Visit Beijing 北京 Blog

Ni hao!      My favorit park in our neighborhood is The Nan Guan Park in Beijing. I go there for a walks every day. Few people go out of their way to discover this stamp-sized park near the Russian embassy area, so it has a nice, local feel. The landscaping appears to have been done by some latter day Chinese Gaudi working entirely with bathroom tile. Nanguan Park's beauty relies on the plants to create the scenery. In order to cater to the tourists, the park has set up the children’s playground, open dance pool, adults’ gym area such colorful entertainment items. In Beijing, it sometimes happens that you need to spend your day in a green spot and relax. Although there are a lot of parks, not all of them are as nice as Nanguan Park. The artificial park was built some decades ago, but the landscaping looks very natural. The park contains a pleasant artificial lake with some trees around it, which adds to the serene atmosphere. It is near the Russian Embassy an...

Ni hao!     The Hutongs 2008. I love walking the narrow hutongs of Beijing. History of ancient life in this city. Hutongs (simplified Chinese: 胡同 ; traditional Chinese: 衚衕 ; pinyin: hútòng ; Wade–Giles: hu-t'ung) are a type of narrow streets or alleys, commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, most prominently Beijing.   In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan , traditional courtyard Residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods. Since the mid-20th century, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history. At the turn of the 20th century, the Qing court was disintegrating as Chin...

Ni hao!     My second time on The Great Wall at Badaling in Beijing. They say in China that you are not a man until you have climbed The Great Wall. Maybe I am twice a man now!   The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces.   Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority o...

Ni hao!     My visit to The Prince Gong Mansion in Beijing 2008. The Prince Gong Mansion (Chinese: 恭王府 ; pinyin: Gōng Wáng Fǔ ) is located in the western part of central Beijing, China, north of the Shichahai Lake.   Consisting of large mansions in the typical siheyuan layout and gardens, the Prince Gong Mansion is known as one of the most ornate and extravagant residence compounds in all of Beijing. It is now a museum. Some of my Pictures from this visit is shown here. Prince Gong's Mansion is one of the most exquisite and best-preserved imperial mansions in Beijing and used to house several families, and has a total area of 60,000 square metres. The mansion buildings are located in the south; the gardens are in the north. The buildings include several siheyuan courtyards, two story buildings, and even a grand Peking opera house. In addition to the mansion, there is a 28,000-square-metre garden, with twenty scenic spots, pavilions, artificial hills...