As the weather gradually gets hotter, water-based tourism is a good choice for summer travel. Yongding River Leisure Forest Park is located on the left bank of Yongding River in the southwest of Shijingshan District, facing the Beijing Garden Expo Park across the river in the southwest and not far from attractions such as Yongding River Waterfront Forest Park. 

Yongding River Leisure Forest Park

The Yongding River Leisure Forest Park is located on the left bank of the Yongding River in the southwestern part of Shijingshan District, adjacent to the Beijing Garden Expo Park across the river. The park covers an area of 121 hectares and has been developed according to local conditions, featuring a landscape layout of "Two Cores" (the main entrance area of Zhenshuiniu Square and Yongding River Cultural Square), "One Belt" (riverside scenic belt), and "Ten Major Attractions" (such as Zhenshuiniu, Eighteen Deng, Begonia Valley, Taoli Garden, etc.). The layout has transformed the once sandy wasteland into a park with fresh air, birds singing, flowers blooming in three seasons, and evergreen foliage throughout the year.

The park is embellished with the connotation of Yongding River culture in the form of sculptures, stone monuments, scenic walls and pavements, and integrates the breath of culture in the harmonious and natural leisure environment, creating a fitness and leisure activity place for the general public to enjoy their body and mind, get close to nature and learn about the culture of Yongding River. The park has 6 kilometres of 5-metre wide asphalt road around the park, which can be used for activities such as walking and marathon races.

The park's artificial subsurface flow constructed wetland was completed and opened in 2022. The wetland is planted with more than 40 kinds of aquatic plants, and also serves as a habitat for a variety of birds, with views on all sides, complementing Lianshi Lake, Garden Expo Lake and Garden Expo Park.

Address: No.55 Jingyuan Lu (Rd), Shijingshan District, Beijing, China

Beijing Garden Expo Park

Beijing Garden Expo Park is located on the west bank of Yongding River in Fengtai District. The planning layout of the park is ‘one axis, two points, five gardens'. The ‘one axis' is the Garden Expo axis, which is the landscape axis running through the main exhibition area. The ‘two points' are Yongding Tower and Jinxiu Valley.

Yongding Pagoda is an antique tower in Liao and Jin style, 69.7 metres high, which is the landmark of the Park; Jinxiu Valley is the model of the Park's ‘transformation of decay into magic', which has turned a 20-hectare landfill pit into a sunken flower valley with a variety of flowers. The ‘five gardens' are the traditional exhibition garden, modern exhibition garden, creative exhibition garden, international exhibition garden and wetland exhibition garden, with a total of 69 exhibition gardens.

Address: No.15, Shejichang Lu (Rd), Fengtai District, Beijing, China

The Museum of Chinese Gardens and Landscape Architecture

The Museum of Chinese Gardens and Landscape Architecture is the first national museum in China with the theme of gardens. With the concept of ‘Chinese gardens - our ideal home', it is an important window to comprehensively display the long history, splendid culture, diversified functions and brilliant achievements of Chinese gardens, and is known as a ‘living' museum. It is regarded as a ‘living museum'.

The Museum of Chinese Garden and Landscape Architecture is mainly composed of exhibition halls, indoor exhibition gardens and outdoor exhibition areas. The exhibition hall consists of two basic displays, namely the Ancient Chinese Garden Hall and the Modern Chinese Garden Hall, and four thematic displays, namely the World Famous Garden Exhibition Hall, the Chinese Garden Culture Hall, the Chinese Gardening Techniques Hall and the Interactive Garden Experience Hall. The indoor exhibition garden captures the essence of southern gardens, with three garden landscapes: Chang Garden, Yuyin Garden, and Pianshi Garden. The outdoor exhibition area is composed of three northern gardens according to the topographical features, namely, Tower Shadow Garden, Ranxia Garden and Half Acre Garden, forming a unique style of having a pavilion inside the garden and a garden inside the pavilion.

The museum displays more than 200 kinds of plants and 10 kinds of rocks, reflecting the diversity of traditional Chinese gardens. The museum collects pottery, porcelain, wood, ancient books and other 16 categories of collections, belonging to a large span of years, a more complete display of the development of Chinese gardens.

Address: No.15, Shejichang Lu (Rd), Fengtai District, Beijing, China

Yongding River Waterfront Forest Park

Yongding River Waterfront Forest Park is located in the southeastern part of Mentougou District, which is naturally divided into the north and south by the line along West Chang'an Street, with an overall belt-like distribution. The park is planted with tall native trees such as white bark pine, oil pine, sophora japonica and ash, as well as shrubs and ground cover flowers such as lonicera maackii, lilac and cosmos, forming a landscape landscape with distinctive features throughout the year.

The park fully integrates green ecological resources and red cultural resources to create a landscape structure of forest and flower field recreation area, red imprint area of gate city, core area of forest and green by the stream, cultural experience area of Yilin, as well as thematic image area, educational science and technology area, and recreational green belt area. Landscape nodes such as the Departure Square, Journey Promenade, and the Star of Guidance have become landmarks for tourists along the way. There are walking paths and fitness tracks in the park, and street lights, landscape lights, leisure seats and other infrastructure are added along the walking paths and around the landscape plaza for the convenience of visitors' rest.

Address: Southwest of Yubinheyuan, Hedi Lu (Rd), Mentougou District, Beijing, China

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