China is showing off lots of military hardware at the 60th anniversary National Day Parade in Beijing on October 1st 2009, including: guided missile launchers, ballistic missiles, tanks, helicopters, new fighter planes, fighter-bombers, AWACS, airborne refueling tankers, etc. Here are pictures and videos of these vehicles and aircraft swarming Beijing for the parade rehearsal (click on the thumbnails for bigger images) -

Lots of Chinese tanks and rocket/missile launchers:

Swarm of Chinese helicopter gunships (WZ-9):

Airborne refueling tanker with J-8 and J-10 jets:

Chinese AWACS aircraft in formation with jet fighters:

Chinese J-10 and J-11 jet fighters:

A video of tanks rumbling down Beijing’s Central Business District:

Note: This is a continuation of an earlier walking tour of Nanluoguxiang and the Drum Tower

From the Drum Tower, walk south along Di An Men Wai Da  Jie (地安门外大街). Stay on the right (west) side of the road as you head south, and keep your eyes open for a busy little alley on your right. It is about 100 meters south of the Drum Tower. The busy little alley is Yan Dai Xie Jie (烟袋斜街), the entrance to Hou Hai Lake (后海). Turn right into Yan Dai Xie Jie.

YanDaiXieJie has plenty of cute little souvenir shops, apparel stores and cafes/bars - one that I particularly like sells sets of matchboxes with different interesting designs, e.g. Communist propaganda, Time magazine covers, pretty Chinese models, etc. After walking about 200 meters you will see the lake that is Hou Hai.

There should also be a small stone bridge very near you. After you’ve checked out the surrounding shops (there are boat rentals nearby too), cross the bridge and turn left (south) to walk along the lake - the lake should be on your left. Keep walking south along the lake; you will pass many bars and old neighbourhoods. After walking along the lake for about 500 meters from the small stone bridge, you will hit Lotus Lane (He Hua Shi Chang, 荷花市场) - a strip with many fancy restaurants and bars. One of them serves great Peking duck and has a free cultural show every evening.

In the next post I will continue our walking tour to Bei Hai Park!

I spotted this advertisement by the Beijing Tourism Administration in a subway station - is it just me or does the imagery look like Disneyland? I can spot a few of the seven dwarfs, Snow White and a (somewhat evil looking) Mickey Mouse. The castles in the background look suspiciously familar to Disneyland’s, too.

(click on image to expand)

I wonder what the Beijing Tourism Administration was thinking when they made this poster - after all, isn’t there plenty of exciting imagery from Beijing’s tourist attractions they could use? e.g. pictures of the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube, etc.

Enjoyed the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony? So did I. In a recent interview with Zhang Yimou, a few alternate ideas for lighting the cauldron were disclosed… the most dramatic one involved using a Phoenix! The proposed Phoenix lighting sequence was illustrated in these sketches revealed during the interview:

A fiery Phoenix chases the final human torchbearer from behind

The Phoenix picks up the Olympic flame from the human torchbearer

Carrying the flame, it then turns around to fly to the Olympic cauldron

The fire bird soars up & around the cauldron, setting it ablaze!

Wow.

However the Phoenix plan was eventually changed due to technical difficulties. It was difficult to project a bright, fiery Phoenix image on the stadium wall - apparently to get the desired dramatic effect all the other lights in the stadium would need to be turned off!

Related posts/pages you might also like:
A hilarious poster in China - “The Ten Secrets of Women Call”
Touching love story from Chongqing, China
Olympics themed hair styles getting popular in Beijing!
Interactive map of Beijing tourist attractions

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Wu Dasheng, a local barber is adding to the celebratory mood in Beijing by giving free Olympics haircuts to little kids. These haircuts feature the Beijing Olympics emblem, the Olympics mascots “Fuwa”, the words “I Love China” and other cool designs. Check it out. The first kid looks badass : )

Despite what you hear in the news about Beijing’s pollution and dust storms, it can actually be quite pleasant to take a walking tour around the city. The pollution and dust storms (which only occasionally happens in the spring) have gotten a lot better in recent years. The Drum Tower historical district is especially interesting to walk around as you will get to observe many traditional neighborhoods, local people and shops:

Take a taxi and tell the driver to drop you off at the south entrance of Nan Luo Gu Xiang, which is on Di An Men Dong Da Jie (南锣鼓巷的南门，在地安门东大街). Start walking north up the 700 meters long alley – it is filled with bars, cafes, restaurants and gift/craft shops. Explore and walk north all the way until you hit a semi-major intersection – you should have arrived at Gu Lou Dong Da Jie (鼓楼东大街).

Head west along Gu Lou Dong Da Jie for about 400 meters and you will see the Drum Tower. If you wish you can take a look inside the Drum Tower for a small entrance fee!

In another post, I will continue the walking tour to Hou Hai Lake and Lotus Lane (He Hua Shi Chang; 荷花市场)..

Navigating your way around the maze that is China’s cities has just gotten much easier with our new Personalized Map Service. In three easy steps, you can now create and share your very own personalized interactive English China map that shows:

• A map at a location and zoom level of your choosing
• A popup text bubble at any location you desire. The text bubble can contain any information you wish, for example: an address, directions, date and time of the meeting place, etc
• Your map’s recipients can drag, zoom in, zoom out or view the map full screen

Click here to start creating your personalized interactive English China map

Here are some example personalized maps that can be created:
The Bird’s Nest - National Stadium in Beijing
Peter’s House Party
South entrance of Nan Luo Gu Xiang

Visitors to Beijing and Shanghai now have a powerful new tool to browse the top tourist attractions, restaurants, nightlife and shopping destinations in China’s two most cosmopolitan and vibrant cities! Using FunTouristAttraction.com’s interactive attractions map, at a glance you can:

• See where the city’s top attractions are located
• Compare different attraction’s star ratings using the color-coded labels
• Quickly find different types of places (attractions, restaurants, nightlife and shopping destinations) using the color-coded labels

View the Beijing interactive attractions map
View the Shanghai interactive attractions map

FunTouristAttraction.com’s pan-able and zoom-able interactive attractions maps make it super easy for tourists to:

• See which subway stations are closest to their favorite attractions
• Plan their own walking tours to fully experience the sights, sounds and smells of the city that are impossible to experience from a tour bus
• See where the best attractions are geographically clustered within the city

Planning your own self-guided tour in Beijing and Shanghai is now a piece of cake!

Beijing is a great city to visit – there are so many new and interesting things to see, do and eat here.  I highly recommend watching at least one show or performance in Beijing – you will more likely than not return with many cool stories, videos or pictures for your jealous friends and relatives back home : ) Listed below are what I believe are some of the best shows and performances in Beijing for tourists and visitors:

Afunti Dinner Show
Enjoy a Xinjiang-style dinner (lamb kebabs and beer!) and an excellent show with plenty of kungfu, belly dancing, acrobatics, lucky draws and audience-participation games.

Da Zhai Men Dinner Show
Walking into this restaurant is akin to taking a time machine back to the Qing dynasty. You will be presented with great Chinese food and a variety of performances such as: Wu-Shu, Acrobatics, Kung-Fu and Chinese Opera.

National Theatre for the Performing Arts (The Egg)
Come watch a Chinese opera, ballet, play or international orchestra in the most impressive opera house in the world: a beautiful egg shaped titanium and steel structure nestled on a shimmering sheet of water.

Massage
While not strictly a “show” or “performance”, a massage also allows you to sit back, relax and enjoy! I consider getting a massage one of the must-dos for Beijing visitors – it’s certainly one of the most relaxing and pampering experiences a person can have.

Pyongyang Hai Tang Hua North Korean Restaurant
If you have a large group (6 or more people), reserve a private dining room at the Pyongyang Hai Tang Hua North Korean restaurant to try some great North Korean style barbequed meat, seafood, wine and dog soup(!). Halfway through dinner you will be presented with a very well done performance of traditional Korean dance, girls in frilly retro costumes playing various musical instruments, karaoke, etc. The friendly restaurant staff are all from North Korea.