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Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) :the best preserved and the largest imperial gardens in China.

2005-11-24T22:04:00.000-08:00

Situated in the western outskirts of Haidian District, the Summer Palace is 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from central Beijing. Having the largest royal park and being well preserved, it was designated, in 1960 by the State Council, as a Key Cultural Relics Protection Site of China. Containing examples of the ancient arts, it also has graceful landscapes and magnificent constructions. The Summer Palace is the archetypal Chinese garden, and is ranked amongst the most noted and classical gardens of the world. In 1998, it was listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Constructed in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), during the succeeding reign of feudal emperors; it was extended continuously. By the time of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it had become a luxurious royal garden providing royal families with rest and entertainment. Originally called "Qingyi Garden" (Garden of Clear Ripples), it was know as one of the famous "three hills and five gardens" (Longevity Hill, Jade Spring Mountain, and Fragrant Hill; Garden of Clear Ripples, Garden of Everlasting Spring, Garden of Perfection and Brightness, Garden of Tranquility and Brightness, and Garden of Tranquility and Pleasure). Like most of the gardens of Beijing, it could not elude the rampages of the Anglo-French allied force and was destroyed by fire. In 1888, Empress Dowager CiXi embezzled navy funds to reconstruct it for her own benefit, changing its name to Summer Palace (Yiheyuan). She spent most of her later years there, dealing with state affairs and entertaining. In 1900, it suffered again, being ransacked by the Eight-Power Allied Force. After the success of the 1911 Revolution, it was opened to the public.

Composed mainly of Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake, The Summer Palace occupies an area of 294 hectares (726.5 acres), three quarters of which is water. Guided by nature, artists designed the gardens exquisitely so that visitors would see marvelous views and be amazed by perfect examples of refined craftwork using the finest materials.

Centered on the Tower of Buddhist Incense (Foxiangge) the Summer Palace consists of over 3,000 structures including pavilions, towers, bridges, and corridors. The Summer Palace can be divided into four parts: the court area, front-hill area, front-lake area, and rear-hill and back-lake area.

Front-Hill Area: this area is the most magnificent area in the Summer Palace with the most constructions. Its layout is quite distinctive because of the central axis from the yard of Kunming Lake to the hilltop, on which important buildings are positioned including Gate of Dispelling Clouds, Hall of Dispelling Clouds, Hall of Moral Glory, Tower of Buddhist Incense, the Hall of the Sea of Wisdom, etc.

Rear-Hill and Back-Lake Area: although the constructions are fewer here, it has a unique landscape, with dense green trees, and winding paths. Visitors can feel a rare tranquility, and elegance. This area includes scenic spots such as Garden of Harmonious Interest and Suzhou Market Street.

Court Area: this is where Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu met officials, conducted state affairs and rested. Entering the East Palace Gate, visitors may see the main palace buildings: the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity served as the office of the Emperor, the Hall of Jade Ripples where Guangxu lived, the Hall of Joyful Longevity, Cixi's residence, the Hall of Virtue and Harmony where Cixi was entertained.

Front Lake Area: covering a larger part of the Summer Palace, opens up the vista of the lake. A breeze fluttering, waves gleam and willows kiss the ripples of the vast water. In this comfortable area there are the Eastern and Western Banks, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge, Nanhu Island, and so on. On the western bank float six distinct bridges amongst which the Jade-Belt Bridge is the most beautiful.

More picture about Summer Palace can be seen here

China seen as the hot place to be

2005-11-24T02:27:00.000-08:00

On Sundays, a wave of people -- excited families pushing baby strollers, grandparents, young executives -- with the luxury of time and money sweeps into the ancient Forbidden City to discover Chinese history.

They pose giddily for pictures in rented robes recalling the Ming Dynasty emperors and later snap up kitschy "Maomorabilia" to take home.

They jam nearby restaurants, enjoying mounds of pastel colored tapioca, steaming bowls of soup, custom made cream puffs, and yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Starbucks coffee.

And on Mondays, most of this vast army goes back to work: making money, making history and in many cases making the products that fill the all-consuming hunger of the American consumer.

With his six-day mission to China this past week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger highlighted what is already obvious to half the world: that whether they are part of the increasing hoard of young, up-and-coming business people or the millions of worker bees laboring in abject conditions for a pathetic daily wage, the Chinese people are at the center of what is fast becoming the business world's official "Place to Be."

This totalitarian nation is churning out the stuff of our capitalist dreams -- the luxurious lingerie, suits and evening gowns we wear, the components for iPods we listen to, the technology and cell phones we depend upon, the toys our children can't live without.

If the major cities in China -- Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong -- reverberate with a feeling today, it is this: People here are in a race to the top; and time is on their side.

Author Ted Fishman, who wrote, "China Inc.," a study of the new global market, said the sheer volume and clout of a nation with 1.3 billion workers, consumers and entrepreneurs made it nearly inevitable that China would seize -- in our lifetime -- America's long-held throne as the seat of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.

"Certainly, if any country is going to supplant the United States in the world marketplace, China is it," Fishman writes. And, he noted, Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs "has already advised Americans to prepare for a world where by the year 2050, China's economy could well be 75 percent bigger than their own."

That is why, in China, sometimes the bar scene in "Star Wars" comes to mind -- as a mix of business people of varied cultures come to smoke, drink and deal in fancy hotel lobbies, creating the unmistakable sensation that this is the time, and place, to strike it rich.

"It's the Wild, Wild East," said Hal Josephson, who heads MediaSense, a Silicon Valley based consulting group that helps American firms navigate the complexities of business in China. "It feels like Silicon Valley in the '90s. ... China is the place to be."

Even the world-wise Schwarzenegger appeared stunned after striding through China's biggest steel plant in Shanghai. In his trips around that city -- where triple-decker thoroughfares and floating magnetic trains snake around a crop of futuristic skyscrapers -- he said he realized that while there were different governmental systems at work, California can take some lessons from the Chinese ability to get things done, and fast.

"It inspires me when you look around here," Schwarzenegger said, "because you see the freeways on the bottom, and you see the freeways on the top." But California, sometimes, is "still operating like in the '80s."

"By the time you get anything built in California, it will take years to get it finished," he said. "By that time, you have another 2 million people."

The hunger to do, to make, to make money, is evident everywhere in China's big cities. In the eye-opening elegance of the city's five-star hotels, lobbies are packed, morning to night, with clusters of mostly men in dark gray suits, talking earnestly about agreements, shipments, possibilities.

In the crowded restaurants, people are haggling over steamed spiny lobsters as big as Jack Russell terriers and making deals.

Even on the street in the jumble of markets stocked with knockoffs, scarves and silk pajamas, visitors get the rush of the wild ride of business negotiations. Sellers start with prices in the heavens, but with cajoling, humor and rapid-fire finger-work on calculators, usually end up accepting a fraction of that, and both sides come away happy.

Sometimes, the pace is so fast that even the locals wonder if it's all too much, and too soon.

"Some other country, like America ... everything is step by step," said film superstar and action hero Jackie Chan this past week. "But China, suddenly in 40 years: Boom! You can see people on bicycles with a cell phone. You can see people driving a Rolls-Royce with terrible shoes. They don't know how to match -- but they're rich. It's growing too fast."

Chan, who, with Schwarzenegger, filmed a public service announcement against video piracy, said that in business in general, and particularly in the film industry he knows best, his country would almost certainly surpass the United States' growth.

"We have 1.3 billion people ... it is a big market," he said. "The American box office, for the past nine months, going down, going down. Look at China box office: Always up ... and we open only in four, five cities is all."

No wonder the people who define culture, art and what's hip are flocking to China to do business. Fashion designers, whose industry has been long dominated by Paris and New York, are making flights to China's capitals, inspired by the brilliant colors, the ethnic costumes, the fresh "Shanghaise" silks and "Chinese fusion" styles.

"We're looking to start selling in China," said California-based couture designer Kevan Hall, whose elegant outfits are worn by stars such as Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Housewives."

These days, he added, "110 percent of the people who are buying luxury in the world are Chinese."

Internationally known designer Max Azria agrees the Chinese have shown "wonderful initiative ... a wonderful way to drive the business."

By the end of their six-day, three-city whirlwind trade mission with the governor, many of California's business people said they felt they were experiencing a unique place and time in business.

"There's a real excitement to it -- you feel energized," said Janet Lamkin, president and CEO of the California Bankers Association, representing 280 state banks that want to stake a claim to Chinese business. Standing at the elegant Shanghai Theatre, where the monied locals prepared to see the national film premiere of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Lamkin said China was the definition of "a very innovative environment."

Terry MacRea, who heads the San Francisco-based Hornblower Yachts, said admiringly of the Chinese entrepreneurs: "I don't think it's a gene; I think it's a culture."

"There's 1.3 billion people here, and they have to hustle," he said. "They're hungrier."

Mike Faulkner, president of Nimbus Water, an Oceanside (San Diego County) firm selling its California Cool fruit-flavored carbonated drinks in Shanghai, said the sensation was sometimes overwhelming.

"It's like having kids," he laughs, throwing up his hands. "There's great excitement -- but it's also: 'Oh my God, I never thought of that.' "

Schwarzenegger, wrapping up his trip, said China's growth would sweep others along.

"They're so fast growing that they have to create 14 million jobs a year -- new jobs, 14 million!" he marveled. "And so they have to build and build and build. They're on automatic pilot. Where it's going to stop is really the question."

The governor said California businesses could gain a share of that growth if they moved aggressively.

"They need certain things we have to offer ... and I think the challenge is -- and the trick of it is for us -- is to ... be in their face and say, 'look, we have this for you ... we can help you with this, we can help you with that,' " Schwarzenegger said. "And then to sit down, and to follow up."

The Ruins of the Yuanmingyuan (The Garden of Perfection and Light)

2005-11-24T00:47:00.000-08:00

In a quiet section of the suburbs of Beijing to the northwest of Qinghua University, there once stood a complex of gardens known as the Yuanmingyuan. Built in the Qing Dynasty, this "garden of gardens" was made up of the Garden of Perfection and Light (Yuanmingyuan), and the Garden of Ten Thousand Springtimes (Wanchunyuan).

The work of building the garden went on over a period of 150 years, beginning in around 1700. The grounds had a circumference of 10 kilometers and occupied an area of more than 347 hectares. Of the hundreds of large and small buildings, which once stood here, all that remains are a few ruins in stone, a sorry reminder of past greatness.

On October 5, 1860, the Anglo-French Allied Armies occupied the town of Haidian in the northwest suburbs of the capital, and on October 7 the mad plunder of the garden began. Finally, Lord Elgin's cavalry set the gardens on fire, leaving them to burn for three days and three nights. After their retreat, repairs were begun, but in 1900 the Eight-Power Allied Forces, leaving it in completer ruin, brought further destruction upon the garden. Before long, members of the imperial household and the warlords of the early Republican period took whatever could be made use of from out of the rubble, including wood, stones, bricks or tiles, away.

Visitors can now stroll about the ruins and view the remains of the following sites: ⑴ the "Vista of the Square Teapot" on the northeast bank of the Sea of Fortune (Fuhai); ⑵ the Green Mountain Hut near the northwestern gate; ⑶ the Jade Islet of Sages in the middle of the Sea of Fortune; ⑷ the Magnanimity of the Seas and Hills in the West Lake of the Garden of Eternal Spring; ⑸ Sravasti City, modeled after the capital of the ancient Indian state of Kosala, which was a repository for statues of the Buddha. The ruins of the high walls of this "city" can still be traced today; and ⑹ the Source of Culture Pavilion (Wenyuange), which housed the collection of books known as the Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature. Besides the remains of the pavilion, one will also notice numerous specimens of Taihu Lake stone lying abandoned in a pool in its courtyard. In addition, other scattered stone fragments and the flagstones from stone paths can be found in various spots throughout the surrounding hills and meandering streams.

The most striking ruin in the whole garden is the complex of Western-style buildings, the construction of which began in 1746, the 10th year of Emperor Qianlong' s reign. Situated near the northern wall of the Garden of Eternal Spring, these buildings were designed by the Jesuits Castiglione and Benoit. They included the Observatory and Hall of Tranquility, which were decorated with fine fountains and pools in the style of Versailles. In addition, their roofs and walls were embellished with glazed tiles in brilliant colors.

It is hoped that before long the splendor of the garden will be restored and that this exquisite cultural relic, once the private playground of emperors, will be open to visitors from all over the world.

In 1977, the Beijing municipality established a committee to undertake the renovation of the Yuanmingyuan Garden, the first organization of its kind to be set up since the destruction of the garden. Some of the stone carvings removed from the garden are now being returned from places such as Beijing University.

more picture about YuanMingYuan can be seen here.

China to build itself into a strong tourism country

2005-11-23T19:57:00.000-08:00

China is now making utmost efforts in building itself into a strong tourism country at an early date and sparing no effort to study and implement the 11th Five-Year Plan for Development, according to Liu Kezhi, a senior official of China National Tourism Administration.

Liu said, owing to the favorable growth momentum and tremendous potential of China's tourism market, the World Tourism Organization forecast as early as 1997 that China would turn out to be No. 1 tourist destination and the No. 4 tourist-generating country in the world by the year 2020. The great objectives of the development of the tourism industry have also been outlined by the Chinese government.

He said the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 offer China's tourism industry a golden opportunity of development.

In 2005, the China National Tourism Administration will continue to put on large-scale activities to feature "Olympic Games and Tourism" so as to promote tourism through Olympic Games and promote Olympic Games through tourism.

In the next few years, with the three important concepts of "Green Olympics, Cultural Olympics and High-tech Olympics" in mind, China will further consolidate its tourism resources and develop new tourist products to present to the world the diversified and colorful tourist resources and the magnificent culture.

At the same time, China will launch a promotion campaign on the Shanghai World Expo 2010 while promoting "Olympic Games and Tourism." Enditem

Beijing finally unveils its Olympic mascots - five Fuwa

2005-11-22T20:35:00.000-08:00

After years of fierce lobbying and months of secrecy, Beijing finally announced its mascots for the 2008 Olympics - five Fuwas based on giant panda, Tibetan antelope and others, opening a marketing blitz that is expected to reap record profits.

An elaborate, nationally televised gala Friday evening to mark the 1,000-day countdown until the Games was held in Beijing's Tian'anmen Square, where a countdown clock began to tick.

Amid the hoopla, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was present and unveiled the mascots.

A plethora of real and mythic creatures were among the candidates were considered by Chinese leaders, Olympic officials and design specialists over the past year.

The choice, the subject of lively media speculation for months, has been a secret since it was finalized three months ago, sealed by confidentiality agreements.

At stake for China is one of the most marketable symbols in the Olympics -- a symbol that stands to generate significant revenues and public support for the Beijing Games, which will cost an estimated US$38 billion.

Sales of licensed products, including those with the mascot, have brought in about US$300 million at the Sydney and Athens Olympics. Host cities keep 10 to 15 percent of the royalties, helping to defray the costs of staging the Games.

Officials with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games say they expect sales of such products to be higher still.

On Saturday, postage stamps and more than 300 other licensed products of the mascots go on sale at 188 authorized venues across the country, widening a product line of T-shirts, caps, pens and bags bearing the 2008 Games logo, according to Olympic officials.

To capture an entire range of consumers, the mascot products will range from fluorescent pens for 8 yuan to souvenirs made from precious metals selling for tens of thousands of yuan (thousands of dollars).

Beyond the sales expectations, China has tried to use the mascot-selection process to involve communities far from Beijing. On hand for the unveiling at the Workers Gymnasium in eastern Beijing were 100 children "ambassadors" from western provinces.

Organizers of the Games threw open the selection process, inviting suggestions from the public and local governments, and many of the latter lobbied fiercely for the honor.

Sichuan province spent 2 million yuan (US$240,000) in public and privately donated funds on promoting the panda.

Altogether, BOCOG has received 662 suggestions. Organizers whittled those down to 56, which were then put to a ten-member expert committee of designers, which in turn selected six candidates. Organizers and senior leaders then chose one, and the International Olympic Committee approved the choice in August.

This blog will focus on China travel

2005-11-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

Hi, My name is xiaoxin, live in Beijing , China, Since the 2008 Olympic is coming, there will be more foreigner come to China . i will inctroduce some famous spots to you.

China isn't only a country - but also a different world. this blog will also share some Chinese culture and travel tips with you..