F OOD

CULTURE

TRANSPORTATION

Beijing Municipality has 20 nature reserves that have a total area of 1,339.7 km2 (517.3 sq mi). The mountains to the west and north of the city are home to a number of protected wildlife species. The Beijing Aquatic Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center protects the Chinese giant salamander, Amur stickleback and mandarin duck on the Huaijiu and Huaisha Rivers in Huairou District. The Beijing Milu Park south of the city is home to one of the largest herds of Pre David's deer, now extinct in the wild. The Beijing barbastelle, a species of vesper bat discovered in caves of Fangshan District in 2001 and identified as a distinct species in 2007, is endemic to Beijing. The mountains of Fangshan are also habitat for the more common Beijing mouse-eared bat, large myotis, greater horseshoe bat and Rickett's big-footed bat.

The city flowers are the Chinese rose and chrysanthemum. The city trees are the Chinese arborvitae, an evergreen in the cypress family and the Pagoda Tree, also called the Chinese scholar tree, a deciduous tree of the Fabaceae family. The oldest scholar tree in the city was planted in what is now Beihai Park during the Tang Dynasty, 1,300 years ago.

NATURE

Nature & wildlife

Beijing is an important transport hub in North China with five ring roads, nine expressways, eleven National Highways, nine conventional railways, and two high-speed railways converging on the city.

Religion

Public Transportation
17 lines, 227 stations, and 456 km (283 mi)

There are many religions practiced in Beijing, although not always freely. The religious diversity within Beijing is vast, encompassing Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.

The Beijing Subway, which began operating in 1969, now has

of track and is the second longest subway system in the world.

With many temples throughout the city, visitors can get a real feeling of the areas practiced religions. The largest Buddhist temple in Beijing is Tanzhe Temple whose history dates back to the Jin Dynasty (3rd century AD). The White Cloud Temple is the largest Taoist temple in the city, which was once the religious center of Northern China.

Beijing food is famous for its diversity and style. Beijing cuisine is unique in China because foods from all parts of China can be found there, as well as a huge variety of Western foods. No other place in China has the diversity of cuisine that Beijing has. Besides food from other areas, Beijing has also been developing its own style of cuisine for almost 5,000 years and come up with some amazing local Beijing foods.

Peking Roast Duck

Peking Roast Duck is a famous Beijing specialty served at many restaurants, but there are quite a few restaurants dedicated to the art of roasting the perfect duck. Expect to pay around 40 per whole duck at budget-range establishments, and 160200 at high-end restaurants. Beijing duckis served with thin pancakes, plum sauce and slivers of scallions and cucumbers. You spread the sauce on the pancake, put a few pieces of duck, cucumber, and scallions.The end result is a mouthwatering combination of the cool crunchiness of the cucumber, the sharpness of the scallions, and the rich flavors of the duck.

City flowers

With a flat fare of 2.00 per ride with unlimited transfers on all lines except the Airport Express, the subway is also the most affordable rapid transit in China. Tresidents inside the Fourth Ring Road will be able walk to a station in 15 minutes. Beijing Suburban Railway provides commuter rail service to outlying suburbs of the municipality.

Architecture
Three styles of architecture predominate in urban Beijing. First, there is the traditional architecture of imperial China, perhaps best exemplified by the Forbidden City, the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Temple of Heaven. Next, there is what is sometimes referred to as the "Sino-Sov" style, with structures tending to be boxy and sometimes poorly constructed, which were built between the 1950s and the 1970s. Finally, there are much more modern architectural forms, most noticeably in the area of the Beijing CBD and Beijing Financial Street.

Cycling
Beijing has long been well known for the number of bicycles on its streets. Beijing is relatively flat, which makes cycling convenient. The rise of electric bicycles and electric scooters, which have similar speeds and use the same cycle lanes, may have brought about a revival in bicycle-speed two-wheeled transport. It is possible to cycle to most parts of the city. Because of the growing traffic congestion, the authorities have indicated more than once that they wish to encourage cycling, but it is not clear whether there is sufficient will to translate that into action on a significant scale.

Candied haw berries

A winter specialty, candied haw berries are dipped in molten sugar which is left to harden in the cold and sold on a stick. You can also find variations with oranges, grapes, strawberries, and bananas, or dipped in crumbled peanuts as well as sugar. This sweet snack can also be found in the spring and the summer, but the haw berries are often from last season's crop

red leaves

traditional architecture in Beijing

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Beijing Foreign Affairs Office

No.2, Zhengyi Road, Dongcheng District, Beijing, PRC 100744 Fax: 8610-6519 2775 Email: information@bjfao.gov.cn

Beijing