Fun things to do in Beijing Shi

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This is another tips for rich peoples to shop and buy, poor peoples are welcome to shop & see too. Poor peoples can buy a small painting brush cost you RMB100.00, rich peoples can go for the original paintings or the carved stones or other stuffs. Some of the really TOP paintings are PRICELESS, which means you cannot afford to buy these kind of paintings, unfortunately I don't have photos of these paintings to upload for you to see, because they strictly disallowing taking photos.

The first photo is the street called LIU LI CHANG XI JIE, this is a street that sells only Art Materials of Chinese paintings, don't waster your time asking for Oil Paintings, Acrylic or Watercolors. The third photo is a stone cost RMB330,000.00, this is one of the most expensive stone in the world, the name of this type of stone (i heard) is called Chicken Blood Stone, try Google.

The last 2 photos are the bookstore of RONG BAO ZHAI, books of Chinese paintings tips and techniques, videos, VCD, DVD, etc etc.....

UNESCO World Heritage: The Great Wall

Liaoning, Jilin, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Xinjiang, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Qinghai provinces, municipalities and autonomous Regions

Date of Inscription: 1987


I wonder when Qin Shihuang (246 - 221 BC) building the Great Wall to prevent invading Mongolian is due to his kiasu attitude in building one of the most visible (possibly the greatest) Wonders of the World? Anyway, he never expects this can be a source of income for generations to come.

Beside the crap, this is some history facts extracted from internet.

No one can tell precisely when the building of the Great Wall was started but it is popularly believed that it originated as a military fortification against intrusion by tribes on the borders during the earlier Zhou Dynasty. Late in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC), the ducal states extended the defense work and built "great" structures to prevent the attacks from other states. It was not until the Qin Dynasty that the separate walls, constructed by the states of Qin, Yan and Zhao kingdoms, were connected to form a defensive system on the northern border of the country by Emperor Qin Shi Huang (also called Qin Shi Huangdi by westerners or the First Emperor). After the emperor unified the country in 214 BC, he ordered the construction of the wall. It took about ten years to finish and the wall stretched from Linzhao (in the eastern part of today's Gansu Province) in the west to Liaodong (in today's Jilin Province) in the east. The wall not only served as a defense in the north but also symbolized the power of the emperor.

I visited Great Wall 1st week of April (early spring) and snow still visible at Badaling Great Wall.

Since I have been to some hill station (like Mt Fuji), some of my colleagues were surprised I didn't show any excitement seeing snow.

Wrap yourself warmly, because the temperature can drop to 4 degrees Celsius at Great Wall in early spring.

The story goes if you climb the great wall to the top, then you are a hero. You can buy your certificate to prove that you’re in deed a hero.

I won’t do that myself because I didn’t climb it. I mean from the base to the Great Wall, because we’re using the cable cars. I only climb the easy 400 steps or so. I will consider myself shameless to engrave/print my name on certificates for becoming one of the heroes.

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we went to beijing 2 month ago and took a hotel near wangfujing street
at nights shops closed at 9 pm, 3 girls talked to us in english and they said they want to learn more english language and wants to beside us to go to cafee or drink something, we accepetd and they took us to a bar near wangfujing (ktv bar) after one hour we drinked little and they want to pay money ourselfs, they closed the firstfloor door and wants we pay 2000 yuan for 5 bear in one hour??!!!!
also after we struggled too much we paid 500 yuan and they open the door , very bad night
every nights after the shops closed 2 or 3 girls together close to foreigns travelers and want to speak and learn more english language and go to a bar!!!
be carefull and don't go with them especially at nights in wangfujing street

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Qianmen area has always been of interest to me as it was one of the nearest parts to the Forbidden City (part of which is now Tian'anmen Square) that the Emperor would walk to/around. When leaving his 'City', the Emperor would walk south and out of Qianmen, which means 'Front Gate' and was used as an archery tower. He would then head a bit further south (about 50m) and walk out of Zhengyangmen. These two gates were first built in 1419. The gateway consisted of a gatehouse proper and an archery tower, which formed a large barbican. They used to mark the boundary between the inner and outer cities, but nowadays, Zhengyangmen stands isolated on a traffic island, facing its counterpart across several lanes of bus routes and cycle paths.

When I first came to China, this area, known as Dazhanlan (but to the locals as Dashilar) was such a busy place bustling with fast food restaurants, Time Honoured Brands (shops which have been here for hundreds of years) and a mish mash of stalls selling anything from chopsticks to mugs which change colour when warm liquid is poured in to Mao Memorabilia. It was a fun place to bring guests and you could always get a feel of old China here. What is extremely interesting now is that you can still get that feeling of Old China, but this time from the original Qianmen main street in the 1920s and 1930s. Buildings have been modelled against what they used to look like which I think is extremely fun and is great as a tourist area. It will definitely bring in the crowds.

Throughout this whole area, you can definitely catch a glimpse of how life used to be and exploring all the little hutongs will almost certainly make you feel like you've been transported back to Beijing in the 1920s!

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From Bejing, in 1984, we visited the Great Wall at BaDaLing, which had mostly Chinese visitors;
but in 2001, we were advised not to go to BaDaLing (which was too crowded), but instead we went to MuTianYu, which was less crowded. MuTianYu has a cable car that takes you up to the wall.

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When you are at the famous Forbidden City of Beijing, and if you have the time to wonder around, you should visit the big Beihai Park just next to the Forbidden City as well as the moat where you can actually take a ride on the water using small leg-paddle boats.

Important thing to note is that the Forbidden City itself and Beihai Park are both very huge, so plan your time properly, and it may not be possible to cover everything. In general, the major attractions in Beijing are very very big since China is perhaps the biggest civilisation in the world.