Beijing Chaoyang International Spring Carnival

Plan your Beijing trip during spring festival? Visiting a temple fair is a must. For each spring festival, I’d like to visit one temple fair to feel and touch the new year. My pick this year is to visit the temple fair inside Chaoyang Park since I’ve heard a lot about this special temple fair which claims its difference from a traditional one. It is supposed to be an Ocean People ( 洋人 foreigners ) temple fair.

Situated in the northeast of Beijing, Chaoyang Park is the largest city park in Asia. The park has four gates with its main gate in the south. So I take a taxi to the south gate of Chaoyang Park. I’m happy with my decision to take a taxi instead of driving my own car seeing the gate packed with hordes of visitors.

The gate decoration and the huge signboard by the gate tell me that this temple fair in Chaoyang Park has its trendy and exotic name “Beijing Chaoyang International Spring Carnival”. The “Carnival” of this kind started in the year 2002, so this year is the 10th Beijing Chaoyang International Spring Carnival. So it is a carnival, not a temple fair?

The carnival is valid Jan 23-28, 2012, from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Entrance fee: RMB 10. The entrance ticket sample.

The Southern Gate of Chaoyang Park festively decorated.

The Southern Gate of Chaoyang Park festively decorated
A huge Chinese character “Spring” in front of the gate, a photographic spot. 
A huge Chinese character – Spring – in front of the gate

I spend 2 hours wandering around the park to discover the difference between Chaoyang Temple Fair (or officially named “carnival”). Beijing Chaoyang International Spring Carnival is composed of five theme parts – Foreign Performances, Foreign Stalls, Amusement, Games, and Traditional Snacks.

So what differentiate from a traditional temple fair is that Chaoyang Carnival has Foreign Performances, Foreign Stalls, which turn out to be a little bit disappointed.

Foreign Performances
Foreign singers and music bands are invited to perform during the temple fair in Chaoyang Park on two stages – Lihua Stage and Grass Stage, plus Street Art. The huge signboard by the gate shows the whole day schedule for the performances. The foreign singer is putting on a performance.

The foreign singer is putting on a performance.
On another stage, actors from Russia present an interesting performance.
actors from Russia present an interesting performance.
Foreign Stalls
Actually there are very few foreign stalls. I see two, one from Bulgaria, the other from Greece. The stall from Bulgaria is organized by Embassy of Bulgaria, promoting its local red wines.
Red Wine from Bulgaria
Red Wine from Bulgaria
Amusement

Kids will definitely like the carnival since Chaoyang Park has a special zone allocated for amusement and recreation. The recreation zone has a wide variety of amusement facilities as well as a small lake for skating or playing on ice.

Having a panoramic view of Beijing city by taking a parachute.

 

Having a panoramic view of Beijing city by taking a parachute.

 

Kids excited with Worm Tackle
Kids excited with Worm Tackle
Rickety chair-skating 
Rickety chair-skating
Play Games
Temple fair have become part of daily life during spring festival. In each temple fair, various games are not to be missed. In Chaoyang Park this year, a bunch of games are there for visitors to choose.
Hook a neck of a beer glass and you get a gift

 

Hook a neck of a beer glass and you get a gift

 

Pick a gold ingot

 

Pick Gold Ingot

 

Shoot a basketball
Shoot a basketball
Shoot a bow
shoot a bow
Traditional Beijing snacks
The magnet of a temple fair is the various kinds of Beijing local snacks available for people to enjoy. Rows of food stalls are scattered neatly in the park.

Mass eating in front of various traditional snack stalls

 

Mass eating in front of various traditional snack stalls

 

Twist Potato from South Korea
Twist Potato from South Korea
More interesting photos from Chaoyang Temple Fair
The road is packed with visitors and lined up with games stalls
The road is packed with visitors and lined up with games stalls
 
A huge bow
A huge bow
A sky of kites

 

A sky of kites

 

The spirit of the capital Beijing: patriotism, Innovation, Tolerance, and Morality

 

The spirit of the capital Beijing – patriotism, Innovation, Tolerance, and Morality

Add On
Beijing Spring Festival Tour
Beijing Events, Holiday and Festivals

Any questions, just drop a line.

3 thoughts on “Beijing Chaoyang International Spring Carnival

  1. Hi,

    I present myself Jean-Christophe Adeux, I am working for Creativiva, an entertainment company based in Toronto, I would like to contact the Beijing Chaoyang International Spring Carnival organization to potentially work with them.

    Would you have a direct contact to reach the organizers ?

    Thank you and have a great day.

    Best,

    Jean-Christophe Adeux

  2. Hello Jean-Christophe Adeux,

    Beijing Chaoyang International Spring Carnival is co-hosted by Beijing Chaoyang Foreign Exchange Association and Chaoyang Park (Sun Park) under the support of Chaoyang District Government. We only have the contact information for the Chaoyang Government and the Sun Park. You may contact them for future co-operation.

    Chaoyang Government: http://bci.bjchy.gov.cn/
    010-65094288 E-mail:[email protected]

    Sun Park:
    010-65953972
    Fax:010-65075179
    Email:[email protected]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.