Travel China Guide

Before my trip to Beijing, one thing that always attracts my heart is Peking opera. When i was a small child, i heard from my parents about some guy named Lanfang Mei. He was the master of Peking Opera and have made great contributions for Peking opera. Although he died, Peking Opera is still popular among a lot of people world around.

Peking opera of China is a national treasure with a history of 200 years. It is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. Peking Opera, which originated in the late 18th century, is a synthesis ofop.jpg (22587 bytes) music, dance, art and acrobatics. It is the most influential and representative of all operas in China. Peking Opera can be divided into “civil” pieces characterized by singing, and “martial” ones featuring acrobatics and stunts. Some operas are a combination of both.

The music of Peking opera is that of the “plate and cavity style”.Itsjinghu1.gif (4706 bytes) melody with harmonious rhythms is graceful and pleasing to the ears. The melody may be classified into two groups: “Xipi” and “erhong”, guiding pattern, original pattern, slow pattern, quick pattern, desultory pattern being their chief patterns.

Wish you can like Peking Opera just likeI do.  I am sure you will be moved a lot by the stroy and the act skills.

When i go to Beijing for my Beijing tours, my Beijing evenjing tours leave me a deep impression. For the first night, the guide led us to CCTV Tower for a night tour.

New Beijing CCTV Tower-Beijing attractions

CCTV Tower is the media center of China, where broadcasts news and different kinds of programs. As the home of many TV and Radio station broadcasts, including CCTV 1, CCTV 4 and CCTV 9, the CCTV Tower is one of the modern wonders of Beijing. It is the fifth highest tower in the world as its highest point is 405 meters including the lighting rod.

I was picked up frommy hotel at about 6pm, and we drove to CCTV Tower, western Beijing. The sight in the evening can rally hit your heart. It is so amazing and splendour. The guide from Onestopchinatour.com introduced us with its features, history and some interesting events. Then he gave us some leisure time as photo time. I really enjoyed a bird eye’s view of the tower.

Delicious Buffet dinner is served  with abundant delicious food, including Chinese, Japanese and Western styles, prepared exquisitely by the chef. I was so satisfied with the meal.

After Having Searched for right restaurants, some other ideas are offered for your unique Beijing Food Tour or Beijing Cuisine tour. I think Beijing Food Tour is much more interesting than any other simple beijing sightseeing tours.

Beijing food and Beijing Cuisine-Beijing Snacks

Beijing food-Beijing Cuisine-Dining in Beijing

Getting to The Right Restaurants

If the place is not nearby, make sure to have the restaurant’s Chinese name and address written on a paper and show to taxi drivers. This is important as to avoid misunderstanding and any language communication gap.

Check the Cost of Drinks

Food in Beijing is generally not expensive, but drinks are. Better find out before ordering. At the Beijing duck house, our pot of tea cost us ¥40 which is ridiculously expensive. When we checked for drink prices, we were able to order tea at ¥6 per head with refill, which is far more reasonable.

Beijing restaurants generally do not incur service charge. However some might add 10% to your bill.

Find Out Opening Hours

This should not be a problem for restaurants in the downtown area. However some restaurants have a break between lunch and dinner. We missed our favourite Sichuan Restaurant at the Prince Gong’s Palace, without realizing that it closes daily at 2pm for lunch and re-open at 5pm for dinner.

Add Some Other Sightseeing Activities to Your Beijing Food Tour

You must do something in between meals in order to add colour to your food tour. The spots I have chosen are Peking University, Laoshe Tea House, Prince Gong’s Palace and the Mutianyu Great Wall. Mind the time, so you have enough time to visit your favourite spots without missing any of your favourite food and restaurant.

Take a Visit of The Snack Street At Wangfujing

If eating is your main travel objective to Beijing, you must not miss the Snack Street along the Wangfujing Main Street towards Dong Chang’an Street.

The Snack Street is a place where it can make you feel hungry. The whole street is all the time full of people and yummy food. The BBQ chicken/lamb/beef sticks cost only ¥1 to ¥5 per stick. If you want to try new and funny things, pay ¥5 per stick of cocoon, pupa, cicada and ¥15 for a seahorse. You can find almost any kind of Chinese snacks from all over the country here.

Wangfujing Food Street

Before your beijing tours, you must have heard so many about beijing, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven etc. How about Beijing food and famous Beijing cuisine? Have you ever heard about Peking Duck, Peking Bing Tang Hu Lu?

In this article and the article following, I will give you a clear view of Beijing food tour. What should you do and where should you go for your Beijing cuisine Tour?

Beijing Food Tour Guide:

a) Write Down a Yummy Beijing Food List

Many of you might know that Peking duck is the most famous Chinese food in Beijing. Other than this, what Chinese cuisine do you like? Type “best Chinese food in Beijing” into the internet and search. You’ll get lots of ideas. Another source is to ask your friends who live in Beijing or who have been to China. Write down the foods that are tempting to you. Here is my food list:

• Peking Duck
• Sichuan Smoked Duck
• Lamb Hot Pot
• Imitated Imperial Meal of the Qing Dynasty
• Dan Dan Noodle
• Specialty Sauce Noodle
• Beijing Dumplings
• Mapo Tofu (spicy beancurd)

b) Search For The Right Restaurants

Go through a similar process like searching for food. Search for “hot pot restaurant in Beijing” might give you a lot of suggestions. Check travel forums might also help.
Here is my targeted restaurant list:

• King of Duck – Peking Duck
• Dong Lai Shun – Lamp Hot Pot
• Sichuan Restaurant at Prince Gong’s Palace – Sichuan Smoked Duck

Your restaurant list might be too long that you don’t know which the best is. To make life simple, you might show your food list to hotel concierge and ask them for to suggest good and economic restaurants nearby. It does not need to be the hotel where you stay, any hotel concierge should be able to help.

Some Great Photos of Beijing food:

Beijing food-Beijing Cuisine-Peking Duck

Beijing food-Beijing Cuisine-Beijing Dumplings

Shanghai world Expo 2010 has arrived finally and Onestopchinatour.com has prepared a lot of wounderful Shanghai Expo tours for our distinguished customers. You can choose some most interesting pavilions and kordak your beautiful memory there.

Some Questions to help your out:

g) Could 3-day or 7-day tickets only be used by the purchaser?

No. Ticket purchasers or other people can enter the Expo Park via 3-day or 7-day tickets. But 3-day tickets allow for 3 entries in 3 day (Not the Peak Day) in total, 7-day tickets for 7 entries in 7 days (Not the Peak Day).

h) Could Evening Admission Tickets be booked in advance?

No. To control the number of visitors, Evening Admission Tickets are only available at the Booking Office of Shanghai World Expo Park. The other 6 kinds of Individual Tickets could be booked in advance via designated Expo ticket-selling outlets.

i)  Can a ticket-holder visit all the pavilions in the Expo Park?

Yes. According to the Conventions of World Expo, ticket-holders can visit all the pavilions in the Expo Park, except for some special arrangements made by the Expo organizers.

j) Can visitors enter the Expo several times in one day via single-day tickets?

No. One visitor can only enter the Expo for one time in one day via a single-day ticket.

k) Are the lunch covered in the Expo tickets?

No. Meals inside the Expo Park require extra charges.

l) Can people buy Group Tickets by themselves?

Group tickets are designed to encourage organized visits and balance visitor flow. The tickets are not available for individuals. Group Tickets could be booked through travel agencies appointed by the Expo Organizing Committee; Student Group Tickets could be purchased through appointed travel agencies or educational institutes or organizations.

m)  How could foreign visitors book Shanghai Expo tickets?

Expo tickets are also available for overseas purchasers through channels appointed by the Expo Bureau in different countries and regions across the world. For more details, you could visit the official website of 2010 Shanghai World Expo: http://en.expo2010.cn.

Some Useful Visiting Tips for Customers:

1. Visitors should take valid IDs or passports along with them because valid IDs are required upon the entries.

2. Visitor will have to get off the tour bus at an appointed parking area and walk to the Expo Gate. Electric car are limited and only available to VIP visitors. The Park covers an area of 5 square kilometers and every day about 400,000 visitors will enter the Park.

3. Seven water-way entrances will be opened for visitors’ admission. Beside the Expo gate on land, visitors also can enter the Expo Park via water-way by taking the Expo ferries.

4. Visitors are forbidden to bring bottled beverages into the Park.

Picture Time:

Shanghai Expo Tours-Shangjhai Expo Tickets

Shanghai Expo Tours-Shanghai Expo mascot-Haibao

Shang Expo Tours-Shanghai Expo Logo-Better City, Better Life

From May 1st to October 31st, 2010 Shanghai Expo are receving visitors and tourists from all over the world. And Onestopchinatour.com also provides people with high quality Shanghai Expo tour.This article, we will discuss some faq and tips about the 2010 Shanghai Expo. If you happen to visit Beijing or lead beijing tours and you also do not want to miss the Shanghai Expo Feast, we are here to help you out.

a)  When does the Shanghai Expo Park open?

The Expo Park open time is 09:30 — 22:30 every day during the Expo period.

b) What the differences between Individual Tickets and Group Tickets?

Expo Tickets could be divided into two categories, Individual Tickets and Group Tickets.

Individual Tickets could be subdivided into 7 kinds of tickets: Peak Day single day admission, Peak Day special admission, Standard Day single day admission, Standard Day special admission, 3 day admission, 7 day admission ticket and evening admission. Group Tickets could be further classified into 2 kinds: Group Admission & Student Group Admission.

c) What are Peak Day and Standard Day?

Peak Day refers to China Labor’s Day (May 1st-3rd, 2010), National Day (October 1st – 7th, 2010) and Expo Ending Week (October 25th – 31st, 2010), totally 17 days. Standard Day refers to all visiting days (167 days in total) except for Peak Days during the Expo.

d) What if I did not visit the Expo on the appointed date via my Peak Day tickets?

If you didn’t visit the Expo on the dates printed on the Peak Day tickets, you still can visit the Expo Park with your tickets during the Standard Day period.

e) Who can buy Special Admission tickets?

The following people with valid identifications can buy Special Admission tickets:

1. the disabled;
2. people born in or before 1950;
3. students with valid IDs;
4. children above 1.2m;
5. Chinese military personnel on active duty.

Notice: Valid IDs are required upon ticket purchase and entry; one ticket per person, valid for one entry on the day of admission.

f) Can I enter the Expo Park several times a day via a 3-day ticket or a 7-day ticket?

No. You can choose 3 days or 7 days (Not the Peak Day period) to go to the Expo, only one entry a day.

Some Great Pictures of Shanghai Expo:

The Macau Pavilion at Shanghai world expo 2010 may take the shape of a giant jade rabbit lantern

The Japan Pavilion is a semi-circular structure, covered by a purple membrane material

The three-story metallic structure explores the theme “Hong Kong – the Infinite City

Nowadays, more and more people would like to travel to beijing or having beijing package tours at winter. Why? I always wonder. Winter of Beijing is so cold. Why it can still attract so many tourists all over the world.

beijing attractions of beijing tours-Longyingge

beijing attractions of beijing tours-Summer Palace in Winter

Let me tell you a secret, winter is one of the best times to travel in China. It’s true! You may prefer to hibernate during this season and reserve travelling for when it’s warmer, but you’d be missing a great opportunity to see China off-season.
Avoid “travel” during the Spring Festival itself as public transport is stretched to the limit. The Spring Festival is based on the lunar calendar which means it occurs on different dates every year. It is in either January or February, so be aware of this when planning your travels!

Advantages

1. FEWER people, winter is one of the quietest travelling times in China (be careful to avoid the Spring Festival), which means transport and scenic spots are much quieter. Note: this doesn’t mean empty, just quietER. Beijing, for example, is never quiet!

2. SNOW. OK if you’re like me and love snow, there’s plenty of it to be found in the North, and sometimes in the South. It adds a fresh beauty to “old” tourist haunts. Skiing, ice-skating, ice & snow festivals and all manner of snow-related activities are on offer.

3. FOOD. Call me crazy but one of my favourite things about winter travel is that after all that wandering around in the cold, I can find a restaurant to escape into and try a selection of the local dishes.

4. CHEAPER prices. This is an aspect of winter travel not to be sniffed at. Generally, Spring Festival aside, hotels are much cheaper and many tourist attractions offer discounted tickets.

Disadvantages

1. COLD, yes it’s cold, in fact in the North outside it’s freezing (or colder!), so if you don’t like the cold, then perhaps you’re better off hibernating.

2. SOME hotels and restaurants in smaller cities might be closed, so your choice may be rather more limited than usual.

3. IT’S cold. OK, so this is the same as number 1, but I can’t think of any other disadvantages and it’s the main reason most people don’t travel at this time of year!

I think when you have your beijing tours at winter, you can see a different view of beijing and its amazing beijing attractions. Try it and you will find it is so wonderful!

When you travel to beijing for visiting Great Wall, you will find that Great Wall, not only Badaling Great Wall but also Mutianyu Great Wall, you will find special beauty of Great Wall in winter.

It still remains with an inexorable sense of existence; a creation neither beautiful nor romantic, but over 6000km of historical inevitability. Urban legend has it that the Great Wall can be seen from the moon, but it’s not true, and it seems a shame. For as nothing else could ever be, the Great Wall is the embodiment of a journey through centuries of Chinese politics and ideology; built stone on painstaking stone by the hands of generations of labourers; millions of whom gave their lives to its construction, defence and re-construction.

In the flaring sunlight of mid-winter, the Great Wall seems lonely. An old hand at climbing the pointed hills, it is as indifferent to our laboured steps up its vertiginous inclines, as it is to our awe at reaching yet another watchtower on yet another pinnacle.

The views are magnificent in winter. Far better than in summer, when the heat and pollution even so far from Beijing, combine to cast a murky sky overhead. The surrounding landscape is surprisingly harsh; the peaks deliberately sharp. This is not the land of rolling hills but of nature’s well-honed knives. And in the nooks and crannies, the signs of human endeavour – terraced plots filled in the summer months with sweet corn – are now lifeless sketches, just pencil-lines on the brown land.

I think leading beijing tours at winter is a great idea if you want to see a special Beijing at Winter. You will surely get a lot of differences and have a great as well as unforgetable beijing tour packages.

Last year i lead beijing tours to beijing and have experienced a lot of wonderful attractions. In t he previous articles, I have written Top 10 attractions in my mind and the article will end the top. The top 11 to 15 beijing attractions will be introduced here.

Shichahai Scenic Area

Shichahai is a scenic area of history and culture in Beijing and one of its historical and cultural protection zones. It lies in Xicheng District, the center of the city, and is close to its central axis. With a 336,000-square-meter water-covered area connected with Zhongnanhai, it is the only open scenic area with a wide expanse of water in the city.
It is an important witness of the history of Beijing’s planning and construction, having the largest and best preserved age-old block in the city. In the Yuan Dynasty it was the capital’s center for commerce and grain transport.

National Stadium (Bird’s Nest)

Bird’s Nest is jointly designed by Herzog and De Meuron Architekten AG, Switzerland, and China Architecture Design Institute. It gained high praise and also aroused most controversy.
Some people think the design is too avant-garde and trendy, and not in keeping with acceptable traditional ideas. However, insiders think “Bird’s Nest” has properly expressed a new architectural vernacular. Such schemes can not work out without an understanding of Chinese philosophy and the Chinese idea of good timing, geographical convenience and harmonious human relations.

National Aquatics Center (Water Cube)

Located on the southern part of the central area of the Olympic Green in Beijing, the NAC has a planned construction area of 6.95 hectares. Being adjacent to the central axis of the city, the NAC is situated on par with the National Stadium, at an equal distance to the axis.
The NAC’s Games-time construction area is close to 80,000 square meters, containing 17,000 standard seats, including 6,000 permanent seats and 11,000 temporary ones. During the 2008 Olympic Games, it will produce 42 gold medals in swimming, diving and synchronized swimming.
After the Olympics, it will be converted into a multi-functional facility for sports, culture and recreation, featuring a “water setting” for members of society.

Beijing Zoo

Beijing Zoo was known for a short time after the founding of the People’s Republic as the Western Suburbs Park (Xijiao Gongyuan). The grounds combine cultivated flower gardens with stretches of natural scenery, including dense groves of trees, stretches of grassland, a small stream, lotus pools and small hills dotted with pavilions and halls.
Beijing Zoo mainly exhibits wild and rare animals of China. The Giant Pandas are one of the most popular exhibits, but other popular animals including the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey, Manchurian tigers, white-lipped deer, yaks from Tibet, enormous sea turtles, polar bears from the North Pole, kangaroo from Australia, and zebra from Africa.
The zoo is also a center of zoological research that collects and breeds rare animals from various continents.

Beihai Park

West of the Forbidden City and Jingshan Park, Beihai Park is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved of the ancient imperial gardens in China and it is conveniently located in the very center of Beijing. Beihai literally means “Northern Sea”. There are also corresponding “Central” and “Southern Seas” — both are located in an area called Zhongnanhai. This region is also quite famous because it houses China’s paramount leaders.