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Tianjin

Ancient Cultural Street

The 580-metre-long Ancient Cultural Street is a major tourist destination where Tianjin's old traditions remain largely intact. Imitation Qing buildings, which house nearly 100 shops are scattered along the street with the Tianhou Temple in the center. Built in 1320 during the Yuan, the Tianhou (Heavenly Queen) Temple, also known as Temple of the Patron Goddess, is one of many temples established in China's coastal areas in honour of the mythological angel known more popularly as Mazu. Grand sacrificial ceremonies were held in the temple on Mazu's birthday, which fell on the 23rd day of the 3rd lunar month. Today the temple has been converted into the Tianjin Folklore Museum.

Guangdong Cuild Hall

The Guangdong Gild Hall in Nanmennei Street was built by Guangdong natives in 1907 so that they could have a place to get together. It is a unique structure built in the style of an ancient-looking quadrangle. Today it is the Tianjin theatre Museum.

Martial Artist's Tomb

Huo Yuanjia, a celebrated master of traditional Chinese martial arts is a household name in China for his superb mastery of martial arts and patriotic, chivalrous deeds. His former residence and tomb, now open to the public, are in Xiqing District of Tianjin.

Zhou & Deng Memorial

The memorial hall dedicated to Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao is a 6-hectare affair to the north of the Park-on-the-Lake. Its buildings, with a total floor space of 7, 150 square metres, include a prelude hall, exhibition of the couple's lives, movie house, assembly hall, reception room, research center, warehouse, and a plane that Zhou used during his lifetime.

Tianjin Beach Resort

The beach resort by the Bohai Sea lies 4.5km to the southeast of Tianjin. With convenient transportation, a serene and secluded environment, an bathing ground, and a good assortment of water sports and recreational facilities, the beach is an ideal destination for sightseeing, holiday making, and recuperating purposes. Accommodations run the gamut from star=rated hotels to guestrooms-on-the-sea, compact villas, and tents pitched right on the beach. Seafood is available in local restaurants.

Haihe River Cruise

The Haihe River meanders its way through the city of Tianjin. The renowned cruise on the river features the Haihe Park, the Fountain Amusement Park, magnificent waterfront homes, and green parklands, and gives a comprehensive view of what the landscape of Tianjin is all about.

Park-on-the-Lake

Isles jutting out of a vast expanse of water are a salient feature of the famed Park-on-the-Lake in Nankai District. The park is close to the Tianjin Zoo, home to giant pandas, golden-haired monkeys and other endangered species.

Dule Temple

Situated at the Western Gate of Jixian County, the Dule (Solitary Happiness) Temple is a typical ancient wood structure dating back to the Tang. A frontal archway and the Guanyin Pavilion, both of which are a legacy of the Liao, are what have remained of this temple. The Guanyin Pavilion is the shrine of a fine example of Liao sculpture-a 16-metre clay statue of the Goddess of Mercy, known as "Guanyin with Eleven Heads" because the unknown sculptor has erected 10 miniature replicas of the head of the goddess on her temple.

Great Wall at Huangya Pass

This refers to a famous section of the Great Wall built in 556 AD north of Jixian County. Here the Great Wall looks at once majestic, awesome, exotic and elegant as it stretches heroically for 3,025 metres along mountain ridges and across rivers.

Panshan Scenic Resort

The Panshan Mountain, found north west of the seat of Jixian County, is extolled as "No.1 Mountain East of the Chinese Capital". The beauty about this scenic resort lies in the pine trees that from an overhead canopy over the mountaintop, the statuesque rock formations midway on its slope, and the streams and rivulets that skirt the foothills. The Shiqu (Interesting Stone) Garden, a new tourist attraction south of the main peak, is known for a vast assemblage of rocks in life-like shapes and images.

Educational Tour

Tainjin is a major center for tourists who come to China for educational purposes. Many schools in the city have fostered enduring exchange relations with Japan and some other countries. Visitors taking part in this tour program are organized to visit families and schools for people-to-people exchanges, go sightseeing in the around the city, and experience the delights of "being a Tianjin citizen for a single day".

Great Wall International Marathon

The Huangyaguan section of the Great Wall in Jixian County, is the venue of an international marathon that runs across rivers and farm fields along a 42.5km route which the International Track and Field Association has designated as a standard international cross-the-country marathon route. This event, which takes place in May every year, has drawn warm response from the world market for its combination of a Western sporting program with the ancient Great Wall as a symbol of Oriental culture. Every year the event is joined by more than 1,000 athletes, many of them from the United States, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Ice land and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Shanghai

The Bund

The picturesque Bund, extending for 1.5 km on the shore of the Huangpu River, is an emblem of Shanghai. A total of 52 tall buildings of various heights tower over the river along the western side of the Bund, looking like a museum of modem world architecture. The wide riverfront promenade along the eastern side of the Bund provides a captivating view of Shanghai. When lights are turned on between 19:00 and 21:00 p.m., the Bund has the best nocturnal scene to offer.

Huangpu River Cruise

When the lower section of the Huangpu River, which rises from the Taihu Lake, flows through the city of Shanghai for 39km, its water surface extends as wide as 400 metres. A cruise on the river involves a 60-km-long round trip, which runs past some of the major landmarks of shanghai as a port city.

Yangpu & Nanpu Bridges

The Yangpu and Nanpu bridges are, at 7,658 and 8,346 metres respectively, among the longest bridges of the world. Both are of the double cable-stayed suspension type with a long span. Open 8:30-17:00.

Longhua Temple

Built during the Five Dynasties, the Longhua Temple is the most venerated and largest temple in Shanghai. Apart from its long history, the allure of the temple also lies in the Longhua Pagoda and the peach blossoms in its courtyard.

Tour of Residential Quarters

Visitors are invited do "be a Shanghai citizen for a day" by visiting families often those with several generations living under the same roof-in some residential quarters. In this way they can experience the delights of family life the oriental way.

"Pedestrians Only" Nanjing Road

Flanked on both sides by famed shopping centers, department stores, specialty stores, exotic restaurants and cultural and recreational facilities, the 5-km-long Nanjing Road is the most sophisticated shopping and tourist complex in Shanghai. Every day it is thronged by more than 1 million visitors.

The Oriental pearl TV Tower

The "Oriental Pearl" TV Tower is a new landmark of Shanghai which faces the Bund across the Huangpu River at Lujiazui, the busiest part of Pudong new Area. At a height of 468 metres, it is the tallest TV tower in Asia. An elevator whisks visitors to the tower's observational deck at a height of 263 metres, where they can feast their eyes on a panoramic view of shanghai. The tower is equipped with tourist service facilities, including eateries, shops, recreational including eateries, shops, recreational centers and a hotel. Open 8:30-21:30.

Grand View Garden

Patterned after the settings of the 18th-century Chinese classic A Dream of Red Mansions, the Grand View Garden is an 8-hectare affair by the Dianshan Lake in Qingpu County.

Shanghai Museum

The Shanghai Museum at the People's Square is in the possession of a collection of 123,000 cultural artifacts in 21 categories, but bronze ware, ceramics, calligraphy and painting are its forte. A vast collection of exhibits, world-class architecture, and high-tech facilities explain why the Shanghai Museum can attract visitors who come in a constant stream from every nook and cranny of the world.

Arts & Crafts Research Institute

Situated on Fenyang road and established in 1956, this is China's first comprehensive center for the research of Chinese arts and crafts. Its 19 departments are staffed with a galaxy of virtuoso craftsmen in such fields as woolen needlepoint tapestries, embroidery, ivory carving, jade carving, dough modeling, and porcelain carving. Visitors are in for quite a few rare artistic delights.

Shanghai tourist Festival

Time: From mid-October to November every year
What's On: Large-scale float parade, open-air concert, demonstration of Chinese and foreign tea ceremonies, international symposium on tourism, exhibition of culture and art associated with the classic A Dream of Red Mansions. Other programs include the tour to "be a Shanghai citizen for one day" and evening cruises on the Huangpu River. There are also tours for those who return from overseas to seek out their ancestral roots.