A Stroll in Purple Bamboo Park, A Taste of Leisure Life

　　When someone mentions the Purple Bamboo Park, your first impression might be those elderly people doing morning exercise. Perhaps you don’t know that it used to be Chinese emperors’ temporary dwelling place and monastery. Now please follow me into the park!

　　Before entering the park, let me talk about how it got the name “Purple Bamboo”.

　　As far as I know, in the northwestern side of the park, there stood an imperial temple called “Purple Bamboo Temple in Bliss”，afterwards the government named the park after it. According to some historic records, the history of “Purple Bamboo Temple” could be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty, in both Ming and Qing Dynasties the temple was also the place where the imperial family took a rest and waited to transfer boats during their boat trip to the Western Hills. In the northeastern side of the park, an ancient stone wharf has been preserved up till now.

　　Nowadays this Purple Bamboo Park has become the first choice when residents nearby need to find a place for doing exercise. You can see people strolling or jogging down a pedestrian path, or ladies dancing together, or gentlemen singing loud, sometimes even ladies reading poems passionately and an old guy playing the erhu alone by the lake. Anyway you can feel the fun of life everywhere in the park.

　　Every morning in the park, there’ll be a spectacular scene of many strollers doing different kinds of exercises along the pedestrian paths. The water area covers about one third of the park’s whole area, forming a basic layout consisting of 3 lakes, 2 islands, 1 dike, 1 river and 1 water channel, landscaped with groves of bamboos as the main feature. You may feast your eyes on surrounding beautiful views while walking around the park, it’s totally like “Getting the Best of Both Worlds”.

　　I have a kind reminder: Remember to stretch fully every joint of your body before walking fast and vigorously. After you finish, do not take a rest immediately, just take 10 more minutes to stretch the lumbar and hip muscles in order for your metabolic waste to discharge properly.

　　Still remember the “Purple Bamboo Temple in Bliss” that I mentioned earlier? Now the temple still stands in the northwestern side where it used to be, it’s accessible down the pedestrian path on the right from the east entrance gate. In 1990, it was invaded and ransacked by the Eight-Nation Alliance. In Nov, 2010, on the basis of previous archaeological excavation, official restoration project got launched, the whole work completed in Aug, 2012.

　　The restored “Purple Bamboo Temple in Bliss” is comprised of 2 major constituent parts, one is a dwelling palace called Xinggong, the other is a monastery called Chanyuan, important constructions are Favor-returning House, Front Hall, Covered Corridor, East and West North-facing Houses, etc..

　　How do you like it so far? The Purple Bamboo Park, with such a profound cultural background and long history, is right here waiting for you. Just a pick a day to experience the fun and leisure for yourself!

　　Opening Hours: 6:00-20:00 (Winter); 6:30-21:00 (Summer)

　　Ticket Price: For Free

　　Address: #35, Zhongguancun South Street, Haidian District, Beijing

　　Traffic Routes: subway route #4, #9 to the Station of National Library of China, or bus route #332, 653, express bus route #105 to the Station of National Library of China

　　Tel: 010-88412894

　　Resource:www.beijing-haidian.com

Best places to see autumn leaves in Beijing

　　Situated in the east part of western hills, 28 kilometers (17 miles) northwest of the city, it is very large, made up of hills and forest covering 160 hectares (395.4 acres). Both its natural sceneries and cultural relics are abundant. Xianglu Peak (Incense Burner Peak), 557 meters (1827.4 feet) high, is its highest peak. 

　　Best places to see red leaves:

　　1. Tranquility Green Lake (Jingcui Lake) - Walk 5 minutes from the east gate, you will arrive in the lakeside. It is the nearest from the entrance. The lake area is surrounded by hills in three directions, so, you need to find a good point of view to see and take pictures.

　　Best time to see red leaves: circa October 25 - November 9

　　2. Fragrant Hills Temple (Xiangshan Temple)

　　The temple is in the south hill foot close to Shuangqing Villa. First built in Tang Dynasty, the temple is the origin of Fragrant Hill's culture. Be cautious of many steps in this area.

　　Best time to see red leaves: circa October 18 - November 2

　　3. Heshun Gate:

　　It is on the south hillside, 300 meters above the ground. It is close to the red leave trees.

　　Best time to see red leaves: circa October 25 - November 9

　　4. Yuhua Xiu:

　　This is the largest flat area in it and the road to it from the east gate is even, within 20 minutes' walk along the middle road. There is broad field of vision.

　　Best Time to see red leaves: October 18 - November 4

　　5. Xiangwu Ku (literally Fragrant Mist Cave)

　　It has classical garden environment on the hillside. It takes over half an hour to climb up to this place.

　　Best time to see red leaves: October 15 - November 4

　　Recommended red leaves watching routes:

　　Route 1: East gate - Jingcui Lake - Shuangqing Villa - Xiangshan Temple - Heshun Gate - hill top

　　Tips: The route takes about two hours. Need to climb up the hill.

　　Route 2: East gate - Yuhua Xiu - Xiangwu Ku - hill top

　　Tips: This is a meek route and suitable for family going together.

　　Route 3: North gate - cable car station - hill top

　　Tips: It is 5 minutes' walking distance from the north gate southward to the cable car. By cable, you can get to the hill top nearly 20 minutes later. You can have a bird-eye view of Biyun Temple (Temple of Azure Clouds) and overlook the red leaves afar.

 　　Source: Visit Haidian

The Fragrant Hills Park in Beijing

Fragrant Hills Park covers a large area with abundant natural sceneries and cultural relics. Situated in the east part of western hills, 17 miles (28 kilometers) northwest of Beijing City[Haidian district], it is made up of hills and forest which covers 400 acres (162 hectares), with the Xianglu Peak (Incense Burner Peak), 1,830 feet (558 meters) high, which is its highest peak.

　　In 1186 in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), Fragrant Hills Park was first built and later in the Yuan and Ming dynasties was extended to a large scale.  In 1745, Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) ordered people to build many new halls, pavilions and gardens and gave the Park a new name, Jingyi Garden (Garden of Tranquility and Pleasure).  In 1860 and 1900 after the Summer Palace and the Yuanming Yuan (the Old Summer Palace) were unfortunately set on fire, foreign troops damaged lots of relics in the Fragrant Hills.  Since 1949, under restoration and development by Chinese government for half a century, it has been regarded as one of the ten most famous parks in Beijing City.

The red smoke tree leaves over the mountains is the most spectacular natural scenery in the Fragrant Hills Park. When autumn arrives, fiery red leaves blanket the entire mountain. Thousands of visitors come to it every year. People can take the cable cars to see the beautiful scenes. 

There are two main routes for visitors to explore the park

The first one is to go along the north route, where visitors will see Spectacles Lake (Yanjing Lake), Study of Reading Heart (Jianxin Zhai), Bright Temple (Zhao Miao), etc. Spectacles Lake is a lake divided half by a bridge. Study of Reading Heart was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was noted as the park inside it. Bright Temple is a large Tibetan style lamasery complex built in 1780 as the residence for the sixth Panchen Lama during his visits to Emperor Qianlong. Buildings in the complex have partially been burned down. Among the surviving treasures are a majestic glazed-tiled archway in front of the complex, a Tibetan style terrace and a glazed-tiled pagoda. Bells hung on the eaves of the pagoda chime in breeze.

　　The second route takes visitors to the south area of Fragrant Hills Park. Main attractions along the route include Tranquility Green Lake (Jingcui Lake), Shuangqing Villa, Fragrant Temple, Incense Burner Peak, etc. This route is a little hard for the highest peak, Incense Burner Peak. However it is worthwhile to try. One of the 'must see' points of interest is the Shuangqing Villa, which is attractive not for its natural beauty but more for its place in Chinese history - it was once the residence of Chairman Mao Zedong as well as an early sight for the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

The alluring beauty of it for you to appreciate all it has to offer.

Recommended red leaves watching routes: 

　　Route 1: East gate - Jingcui Lake - Shuangqing Villa - Xiangshan Temple - Heshun Gate - hill top

　　Tips: The route takes about two hours. Need to climb up the hill.

　　Route 2: East gate - Yuhua Xiu - Xiangwu Ku - hill top

　　Tips: This is a meek route and suitable for family going together.

　　Route 3: North gate - cable car station - hill top

　　Tips: It is 5 minutes' walking distance from the north gate southward to the cable car. By cable, you can get to the hill top nearly 20 minutes later. You can have a bird-eye view of Biyun Temple (Temple of Azure Clouds) and overlook the red leaves afar.

　　Transportation:

　　By Bus:

　　Take bus 563, 318, 360 Express, 714, 698, 331, 360, 696, 630 and get off at Xiang Shan Station.

　　By Subway:

　　Take Subway Line 4 to Beigongmen Station and get off from Exit A. Then transfer to bus 331 or 696 to Xiangshan Station.

　　Tickets:Admission Fee:

　　Apr.1 to Nov.15: CNY 10; Nov.16 to Mar.31: CNY 5

 

　　Biyun Temple: CNY10

　　Cable Car: CNY 60 for single trip (CNY 20 for children below 1.2 meters)

　　Opening Hours:April 1 - June 30: 06:00 to 18:30

　　July 1 - August 31: 06:00 to 19:00

　　September 1 - November 15: 06:00 to 18:30

　　November 16 - March 31: 06:00 to 18:00

        Resource:www.beijing-haidian.com