Duration: 2-3 hours
Price Guide: 3 RMB
Last Reviewed:

This is a modern-style tour or you could call it a skyscrapers tour. If you like city views, do not miss this tour. You will feel like you’re a part of modern and fashionable Beijing.

Yonganli subway station

Coming out from Yonganli subway station, you will find yourself in the Guiyou Department Store.

The Yonganli subway station was built inside of Guiyou Department Store. You won’t miss this store because you have to pass through it. It is an old and famous department store, which is known particularly for its range of shoes and bags. But please remember, you cannot bargain in this department store. Guiyou Department Store is the start of Beijing new CBD.

After shopping in the Guiyou Department Store, walk backward. If you see a Starbucks Coffee shop on your left hand side, it means you’re heading in the right direction. Keep walking in this direction for about 20 minutes; you will see part of a crossover bridge. On your left hand side, you will see the old symbol of Beijing CBD, the World Trade Centre.

The World Trade Centre is one of the eldest skyscrapers in Beijing CBD. Beijing CBD was re-planned by the Beijing government at 2003. Before that, the CBD boundary was very vague. The World Trade Centre is a chocolate-coloured twin building. You won’t miss it as it’s the only chocolate-coloured building in the CBD area.

The buildings opposite the World Trade Centre are called Jianwai SOHO.

They were invested in by China’s famous real-estate businessman Pan Shiyi. Jianwai SOHO is famous in the Beijing CBD because it comprises more than 20 buildings all built in the same style. Each building in Jianwai SOHO has at least 50 levels. The style of the whole buildings is simple, modern. All the buildings are white. So when you see an area of white buildings, you know you are in Jianwai SOHO.

After visit Jianwai SOHO, don’t move. Just stand at the corner of this crossroad.

The place you are standing is the centre of Beijing CBD. It’s a transport centre, including subway, buses and private cars. It’s also the centre of business. It’s full of business buildings at the four corners of the crossroad. The rentals are also the highest, up to almost 20,000 RMB per square. Some of them are rented in American dollars.

Crossing the street, you can wait for bus 412 at the bus stop opposite to Jianwai SOHO. Or you can keep walking along in the direction of World Trade Centre. I suggest you walk because it is very easy to get lost in this area. Keep walking for about 15 minutes; you will see a light-blue glass skyscraper standing at the corner of another crossroad. That’s Jingguang Centre.

Jingguang Centre was built in the 1980s by a Japanese architect. It was the city’s first building designed by a foreign architect. It was, for a while, the most modern and highest skyscraper in Beijing. After that, there are many skyscrapers broke that record, but Jingguang Centre will always be the first.

If you are facing Jingguang Centre, keep walking along on your left hand side. When you reach another crossroad, you will see a huge department store – the Blue Island Department Store – at the opposite corner.

Blue Island Department Store was the first department store in CBD area and was built in 1990. Now Blue Island Department Store is a pretty expensive store – and you cannot bargain in it.

Duration: More than 3 hours
Price Guide: 1RMB
Last Reviewed:

Are you ready for an exciting ancient architecture tour? In this tour, you will visit the most famous ancient buildings in Beijing, of which the oldest dates back to the 15th Century. Please remember to wear comfy shoes. It might be a long day, but there are lots of things to see.

Tiananmen Square

Start from the south of Tiananmen Square, and walk north, towards the Tiananmen Gate, the building that has a large picture of Chairman Mao. Your first stop is exactly where you are standing, Tiananmen Square.

Tiananmen Square is the political centre of all of China. It is the biggest inner-city square in the world at 440,000 square metres. Tiananmen Square is built highly symmetrical. It used to be part of the corridor towards the Forbidden City, called the Thousand Steps Corridor. In 1950, the Chinese government changed it create the biggest square in the world.

The direction is towards to the centre of Tiananmen Square. There is a huge rectangle building, called Mao Ze Dong Memorial Hall.

The Mao Ze Dong Memorial Hall was built in 1977. Mao Ze Dong is the first Chairman in the People Republic of China (PRC). He is considered as a great hero in China. If you visit this Hall, you will learn something about this great man and the most attractive point is his real body in a crystal coffin.

If you look left from Mao Ze Dong Memorial Hall, you will see famous the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was built in 1959. At the back of the hall is the great hall which can hold 10,000 people. The banqueting hall in the north has 5000 seats. The National People’s Congress is held here each March. It is used as concert hall sometimes, but just for the highest level concerts.

On the right-hand side of Mao Ze Dong memorial Hall is the National Museum of China. Cross the street, you will be there.

The building was built in 1959 and became a museum from 2003. The National Museum of Chinese History has more than 3,000,000 precious articles which provide a vivid portrayal of Chinese history. In the National Museum of the Chinese Revolution there are displays of over 4500 articles, including literature, pictures, drawings and sculptures.

No matter which building you are at now, keep walking to the ancient gate that has Chairman Mao’s picture on it. That is the final attraction at Tiananmen Square.

Tiananmen Gate is the southern gate of the Forbidden City. It was built in 1417 during the Ming dynasty. There is a river in front of Tiananmen Gate, called Golden River and the marble bridges that cross the river are called the Golden River Bridges.

Walk through Tiananmen Gate and keep heading to the same direction until you reach the Five Phoenixes Building. Stop there and buy ticket from each side of this building to visit famous royal city – the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was the home of royal family and the political centre during the Ming and Qing Dynastys. It was begun in 1407 and finished in 1420. The Forbidden City has 9999 houses. It was divided into four parts, the outer court, east inner court, west inner court and royal garden. There are 12 ranks for all the buildings in the city. They are ranked by the number of beasts at the four corners of the rooves and by the structure of the rooves. If you intend to visit the Forbidden City in this tour, please add an additional two hours to this tour.

Coming out from north gate of the Forbidden City, you need to take bus 109 for one stop at the other side of street. Get off the bus and you will see Beihai park directly ahead.

Beihai Park used to be the winter palace of royal family. The whole park is full of ancient buildings. You definitely can’t miss this attraction. The first construction of this range of architecture was during the 10th Century, but it was rebuilt in 1651. The symbol of Beihai Park is the white Tibetan-style pagoda on the small hill.

Duration: 2-3 hours
Price Guide: 2RMB
Last Reviewed:

This is a underground tour. If you like underground adventures, it will be a good choice for you. Actually, this tour is quite fun because it can take you to many interesting attractions in Beijing (and it’s a great one when it’s too wet or too hot to face the outdoors). Oh, don’t forget! You only need 2 RMB for travelling.

Qianmen Station on Line 2

Take the subway two stations from Qianmen station in the Chonwenmen direction and disembark at Beijingzhan station.

Beijing subway line 2 was the first subway line in Beijing. It was begun in July 1965 and finished in October 1969. Beijing local citizens have given it the nickname the Loop Line. Beijing subway made a huge difference to Beijing’s traffic problem. Subway line 2 covers the Beijing inner-city circle.

You are now at Beijingzhan station. If you want visit Beijing’s oldest train station, you can come out from this station. Otherwise, keep traveling with Beijing subway.

Beijing Railway Station is the oldest train station in Beijing that is still in use. Please remember, it is not a museum, it is a functioning train station. Beijing Railway Station was built in 1901 during the late Qing Dynasty. In 1959, it was enlarged. Before the new West Railway Station was built, Beijing Railway Station was the most commonly used train station. Beijing Railway Station itself is a historical building. It is yellow brick structure. One huge clock hangs in the building of the building.

If you keep traveling with subway, do not panic to change subway line first, keep sticking with line 2 until you arrive at Yonghegong Station (La Ma Temple Station).

If you like religious temples, La Ma Temple is a good place to visit. La Ma Temple is the only royal Buddhist temple in the inner Beijing city. La Ma Temple was built in 1694, during the Ming dynasty. It is a typical Tibetan-style Buddhist temple. La Ma Temple is famous for its Buddha Maitreya in the Hall of Heavenly Kings. The whole Buddha is made from a single piece of sandalwood.

After visiting La Ma Temple, you need to change subway line from this station. Please do not panic about changing lines. Beijing subway is not as complex as the Russian subway or New York subway. Just simply follow the directions and you will easily change to Subway Line 5, the newest line.

Subway Line 5 is the newest subway line, having just opened in 2007. This subway line goes through Beijing city from north to south. It solved the traffic problem of people travelling through the city. The whole decoration style of subway line 5 is very modern and simple. The basic colour is warm pink. The two sides of the railway have glass walls to protect passengers. Now “Beijing Subway Fans” have a new line to travel through Beijing city.

Take subway line 5 to Tiantandongmen Station. You can visit Temple of Heaven here.

Temple of Heaven is one of the most important historical attractions in Beijing. It was built in 1420, during the Ming dynasty. It was built by ancient emperors for worshipping the sky. The size of Temple of Heaven is even bigger than the Forbidden City at 2,700,000 square metres.

If you change subway lines from Dongdan Station, you will travel with Subway Line 1. Local Beijing people call it Straight Line.

Subway Line 1 is the second oldest Beijing subway line. It covers the whole Changan Street, which is the “Axis Street”. This subway line covers many famous attractions, like Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing and Xidan Shopping Street.

Duration: 2-3 hours
Price Guide: 0
Last Reviewed:

Are you crazy about shopping? Do you like fashion? Join this shopping tour! It takes you to Beijing’s most fashionable shopping street – Xidan Street. The heaven of shopping!

The entrance of Xidan Street. The symbol is Xinhua Book Store.

Our shopping starts from knowledge of heaven- Xinhua BookStore. Xinhua BookStore is at the right hand side of Xidan Street entrance.

Xinhua BookStore is one of the oldest nation-wide bookstore chains. It has more than 70% market share in China’s book market. This Xinhua Bookstore in Xidan Street is the biggest one in Beijing. It has five floors. You can find every kind of book in there, including foreign language books. If you like reading, don’t miss it!

If you think book shopping is too boring, I will take you to Xidan Culture Square. Xidan Culture Square is at left-hand side of Xinhua Bookstore. The secret of this square is not at its surface. Let’s go underground!

Xidan Street is a vertical shopping street. Shopping level is from underground up to 10th floor. Under the Xidan Culture Square, there is underground shopping city, called 77th Street, which is owned by a Singapore business group. This underground shopping city is just like a puzzle. It’s very easy to get lost. However, you can bargain in this shopping city.

Exit 77th Shopping City – hopefully if you are not lost – and keep going forward to Zhongyou Department Store.

If you like luxury things, this is the right place to shop. This department store is full of luxury brands, like Dior, Fendi, Amarni, etc. Obviously, you cannot bargain when you buy Dior products.

Go across street from Zhongyou Department Store, you will shop at Juntai Department Store.

This is the newest department store among more than 20 department stores in this street. It’s a middle-level department store, not extremely expensive, but you cannot bargain. This department store is famous for its size. It has 6 floors, including an underground shopping level. If you like shopping, but not when it’s very crowded, go to Juntai Department Store.

Cross back over the street and keep going along this street for 10 minutes, you will see a 10-level chocolate-coloured shopping mall, called Huawei Shopping Mall.

Huawei Shopping Mall is the favorite of the Beijing young generation. The average age of shoppers there is around 13-30. Young people like it there because it’s cheap and you can bargain. The most famous floor is 7th floor. This whole floor just sells cheap jewellery. There are more than 100 separate sellers. If you like jewellery, you will love it.

Duration: More than 3 hours
Price Guide: 4 RMB
Last Reviewed:

If you like shopping and bargaining, you will like this tour. This tour will show you part of the most famous Beijing flea markets. Prepare your wallet and wear comfortable shoes. Let’s go shopping!

Yonganli Subway Station

When you come out from Yonganli Subway, simply cross street, you will arrive the first flea market in this tour – Silk Flea Market.

Silk Flea Market is famous for doing tourism business. Many foreign tourists were brought to this market by their tour guides. In this flea market, you will find many cheap items, but the most attractive commodity they sell here is silk. You can find silk pajamas, silk shirts, silk cushions – everything made of silk. Of course, you can bargain in this market freely. How cheap you get the products for depends on your bargaining skill. The sellers here can generally speak English.

After you’re finished shopping for silk items, I suggest you go to another famous flea market called Wangtong Flea Market. Jump on the subway from Yonganli station, just take one stop to Jianguomen station and change from here to Subway Line 2 until you arrive at Fuchengmen station.

Coming out from Fuchengmen station, Wantong Flea Market sits just above the subway station. Just take the escalator and you will be in the flea market already. This flea market is popular with local Beijing people. The downside is that the sellers generally do not speak English, but the average price in this flea market is lower than Silk Flea Market. If you don’t mind take a little bit more time on bargaining and communicating, you will get cheaper things.

If you think Wantong Flea market is not huge enough, the next flea market will satisfy you. This flea market is called Tianyi Flea Market. Just go across the street and take bus 111 for two stations. You will be there.

This flea market is the biggest in Beijing. It is big enough to divide into a shoes area, clothes area, toy area, cheap jewellery area, bag and leather product area and so on. If you really want to shop over this whole flea market, you might need to arrange a whole day to do that.

Get on the subway from Fuchengmen station, the station under Wantong Flea Market. Take the subway to Chongwenmen station. Come up from the subway station, go across the street and walk for about three minutes, you will see a building called SoShow. This is another flea market, the SoShow Flea Market.

This flea market is pretty fashionable and the target market is young people. The items they sell are similar to the other flea markets. The prices here are at middle level. You can definitely bargain here. If you like modern style items, try here, you might just find what you like.

Duration: 2-3 hours
Price Guide: 0
Last Reviewed:

If you like cultural-style shopping (if there is such a thing), come to Wangfujing Street. This tour brings you this famous shopping and cultural street. Prepare to shop!

Wangfujing subway station

Exit Wangfujing subway station from Line 1, and you will see the entrance of Wangfujing Street.

Wangfujing Street is the pride of Beijing. It was established in the 15th Century, during the Ming Dynasty. Now Wangfujing Street has been changed to a commercial pedestrian street. It is 810 metres long and 12 metres wide. Wangfujing Street is not only a shopping street, it is also a cultural street.

Wangfujing Art Crafts Department Store is the next stop. Keep going along the street, you will see it the store on your right hand side.

Wangfujing Art Crafts Department Store is an amazing store. You will find all kinds of Chinese art and crafts and they are guaranteed to be hand-made and real. For example, you will find beautiful Chinese silk fans, luxury Chinese embroidery, delicate snuff bottles, expensive jade jewellery and decorations. If you like authentic Chinese art and crafts make sure that your wallet is full enough, because you cannot bargain in this department store. Some of the crafts are very expensive.

After shopping in the Art Crafts Department Store, you might feel a little bit hungry. Don’t worry. At the other side of street, opposite the store, there is a famous Beijing food corridor.

Are you ready for real Beijing food? This Beijing food corridor is very famous. Not just tourists eat there, but Beijing local people like to eat there as well. You can find everything there. Just remember, try it even if you have never seen it before. All the food is guaranteed clean and all the restaurants are licensed. If you don’t try things, you will miss out on yummy food.

After eating yummy Beijing food, just keep walking along this beautiful street about 5 minutes, you will see a old style brick building on your left hand side. This is the eldest department store in Beijing- Wangfujing Department Store.

Wangfujing Department Store was a privately-owned store before 1950. After the Chinese Revolution, this department store became the first government-owned department store. Wangfujing Department Store is not famous for what it sells, its famous for its customer service. Its brand name is more valuable than the commodities it sells.

Keep walking for about two minutes, you will see many small stores on your right hand side.

Those stores are very special and they are precious. Every company has been established for over 100 years, some more than 200 years. For example, Dabei Photographer was the most popular photographer in the 1950s. Even Chairman Mao, Prime Minister Zhou and all China’s famous generals have had photos taken there. Another store is called Reifuxiang, which is famous for selling clothing fabric. It started its business in the Qing Dynasty. All of these old companies are the pride of China.

Keep walking until you reach the end of Wangfujing Street. At your right hand side, there is a modern building, which is a department store called New Dongan Department Store.

The old one was called Dongan Market. It was a market doing wholesale business. After it was acquired by a government-owned organisation, it was redecorated and changed into New Dongan Department Store. This department store focuses on selling luxury products. Any big brand you can think of, you will find it in there. It doesn’t matter if you don’t buy anything there; it is a huge department store which is worth a visit just to have a look.

Duration: 2-3 hours
Price Guide: 0
Last Reviewed:

This tour will help you get a feel for the real old Beijing city. It’s not about modern buildings, it’s not about high-tech transportation. It’s about Beijing’s ancient small lanes. You may ask, what I am looking for in the small lanes? Actually, there is nothing super valuable to look at. The purpose of this tour is to help you get a feel for Beijing’s history.

Qianmen Subway Station

Coming out from Qianmen station, cross the street and keep walking about 100 metres, you will see the first small lane, called Langfangtoutiao.

Langfangtoutiao is a very normal, but typical Beijing small lane. There are not very famous and valuable historical buildings. The majority of the buildings in this small lane are citizens’ houses. This small lane is very narrow and very quiet. If you want to feel the ancient atmosphere, you should try a small lane like this.

When you go into Langfangtoutiao, just pop in any of the courtyards of a citizen’s house. Don’t be afraid to be caught by “break into” someone’s courtyard, but obviously don’t go in to their house!

Most of the courtyards are still in Siheyuan style. Siheyuan is typical to old Beijing houses. It is quadrangle shaped, four-side-enclosed courtyard. Usually the house sitting at north is the household’s bedroom. Siheyuan has many ranks. The lowest ranked just have one courtyard. The higher the rank is, the more courtyards it has. Some high level of royal relatives’ Siheyuans have more than four courtyards.

Once you’re finished visiting the courtyards at Langfangtoutiao lane, go back to the main street. Keep walking in same direction for about 50 metres, you will find another small lane called Langfangertiao lane.

This small lane was a restaurant lane. There are still many restaurants here now. One of the famous hot pot restaurants, called Baodufeng, is here. If you like Beijing hot pot, please try this restaurant because it uses traditional hot pot, which has coals at the bottom of the pot. Baodufeng hot pot restaurant has more than 100 years’ history. Just remember, it does not offer pork because it’s a Muslim-run restaurant.

Coming out from Langfangertiao, keep walking until you see a very wide lane. It is called Dashilan lane.

Dashilan lane is an extremely famous lane. In ancient times, this was a very important business lane. This lane has probably 300 metres long but has more than 200 stores over the two sides of the lane. The most famous Chinese medicine store, Tongrentang, is one of the shops in this lane. Half of the stores more than 100 years’ trading history. Unfortunately, many of them had bankrupted or changed location over that time. Now, some famous brands are still here, like Ruifuxiang, Buyingzhai, Tongrentang, Laozhengxing, etc. If you plan to do this trip, please do not miss this lane because this is the most important and famous Beijing lane.

After visiting Dashilane lane, go across the street, you can visit any small lane in this area.

The name of small lane is not a big deal because not all of the them have translations. Don’t worry about getting lost. Just remember, if you go in from one direction, make sure you go back in the opposite direction. In those small lanes, you can visit any courtyard you like. If you could speak a bit of Chinese, you can say Hello to the local people. They might invite you to their house if you are lucky. Or simply just enjoy the quiet of small lane and imagine you are walking in a lane in the 17th century.

Duration: 2-3 hours
Price Guide: 1 RMB
Last Reviewed:

If you want see something different, you can join this university tour. You will see many old and valuable buildings; you can enjoy different style campuses or just have a chat with local university students. They all can speak English.

Xueyuan Street

First, please just stand in the sideway of the street.

Xueyuan Street is also called University street. On the two sides of this street, there are six universities. It’s not common in Beijing at all that the universities were built so close to each other. Even though the six universities focus on different fields, they still link to each other. They set up a University Street System. All the students study in the six universities can choose elective subjects from each other.

On the right hand side of this street, the first university – and maybe the most popular university – is Beijing Film Academy.

This university was established in 1950, it is the other most famous film academy in Beijing, besides the Beijing Central Film Academy. This university offer Bachelor and Master degrees. Many famous Chinese actors, actress and directors graduated from this university. For example, the world-class director, Zhang Yimou. Application numbers to this university each year are dramatic. Each year, it offers just 300 opportunities, but there are usually more than 10,000 students applying. Each May you will see hundreds of students waiting in the campus to sit the entrance exam.

If you are not interested in the film university, just keep walking. Go across a street, you will see another university, called Union University.

Beijing Union University is not the first-class university in Beijing, however, there are about 10,000 students each year enrolled this university. Union University is a combined university by different small old colleges and it has more than seven campuses in Beijing. One of them is in Xueyuan Street. This university is focused on practical education, rather than being a research-style university.

On the other side of the street. A huge university is opposite the Union University. It is Beijing University of Aeronautics Astronautics.

This is a typical university focusing on science. This is also a very rich university. Every year, it will receive many donations from government and large companies. It’s also a top-level university. We call the students who can get into this university geniuses. Even though it’s a rich university, it still takes students from poor families. One of the university’s stadiums had been chosen to be used as an Olympic stadium.

Go across the street. The university very close to the Union University is Peking University Health Science Centre.

This is also a genius university. Only the top students from all of China can study here. The majority of the degrees needs 7-10 years to complete. For instance, Bachelor combined with Masters degree needs seven years, Bachelor combined with Masters and Doctorate degree needs 10 years. This university has its own hospital. All the students can get practical experience from the hospital.

Walking past two crossroads, at the corner of left hand side is a famous language university – Beijing Language and Culture University.

This is a top language university. All kinds of language tests were held there. It also the university that has the most foreign students. This university is pretty new. The campus is built to a modern style. All the Chinese students there can speak more than one foreign language.

Duration: More than 3 hours
Price Guide: 5RMB
Last Reviewed:

As the cultural centre of China, Beijing has many museums. However, this tour just takes you to some of the famous and popular museums in Beijing. Please wear your comfy shoes. You might do a lot of walking.

Junshibowuguan Subway Station

Our tour starts from China Military Museum. Take subway line 1 to Jushibowuguan Station, you will find the museum is on your right-hand side.

China Military Museum is the largest and most comprehensive military museum in China. If you are interested in China’s military history or war history, it’s the right place to visit. This museum collected more than 6000 precious pictures, weapon models, records, etc. The architecture of military museum is pretty unique. It is built as Russian style. It’s one of 10 Russian-style buildings in Beijing.

Coming out from China Military Museum, just keep walking a bit further, you will see another museum on the same side of the road as the military museum. It’s Beijing World Art Museum.

This is a very new and modern art museum. It is famous as exhibiting western art collections. Some famous exhibitions are National Geographic photographs show, Italian Renaissance Art, Spanish Design, etc. It’s a perfect museum for Chinese to learn and study western art and knowledge. If you are interested in western art, but cannot find suitable exhibitions, try this museum.

Take Bus 1 or Bus 4 to Tiananmen Square. The building on the right-hand side of Tiananmen Gate is China National Museum.

China National Museum is the oldest and biggest museum in Beijing. It was built in 1949. It is a multi-functional museum, combining research, collections, archaeology and exhibitions. If you want to learn about Chinese revolutionary history or political history, this is the perfect museum to visit.

At the same side of Tiananmen Gate, you will find a small museum behind a tall brick arch. This museum is called Beijing Culture Museum.

This is museum is very small but very attractive. It was built on the base of a Beijing traditional Siheyuan courtyard. The major exhibitions are about Beijing’s architecture, Forbidden City history, etc. If you want to know more information about Beijing’s historical attractions, please come to this small, but interesting museum.

Go back to Tiananmen Square. The building next to the Great Peoples Hall is China Numismatic Museum.

This museum collects different dynasties’ currencies in China and other foreign ancient currencies. Some of the ancient currency is very precious. It shows the high-level development in finance during ancient times. You will see the first note in China from the Song Dynasty, which is from about the 11th century – much earlier than the existence of foreign notes.

Take the subway from Tiananmen Subway Station, then change from Line 1 to subway line 2 at Jianguomen Station, then take the subway to Chaoyangmen Station. Come out from of and take Bus 112 to Xiaozhuang Station, then change to Bus 725 to Kejiguan Station. Get out of the bus, the China Science and Technology Museum is on your right hand side.

This is the biggest science museum in Beijing. It has three parts, the main building, dome-ceiling cinema and children science building. There are a lot of real experiments here. I am sure you will have lots of fun here.

Duration: 2-3 hours
Price Guide: 10RMB
Last Reviewed:

If you like classical music, drama, ballet, or opera, I think you will like this tour. This tour takes you to the most famous opera houses in Beijing to show you this facet of the culture of Beijing.

Tiananmen Square

Come out of subway from Qiananmendong Station, just directly go towards to the Great Peoples Hall.

The Great Peoples Hall sometimes is used as an opera house. All of the shows here are of the highest level. The majority of the high-level government officers choose to listen to music here. Of course, all the shows here open to public. The difference is that the price is a bit higher than others. Because the Great Peoples Hall usually is not open to public, it’s a great opportunity to go inside the Great Hall.

Coming out from the Great Hall, turn left and keep walking. You will find a huge half sphere shape building standing on your left hand side. It’s the famous National Centre for the Performance of Art. Local people call it “UFO”.

This is the newest opera house and was just opened in 2007. The opening of a new opera house helps make local Beijing people start enjoying classic music and operas. Many of the people who buy tickets want to see the inside of the huge building, which stands on a man-made lake. If you like music and architecture, just don’t miss it.

Take the subway to Wangfujing Station. Get out of subway and keep walking east for probably 10 minutes. You will see Changan Chinese Opera House.

Changan Chinese Opera House is an opera house that just shows Chinese opera. There are a couple of other Chinese opera houses, but this one is the largest. Many famous Chinese opera actors and actress show in this opera house. If you are interested in Chinese opera or want to try to watch one, you can buy ticket any time there.

Go back to subway, change subway line from line 1 to line 2 and get out at Dongzhimen station. Go across the crossover bridge, you will see a chocolate-coloured building, that’s Poly Theatre.

Poly Theatre famous for showing western performance, like western classic music, ballet, opera, etc. It’s very hard to find Chinese Opera shows in this theatre. Apparently, the size of Poly theatre is much smaller than National Centre, however, the sound is pretty good. Poly Theatre is one of the oldest theatres in Beijing.

Go back to the subway station and take the train to Chaoyangmen Station, then change to Bus 112 to Hujialou Station, then change Bus 412 to Anjialou Station. Get off the bus and walk back a little bit, you will see a pure white theatre on your left hand side. This is Century Theatre.

Century Theatre is a middle-level theatre. It is one of the earliest modern-style theatres in Beijing. It has 1714 seats, two levels. The inside of the theatre is also white. The performances showed here are pretty comprehensive. It shows everything.