Beijing: Peonies in Jingshan Park

Covering a total area of over 200,000 square meters and located in the north gate of Forbidden City, Jingshan Park is home to more than 2,000 stunning peony plants from 300 varieties. Standing in the Pavillion of Everlasting Spring, on the top of the manmade hill, you will have the best view of Beijing City. Every year from late April to early May, an extensive land of peonies are in full bloom, providing you a stunning feast for your eyes.

 In Chinese history, peonies have been highly valued because of their large blossoms and noble appearance. They are embodied with the wishes of nobleness and auspiciousness. Except the peony garden, there are other plants brought in from the ancient capital of Luoyang, which is famous for its peonies, as well as Shandong and Shaanxi provinces which is famous for the Terra-Cotta Warriors, a must-see attraction if you have a Xian tour.

On May 1 in this year, I joined a Beijing Xian tour, I was so lucky to see the spring peony festival in Jingshan park. It was really spectacular! If you are a flower lover, Jiangshan Park is a place which is very worthy visiting.

Beijing: Summer Evening of Houhai Lake

Time went silently, as it always does. The more and more cold weather indicates that winter arrives earlier this year. Compared to the chilly winter, I prefer the hot summer more. In summer evening, soft breeze brings a slight coolness and softs my restless mood, making me feel comfortable. Today, when I flicked through the previous photos, I saw a series of photo taken in Houhai two months ago occasionally, which reminded me of my memory about Beijing Xian tour days.

In September, I went to Houhai with my brother. I was curious about the name “Houhai(“Hou” means “back ”in Chinese)”, so I jocked: “ Since there is a Houhai, then is there a place called ‘Qianhai(“Qian” means “Front”)’?” When I was back home, I searched the question on Baidu, the largest Chinese-language search engine, there was a word saying that: “ Standing on Yinding Bridge, the lake on your left hand is Qianhai, and the the lake on your right hand is Houhai.

Although Houhai is located in downtown area, it is never influenced by the towering buildings around. Boats are floating on the medium-sized lake, with weeping willow swaying slightly, it provides you a good place to relax yourself, while the pubs along the bank are full of noises, which reminds me of the bar street of Amsterdam. After that, my brother and I continue our Xian tour to see the Terracotta Warriors and Horses.

A Leisurely Trip in Manchuria

Many years ago, Manchuria was called “Helejin Prague” by Mongolian, which means “exuberant spring” in Chinese. This ancient name reminds me a gorgeous picture in my imagination: deep in the Prairie, there are freshening springs, carefree cows and sheep; looking upon the sky, you can even listen to the whisper of white clouds. However, after the change towards modern in hundreds of years, those picturesque sceneries have disappeared, instead is modern buildings, quiet but busy, gorgeous but also pristine.

If you travel to the city, you will find that Manchuria is a delicate and cabinet city. Out of the city, there are boundless grass and flowers; inside the city, bright streets present in front of you. In Manchuria, you can not only come across many Russians, but also appreciate the buildings of ancient Greece and Roman. During the hundreds of years, the footprints in this city have witnessed the cultural and economic cooperation. The stores here are very special for the door is crowded with Chinese characters, Russian language and Mongolian language, but the Russian language occupies most of the position. Placed yourself in such a city, you will feel that you have entered an exotic, faraway place when you are used to thousand cities with same face. One word, the little city-Manchuria, will bring you a totally different surprise.

Xinjiang: Turpan

Turpan is located at eastern basin od Tianshan and is an important passage of transportation and trade between Xinjiang Province, Middle Asia region and China’s inland. Covering a total area of 70,000 square kilometers, Turpan governs Turpan City, Shanshan County and Toksun County, and possesses 26 towns, with a total population of 559,000, among which Uyghur people account for 77.1 percent and Han people takes up 22.9%. Endowed with unique climate and abundant resources, Turpan has three advantages:

First, rich light and heat resource. The weather here is dry and rainless, specifically with average annual rainfall being about 16mm, and evaporation being 3,600 mm, it receives abundant sunlight. The sunlight duration for the whole year is as long as 3,200 hours, and its frost-free days are as long as 210 days. Turpan is called the Land of Fire, which was derived from the intense summer temperature, the highest ever recorded was 47.5℃ and in summer the ground surface temperature is about 70℃. The good light and heat conditions and unique climate enable Turpan to be teemed with economic crops like grapes, cantaloupes, long-staple cotton and anti-season vegetables.

Second, abundant mineral resources.

Third, various tourist resources. Turpan now has 6 key cultural relics conservation, 23 autonomous region-level cultural relic conservations. Its richness of tourist resources rank the first in Xinjiang Province.Turpan is famous for its grapes produce. since 1990, the Grape festival held in the city becomes a great attraction not only to business people, but people from all over the world.

　　

Shandong Rongcheng: Yanduijiao — a romantic place for swans

Every winter, flocks of swans and wild ducks fly from the northern Siberia to Yanjiaodui one after another. Thousands of white swans land softly on the lake,making the lake a vast whiteness. They spend the winter in foraging, playing on the lake.

Yanduijiao is a small seaside village. In Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), in order resist aggression from Japanese, navies built a smoke mound (“Fengyandui” in Chinese ). When Japanese invaded, the smoke mound would be fired as the signal to inform the force, hence the name Yanduijiao. The hill in the east blocks the waves of the Yellow Sea, therefore a small shallow harbour is formed. With the tide’s ebb and flow, it brings abundant food to the swans, at the same time, it also provides the best chance to visit swans at a close distance.

The 500 households live harmoniously with these swans generation by generation, and people see them as their own domestic fowls and would feed the swans with their food. Here, swans are not afraid of human beings. Each time when seeing someone sprinkle food on the sea, these swans would fight against with each other for the food just like naughty boys. If there are swans get injured, villagers would bandaged the wound and take care of them for a while till they get recovery and go back to their home again.

Sichuan: Huajiao Mountain

Located not far west from Pingle Ancient Town, Huajiao Mountain is surrounded by a vast bamboo-sea. At the mountain top, there is a tea garden which was presented by Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty as “the No.1 Garden in the world”. Driving through the luxuriantly green bamboo sea, you can hear the stream gurgling and see some Shanxi residences scattering among the bamboo forest, which outlines a idyllic life picture scroll. The quiet and simple life persuaded me that it was the arcadia described in the prose of Tao Yuanming, a famous poet in Eastern Jin Dynasty(316-420).

It was April 5, Chinese Qingming Festival(Tomb-sweeping Day), cloudy. The mountain was overcast by morning fog and the damp air lingered on everything. When taking a gulf of breath, you would feel your body got humid. A small piece of rape flower jumped into my view from the gaps of the bamboo forest.

The Gorgeous Hulun Buir Grassland

There are mangy touching stories spreading among the local people, but the most touching one is about the love story of Hulun and Buir.

A long time ago, there is a couple in the Mongolian tribe, the girl named Hu Lun and the young man named Buir. One day, the demon Mang Gusi lead other evil spirits to the grassland and declared a war. With the two magical bright green pearls on his head, Mang Gusi destroyed the grassland. The rivers are sucked up to dry, and the green grass became withered and yellow, and the domestic animals to die. The demon even released black fog to blackmail Hu Lun. In order to save back the grassland and his beloved girl, he decided to fight against the demon Mang Gusi. Hu Lun pretended to please Mang: “If you give me one pearl on your head, I will do whatever you ask me to do later.”After hearing that, Mang Gusi was very happy and got complacent. He gave one pearl to Hu Lun. Hu Lun knew that one pear can produce plenty of water, so she put the pearl into her mouth without hesitation. Then a vast lake appeared in front of her. Mang was shocked by the scene before him. With only one pearl on his head, Mang’s magical power decreased. Buir then shot Mang dead with arrows.Buir captured another pearl, and then looked after Hu Lun in buoyancy only to know that Hu Lun had became the Goddess to moistening the grassland. Buir once swore that he would be always there for Hu Lun, so he swallowed the pearl. Then another lake appeared in the south of Hulun Lake. The local people later called the two lakes Hulun Lake and Buir Lake respectively in memory of them.

It is the beautiful story about Hulun Lake and Buir Lake. Believe it or not, as for me, I choose to believe.

Xian,China

Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, is situated in the fertile Wei River Valley. One of the few Chinese cities where the ancient fortress walls can still be seen. Xi'an dates back more than 3, 000 years and has an impressive collection of archaeological relies to help explain its rich history. Formerly known as Chang'an ("Eternal Peace"), the city of Xi'an had served as a capital under 13 dynasties Xi’an is best known as within the local arts and crafts community for its thriving archaeological reproductions industry, which features painted Neolithic pottery; life-size Qin terra-cotta figures, glazed Tang funeral wares, and Tang tomb murals. A wide variety of folk crofts is also produced in the region, including needlework, ceramics, paper cuts, and rubbing (made from the impressions of stone carvings). China had 231 emperors and one ruling empress, 79 of whom were buried in Shaanxi. One imperial mausoleum in Shaanxi, which appears to most of visitors, is the Qiauling Tomb where Wu Zetian. China's only ruling empress, and her husband Li Zhi. who was Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. were buried. Other prime scenic spots include the Vaults of First Emperor Qin Shihuang's Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses acclaimed as the "eighth wonder of the world, " Huaqing Hot Springs known as "Star Pool" in the Zhou Dynasty 2, 800 years ago. the Neolithic Banpo Museum with a history of 6, 000 years--an important excavated restored Neolithic Chinese: village, the China's best-preserved City Wall built in the early Ming Dynasties(1368-1644), the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was erected in 652, the Forest of Steles, the largest stone library in China and also called a treasure house of Chinese calligraphy with a super collection by famous calligraphers from Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) to Qing Dynasty (1644-191 l).