Making Dumplings

I'm very interested in Chinese food so during the trip to Beijing, I booked one of Beijing Cooking Learning Tour on beijinglandscapes. Haha, the tour didn't disappoint me (it is very interesting and meaningful).
Began at 9:00 am and the first destination was the Beijing Cooking School. Here I learnt a few different dishes and saw how they are made from beginning to end, learning the secrets of excellent Chinese cooking. After hands on learning experience, I finally cooked three dishes as my lunch. I'm very proud that I could make dumplings. Although the shapes of them are very strange, it is a perfect job for me and I felt very exciting to eat my own Chinese lunch.

Dumplings-My Lunch

After the lunch, I was driven to one of the branches of time - honored brand - Daoxiangcun Foodstuffs Store. I can't believe that so many people queue up to buy the snacks. Is it really delicious? Then I bought some to take home as gifts to my family and friends.
In the afternoon, I began the village tour - Beijing Gaobeidian Village. The first destination of the village tour is the Tonghui River. It is a part of man-made ancient Beijing-Hangzhou Great Canal with the long history of more than a thousand years. Then I visited the Classic Furniture Street. The 1,500 meters long classical furniture street is located along the Tonghui River in the east part of the Gaobeidian Road. The main type of the furniture is of Ming and Qing Dynasty. Here is a good stage for representing and trading Chinese Traditional furniture. At last I visit a local famer's house. This is my favorite part of the village tour. Here I happily talk to the villagers and make dumplings together with them. There I enjoyed a very delicious Farm Flavored.
About 6:00 pm I got to my hotel. Stay in the comfortable bed and aftertaste the one day trip, I still feel very exciting. The English speaking tour guide is very kindly to me and told me a lot about the history and story about the old Beijing. Also I'm very happy that I learn some secrets of Chinese cooking!

Resource:http://www.beijinglandscapes.com/beijing-travel-blog/beijing-cooking-tour.html

Where to Enjoy a Perfect Shopping in Beijing

Would you like to have some shopping during your Beijing tour? Famous as an international city, Beijing has lots of shopping areas to meet different requirement of different people. Here I want to recommend some fascinating places to shopping lovers.

Dashila Street

Located southwest to the Tiananmen Square, Dashila is a famous commercial street in Beijing and even in China. It is regarded as one of the perfect destinations fro Beijing shopping. With more than 300 years history, Ddashila Street occupies an area of 1.26 aquare kilometers.

As time moved on, the present Dashila Street still preserves its original layout and charm. Along the less-than-300-meter street, there are many time-honored stores. There you can find all sorts of goods and souvenirs from around the nation. Now municipal government of Beijing has cited it as a tourist pedestrian street.

Silk Street Market

Situated in "the first embassy district", Silk Street Market also called Embassy Street for the reason that there are many booths here run business of garment because there are lots of embassies seated in this area.

Today, the Silk Street Market has become one of the most famous business streets all around Beijing. Not only Chinese traditional silk products and exquisite handicrafts you can find here, but also many kinds of foreign well-known brands you can purchase here. There are large numbers of foreigners come here for shopping.

Most of the foreign costumes are sold here given prominence to culture connotation of the tour, including silk production and souvenirs, etc. In Silk Street Market, you will find some sellers tell the price on calculator that can be called one of Beijing’s famous scenes. 

Baoguosi Temple Culture Market

Well focused on ancient coins, old paper money and old books, Baoguosi Temple Culture Market is the most centralized and professional market for the age-old money. Baoguosi Temple Culture Market is located in Xuanwu district of Beijing, and you can find kinds of age-old money there. 

Gaobeidian Antique Furniture Street

During recent years, Gaobeidian Antique Furniture Steet has become a characteristic culture street offering classical furniture. And it is a good place for representing and trading Chinese traditional furniture. There are vendors and buyers from all China as well from many parts of the world. The main type of the furniture sold in Gaobeidian Antikque Furniture Street is of Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Wish you have a nice shopping experience during your Beijing tour.

Why Beijing is Worth to Visit for Tourist？

Beijing is one of the most populous cities in the world, without question, worth visiting if you are not busy. The history of Beijing dates back three millennia. The city is famous for its opulent palaces, temples, gardens, tombs, walls and gates, and its art treasures and universities have made it a center of culture and art in China. Few cities in the world have been the political and cultural center of an area as immense for so long. Beijing is a city with lots of old buildings. If you have traveled to Beijing several times and you have tired of those representative attractions such as Forbidden City, Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven etc, then I want to recommend some other sightseeing to you such as World Park in Beijing and Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site.

Beijing World Park

Located in the Fengtai District of Beijing, the World Park in Beijing features 106 of the most famous sites from 14 countries and regions all over the world. Occupying 46.7 hectares, the World Park in Beijing is composed of two parts: the scenic area and the shopping, dining and entertainment area. There tourists can take an electric train and a motorboat through the World Park in Beijing to simulate a trip around the world.

World Park in Beijing includes most of the recognized spots of interest on the globe. Besides, it also has a fountain operated by laser beams, a plant maze and a fairyland in which children and adults alike can enjoy themselves. Also, tourists have a chance to view folk customs from different countries for that regular international parades of folklore are provided.

With so many world famous attractions in the park, during the travel to Beijing World Park is like you have already travel around the whole world in one day.

Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site

 

As a cave system in Beijing, Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site ha yielded many archarological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man. Peking Man lived in this cave approximately 750000 to 200000 years ago.

With such a high reputation and the fame, Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site is the place really worth visiting during your tours in Beijing. During this Beijiing trip, tourists will get a deep understanding about the Peking Man in ancient times.

There are modern buildings and archaic buildings in Beijing. We hope you would like the two attractions we have recommended above. If you have any good idea, we are here waiting for you email or telephone.

Have a Spectacular Night View in Beijing

Would you like to tour in Beijing at night? Usually, many Beijing tours are arranged during the daytime. However, why not choose some different? This time, we shall take you to visit Bird’s Nest and Water Cube at night. Both of them are more beautiful than you see during the daytime. The bird nest is just so much concrete and the water cube looks lifeless. But if you come to view them at night, it is totally a different world. The spectacular and sparkling night views will delight you at most.

Bird’s Nest

 
Built for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the opening ceremony, closing ceremony, track and field meets, and men's football final are all hold here. It can hold more than 91,000 people. The design of Bird’s Nest originally called for a capacity of 100,000 people; however 9,000 were removed during a simplification of the design.
With beautifully design, Bird’s Nest just exposed its most natural appearance, all the structural parts support with each other, forming a network framework. After the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, it has become another landmark of Beijing.
Boast the largest ski resort in urban Beijing now, tourists can not only visit the Olympic venue, but also go skiing. Bird’s Nest got its name for the form of itself looks like a huge nest that embrace and nurses human beings. Also, it looks like rather like a cradle bearing the hope of the future.
Have adopted advanced design techniques in energy saving and environmental protection, the Beijing National Stadium is favorable in natural ventilation, natural lighting, the recovery of rainwater, the utilization of reproducible geothermal energy resources, and the application of solar photovoltaic power generation, which make the Bird’s Nest a Green Building in reality as well in name.

Water Cube

Near to Bird’s Nest, Water Cube held swimming, diving, synchronized and waterball matches during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In addition, it can hold 17,000 audiences in total. Designed in a novel style, the National Aquatics Center has a foam-like water-molecule structure, making the architecture show a unique visual effect of water flowing and embodying the mysterious beauty; hence it is named "Water Cube" by the people.
From inside, it shows off its blue and white elegant color to the outside of the stadium. Tourists can see its bright blue color that shine make itself look more calm, quiet and cold in the evening.

Bird’s Nest and Water Cube are more beautiful when the night comes. Though the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has fade into memory, the two still allure large number of tourists when they tour in Beijing.

Top 10 Must Things to do in Beijing

As a must-see destination for visitors to China, Beijing has served as capital of China for more than 800 years. Beijing's glorious ancient past and modern vibrancy mingle perfectly, and you will never get enough of it. Beijing is a city boasting the largest number of cultural heritage sites in the world. The interest of visiting Beijing is at one side to explore its glorious past, and at another side to feel its real Chinese culture and have a better understanding of the Chinese people. Let me show top things you have to do in Beijing.

1. Beijing Great Wall

 

In Beijing, The Great Wall is 629 km long. And five sections of the Great Wall have been opened to visitors. Construction of the wall began over 2000 years ago and lasted for over 1000 years. Today, I am glad to tell you the best-preserved part of the Great Wall is Badaling Great Wall. If you have not climbed the Great Wall, you have not seen China.

2. The Forbidden City

Forbidden City is also known as the Palace Museum. To visit the Forbidden City is to review the history of China’s Feudal Society. The Forbidden City is the best preserved imperial palace in China and the largest ancient palatial structure in the world.

3. The Summer Palace

Summer Palace is up to now the best preserved and the largest imperial gardens in China. Like most imperial palace in China, the Summer Palace is divided into three parts: halls for political affairs, living quarters and religious buildings.

4. Hutong

One of the unique features of Beijing is its numerous Hutongs, which means small lanes. The life of ordinary people in these lanes contributes greatly to the charm of this ancient capital. In these small lanes, you will find many Siheyuan, or quadrangles that are the living quarters of ordinary Beijingers.

5. Temple of Heaven

Regarded as one of the greatest architectural structures in the world, Temple of Heaven is the place you should not miss during the Beijing tour.

6. Ming Tombs

With long history and the high fame, Ming Tombs has become one of the key attractions in Beijing. After the tour to Ming Tombs, tourists will both enjoy the ancient architecture style and learn more about thi history.

7. Night show-Beijing Opera

To go to Laoshe Teahouse is not only to drink tea but also to watch performances. Beijing Opera is undoubtedly the first choice for the entertainment of many foreigners in Beijing.

Beijing Opera has its origin in primitive songs and dances of ancient times. The music, singing and costumes are products of its origins.

8. Night show-Kung Fu Show

The Kung Fu Show is treasure of Chinese culture. And the tourists could learn more about China during enjoy this performance.

9. Night show -Acrobatics Show

The Acrobatics Show is treasure of Chinese culture. And the tourists could learn more about China during enjoying this performance.

10. Beijing Roast Duck

Historical records show that Beijing Roast Duck started some 300 years ago. China is one of the first countries to domesticate ducks for the table. In about 1630, a eunuch wrote a book on the imperial diet and referred to roast goose, pork, chicken and duck as the most favored courses in the palace.