Tour Options
23rd May Local Tour Options
| Option |
Content |
Time |
| Option 1: Royal tour of boating |
Royal yacht cruise on Kunyu River and the Summer Palace |
08:00-14:30 |
| Option 2: Olympic tour |
Tour of Olympic Park, the Bird's Nest Water Cube |
08:00-13:00 |
Option 1: Royal tour of boating
Royal yacht cruise on Kunyu River and the Summer Palace
The Dowager Empress Cixi Track:
The Dowager Empress Cixi Track has a rich cultural background and a long history that originated from Emperor Qianlong and flourished during the reign of Emperor Guangxu. In nearly 200 years from the 16th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1751) to the 34th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign (1908) when Empress Dowager Cixi died, six emperors including Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu, and Empress Dowager Cixi had used the waterway to travel. Since 1908 when Empress Dowager Longyu announced she would never travel to the Summer Palace, the Dowager Empress Cixi Track has been out of service for a century. Re-opening Cixi waterway is a significant effort of Beijing government to contribute to the Olympic Games.
As a royal cruise line, the Dowager Empress Cixi Track was off limits to the common people. Touring the Summer Palace from the waterway, one can enjoy Phoenix Pier, Circle City Island and South Lake Island that Emperor Qianlong built to represent the three divine islands in ancient Chinese mythology – Yingzhou, Fangzhang and Penglai. The boat also travels across Four Seas – Phoenix Pier, Jingming Tower, West Bank and Hanxutang (Hall of Forbearance and Humbleness) that respectively imitate sceneries of Lake Tai, Lake Dongting, West Lake and Kunming Pond.
Summer Palace:
The Summer Palace or Yiheyuan is a palace in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. The central Kunming Lake covering 2.2 square kilometers was entirely man made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill. In its compact 70,000 square meters of building space, one finds a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures.
The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples in 1750 (Reign Year 15 of Emperor Qianlong). Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. Kunming Lake was created by extending an existing body of water to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou. The palace complex suffered two major attacks--during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 (with the Old Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time), and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was given the current name, Yiheyuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.
Option 2: Olympic tour
Olympic Green – Bird's Nest – Water Cube
Olympic Green
The Olympic Green is the primary site of the 2008 Beijing Olympic, which occupies an area of 1,135 hectares, including a forest park, National Stadium and Olympic Village. The master plan includes areas for residents and visitors in daily lives and for further development for commercial, cultural, and hotel uses after the Games, and adopts "Green design", aiming for self-sustainability and low-cost maintenance.
Beijing National Stadium – “Bird's Nest”
Beijing National Stadium, also known as the National Stadium or colloquially as the "Bird's Nest", is a stadium in Beijing, China. The stadium was designed for use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Located in the Olympic Green, the US$423 million stadium is the world's largest steel structure. The design was awarded to a submission from the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron in April 2003, after a bidding process that included 13 final submissions. The design, which originated from the study of Chinese ceramics, implemented steel beams in order to hide supports for the retractable roof; giving the stadium the appearance of a "Bird's nest". Ai Weiwei, the artistic consultant, played a critical role in pushing the design to have unique Chinese characteristics. Ironically, the retractable roof was later removed from the design after inspiring the stadium's most recognizable aspect. Ground was broken in December 2003 and the stadium officially opened in June 2008. A shopping mall and a hotel are planned to be constructed to increase use of the stadium, which has had trouble attracting events, football and otherwise, after the Olympics.
Beijing National Aquatics Center – “Water Cube”
The Beijing National Aquatics Center, also known as the National Aquatics Center, better known as the Water Cube, is an aquatics center that was built alongside Beijing National Stadium in the Olympic Green for the swimming competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Despite its nickname, the building is a cuboid (rectangular box), not a cube.
Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m² of ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm (1/125 of an inch) in total thickness. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs.
Swimmers at the Water Cube broke 25 world records during the 2008 Olympics.
