Buddhist practitioners light and burn incense sticks. They raise the burning sticks above the head and bow to the statues of Buddha. Then they place their sticks vertically on burners from which smoke wafts. Worshippers do so in a hope to talk to the Buddha who will appear in the smoke. This is the scene…
The Great Wall of China comprises long and connected fortifications with different names. China’s Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644) was the era of the massive building of the Great Wall of China. As the capital of Ming Dynasty, Beijing was heavily constructed with solid brick and stone walls on its northern mountainous areas to protect…
Plan your Beijing tour? Overshadowed by its neighbour – Forbidden City ( Palace Museum ), Beihai Park is very often neglected by many visitors. Dubbed as Winter Palace by westerners, Beihai Park is the oldest imperial garden as well as one of the largest in China. “Beihai” literally means “north sea”. In the past, the royal families pompously called all the…
Billed as the oldest imperial garden in the world, Beihai Park is often neglected by first time visitors to Beijing who would flock to the neighbouring Forbidden City. Before you glamorously start to visit Forbidden City, it is worthwhile for you to have a one-hour loop stroll around Beihai Park on your Beijing tour, viewing the…
Huguosi Jie (护国寺街) is an 800-year old commercial street in Beijing, which was originally incubated and formed in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The name of the street “Huguosi” is named after the same name temple – Huguo Temple (“si” literally “temple”；“Jie” means “Street”). Huguo Temple was once billed as “The West Temple” in the past against “The…
Plan your Great Wall tour? Maybe you are torn by the question “Which section of the Great Wall to hike, Badaling or Mutianyu?”. Many first-time travelers would choose Mutianyu Great Wall thanks to its good online comments along with the good word of mouth. The main factor for good comments on Mutianyu Great Wall is its less crowdedness. But when it comes…
While planning your Beijing tour, you definitely would consider having a bite of local flavors in Beijing like Peking duck, old Beijing snacks and the list could be much longer. One popular local specialty is so-called Old Beijing Yogurt which gets its name due to its unique way of yogurt making with a long history….
When you are on your first Beijing tour, you will be surprised by the numerous trolley buses running on the streets in the city centre of Beijing. There are totally 21,000 Beijing public buses. Beijing trolley buses are getting increasingly popular because it is powered by electricity. The smog-choked Beijing government has announced its ambitious plan…