Register today! | Already registered? Sign in

traveldk.com

from Eyewitness Travel Guides: the world's bestselling travel guides
  • Personal guide
  • Open
Member image

Beijing : Outdoor

Submit an attraction

Make sure your favorite shops, restaurants, hotels and more are listed.

Submit an attraction illustration
Win a trip to Bolivia & Peru
Win a trip to Bolivia & Peru

Enter to win

Competition open to UK residents only

Join our free monthly newsletter

Advertisement

  • Classic ornamental gardens with a large lake for boating (see Bei Hai Park).

  • Bird fancying

    The Chinese have never been great keepers of pets, partly because Mao outlawed it as a bourgeois practice. The exception has been the keeping of caged songbirds, which is a time-honored hobby. The birds are often taken to the park by their owners and hung in the trees to provide a sweet soundtrack to casual socializing.

  • The largest afforested park in Beijing, with well-maintained flower and grass areas.

  • Large green spaces and cypress trees, and the striking Temple of Earth (see Di Tan Park).

  • A park created for a hit TV series complete with pavilions, lake, and zigzag bridge.

  • Western kids play it with a football, passing the ball around with head, knees, and feet, the idea being not to let it touch the ground; the Chinese have their own version playing with what resembles a large plastic shuttlecock. It’s called jianzi and it is something of a national obsession, played by young and old alike, male and female.

  • A hilly park with a pavilion providing views of the roofscape of the Forbidden City to the south (see Jing Shan Park).

  • Kite flying

    A major hobby among gents of all ages, especially popular on public holidays when the skies above the city’s parks and squares are crowded with fluttering birds, dragons, lions, and laughing Buddhas.

  • Lots of lakes, a kid’s amusement park, and an enchanting water-screen show.

  • Like gin rummy it’s all about collecting sets or runs to score points, only mahjong uses tiles, not playing cards. A visit to any Beijing park will invariably be soundtracked by the rat-a-tat of slammed pieces.

Advertisement

 Latest guides