Post-Conference Tours
Take advantage of exploring Beijing – the capital city of China. Discover the history of Beijing and experience the Chinese culture by joing the Post-Conference Tour Programs which are designed exclusively for the participants of APASL 2010 Beijing.
- All tours will be conducted in English
- All tours require a minimum of 17 guests to operate
- Lunch and transportation are inclusive
- The rate for each tour is RMB 800 per person
For booking and more details, please contact travel@apasl2010beijing.org or (86-21) 51712368.
Tour 1
Summer Palace (08:30-12:00)
Situated in western outskirts of Beijing, the Summer Palace is 20 kilometers from the central city. It is China's leading classical garden which enjoys a worldwide reputation. The Summer Palace was opened to the public in 1924 and included in the UNESCO
The Summer Palace was first built in 1153 and served as an imperial palace for short stays away from the capital. Empress Dowager Ci Xi rebuilt it in 1888 with a large sum of money which had been appropriated to build a Chinese navy.
The two main elements of the garden are Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake. Kunming Lake, with an exquisite building in the middle, takes up three quarters of the garden's 290 hectares. The garden consists of three parts: the political activity area, the em
Great Wall (13:30-17:00)
To the northwest and north of Beijing, a huge, serrated wall zigzags its way to the east and west along the undulating mountains. This is the Great Wall, which is said to be visible from the moon.
Construction of the Great Wall started in the 7th century B.C. The vassal states under the Zhou Dynasty in the northern parts of the country each built their own walls for defence purposes. After the state of Qin unified China in 221 B.C., it joined the walls to hold off the invaders from the Xiongnu tribes in the north and extended them to more than 10,000 li or 5,000 kilometers. This is the origin of the name of the "10,000-li Great Wall".
The Great Wall was renovated from time to time after the Qin Dynasty. A major renovation started with the founding of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, and took 200 years to complete. The wall we see today is almost exactly the result of this effort. With a total length of over 6,000 kilometers, it extends to the jiayu Pass in Gansu Province in the west and to the mouth of the Yalu River in Liaoning Province in the east. What lies north of Beijing is but a small section of it.
Tour 2
Temple Of Heaven (08:30-12:00)
The Temple of Heaven is located in southern Beijing. It is included in the UNESCO world heritage list in 1998. With an area of 2.7 million square meters, it is the largest of its kind in the country. Built in 1420, the 18th year of the reign of Ming Emperor Yongle, the temple was where emperors went to worship heaven for good harvests.
The temple consists of two parts — the inner altar and outer altar. The main buildings are in the inner altar, on the north-south axis. At the southern end are the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Circular Mound Altar. On the northern end is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Hall of Imperial Zenith. The structures at both ends are connected by a 360-meter-long walk. There is also the Hall of Abstinence inside the West Heavenly Gate in which the emperor fasted for three days and bathed before prayer.
Forbidden City（13:30-17:00)
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Forbidden City is located in the middle of Beijing. It served as the home of the Emperor for almost five, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government. The Forbidden City is rectangular in shape. It is 960 meters long and 750 meters wide. It has 9900 rooms under a total roof area 150000 square meters. It was made Under Ming Emperor, construction began in 1406. It took 14 years to build the Forbidden City. The red and yellow used on the palace walls and roofs are also symbolic. Red represents happiness, good fortune and wealth. Yellow is the colour of the earth on the Loess Plateau, the original home of the Chinese people.
Tour 3
Lama Temple (08:30-11:00)
Yonghegong (The Lama Temple) is a famous lamasery located in the northeastern part of the old city of Beijing. It was a palatial residence built in 1694 by Qing Emperor Kangxi for his fourth son, Prince Yongzheng who later succeeded to the throne. This magnificent temple consists of five main buildings lying on the north-south axis, with annex halls standing on both sides. The temple is listed by the Chinese Government as one of the important historical monuments under special preservation. After the death of his father, Emperor Yongzheng moved to the Forbidden City. The compound was closed to ordinary people and was renamed yonghegong (the Palace of Harmony). Green roof tiles were replaced by yellow ones to suit a monarch's home. In 1744 his successor Emperor Qianlong converted the palace into a lamasery.
Several renovations have been carried out since 1949.The temple has taken on a new look and was reopened to the public in 1981.It is now not only a functional lama temple, but also a tourist attraction.
Of interest to visitors in the Lama Temple are the 18-metre-high Maitreya statue engraved from a 26-metre-long white sandal-wood log, "the Five hundred Arhats Hill" made of gold, silver, copper, iron and tin, and the niche carved out of nanmu (this kind of Phoebe nanmu can give off a unusual scent reputed to repel mosquitoes in summer). These three objects are accredited as the three matchless masterpieces in the Lama Temple.
Hutong Tour (12:30-14:30)
The Hutong Tour starts from along Shishahai near the vegetable and fruit market. In the deepest of the hutong, they were taken to visit Prince Gong's Mansion, famous in the Qing Dynasty. In the past, princes', generals' and ministers' housed with courtyards were scattered around the outside of the Forbidden City. Linking up those courtyard houses were lanes and alleys called hutongs. The word "hutong" probably came into use during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), as it is a Mongolian word, meaning "well". These residential areas were so called because where there is a well, there are people living nearby.
Beihai Park (15:00-17:00)
On the west side of the Forbidden City is a wide expanse of water called Tai Ye Chi. Tai Ye Chi is divided into three parts: Beihai Lake in the north, Zhonghai Lake in the middle, and Nanhai Lake in the south. Beihai, the best known of the three, was turned into a royal garden as early as 1,000 years ago.
The Designs of the three lakes can be traced to an ancient legend, which says that there were three celestial mountains in the Beihai Sea inhabited by immortals. Rulers took to constructing "celestial mountains" on the water space just outside the royal palace, turing legend into reality