1、National Stadium,Affectionately known as Birds Nest, itis situated in Olympic Green Village, It was designed as the main stadium of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The Olympic events of track and field, football, weight throw and discus were held there. Since October, 2008, after the Olympics ended, it

2、has been opened as a tourist attraction.,Design Idea,They just exposed the steel structures entirely and let them become the most natural appearance. The form of the stadium looks like a big nest which embraces human beings.,The Design Advantages,In it, the designs of everything are humanistic. The

3、bowl-like stands zone surrounds the court. No matter where the spectator is seated, the whole game can be seen without any visual obstruction. The stadium adopted the electro-acoustic public-address system. It makes the index of voice definition reaches 0.6. This number assures that all the audience

4、 can hear the broadcast very clearly.,The Birds Nest in the night,Tourists can not only visit the Olympic venue, but also go skiing in winter,Beijing Aquatics Stadium,Located on the west side of Landscape Avenue in the Olympic Green and to the west of Birds Nest, it contains the official 2008 Olympi

5、cs swimming facility. It measures 177 meters long, 177meters wide, and 30 meters high. It owns 17,000 seats, including the 11,000 temporary seats and 6,000 permanent seats.,Design Idea,Designed by Chinese and Australian, it is the first building in the world built upon the soap bubble theory, and sp

6、orts a polyhedral steel-framed structure.,The design combines modern technologies with Chinese traditional values. In tradition, Chinese conceptualized a square Earth and a round Heaven, and this formed the designs central theme. Moreover, the cube shape dominates ancient urban buildings. Its design

7、 is of traditional style to meet all its functional requirements.,Itlooks like a huge blue box, from which it takes its nickname: the Water Cube. It is blue in order to reflect sunlight.It shines in the sunlight like a pearl in water. From the inside, you may discover that the pneumatic cushions of

8、all sizes are just like sea bubbles. Beijing Water Cube will also more beautiful.,when the night comes. From inside the stadium, there look like show off their blue and white elegant color to the outside of the stadium. Visitors can see it from the outside, bright blue colors that shine make Beijing

9、 Water Cube look more calm, quiet and cold when night comes.,Two years after Beijing Olympic end, half of the stadium was built a water park that called Water Cube Water Park. Beijing Water Cube Water Park has also become the largest indoor water park in Asia.,Beijing Hutong,Many people say that the

10、 real culture of Beijing is the culture of the Hutong and Courtyards. How true that is. They attract more tourists from home and abroad than the high-rise buildings and large mansions.,History of Beijing hutong,In the past, Beijing was composed of hundreds of courtyards around the Forbidden City, an

11、d these lanes stretched out in all four directions, connecting the different kinds of courtyards in the city. Although originally formed in the Yuan Dynasty, the building of thethese developed fast during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the Yuan Dynasty, there were about 29 Hutongs, while in the Min

12、g Dynasty, this number increased to 1,070. In the Qing Dynasty, it grew to 2,076. It is said that by 1949 there were as many as 3,250. But with the passage of time, and the requirement for city construction, the number of them has fallen dramatically. In 2003, only 1,500 were left, and now no more t

13、han 1,000 remain. Thus, protecting them is an urgent problem for modern people.,The different Hutongs The longest one is the Dongjiaominxiang Hutong, with a total length of 6.5 kilometers. The shortest one is the Yichi Street, measuring about 25 meters. The most tortuous one is the Jiuwan Hutong ,wi

14、th about 13 turns, and can easily make you lost. The narrowest is the Qianshi Hutong, measuring about 40 centimeters wide, so when two people meet, they must turn sideways to pass each other. The widest one is the Lingjing Hutong. The one with the longest history is the Sanmiaojie Hutong, whose cons

15、truction can be traced back to the Liao Dynasty.,Apart from those special modern-style shops, there are some more traditional shops scattered in the lanes, recording the history of Chinese life. In Mishi Hutong, a barbershop called Yunfeng Barbershop, has been open since 1989, and all the equipment

16、in the shop was bought at that time, giving customers a feeling of traveling back in time.,Forbidden City (Palace Museum ),Ancient ChineseAstronomers believed that the Purple Star (Polaris) was in the center of heaven and the Heavenly Emperor lived in the Purple Palace. The Palace for the emperor on

17、 earth was so called the Purple City. It was forbidden to enter without special permissionof the empeor. Hence its name The Purple Forbidden City, usually The Forbidden City.,Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the worlds largest palace

18、 complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a 52-meter-wide moat and a 10-meter-high wall aremore than 8,700rooms.,Ancient Chinese people displayed their very considerable skills in building it. Take the grand red city wall for example. Since yellow is the symbol of the royal family, it is the do

19、minant color in it. Roofs are built with yellow glazed tiles; decorations in the palace are painted yellow; even the bricks on the ground are made yellow by a special process.,Nowadays, it is open to tourists from home and abroad. Splendid painted decoration on these royal architectural wonders, the

20、 grand and deluxe halls, with their surprisingly magnificent treasures will certainly satisfy modern civilians.,Beihai Park,With the Forbidden City and Jingshan Park to its east, Zhong Nan Hai to its south, Beihai Park is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved ancient imperial gardens in Chin

21、a located in the city center.,This ancient garden, with over 1,000 years history, is not only a classic combination of the grandiosity of the northern gardens and the refinement of the southern gardens in China, but also a perfect integration of magnificent imperial palaces and solemn religious constructions. Itcovers an area of about 0.71 sq km (about 0.27 sq miles), more than half of which is taken up by the lake. In the middle of the lake an