Yong Feng Village - home stay and cooking lessons
Yong Feng village is situated
on the outskirt of Beijing City. This village used to be
entirely a farming community. Within the last decade, the rapid expansion of the city
has changed the community dramatically and almost converted all the farm lands into urban landscape. In
another few years, this village will very likely be completely urbanized.
Yong Feng villagers are in the process of adapting their community to cope
with the upcoming changes. In the midst of the changes, they still retained a
lot of traditions and way of live. One of them is the tradition of making "Jiao Zi", a dumpling like food.
Making "Jiao Zi" is usually a family event that requires concerted efforts of all members. We will spend one afternoon with
our host
families making "Jiao Zi" together, while listening to how they are
coping with changes brought by the progress of China modernization.
Gardens of Perfect Brightness
"Gardens of
Perfect Brightness", also called Yuan Ming Yuan, is located
in the vicinity of Yong Feng village.
Built in the 18th and early 19th century, it was a complex of palaces and
gardens where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty resided and handled
government affairs. Famed as "Garden of Gardens", it boasted an
extensive collection of gardens, building architectures and other works
of art. In 1860, the garden were entirely destroyed and burnt by troops
of Anglo-French Allies. Today great effort is undergoing to re-construct
the the garden, however the remains from the destruction still
stood as a reminder of the history.
Great Wall
Built from the 3rd century BC until the beginning of the 17th century, the
Great Wall is a fortification to protect the various dynasties from raids
by nomadic tribes coming from Mongolia and Manchuria. It is the world's
longest man-made structure, stretching over a formidable 6,352 km (3,948
miles).
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City, located in the very center of Beijing, was the imperial
palace during the mid-Ming and the Qing Dynasties. It is the world's
largest palace complex and covers 720,000 square meters (178 acres, or
0.28 square miles). Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter
high wall, it was designed to forbid the entrance of anyone who is not
members of the imperial household. Today as a tourist, you may
wonder around the royal architectures decorated with splendid paintings
and get yourself lost in the ocean of magnificent treasures that once
belonged to the first family in the nation.
Other choices
For those who booked this trip as an extension program and therefore has
toured either the Great Wall or the Forbidden City, other choices will be
available such as the Alley Tour, Ming's Tomb, or history museum.
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