Beihai Park, Beijing

Bei Hai Park is where Beijinger's hang around to relax and escape from the drudgery of hard work. Here you'll see them have fun with their friends and families and the occasional Pekingese dog. You can row around the lake and climb up to the Buddhist stupa that overlooks the lake.

Do not miss walk in the park, the Beihai Park in the middle of the city. The only place downtown where traffic noise cannot be heard. Enjoy the scenery, rent a boat, sit around, watch people dance or listen to them singing traditional folk songs. Take a deep breath of fresh air before diving back into teemed streets of Beijing.

At the west side of the Forbidden City is the Tai Ye Chi. Tai Ye Chi was divided into three parts namely Beihai Lake (North), Zhonghai Lake (Center) and Nanhai Lake (South). Beihai is the well known among the three and was turned into a royal garden as early as 1000 years ago. Besides the lake, the main things to see is the White Dagoba on Jade Isle in the center of the lake.

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The Dushandayuhai or Jade Bowl Pavilion is located inside the Round City in Beihai Park.
Apparently, it is one of the biggest jade carvings ever created, from a single piece of Myanmar jade.

It was created in 1265, and was initially kept in the Guanghan Palace, but was put in the Round City when that palace collapsed in 1570. The famous Yuan emperor Kublai Khan used it as a wine container at big celebrations and festivals.

During the Ming dynasty, incredibly it disappeared and was later discovered in 1745. Emperor Qianlong paid 1000 taels of silver for it and had it moved it back to its original position at the Round City and built a pavilion to protect it from the elements, and placed it on a special pedestal

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Beihai Park is one of China's oldest and largest gardens. It is a old inner city palace garden covering an area of 68 hectares. Construction began during the 10th century. Presently, the Jade Islet consists of small towers and pavilions, and is topped by a White Pagoda built in the 17th century surrounded by the North Sea.

The park is made up of three lakes, many with weeping willow trees gracefully lining the banks.Interesting paths and bridges allow the visitor to forget being in the center of a bustling metropolis.

North Shore Beihai Park is arguably the more beautiful and interesting of the two sides. Here you'll find the beautiful, decorative Nine-Dragon Wall, Five Dragon Pavilion, and many more temples, lake views, etc. From here you can get a very nice view of Jingshan across the lake. It's a good idea to spend two or more hours exploring this area. You can also see where the Huohai empties into Beihai.

Beihai Park is a very nice city park on the Beihai (North Sea) in Beijing. For 20 Y, you can stroll around the park and up to through a series of Buddhist temples. You can also take a ferry across the lake to the north shore, where there are even more attractions including the Five Dragon Pavilion and Nine Dragon Wall. You can also meet many interesting people in the park. Knowing Mandarin helps.

This is a big park just northwest of the Forbidden City.

It surrounds a large lake and you can, like most lakes in Beijing, rent a boat to go out for a paddle. But the lake is crowded and there are better places for boating in the city spend your time exploring the rest of the park instead.

The main attraction must be the White Dagoba, but it was under repair at the time of our visit. Still, the park has plenty of other big attractions.
My favourite was walking up to the Yongan Temple and these pavilions there for a great view of Beijing.
Just below them are another set of pavilions where you can find some shade, and I spent 30 excellent minutes there doing nothing at all.