit more for the tourist clientele. New Bar Street is a wonderful place to stroll around on a warm summer evening, with gorgeous views around Beihai.
Type: Bars & Cafes
Address: Beihai
Hard Rock Cafe Beijing
You should visit the Hard Rock Cafe at least once while you are in Beijing. Many expatriates are on hand every night as well as many locals. The Western style food is good and the entertainment is great. Almost every night starting around 10:00 p.m. a live band will perform 70's American music and the dance floor will be full. The bands are usually from other countries (e.g, Australia) and are excellent.
Type: Clubs and dancing
Address: Landmark Tower, Chaoyang District.
Tel: 6590 5566
Get Lucky Bar (Haoyun Jiuba)
It has underground Rock Venue with amazing decoration. Live Shows every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday. Own Brewery - this bar has moved to Ladies' Street, Xingbalu, and is now called "New Get Lucky" -- same great shows, but no more home brew.
Type: Casinos
Tel: 8448-3335
Address: Ladies' Street, Xingbalu
Moonhouse Bar
It used to be right outside of Beijing University's west gate, but has moved to a slightly bigger location closer to Beijing Language and Culture University down the street.
It's the bar "where everybody knows your name."
Type:Bars & Cafes
Add: WuDaoKou, Hai Dian District
Lounge & Bar Loco
Loco is a brand new hip bar & lounge in the Wudaokou area. At Loco you can enjoy a variety of Western and Asian dishes, drink anything from cappuccinos to Jack Daniels, from Guinness to Absinth, or just relax smoking a HOOKAH!!! We are open for lunch, dinner, and more importantly whenever you want to drink. We speak Korean, Chinese, and English. At Loco we like to go crazy.
Type: Pubs
Closing Time: 11:30 AM - 2:30 AM
Tel: 10-62322288
Address: Ground Floor, Xijiao Hotel, Wudaokou, Haidian
2008 Feb 7
Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) - Family gathering and festivities for 3–15 days
Lantern Festival - Tangyuan eating and lanterns
2008 Apr 4
Qingming Festival (Clear and Bright) - Tomb sweeping
2008 Jun 8
Dragon Boat Festival - Dragon boat racing and zongzi eating
Night of Sevens - For lovers, like Valentine's Day
2008 Aug 15
Ghost Festival (Spirit Festival) - Offer tributes and respect to the deceased
2008 Sep 14
Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) - Family gathering and moon cake eating
2008 Oct 7
Double Ninth Festival (Double Yang) - Mountain climbing and flower shows
Beijing Travel Guide
Before I actually visited Beijing I imagined it to be inhabited by millions of people riding bicycles in the streets and dressed austerely in Chairman Mao-style uniforms. This image was shattered the moment I left the airport and, accompanied by my third friendly and informative personal guide, drove the wide modern freeway to the city centre. The city looked clean, with tall modern buildings surrounded by gardens and trees, and people dressed in modern clothes riding in modern cars and buses. I could not see any of the Mao-uniformed bicycle-riders of my imagination.
But of course there is the ancient, traditional and cultural side to Beijing that most visitors come to see: namely the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and of course, the Great Wall, to mention but three of these.
On my first day I visited the Forbidden City followed by the Temple of Heaven.
The Forbidden City is vast and magnificent. It covers 72 ha and is the world's largest surviving palace complex. It is a rectangle 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west. It consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms. Only some of these are open to the public and most of the rest of this vast complex is still being restored. The name "Forbidden City" comes from the fact that traditionally ordinary things (people or materials) could not enter the gates, they were "forbidden" For 5 centuries it was the home of then emperors of China. The last emperor to live there was Puyi, who lived in the palace until 1924.
The Temple of Heaven is even bigger than the Forbidden City, covering an area of about 2,700,000 square meters. It was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifices to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven' they dared not to build their own dwelling, the Forbidden City, bigger than a dwelling for Heaven. Like the Forbidden City, it also is magnificent. At the centre of this temple complex is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a triple-gabled circular building built on three levels, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests. The building is completely wooden, with no nails. It is one of Beijing’s most famous architectural landmarks.
One interesting part of this temple complex is the Echo Wall, enclosing the Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you and another person stand at the east and the west roots of the wall respectively and you whisper a word, then the other person will hear clearly what you say.
The following day I climbed The Great Wall. You don’t just walk along the top of the wall because each relatively flat section of The Wall is joined by stone steps, and these steps are so steep that you have to actually climb them, not step up or down them. After 2 hours my progress was about 200 meters along The Wall. I was glad that I had chosen “the easier” route from the 2 alternatives offered by my guide. Yes, this The Wall was vast and magnificent also. From the top of the section that I did climb I looked out over the first few kilometers of Wall snaking its way over the hills and forming just a small part of the of some 2400 kilometers more of this incredible structure – so big that it generated the urban legend “it can be seen from the moon”. Actually, it can’t be seen from the moon but it can be seen from space from a distance where most other man-made objects can’t be seen.
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