Apart from the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, which you must pay a visit to when coming to Beijing, what are the other places of interest do you have on your list? After exploration, here are our suggestions for you! Olympic Forest Park and Yangshan Park are good places for relaxing walks. The Olympic Tower, Bird’s Nest and Water Cube have the most beautiful night views, and they are located on the same avenue. Also, the China Science and Technology Museum is known for its rich exhibitions and great technology experience! The most important thing is that these attractions locate very close to each other, and you can walk the whole journey.
Olympic Forest Park
The Olympic Forest Park is free of admission. There are a lot of people in the park every day. Running enthusiasts usually come in the morning and evening, and most of the rest are visitors. To be honest, you can hardly explore the whole Olympic Forest Park in one day by walking slowly!
As the largest urban green landscape in Asia, the park covers a total area of about 680 hectares, which is larger than the combination of the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace.
With the Fifth Ring Road as the boundary, the park is divided into the south and the north parts. The south park covers an area of about 380 hectares and is dominated by large landscapes such as Yangshan, Aohai, and man-made wetland.
The North Garden covers an area of about 300 hectares, with small stream landscapes such as Flower Fields, Yuyan Tower, and Big Tree Garden.
The ecological corridor across the Fifth Ring Road is China’s first cross-urban highway artificially simulated natural passage, connecting the north and south parks into one.
Here, you can stroll in the forest trails and breathe the natural fresh air in the bustling city. It is very suitable for taking pictures in summer, especially in a red dress, making you look gorgeous against the blue sky, white clouds and green trees!
If you put on your sports shoes and jog on the main road of the park surrounded by green trees and flowers, you will definitely enjoy the great fun of aerobic exercise!
The scenery of the Olympic Forest Park is different in the four seasons, and in summer, there are shadowy trees and Gesang flowers in full bloom. This year, due to the COVID-19, sunflowers were not planted on a large scale, so the scene is not as grand as previous years, but still not hinder the overall view!
Of course, the lotus in the Olympic Forest Park is also a highlight every summer. Now the lotus is in full bloom and mostly pink, both light and dark, always suitable with the scene.
The Olympic Forest Park is also a good place for bird watching.
Some birds stand in the shade of trees, some look around over the quiet lake. Both creating a vivid picture.
In the afternoon of mid-summer, it must be the most beautiful thing to relax in such a heaven-like scenery and absorb the sun and nutrients in summer.
Public transportation:
South Gate of the South Park: Get off at South Gate Station of the Olympic Forest Park, Metro Line 8
East Gate of the South Park: Get off at Yangshan Bridge South Station of BRT Line 3
East Gate of the North Park: Get off at Yangshan Bridge North Station of BRT Line 3
Self-driving route:
1) Take the Fourth Ring Road and drive 1.5 km along the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, and leave at the exit of Minzuyuan West Road/Beichen West Road at Jiande Bridge
2) Drive 30 m, turn left and enter the G6 side road
3) Drive 90 m along G6 side road, turn right into Minzuyuan West Road
4) Drive along Minzuyuan West Road for 380 m, pass Jingmin Building on the right for about 270 m, turn left into Beichen West Road
Address: No. 15 Beichen East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Olympic Tower
Next to the South Gate of the Olympic Forest Park is the Olympic Tower. The Olympic Tower is located at the northern end of the central axis condensing Chinese traditional culture, on the shore of Aohai Lake. The Olympic Tower is connected to the Olympic Park Central Axis Landscape Avenue on the west, Kehui Road on the north, Kehui South Road on the south, and the dragon-shaped water system of Hubin West Road on the east. It is a new landmark in Beijing.
The tower body is composed of five independent towers with a height of 186 m to 264.8 m, with a total construction area of 18,687 ㎡. Among them, the crown area of the tower is 5257 ㎡; the area of the tower base is 13,430 ㎡.
During major festivals, there are light shows on the Olympic Tower.
Transportation: Get off at Olympic Forest Park Station on Line 8 or Line 15
Address: No. 33, Kehui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Water Cube
The Water Cube, also known as the National Aquatics Center, is one of the landmark buildings of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, with a total construction area of about 100,000 ㎡. During the 2008 Olympic Games, the Water Cube undertook swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and other competitions, witnessing the birth of 42 Olympic gold medals. After the Olympic Games, the Swimming Centre not only undertakes major water competitions, such as the Paralympics, World Swimming, Diving Championships and various regular events, but also become a multifunctional international fashion centre integrating swimming, sports, fitness and leisure to improve the fitness of Beijing citizens.
The night view of the Water Cube is a beautiful landscape, attracting many people to come at night!
Transportation: Get off at Olympic Forest Park Station on Line 8 or Line 15
Address: No. 11 Tianchen East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Bird’s nest
The National Stadium is more generally called the Bird's Nest. It is the main stadium of the 29th Summer Olympic Games, covering an area of 20.4 hectares, with a construction area of 258,000 ㎡ and can accommodate 91,000 spectators. The Bird’s Nest is a super sports building project. Its main structure is designed for 100 years. The main structure is an elliptical bird’s nest formed by a series of steel trusses around a bowl-shaped seating area. It is 333 meters long from north to south and 296 meters wide from east to west.
It sits on a base platform that rises gently from the ground. On the north side of the base is a sunken warm-up venue, which is connected to the competition venue in the home court through the athlete channel. There are seven floors above the base of the stadium, with spectator service facilities, media work area, VIP reception area and business area. The three floors below the base are equipped with a zero-level internal loop, parking lot and a large number of functional rooms. The bowl-shaped stands are divided into upper, middle, and lower levels, and a box and seating area are set between the upper and middle stands.
Today, the Bird’s Nest is more of a place for people to visit. When in Beijing, you must include a photo with the Bird’s Nest! The night view here is extremely gorgeous, with lights shining on the buildings.
Transportation: Get off at Olympic Forest Park Station on Line 8 or Line 15
Address: No. 1, National Stadium South Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
China Science and Technology Museum
The China Science and Technology Museum is the only national-level comprehensive science and technology museum in China. It is a large-scale science popularization infrastructure that implements the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country with talents, and the innovation-driven development strategy to improve the scientific quality of the people.
The China Science and Technology Museum takes science education as its main function. It reflects scientific principles and technological applications through exhibitions and exhibits that combine science, knowledge, and interaction, and participation in experiential educational activities. It encourages the public to explore through practice, and not only popularize scientific knowledge, but also pay attention to the dissemination of scientific ideas, scientific methods and scientific spirit. While carrying out exhibition-based educational activities, it also organizes various scientific practices and training experiments to allow audiences to deepen their understanding and perception of science and technology through personal participation, stimulate interest and curiosity in science, and improve scientific quality in a subtle way.
The new China Science and Technology Museum is adjacent to the Asian Games residential area to the east, the Olympic water system to the west, the Olympic main stadium to the south, and the forest park to the north. The building of the new stadium is very distinctive. On the whole it is a large single cube. Several building blocks are interlocked with each other to make the whole building present a huge “Luban lock”, which is also like a magic cube, containing the meaning of “unlocking” and “exploring”. The new hall is equipped with five themed exhibition halls, “Science Paradise”, “Light of China”, “Exploration and Discovery”, “Technology and Life”, and “Challenges and the Future”, public space exhibition area and dome theatre, giant screen theatre, dynamic theatre, and 4D theatre, among which the dome theatre has both the functions of dome screen movie projection and the astronomical demonstration. In addition, the new hall has several laboratories, classrooms, science lecture halls, multi-function halls and short-term exhibition halls.
The permanent exhibition takes “Innovation • Harmony” as the theme, and aims to stimulate scientific interest and scientific concepts, and strive to create a platform for the public to learn science from practice, and guide the public into the process of exploring and discovering science through interaction and experience.
Basic display “Light of China”
The exhibition mainly introduces the ancient Chinese scientific and technological achievements to the public, and various precious exhibits can be found in different exhibition areas.
There are many inventions and creations recorded in the history of ancient China that not only changed the historical aspect of ancient Chinese society, but also promoted the development of world history and human civilization. The technological innovation exhibition area mainly displays ancient Chinese innovative inventions in the fields of mining, smelting, agricultural machinery, textile technology, construction, shipbuilding, and navigation, showing that technological innovation has promoted the prosperity and development of the country and the social economy. The main exhibits include the mining scene of the ancient mine of Tonglushan, various agricultural and hydraulic machinery, the spinning wheel, Dahualou loom, palaces and residential buildings, ancient city planning, ancient advanced navigation technology, etc.
The industrious and intelligent ancient Chinese working people have been constantly exploring the laws of nature, seeking for the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and have made great achievements in astronomy, physics, mathematics, biology, medicine and other disciplines, attracting the attention of the world. In the scientific exploration exhibition area, the exploration and achievements of ancient China in traditional Chinese medicine, astronomical calendar, ancient physics, and arithmetic are displayed to highlight the exploration spirit of the Chinese nation. The main exhibits include experiencing the “Four Diagnostics”, acupuncture and moxibustion bronze figure, diet and health preservation, ancient medicine shop, etc. in the Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine Zone; simple sphere, armillary sphere, water transport instrument observatory, Dengfeng observatory, etc. in the astronomical zone; the periscope, transparent bronze mirror, Jia Xian triangle, Pythagorean theorem, etc. in the physical mathematics zone.
In the course of the continuous development of the Chinese civilization, the Chinese nation has always maintained long-term and large-scale communications and interactions with other nations. With the theme of Sino-foreign scientific and technological exchanges and the “Silk Road” as the main line, the Civilization Exchange Exhibition Area shows the spread and influence of China’s major inventions such as papermaking, printing, gunpowder, and compasses. It also introduces the influence of other civilizations in the world on ancient China. The role of scientific and technological development highlights the spirit of tolerance and openness of the Chinese nation, allowing the audience to see the scientific and technological achievements of ancient China from the macro perspective of the world’s scientific and technological development.
The exhibition also provides a demonstration project, allowing visitors to participate in the experience at certain times.
“Exploration and Discovery”
The Exploration and Discovery Exhibition Hall is located on the second floor of the main exhibition hall, including two exhibition halls A and B. It mainly displays the exploration and discovery outcomes in the field of basic sciences in modern times, also reflecting the scientific ideas and scientific methods of mankind in the process of exploring science.
Hall A has five exhibition areas: the Magic of Matter, the Beauty of Light and Shadow, the Mystery of Electromagnetism, the Law of Motion, and the Wonder of the Universe. Hall B has three exhibition areas: the Charm of Mathematics, the Rhyme of Sound, and the Secret of Life, showing the exploration process and major achievements in the fields of chemistry, electromagnetics, optics, mechanics, astronomy, mathematics, acoustics, and life sciences, etc. A variety of display forms and interactive methods allow the audience to appreciate the spirit of science and enjoy the fun of exploration and discovery during their visit.
Hall A also has long-term experimental performances on electromagnetic performance and atmospheric pressure, as well as regular demonstrations of high-voltage discharge for the audience to choose from.
“Technology and Life”
The Technology and Life Exhibition Hall is located on the third floor of the main exhibition hall, including four exhibition halls, A, B, C and D. The items in the exhibition halls are closely related to our daily lives, including clothing, food, housing and transportation, showing how modern technology affects and changes people’s daily lives, as well as the technological innovation and development being created in our everyday lives.
Hall A has three exhibition areas: Food and Clothing are the First, Healthy Road and the Meteorological Journey. The Food and Clothing Exhibition takes agricultural life and pastoral scenery as the main design scenes, showing the audience the development status of China as a major agricultural country and guiding them to pay attention to agricultural issues. The Healthy Road exhibition area guides the audience to correctly understand health and advocate a healthy lifestyle in the form of a combination of human environment and living environment. The Meteorological Journey exhibition focuses on the development concept of “public weather, safe weather, and resource weather”, displaying ever-changing meteorological phenomena, different weather observation equipment, the production of weather forecasts, and the relationship between weather and people’s daily lives.
The Living Style in Hall B exhibits furniture and household appliances, clothing fabrics and processing technology, green housing, etc., and introduces the technology in daily home furnishing to the audience.
The Information Bridge exhibition in Hall C mainly displays the development history of information technology and the changes and impacts brought about by the progress of information technology to people’s lives.
Hall D is equipped with two exhibitions: Convenient Transportation and Ingenious Machine, which vividly and intuitively demonstrate the technical achievements in transportation and machinery through scene design, mechanism display and operation interaction.
Tips
Starting at 0:00 on July 20, the emergency response level for public health emergencies in Beijing has been adjusted from Level 2 to Level 3. Based on the current work condition, the China Science and Technology Museum has decided to resume its opening in an orderly manner starting from this Thursday (July 23) after discussion. The specific visit information is as follows:
1. Opening hours during epidemic prevention and control
Tuesday to Sunday 9:30-17:00 (check in stops at 16:30), Monday (except national holidays) closed.
2. Scope of opening during the epidemic prevention and control period
According to the current requirements for normalization of epidemic prevention and control and the actual condition of our museum, only the main exhibition hall is open to public currently. Exhibitions shown in relatively closed halls will not be open for the time being (specifically: Exploration and Discovery Hall A: Big Bang Creation, Space Roaming Colour House; Exploration and Discovery Hall B: 3D Surround Sound Effects, Magical Streets, Human Senses; Technology and Life Hall C: VR Theatre, Microscopic Exploration; Challenges and the Future Hall B: Undersea Theatre). At the same time, Hall B and D of “Technology and Life” and Hall A of “Challenges and Future” will continue to be closed for renovation.
3. Current crowd-limiting measures
The main exhibition hall has a limitation of 2,000 people, i.e. 1,000 people in the morning and afternoon. At the same time, in order to avoid excessive crowd measures will be taken to limit visitors in a timely manner based on the actual situation, and the security check will be performed according to the situation of the audience.
4. Appointment
① Make an appointment: Visitors must make an appointment (including free tickets) through the official website of the China Science and Technology Museum (www.cstm.org.cn) or the WeChat public account “China Digital Science and Technology Museum” at least one day before the admission date. No appointment is allowed on the day of the visit. The pre-sale period is 7 days. During the epidemic prevention and control period, only individual visitors can make appointments. Visitors (including free tickets) must provide real-name information (ID card information) when purchasing tickets. Ticket purchasing with passports are not currently supported. You can only by one ticket for each order (when you make a reservation for the free ticket for children in the main exhibition hall, you need to purchase an adult ticket or a free ticket for the elderly with guardianship, a ticket for active military personnel or a free ticket for the disabled). Visitors who have reserved free tickets for children can get their tickets at the manual window with the parent ID of the same order.
② Admission process: strictly follow the checking measures of the museum on the day of your visit. Visitors (including free tickets) should enter the museum in three steps: First, the ticket purchaser’s ID card and order information must be presented at the same time, those without ID cards or personal information will not be allowed to enter the museum; Second, enter the “Beijing Jiankangbao” app on WeChat or Alipay, scan the code on the spot, and enter the museum only after the result shows “no abnormality”; Third, accept security and temperature check, only those with normal body temperature are allowed to entry.
③ Check-in method: The real-name check-in system shall be implemented. Visitors (including free spectators) need to check in with their ID cards (students and free crowds need to show valid certificates of identities at the same time). Only “free tickets for children” will be checked as certificates of entry at the entrance.
5. Visiting instructions
① You must wear a mask during the entire visit, obey the instructions of the staff, and keep a distance of more than 1 meter to avoid gatherings.
② All on-site educational activities and scientific performances of exhibits will be suspended; active tutoring services will be suspended, and exhibition hall staff will only answer difficult questions raised by audiences while maintaining a safe distance.
③ When there is a large audience density in a certain area of the exhibition hall, our on-site staff will take relevant measures to divert and limit the flow, and audiences are requested to cooperate.
④ During the visit, if you feel unwell, please contact the exhibition hall staff in time.
⑤ Mobile phone charging, drinking water and catering services are also suspended.
⑥ Under the premise of strictly implementing the requirements for epidemic prevention and control, updated information can be found on our official website or WeChat public account “China Digital Science and Technology Museum”.
⑦ Tel: 010-59041000
Transportation: Take Metro Line 8 to the northeast exit of “Olympic Park” station, then walk north and then east for about 8 minutes;
Address: No. 5 Beichen East Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Yangshan Park
Everyone must be familiar with the Olympic Forest Park, but you may not know that there is a beautiful treasure - Yangshan Park hiding not far away from it.
Yangshan Park is located at the southeast corner of Yangshan Bridge, North Fifth Ring, Chaoyang District, Beijing. It is a mayor forest planted by 100 mayors across China for the Olympic Games.
Entering the park from the west gate, you will find a small square. There are 12 stone pillars juxtaposed on both sides of the square with various patterns carved on them.
Walking along the forest path into the depths of the park, you will find that a variety of sculptures make up the biggest landscape in the park. Most of them are based on animals, beautiful and vivid.
A pair of lover cats stand next to each other, with happy and interesting expressions. Docile deer, fierce lion, and the love of licking the calf is beyond words, which is very touching touching.
In addition to the animal ones, there is also a sculpture that is very peculiar and beautiful - two girls who are immersed in reading. Through the gap of the sculpture, they can see their focused silhouettes, forming a beautiful picture.
In the middle of Yangshan Park, there is a large artificial lake called Yangshan Lake. The lake has an area of several hundred acres and the water surface is wide. The lake is as quiet as a mirror, reflecting the weeping willows on the shore, the small islands in the lake and the lakeside pavilions.
There is also a beautiful waterside peninsula in the middle of the lake, which is particularly beautiful under the sunset. Strolling among them, the stone animals among the weeping willows on the shore set off the atmosphere of the surrounding environment and set off the beautiful lakeside scenery, becoming a highlight of Yangshan Park.
There are few tourists in the park, and the environment is very quiet. Walking across a small bridge on the stream, wondering here is like being in a paradise.
Transportation: Take the bus 430/569/751 and get off at Xindiancun Station and the Park is within walking distance.
Address: No. 30, Anli Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing (between Yangshan Bridge and Beiyuan Bridge)
