The Travel Spots

The Shi Du (Ten Ferry) scenic spot is the most typical canyon full of karst, ridges and peaks and is the closest to the capital city, unique in the northern part, and the biggest in Huabei region. The canyon features 12 marvelous geological sites such as natural “Stone Buddha”, “Flied over Stone”, “One Line Sky”, “Buddha” character of the dragon mountain, “Water Flowing Up”, “Stone in the Stone” and so forth. It has enjoyed the fine reputation of being the “green mountain and wild ferry, decorated corridors of hundred miles” for years. The Juma river is just like a piece of jade ribbon winding circuitously, passing through the mountains, complementing each other with the peaks and forests. The scenery has North China’s imposing character, it also carries the elegance of South of Yangtzi River. In 1986, Shi Du was evaluated as one of the new 16 sceneries of Beijing, and it was included in Beijing’s first batch of scenic spots in 1999.

Service facility:

10 scenic spots: Orphaned Mountain Village, Immortal Peak Valley, Ten-Thousand Scenery Immortal Ditch, Big Canyon of South, Pu Du Mountain Village, Martyrs’ Cemetery of PingXi Resistance Against Japan, Immortal Dwelled Cave, Mountain of Pond in the Sky, West Lake Ferry, and Five-Star Gorge.

Entertainment spots: JuMa Paradise, Nine-Ferry Drifting, Eight-Ferry Boat Paddling, Six-Ferry Boat Paddling, and Qingjiang Nine-Dragon Deep Pond and so on. They provide extreme jumps, cliff parachuting, ropeway, crag climbing, sky gliding, drifting, boat pedaling, canoeing, vehicle surfing, motorboating, sand beach bathing, swimming, horse riding and many other programs.

Hotels: Including Shanguang Guesthouse, Buddha Gazing Mountain Villa, YanAn Training Center, Pen Holder Mountain Villa, the Bureau of Finance Training Center, and other middle scale or upscale guesthouses. There are also 11 travel focused villages such as Xizhuang Folk Custom village, Western River Fish Culture & Angling village and others that offer 5600 berths, provide coordinated services like travel, accommodations, food, shopping, and entertainment.

Riding route: 1. Go directly to Shi Du via bus 917 at Tian Qiao; 2. touring bus 10 is available during the official holidays and weekends at Qianmen, Fuchengmen, Xuanwumen; 3. Take train 7 from Beijing’s South Station and get off at Shi Du; 4. There are mini buses and carriages inside the scenic area.

Contact phone: 61349871

Touring guides:

Spring:

• Time: April 15th - May 30th
• Activities: Sightseeing, living in the peasant families, eat local specialty foods, enjoy the natural beauty.

Shi Du Scenery Festival:

• Time: June 1st - October 10th
• Activities: Juma river bathing tour that features water diving bathing, sun bathing, boat drifting, angling, sand beach volleyball; summer cultural square activities that features singing, bonfire party, national dances, folk performances, as well as barbecue event that features savoring delicacies of every kind.

Note: You may freely republish this article as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Jacklyn Chen - Webmaster of news-blogs.com. She is a full time mom who works very hard to make living with multiple web sites. For more information and articles about travel, visit her Travel Blog.

Tags: beijing, china, China travel, scenery, scenic spots, travel, travel articles, travel in beijing, travelingbeijing, china, China travel, scenery, scenic spots, travel, travel articles, travel in beijing, traveling

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Entering the modernized Beijing, what interest people the most often are not those row upon row of sky rises, nor are the wide streets extending in all directions. What really attract travelers are the deep and quiet winding Hutongs full of warm, beautiful Siheyuan, or quadrangles. Therefore, the ancient capital culture has been named as “Hutong culture” and “Siheyuan culture”, this indeed is not over said.

In the past, Beijing was largely formed by tens of thousands of Siheyuan that were aligned back-to-back, face-to-face, and side by side. For the convenience of coming in and out, a walking passage must be kept between each row of Siheyuan, this is what we call Hutong.

In the Yuan Dynasty, gaps between Beijing’s Hutongs were much wider. Therefore the descendants chose the open areas to construct more Siheyuan, created narrow passages between rows of Siheyuan courtyard houses, this resulted in massive small Hutongs among many well known big ones. Hence the proverb: “Famous Hutongs are 3600, nameless Hutongs exceeded number of ox hairs”.

Until 1949, there were 6074 well known streets and alleys in Beijing’s city areas. Out of which were 1330 Hutongs, 274 streets, 111 alleys, 85 Dao (small streets), 71 lanes, 37 roads. Traditionally, people classify all the small streets and alleys as Hutongs.

In Beijing, crisscross networked large and small Hutongs weaved the capital city with distinguished people and exquisite objects. Deep in the Hutongs are innumerable warm families, this is why ordinary Beijingers have special sentimental feelings towards Hutongs.

The narrowest Hutong in Beijing is the Qianshi (money market) Hutong in the Dashalan area of outside Qianmen, the narrowest space is merely 40 centimeters. There are also some winding deep Hutongs assumed zigzag shapes, like the Jiudaowan (nine-zigzag) originally at Beixinqiao (north new bridge), it actually had more than 20 zigzags, it was later divided into 5 Hutongs; There is another Hutong also named Jiudaowan outside Qianmen, it in fact has 13 zigzag turns. The name of Hutongs in Beijing is like an encyclopedia, it reflected the historical evolution and demonstrated the social characters and styles, it has been discovered as a hard to come by traveling resources in recent years.

Presently, those big worn-out courtyards in Beijing are being replaced by the modern buildings, the old Hutongs are also losing the base they once relied on to exist. But, to maintain Beijing’s ancient capital styles and features, many famous Hutongs have been reserved as the cultural relics, it preserved certain ancient colors for our emerging capital.

Now, Beijing’s Hutong culture development has already opened up a new travel program - visiting Hutongs. Foreign travelers from all over the world take Beijing’s old-fashioned pedicab as transportation, by pass the west line of Shuchangshahai, come to Gu Lou (the Drum Tower) through Yinding bridge, go up to Gu Lou to look down at Beijing’s old city areas and Hutongs that extend in all directions. They then go to the Houhai area, visit the city’s ancient Nanbeiguanfang Hutong, Daxiaojinshi (big and small golden lion), and Qianhoujing Hutong, walk in Siheyuan, chat with residents, get to know the life of ordinary Beijingers, go to the Gong Wang Fu (Mansion and Garden of Prince Gong in Qing Dynasty) to experience the living environment and Emperor’s gardens in the old times.

Beijing’s Hutong has a kind of eternal charm as a carrier of the ancient culture.

Note: You may freely republic this article hereby given author bio and active hyperlinks are kept active. Thank you.

Jacklyn Chen - Webmaster of news-blogs.com and a full time mom with two lille kids. Working very hard to make living with multiple web sites. For more articles and information about travel, visit her travel blog

Tags: beijing, beijing culture, beijing travel, china, china culture, China travel, hutong, hutongs, travelbeijing, beijing culture, beijing travel, china, china culture, China travel, hutong, hutongs, travel

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