9 Great Attractions in China That Are Not on Your Itinerary, But Should Be (2-3)

Beijing:

2) Grand View Garden (Daguan Yuan)

The Dream of the Red Chamber is one of China’s most famous novels, if not the most famous novel. Even if you don’t have time to read the entire thousand-plus page novel, it is worth reading at least a shortened version of it or even watching one of the movie versions. The novel provides an excellent vision into one of China’s golden ages and is a great place to study Chinese culture. Since most of China’s population has read the novel, it also makes for a great conversation topic when you finally arrive in China.

Grand View Garden in Beijing was designed according to the Grand View Garden in this novel. If you did get a chance to read the book, you will enjoy being in a real-life Grand View Garden living the life of Bai Yu and Aunt Xue. And even if you do not have a chance to read the novel, this park is still a great place to visit. The park is a good place to visit before or after the Temple of Heaven, since there are not many other good attractions near the Temple of Heaven. It is also near Ox Street Mosque, which might be a good place to check out as well.

3) Haidian District (Haidian Qu)

I cheated here— Haidian is actually a huge district in Beijing, not an attraction. But besides the Summer Palace and sometimes Fragrant Hills park, many visitors to Beijing do not spend enough time in Haidian, one of Beijing’s most culturally significant districts. Perhaps they are daunted by the immense size of the district (the Summer Palace and Fragrant Hills park alone are bigger than most of downtown Beijing), but recent developments in public transport here make Haidian a great place to visit.

The sites scattered throughout the district are too numerous to list here. I suggest visiting Peking University and/or Tsinghua University, plus the hip Wudaokou area near Tsinghua. These two universities, the most prestigious and historically significant ones in China, are worth wandering around. Peking University’s verdant campus is highlighted by Ming-style carved beams and painted rafters, and the cafes and Korean restaurants just outside the campus are a good jumping off point for places like the Old Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan).

South of the universities, near the Beijing Zoo, is the Five Pagoda Temple. This temple was built in a Buddhist Indian style, with unique Chinese innovations. There are few temples like it in China, especially in northern China. The carvings in this temple, especially the thousand “Sagacious Buddhas” at the foundation, are works of art. The floral design bas-reliefs and Sanskrit letter carvings add to the uniqueness. In fact, there are so many carvings and sculpture to check out that the open-air Beijing Art Museum of Stone Carving is housed within a wing of the temple.


Haidian District’s Indian-Inspired Five Pagoda Temple

If the weather is clear, be sure to go to the top of the CCTV Tower at the end of your Haidian tour for a panoramic view of western Beijing. See if you can spot all the places you visited that day from the observation deck.

Posted at 11:04AM Aug 14, 2008 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[0]