Top 5 Must See Places in Beijing

Beijing is an old capital city with a lot of tourists attractions. What is the most representative place in Beijing? The answers are various. Here are the Top 5 Must See Places in Beijing.

1) Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is the ideal place for you to begin your exploration of Beijing. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes as you have to walk a lot! A multilingual guide recorder is recommended, as it can tell you the stories behind the palace.

Opening Hour: 8:30-17:00

Entrance Fee: RMB 60

2) Tian'anmen Square

Lying in the heart of Beijing City, it is the place for massive parades and gathering. It boasts of the largest square of such kind in the world. At sunrise and sunset the raising and lowering ceremony of the Chinese National Flag is well worth seeing.

Ticket fees: Free

Opening Time: Whole Day

3) Great Wall

    Most of the sections of the Great Wall in Beijing are well-preserved, and the most famous section is Badaling. For the Great Wall hiking, get ready for strong footwear. For hot weather, please also prepare sunblock, sunglasses and water.

Badaling Great Wall:

Ticket Fees: RMB40 (Nov. 01 to Mar. 31); RMB 45 (Apr. 01 to Oct. 31)

Open Hours: 6:40 to 18:30

4) Summer Palace

    Regarded as the largest imperial garden in China, the Summer Palace is in fact a park-styled royal retreat. With masterly design and artistic architecture integrating the highlight of Chinese garden arts, it has earned a title of "Royal Garden Museum".

Open Time: 6:30-20:30

Ticket Fee: RMB 40 (low season) / RMB 50 (peak season during the holidays)

5) Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven worked as sacrificial compound buildings for the Ming and Qing emperors. What's the intriguing by-production of the temple is that if you enter the Temple of Heaven in the early morning, you can find many people doing all types of Kungfu, Taiji, dancing and other morning exercises.

Open Time: 6:00-21:00

Ticket Fee: RMB 35

    Visitors to the grounds of New College at England's Oxford University pass under an iron gate with the advice: Manners make the man. Even after an appropriate update to: Manners make the person, it's thought-provoking(引人深思的)—especially to today's Americans.

    When we think about what makes the person—it's more likely the degree, the job, the salary. Since when do we count manners as a measure of success?

    We do know that these would make life nicer, if more tolerable. However, we forget or overlook our manners. So , it seems, does everyone else—including, unluckily, our children.

    As a university president, one of my great joys is to visit our campuses and see our students, though we're separated by different generations, interests, and, of course dressing, each student tells me something within the first few minutes that we meet: whether he or she has been taught manners. I sense this in different ways: through her words or her gestures, in the way she listens or how he refers to friends and faculty, how she greets and says goodbye, how he responds when an elderly person enters the room.

    In the absence of manners, however, I make some allowances. For instance, the many ethnic(种族的)groups that students represent often have different explanations of what makes up good manners. In other cases, some students may reject what they've learned to break from their parents and be accepted by other students. Whether students are being different or openly opposing, a recent experience I had with them tells me that there's some hope for reviving and good manners.

    Good manners don't just guarantee acceptance. Good manners open doors to deeper connections and more meaningful roles in our society. Good manners are gentle signals that show we care about one another and allow us to relate to another person in a thoughtful way but at a respectable distance.

    As a result of pollution, Lake Erie, on the borders of the USA and Canada, is now without any living things.

    Pollution in water is not simply a matter of “poisons” killing large numbers of fish overnight, Very often the effects of pollution are not noticed for many months or years because the first organisms（生物体）to be affected are either plants or plankton. But these organisms are the food of fish and birds and other creatures. When this food disappears, the fish and birds die too. In this way a whole food chain can be wiped out, and it's not until dead fish and water birds are seen at the river's edge or on the seashore that people realize what is happening.

    Where do the substances which pollute the water come from? There are two main sources of sewage（污水）and industrial waste . As more detergent（洗涤剂）is used in the home, so more of it is finally put into our rivers, lakes and seas . Detergents harm water birds, dissolving the natural substances which keep their feathers water - proof. Sewage itself, if not properly treated, makes the water dirty and prevents all forms of life in rivers and the sea from receiving the oxygen they need. Industrial waste is even more harmful as there are many highly poisonous things in it, such as copper and lead（铅）.

    So, if we want to stop this pollution, the answer is simple: sewage and industrial waste must be made clear before flowing into the water. It may already be too late to save some rivers and lakes, but others can still be saved if the correct action is taken at once.

    All across the nation, in Americans' backyards and garages and living rooms, wild animals kept as pets live side by side with their human owners. It's believed that more exotic animals live in American homes than are cared for in American zoos. The exotic-pet business has drawn criticism from animal welfare advocates and wildlife conservationists alike, who say it's not only dangerous to bring wildlife into households but it's cruel and criminal. Yet the issue is far from black or white.

    The term exotic pet has no firm definition. It can refer to any wildlife kept in human households or simply to a pet that's more unusual than the common dog or cat. Privately owning exotic animals is currently permitted in a handful of states with no restrictions in America. Adam Roberts of Born Free USA keeps a running database of deaths and injuries caused by exotic-pet ownership：In Connecticut a 55-year-old woman's face was permanently disfigured by her friend's lifelong pet monkey；in Ohio an 80-year-old man was attacked by a 200-pound kangaroo；in Nebraska a 34-year-old man was strangled(勒)to death by his pet snake. And that list does not include the number of people who become sick from coming into contact with zoonotic(动物传染的) diseases.

    Some people see wild animals as pets as a way to connect with the natural world. Other exotic-pet owners say they are motivated by a desire to preserve threatened species. They believe climate change and human population growth could wipe out a species in record time, so having a backup population is a good idea.   

    But some groups like Born Free USA and the World Wildlife Fund gay that captive breeding(圈养)of endangered species by private owners—whether for commercial, conservation, or educational reasons—serves only to continue a booming market for exotic animals. That, in turn, results in a greater risk to animals still living in their natural habitat.

    Often people use laptops(手提电脑) on trains and airplanes, in airports and hotels. These laptops connect people to their workplace. In the United States today, laptops also connect students to their classrooms.

    Westlake College in Virginia will start a laptop computer program that allows students to do schoolwork anywhere they want. Within five years, each of the 1500 students at the college will receive a laptop. The laptops are part of a $10 million computer program at Westlake, a 110-year-old college. The students with laptops will also have access to the Internet. Besides, they will be able to use e-mail to "speak" with their teachers, their classmates and their families. However, the most important part of the laptop program is that students will be able to use computers without going to computer labs. They can work with it at home, in a fast-food restaurant or under the trees—anywhere at all!

    Because of the many changes in computer technology, laptop use in higher education, such as colleges and universities, is workable. As laptops become more powerful, they become more similar to desktop computers. Also, the portable(便携式的)computers can connect students to not only the Internet, but also libraries and other resources. State higher-education officials are also testing laptop programs at other universities, too.