Bike Beijing

Beijing had been the Capital of four Dynasties before the founding of PRC. Its Great Wall, splendid palaces, beautiful gardens, old temples, a considerable variety of exhibitions and museums and former residences of celebrities show its glorious history and civilization.

Today more than two hundred and sixty places of interest have been opened to the public with new ones under building and planning. Besides these places of interest, the natural scenery of Beijing's suburbs also attracts great many visitors with its charms, hills, lakes, hot springs, karst caves and so forth.

In 1986 sixteen famous scenic spots of Beijing were picked from forty spots and were named "the Sixteen Sights of Beijing". They are Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Badaling Great Wall, Beihai Park, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Fragrant Hill, Shidu Scenic Spot, Relics of Primitive at Zhoukoudian, Longqing Gorge, Big Bell Temple, White Dragon Pond, Ming Tombs, Lugou Bridge, Mutianyu Great Wall and Grand View Garden.

The Capital Airport, the largest and most advanced one in China, has more than twenty international airlines connecting countries in Asia, Africa, America, Europe and Oceania. It has over thirty airlines connecting about eighty big cities within the country. Meanwhile, it is the center of highway-net and communication.

There are more than two hundred star hotels in the city supplying more than fifty two thousand rooms. There are about three hundred travel agencies around here.

Beijing is not only a world-famous city for its tourism but also a good medium for you to know more about China, a time-honored country, and the Chinese, a diligent and wise nation.

---Climate

Beijing lies in the continental monsoon region in the warm temperature zone and its climate represents as hot and rainy in summer and cold and dry in winter.

The four seasons in Beijing are distinct. It is dry, windy and sandy in spring and hot and rainy in summer. Autumn is the best season in a year when the sky is blue; the air is crisp, mild and humid. However, winter is cold and dry with little snow. The average temperature throughout a year is 11.7℃. The average temperatures of the hottest month, July and the coldest month January range from 27℃ and -4.6℃. The shorter seasons, spring (usually from February to April) and autumn (usually from August to October) are better seasons for visiting Beijing when it is sunny and warm with few tourists crowding in the attractions.

If you come to Beijing in spring, you could wear a thin sweater, a pair of sweat pants, and a coat. But sometimes it may be a good idea to bring a warm cap because it is windy and sandy during this period though it is not cold. In summer the temperature could reach as high as 30C. When you go out, you could take an umbrella along with you if it doesn't bother you much, because a downpour may come unexpectedly at evenings from July to August. Autumn is the most beautiful season, but after October you may feel the constant changes of the weather and you may encounter light rains at any moment. So it is better to bring some heavy clothes with you. In winter, you need a heavy woolen sweater, and a long wind coat or a down jacket. Generally there will be two or three heavy snowfalls each winter, so it is always wise for you to have anti-skidding shoes with you when you come. Lastly, don't wear light-color clothes in winter.

Bilingual weather information can be obtained if you dial 121 in Beijing.

---Shopping

Shopping in Beijing is becoming more convenient by the day. There are many superstores, mega-malls and markets where you can buy just about anything you need. Recently, the first IKEA just opened in the north of the city. There is a huge PrICE Smart which is a discount wholesale foodstuffs market for cardholders only. The Silk Market at Xiushui Jie and the free market at Sanlitun are also favorites among tourists, expats and locals alike.

Wangfujing

Wangfujing intersects with East Chang'an Avenue. It has a history of more than 100 years. The street, which is less than one kilometer long, is lined with shops. The best-known shop is the Beijing Department Store. To the north of the department Store is the One World Department Store, hosting a collection of Chinese and foreign name brands and fine quality products.La Fayette presents French features, namely fashions and name brands. The newly-opened Sun Dong'an Market is the largest supermarket in Beijing. It covers a business floor space of 100,000 aquare meters and sells more than 200,000 kinds of goods. The Oriental Plaza, which is considered another miracle in Chinese architectural history, is scheduled for comp;etion soon. It stands just by the south entrance of Wangfujing.

Qianmen

Qianmen street was a commercial center of Beijing more than 500 years ago. Its old shops and small stalls are preferred by Beijingers. Not far from Tian'anmen Square is Xidan, which is regarded as the second Wangfujing. The street is lined with shopping centers, food bazaars and garment markets.

Silver Street

Silver street is in the Dongdan Beidajie. It is where all the franchised foreign name-brand shops are concentrated.

Jianguomenwai Dajie is famous for its colorful metropolitan scenes. The street is lined with star-rated hotels, office buildings, fancy restaurants, beauty salons and shopping centers. The well-known shopping centers are Friendship Store, SCITECH Plaza, Guiyou Department store and the China World Shopping Mall.

The Silk Market

Despite its name, the Silk Market has much more than just silk. The silk products here are cheap, and therefore popular, but there are also a lot of cashmere garments, down jackets, leather goods, shoes, hats, watches and some handicrafts and trinkets. One of the main things about the Silk Market is the fact that none of the prices are set. This can work for or against you. It all depends on your bargaining skills. If you on your bargaining skills. If you are a proficient (i.e.stubborn) bargainer, then you can get great deals on all kinds of clothing, but if you are soft -hearted and don't like confrontation, then you may get taken for a ride. It is ofen helpful to bring along a Chinese friend who can help you bargain. The way to do it is, look around at all of the stuff and point out to your friend which item you like, without letting the seller know. Then let the Chinese person go back and bargain for you. Of cours not all Chinese people are good bargainers, but at least if they go, the starting price is the same, but the lowest the seller will go will be lower for the Chinese person.

If you are a tall person (6' and up ) the Silk Market is the best place for you to buy clothes and shoes. Usually the shopping plazas and super-stores do not have really large sizes. If you are size 12 shoe size or larger, then the only place to really go is to the Silk Market.

You will notice quite a few famous name-brand items there, and you may wonder how a Timberland down jacket can be sold for US$20 or $30. The answer is not clear. Sometimes the goods are counterfeit, but more often the merchant has a relative in a clothing factory who can get excess products or slightly imperfect products for super cheap prices. At least that is one theory. No matter what the case may be, it is a place for bargain shopping.

The silk and cashmere goods are also much cheaper than they would be in other stores or in other countries. These items make great gifts for friends back home, especially the silk Mickey Mouse boxer shorts which you can't get away from. Most of the sellers speak a little English, at least they know how to say "you say how much!", "I give you good price." And of course numbers are their specialty. There is also a large selection of fake Rolex, Omega and other wristwatches, rivaled only by the street hawkers of New York City.

Note :it is very crowded in the alleyway, and people will be constantly brushing up against you. It is a good idea to keep a close eye on your bag or wallet while you are in there. If you are wearing a backpack, put it on backwards so the pack is in front of you. If you don't, you may find that there is a slit in the bottom of your pack and all the good stuff is gone!

Sanlitun Market

Besides being famous for its Bar street, Sanlitun is also well-known for its free market. During the daytime, the side of the street across from all of the bars is lined with stalls selling mostly clothing. The good thing about this market as compared to department stores is that you can bargain for prices, and they have larger sizes.

Tourism-administration-designated-stores

Century-old stores, like those in Beijing's hutongs(alleys) and siheyuan (courtyards), have become part of the city's history. Their fame and location in some of the most bustling downtown areas keep them busy but, at the same time, the stores are small and offer a relatively poor shopping environment. And competition is rising from the rubble of modern construction. In recent years, most traditional stores have made changes to keep up with their rivals, including renovating their rivals, including renovating their facades and interior decorations, and upagrading services. Shopping in some of the best of the stores can be a unique Chinese experience.

---Food and More.... 3

Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is not only the nation's political center, but also its cultural, scientific and educational heart as well as a key transportation hub. Beijing has served as a capital of the country for more than 800 years. The city has many places of historic interest and scenic beauty, including the Forbidden City--the largest and best-preserved ancient architectural complex in the world; the Temple of Heaven--where Ming and Qing emperors performed solemn rituals for bountiful harvests; the Summer Palace--the emperors' magnificent garden retreat; the Ming tombs--the stately and majestic mausoleums of 13 Ming Dynasty emperors; and the world-renowned and genuinely inspiring Badaling section of the Great Wall. Large-scale construction has brought great changes to Beijing since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 that adds more and more new attractions to the mysterious old city.

cation : Beijing is located on the western coast of China on the Pacific Ocean. Beijing stands at the northern tip of the North China Plain. Tian'anmen Square in the center of Beijing is situated at 39O56' North Latitude and 116O20' East Longitude. Beijing lies at approximately the same latitude as Philadelphia in the U.S. and Madrid in Spain. The city is 39% flat land and the other 61% is quite mountainous area. Beijing is surrounded by the Yanshan Mountains on the west, north and east while the small alluvial plain of the Yongding River lies to its southeast. Beijing faces the Bohai Sea, and the area is also called the Beijing Bay.

Area : Greater Beijing has an area of 16,808 sq km.

Climate : The climate in Beijing is of the continental type, with cold and dry winters, due to the Siberian air masses that move southward across the Mongolian Plateau. The summers are hot owing to warm and humid monsoon winds from the southeast bringing Beijing most of its annual precipitation. January is the coldest month and July is the warmest. Winter usually begins towards the end of October. The summer months, June to August, are wet and hot with about 40% of the annual precipitation. [ read more ]

Time: Time used in Beijing and all over China is called Beijing Standard Time. It is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT + 8), and 13 hours ahead of New York time.

Population : 13.82 million (March 2001), half of the people live on the outskirt of the city.

Ethnic groups : The permanent residents of Beijing come from all of China's 56 ethnic groups. The Han nationality accounts for 96.5% of the total. The other 55 ethnic minorities claim a population of more than 300,000, most of them are from Hui, Manchu, and Mongolian nationalities.

Agriculture : In 1994, the gross value of agricultural output reached 28.69 billion yuan (non-agricultural output value accounting for 79.5%). The gross value of rural industrial output accounted for 40.2% of the city's gross value of industrial output in 1994. The main cereals are wheat, corn, and rice. The total amount of grain output was 2,761 million tons, and per-hectare yield was 6,420 kilograms. There are 541 farms where each farmer is responsible for more than 6.6 hectares. Mechanization in agriculture has been basically realized in plain areas, and various kinds of bases can provide abundant sideline products.

Industry : Beijing's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 82.9 billion yuan in the first five months of 2000, up 12 percent over the same period of last year, with high-tech enterprises leading development, according to Beijing Youth Daily. From January to May, the added value of Beijing's industrial output was 6.35 billion yuan, up 18.8 percent over the same period of the previous year.

City Flowers : In the spring of 1987, delegates to the Sixth Session of the Eighth Municipal People's Congress, meeting in the Great Hall of the People, overwhelmingly approved the scholar tree and oriental cypress as the official city trees, the Chinese rose and the chrysanthemum as Beijing's official city flowers. The rose, a Chinese native, has been cross-bred many times, but it still has half of the original Chinese strain. Known as Perpetual Spring, Monthly Red, Snow Challenger and Victorious, it is fast growing, regenerates easily and is graceful and long blooming(May to October). The chrysanthemum has many names and varieties. In Beijing potted chrysanthemums may be seen year round. They flower in summer and fall naturally but can be forced to bloom any time of year. During the Qing dynasty, there were 400 rare strains of chrysanthemum. Beijing's flora-culturists now boast more than 1000 varieties.

City trees :The stately cypress symbolizes the courage and strength of the Chinese people, their simple, hard working nature and their defiance in the face of aggression. This Plateaus Orientals, or Oriental Arborvitae, can grow as tall as 20 meters. Some of those in Zhongshan Park were planted as long as 1,000 years ago during the Liao Dynasty. The scholar tree is a symbol of good fortune, joy and well-being. Dating back to the Qin and Han dynasties Sophia Japonica were planted extensively at the Tang Dynasty Imperial Palace in Chang'an. At Beihai Park an ancient specimen in the courtyard of the Painters Corridor, is believed to have been planted during the Tang Dynasty, before 907. Another ancient scholar tree near the Broken Bridge in the Forbidden City is said to have been planted before 1125. Both are well adapted to Beijing's cold, dry winter, hot and dry summer, and alkaline soil.