Things to Do in Northern China

Built in 1984 on the site of a former imperial palace, Beijing’s Chaoyang Park is the largest park in the city and a great place to spend a morning or afternoon relaxing or people watching. The 714-acre (289-hectare) space includes 20 designated scenic spots as well as the venue for the 2008 Beijing Olympics beach volleyball competition.

The park is divided into several themed areas. You’ll find a collection of European-style fountains and sculptures in Art Square, aquatic plants and trees in Ecological Valley and wild ducks on Binshui Island on Lotus Lake. The beach volleyball venue was converted into a bathing beach after the Olympics, complete with white sand imported from Hainan.

Besides the usual park activities, you can rent bicycles and a variety of boats for exploring the 168-acre (68-hectare) lake situated within the park. You’ll also find facilities for basketball and a few amusement park rides geared toward kids.

Beijing has modernized so rapidly that it’s hard to imagine what it must have been like in decades past. One neighborhood, however, has managed to hold on to its old-style hutong architecture: the Back Lakes (Hou Hai or Houhai). Named after the three Shichahai lakes in the area, the Back Lakes neighborhood is one of the last remaining places in Beijing where you can see traditional courtyard-style houses.

While wandering the hutongs allows visitors to see Beijing as it once was, the streets surrounding the lakes, particularly Hou Hai (the largest of the three) show you a modern, hip and multicultural side of Beijing. The banks are lined with shop, stalls, restaurants, bars and hookah dens catering to tourists, locals and the city’s sizable expatriate population alike, making it a fun and bustling place to browse for souvenirs. The breeze from the lake offers a respite from the heat, and boating activities are also available on the lake itself.

The best way to enjoy the Back Lakes area is to take a pedicab tour of the old hutong neighborhoods in the afternoon. Afterward, take a leisurely walk around the lake before settling in to a table at a restaurant or bar balcony for dinner and drinks as you watch the world go by.

Niaochao, more commonly referred to as the Beijing National Stadium or the Bird’s Nest, was designed and constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and has since become a major landmark in China’s capital. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei consulted on the Swiss-designed project, and the result cost $423 million to complete.

Since the Olympics ended, the stadium has served as a tourist attraction and a venue for both international and domestic sporting competitions, including the Supercoppa Italiana and the China Cup. The stadium is set to host the 2015 World Championships in Athletics as well.

Niaochao is most impressive from the outside, where it’s bird’s nest shape is apparent. Situated on the Beijing Olympic Green, Niaochao is free to enjoy from the outside, but you’ll have to pay a fee if you want to enter the stadium. The Water Cube, the second prominent structure from the 2008 Olympics, sits adjacent to Niaochao and is also worth a visit.

The Beijing Capital Museum, opened in 1981 and moved to its current location in 2006, houses a sizable collection of imperial Chinese art and artifacts, as well as Buddhist relics from several Asian countries. Five aboveground and two basement floors house more than 200,000 specimens, including over 5,000 pieces in the main exhibition hall alone. You’ll find bronze, ceramics, calligraphy, paintings, old coins, jade sculptures, Buddhist statues and textiles, with the oldest pieces dating back to the New Stone Age.

Be sure to visit the second floor History and Culture of Beijing gallery that traces the history of the city from its first primitive residents to a modern capital. Learn more about the culture in Old Beijing in the fifth floor Folk Customs of Old Beijing exhibit. The jade exhibit, also on the fifth floor, contains nearly 200 intricately carved jade pieces with magnifying glasses to allow you to see the detail.

If you’re planning to see a Chinese acrobatics show while in China -- and you should, since the young acrobats here are wildly talented -- Beijing’s Chaoyang Theatre is one of the best places to do so. Young acrobats from across the country perform in the theater, spinning plates, balancing on precarious stacks of chairs, riding motorcycles upside down in a steel cage and performing other seemingly impossible feats of athleticism and strength.

More than 3 million foreign tourists have seen the performance over the course of its two-decade run in the Chaoyang Theatre. Performances last one hour and are typically held twice daily. Since the performances are largely visual, the language barrier isn’t an issue. Plan to take the metro to and from the show, as getting a taxi after a performance can be quite a feat.

Located in northwest Beijing, 798 Art Zone occupies a decommissioned military factory from the 1950s that now houses an edgy artistic community. The Communist-era factories and warehouses of the complex have all been converted into galleries, studios, boutique shops and cafes whose modern and sometimes whimsical contents sit in stark contrast to the austere Bauhaus architecture.

Give yourself at least half a day to explore the 798 Art Zone. Start with the eclectic collection of sculptures, photographs and paintings at the Long March Space, one of the best collections in the area. Other notable galleries include the Chinese Contemporary with its politically minded collection, the 798 Photo Gallery and 798 Space, one of the largest galleries in the area.

Read up on art history at the well-stocked Time Zone 8 bookstore before stopping in at one of the cafes and restaurants in the district for lunch or a cup of coffee. If possible, time your visit to the 798 Art Festival in spring or the 798 Creative Art Festival in fall.

Nowhere is China’s rapid modernization more apparent than in Beijing at the China World Trade Center. Completed in 2010, the complex houses Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, the China World Trade Center Tower III, as well as upscale hotels, shopping complexes, apartments, convention space and office buildings.

The entire complex is also representative of China’s opening relations with the rest of the world. The China World Mall, located within the China World Trade Center, was one of the first places to sell imported brand name good in the country. The China World Exhibition Hall has hosted several high-profile trade shows since its opening.

From a tourist perspective, the China World Trade Center is perhaps best known as the home of the China World Hotel, Shangri-La's Beijing luxury accommodation offering. For shopping enthusiasts, the China World Mall houses an ice skating rink as well as retailers for brand names like Cartier, Prada, Gucci and E. Zegna.

Situated within the Beijing Zoo, the Beijing Aquarium (Beijing Haiyangguan) is the largest inland aquarium in China and home to an impressive range of aquatic animals. The complex houses an Amazon rainforest pavilion where you can see live piranha and 100 other species of fish, a coral reef, a shark aquarium and a few marine mammal areas complete with sea lion and dolphin shows daily.

The 39-yard-long (36-meter) touch pool contains a variety of urchins and starfish, and 32 other tanks throughout the aquarium house sharks, sea turtles, jelly fish and other colorful sea creatures.

You can purchase tickets for the Beijing Aquarium at the zoo’s ticket counter. If you don’t mind missing the dolphin show, use that time to explore the museum when some 3,000 other visitors are crowded into the stadium.