ShiChaHai - XiHai, HouHai, QianHai (什刹海 - 西海, 后海, 前海)

It has been sometime since my last blog. Kind a forget how to write, how to blog. Luckily my busyness never let me forget to visit my blog daily. It has been a year since my last days in Beijing. However, my memories towards Beijing city are still as fresh as it was just yesterday. Today, I am going to introduce more about Beijing’s Lakes – XiHai (西海), HouHai (后海) and QianHai (前海).



ShiChaHai

Lake Scene

After my mother fully satisfied with her admiration on the Xu BeiHong’s paintings and works, we moved our step from XinJieKou North Street into an unknown alley. After not long of walking, a very nice view of lake appears in front of us. My mother got surprised that such an unknown backdoor alley is actually linked to such a nice lake.

The Small Alley

Lake Scene

Lake Scene

This historic scenic area is called the ShiChaHai (什刹海). It was called the Riverbank (河沿) during the emperor ruling period and is located to the north-west of the Forbidden City. It consists of three lakes, the Xihai, the Houhai and the Qianhai.

Lake Scene

Tree combined with the rail

Lake Scene

Shichahai is a famous scenic area in the Beijing. These beautiful lakes are surrounded by big trees and some trees are really old that they are already combined with the rail at side of the lake. It is a leisure place to walk, jog, cycling, watching ducks swimming, tours with tricycle and there are also activities like boat peddling and electric-boat boating during summer. According to online information, you can even ice-skating on top of the lake surface in winter time.

Lake Scene

Boating

The tricycle

The Shichahai area used to be one of the important commercial districts. There are ten temples around the lake; this is how Shichahai got its name. Around the lake, there are also formal royal mansions and garden, and formal residences of some famous personages. The most well-known spot are the Price Gong Mansion (恭亲王府), Prince Chun Mansion (醇亲王府), formal residence of Soong ChingLing (宋庆龄故居), and the formal residence of Guo MoRuo (郭沫若故居).

Duck swimming and playing

Taichi

Lake Scene

Xihai is the lake first appears in front of us. There are duck swimming and playing on the water. There are people who doing the “blowing sugar” art called the ChuiTangRen (吹糖人). There are places to practice Taichi (太极拳) around the lake.

Lake Scene

ChuiTangRen Artist

My Little Sugar Cow

We walked along the side of the lake from Xihai all the way down to Qianhai. On the way, I bought the sugar cow made by the “Chui-tang-ren” men. However, this little sugar cow cannot even stay with until back to the hotel; it melted due to the hot weather. We passed by the famous bridge, YinDingQiao (银锭桥) on the way to dinner place.

YinDingQiao

YinDingGuanShan (银锭观山)

Bars Street

KaoRouJi

Around the lakes, besides the historic mansion and temples, there are also a lot of bars and famous old-timer restaurants along the HouHaiBeiYan, HouHaiNanYan, YanDaiXie Street (烟袋斜街), QianHaiDongYan, QianHaiBeiYan, and basically all the street along these lakes. We had our dinner in one of the famous restaurant – KaoRouJi (烤肉季).

Barbeque Lamb

Roasted duck meat slices

Roasted duck set

In Kaorouji, we ordered their famous dish, the barbeque lamb, and a roasted duck. This is still so far the nicest Peking Duck that I have had. Well, it is of cause not comparable to the one I had in KL or Australia Chinatown.

Sources, onion and cucumber

Roasted-duck-bone soup

The big rock - Shichahai

It is almost dark after the dinner. We continued our journey along the Qianhaibeiyan and the QianHaiXiYan towards the Tian’anmen West Street. There is a big rock there with Shichahai crafted on it. Here, there are a lot of tourists around taking photo and the night view of Qianhaixiyan is very beautiful.

The big rock - Shichahai

The Plague – LiangHuaShiChang (莲花市场)

The Price Gong Mansion

Before going back to our hotel, we took a walk to the Price Gong Mansion. Due to tight schedule, we never enter to the mansion, but just take a photo of the front door as remembrance. On the way, we passed by the formal residence of Guo MoRuo. We were so tired that day, really lot of walking. The scenes are so beautiful that we were not even feeling tired while walking.

The formal residence of Guo MoRuo

Reference Map:

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Xu Bei Hong Memorial Hall 徐悲鸿纪念馆

There are a quite a number of former residences of famous personages (名人故居) in Beijing. During the trip to Beijing, we visited a few of the former residences and some of those are already changed into memorial hall. On the fourth morning in Beijing, we took a visit to the XuBeiHong Memorial Hall (徐悲鸿纪念馆).

Xu Bei Hong Memorial Hall

Xu Beihong Memorial Hall is located at the XinJieKou North Street (新街口北大街) in XiCheng District (西城区) of Beijing. The memorial hall was first built in the Former Residence of Xu Beihong. Due to the development of the subway system, his former residence is demolished and the memorial hall is reconstructed at the current location.

Xu BeiHong’s Statue

They have Audio Guide device provided there. It acts as a tour guide in the memorial hall. It will play the corresponding audio when you are at different exhibition room. Visitor can choose from the available language shown on the information board. The charges for the device are quite affordable.

Memorial Hall Information Board

There are 7 exhibition rooms in the Xu Beihong memorial hall. In these exhibition rooms, they display the color ink paintings, oil paintings and sketches from each period of Xu’s studies till his career. In one of the exhibition room, it displays the photos and documentary of Xu Beihong’s life.

Memorial Hall Front Door

In the memorial hall, it also exhibited the Xu’s collections. The painting includes works from Tang’s dynasty till Qing’s dynasty. In these exhibitions, the most precious collection will be the Tang’s painting, the Eighty-seven Immortals (《八十七神仙图》), by Wu DaoZi (吴道子). There is a story behind about how he purchased this painting. You really have to visit the Xu Beihong Memorial Hall to see this real priceless painting.

Memorial Hall Sign Board

Ink Painting of Horses

Xu Beihong was one of the China’s most renowned modern art artists and educators. He was a master of both oils and Chinese ink paintings. He was expert in drawing galloping horses; his Chinese ink painting “Galloping Horse” (《奔马》) is very famous. His arts and paintings are rare masterpieces in China’s modern art history.

Steam Bun

The Making of Bun

Lamb Skewer

There are some restaurants along the XinJieKou North Street. We took bus from DengShiKou Steet to XinJieKouBei Bus Stop (新街口北站). We had lunch in one of the shop, they sell steam bun and roasted lamb skewer.

Travel Tips:

Xu Beihong Memorial Hall entrance fee: RMB 5

Address: No. 53 Xijiekou North Street, Xicheng District, Beijing China.

                 (中国北京市西城区新街口北大街53号)

Opening time: 9.00 – 16.00 (closed on Monday)

Nearby Xu Beihong Memorial Hall

Xihai (西海 “West Lake”), Houhai (后海),

Guo Shoujing Memorial Hall (郭守敬纪念馆),

Former Residence of Soong Ching Ling (宋庆龄故居)

Reference Map:

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Olympic Green Beijing 北京奥林匹克公园

On the late afternoon of our third day in Beijing, we took a visit to the Olympic Park. It is formally known as the Olympic Green (北京奥林匹克公园) in English. This Olympic park is constructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics Games hosted in Beijing.

The Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Ling Long Pagoda

Olympic Green is located about 8km away at the North on the center axis (中轴线) of Beijing city. It can be reached by Beijing subway Line 8, which is also known as the Olympic Branch Line (奥运支线). The subway Line 8 starts at BeiTuCheng Station (北土城站) which is connected to the subway Line 10. From south to north of subway Line 8, the stations in sequence are Beitucheng (北土城站), Olympic Sports Center (奥体中心站), Olympic Green (奥林匹克公园站) and Forest Park South Gate (森林公园南门站). It is very convenience to get to the Olympic Green as the line 10 is joined to most of the subway lines, i.e. line 1, line 4, line 5 & line 13.

Bird's-Nest Walking Path Light Design

The subway system in Beijing is growing fast in these few years. There are numbers of new subway lines which are coming up in the future years. To be safe, log on to the Beijing Subway official website for updated information, subway maps and travel tips.

The Bird’s Nest Stadium

There are a few signature buildings in the Olympic Green. The most popular one will be the Bird’s Nest (鸟巢). It is officially known as the Beijing National Stadium (国家体育场). The opening and closing ceremonies, Athletics, and football finals of the 2008 Summer Olympics are hosted here.

“Beijing Welcomes You”

(北京欢迎你)

The Bird’s Nest Stadium

Once exited from the Olympic Green Station, I can already see the Bird’s Nest. It is one of the magnificent structural designs of the 21st century. It looks just like a huge bird’s nest sitting on the ground. Visitors are allowed to go into the stadium for a visit with ticket. However, I feel it is enough to just walk around the square and get impressed by the buildings in the Olympic Green. It is impressive that Beijing had presented a grand Olympic Games with surprises to the whole world.

The Water Cube

- Behind is the PanGu 7 Star Hotel (盘古七星酒店) -

The Water Cube (水立方) is another signature attraction in the Olympic Green. It is also known as the Beijing National Aquatics Center (国家游泳中心). During the Games, most of the swimming and diving events were hosted here. It is located next to the Bird’s Nest on the west side. The Water Cube is nicer at night with the light effect. It is like a huge model of water molecule.

Water Cube at night

Bird’s Nest at night

As a suggestion, you should stay at the Olympic Green until the evening or make a visit at the evening, to take a look at the night light around the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. It is definitely worth visiting.

Ling Long Pagoda

Ling Long Pagoda at night

Ling Long Pagoda (玲珑塔) is another attraction in Olympic Green. During the Summer Olympics, it is used as a broadcasting device. It is a Multifunctional Studio Tower located on the northwest side of the Bird’s Nest. At night, the Ling Long Pagoda is lighted up and it is changing color. It is definitely a must see attraction in Beijing too.

Changing Color of the Ling Long Pagoda

Beijing National Indoor Stadium (国家体育馆)

Olympic Green Convention Center (国家会议中心)

The walking square

The square between the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube is a board and long walking plaza. It has strong wind at most of the time. With this superiority, kitting is one of the activities here. Kites with FuWa (福娃) printing, the mascots of the 2008 Olympics, are sold around the square. There are a couple of young men connected together a few string of the kites; they bind the kites with a long string; they let the kites flied up very high on the sky. I saw another group of people at the other side of the square near to the subway station; the women were dancing on the square whereas the men were playing the drum. People in Beijing really have their very unique and fascinating leisure activities.

Me kitting

High up in the sky

Security is very tight basically around everywhere in Beijing city. Security posts with metal detector and beg scanner are set at every entrance to the Olympic Green. It creates a save and secure environment for visitor as well as protection to the buildings and attractions from vandalism. The preventive action is very well done in Olympic Green.

Drum Deco near the Subway Station Entrance

The area developed for the Olympic Games is really very big. There are some other parts besides the stadiums, such as the Olympic Village (奥运村), a place for the athletes to stay, and the Forest Park (森林公园). They have their value of visiting for different people and purposes. In one word, Olympic Green is a recommended and a must-go location in Beijing.

Hope you like the way I shared the information and look up for my next blog for more on Former Residence of the Personage (名人故居).

Travel Tips:

Bird’s Nest entrance ticket price: RMB 50

Water Cube entrance ticket price: RMB 30

Beijing National Indoor Stadium ticket price: RMB 20

*reference price from 百度百科

Around Olympic Green:

Southern Area:

National Olympi Sports Center (国家奥林匹克体育中心),

Chinese Ethnic Culture Park (中华民族园),

Western Area:

Pangu Plaza (盘古大观),

Pangu 7 Star Hotel (盘古七星酒店),

Northern Area:

Olympic Village (奥运村),

Olympics Forest Park (奥林匹克森林公园),

Green Jade Park (碧玉公园),

National Zoological Museum (国家动物博物馆)

Reference Website:

Beijing Subway Official Website:

www.bjsubway.com

Reference Map:

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