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

    The full moon climbs over the eastern horizon (地平线) and hangs like a huge orange globe in the sky. A few hours later, the moon is overhead but seems to have changed. The huge orange globe has become a small silver disk. What has happened? Why has the orange color disappeared? Why does the moon seem so much smaller and farther away now that it is overhead?

    The moon appears orange on the horizon because we view it through the dust of the atmosphere. The overhead moon does not really shrink as it moves away from the horizon. Our eyes inform us that the overhead moon is farther away. But in this position the moon is actually closer to our eyes than when it is near the horizon.

    The change in size is a trick our eyes and minds play on us. When the moon is low in the sky, we can compare its size with familiar objects. It is easy to see that the moon is much larger than trees or buildings, for example. When the moon is high in the sky, however, it is hard to compare it with objects on earth. Compared to the vastness of the sky, the moon seems small.

    There is another reason why the moon seems to shrink. We are used to staring at objects straight ahead of us. When an object is difficult to see, our eyes have to try to focus on it. When we move our heads back to look up, we will try hard again. Looking at something from an unaccustomed position can fool you into believing an object is smaller or farther away than it is. However, scientists do not yet understand completely why the moon seems to shrink as it rises in the sky.

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    Modern fathers spend an average of six and a half hours a week playing with their children. A study said this equals 338 hours a year, or just over 14 days, three whole days more fun time than their own fathers spent with them.

    The report said modern parents are ''adventurous”, as many encourage their children to play outside. A third of parents also prefer family trips which encourage children to learn new skills, and most say that having fun together improves family ties. The study said the lack of time that today's parents shared with their own dads encouraged them to be more active with their children.

    Dr. Amanda Gummer, psychologist and founder of Fundamentally Children, a company which provides advice on child development, said being adventurous helps children. She said, “Being adventurous from an early age helps children develop important skills that will last throughout childhood and set them up for a healthy and successful adulthood.”

    Outdoor activities are a popular choice for dads and their children, with 40 percent choosing nature trails and 26 percent looking for wildlife, while 13 percent say their top outdoor activity is climbing trees. The simple things are the most popular, with 46 percent going to the park and 41 percent choosing to kick a ball around their children.

    Dr Gummer said, “Children are able to challenge themselves by being more adventurous, and they can be safe in the knowledge that their dad will be there to help if things start getting out of control. Parents can help encourage their children's adventurous, outdoor spirit with wildlife treasure hunts and adventure playgrounds. They can even do more exciting things, like going on camping trips.

                                                                                           Taktak tabulaba?

    You probably don't know how to answer that question ─ unless you happen to be one of the about 430 people in the world who speak a language called Matukar Panau. Then you would know it means “ What are we doing?” Matukar Panau is one of the world's rarest languages. It is spoken in just two small coastal villages in Papua New Guinea.

    Several years ago, David Harrison, a language expert, didn't know much about Matukar Panau either. No one had ever recorded or even studied its words and rules. With so few speakers, the language risked disappearing soon. It was endangered.

    Harrison didn't want that to happen to Matukar Panau. So in 2009, he set out for Papua New Guinea. His goal: use modern technology to help the remaining speakers preserve their native tongue.

    But Matukar Panau is not the only language facing loss. Studies suggest that by the end of this century，nearly half of the 7,000 languages now spoken worldwide could disappear. They're in danger partly because the only people left speaking them are elderly adults. When those old men die, their language will die with them. In addition, children may discard a native language and instead use more common global languages, such as Chinese, English or Spanish.

    In the United States alone, 134 native American languages are endangered. “Language hotspots” exist all over the world. These are places with endangered languages that haven't been recorded. They include the state of Oklahoma, pockets of central and eastern Siberia, parts of northern Australia and communities in South America.

    Adding math talk to story time at home is a winning factor for children's math achievement, according to a new research from a university. The study from psychologists Sian Beilock and Susan Levine shows a marked increase in math achievement among children whose families used Bedtime Math, an iPad app that delivers engaging math story problems for parents and children to solve together.

    Even children who used the app with their parents as little as once a week saw gains in math achievement by the end of the school year. The app's effect was especially strong for children whose parents tend to be anxious or uncomfortable with math.

    Previous research from this group has demonstrated the importance of adults' attitudes about math for children's math success. For example, a recent study found that math-anxious parents who help their children with math homework actually weaken their children's math achievement.

    The new findings demonstrate that structured, positive interactions around math at home can cut the link between parents' uneasiness about math and children's low math achievement.

    "Many Americans experience high levels of anxiety when they have to solve a math problem, with a majority of adults feeling at least some worries about math," said Beilock, professor in Psychology and author of Choke, a book about stress and performance. "These math-anxious parents are probably less likely to talk about math at home, which affects how competent their children are in math. Bedtime Math encourages a dialogue between parents and kids about math, and offers a way to engage in high-quality math interactions in a low-effort, high-impact way."

    Study participants included 587 first-grade students and their parents. Families were given an iPad installed with a version of the Bedtime Math app, with which parents and their children read stories and answer questions involving math, including topics like counting, shapes and problem-solving. A control group received a reading app that had similar stories without the math content and questions related to reading comprehension instead. Children's math achievement was assessed at the beginning and end of the school year. Parents completed a questionnaire about their nervousness with math.

    The more times parents and children in the math group used the app, the higher children's achievement on a math assessment at the end of the school year. Indeed, children who frequently used the math app with their parents outperformed similar students in the reading group by almost three months in math achievement at year's end.

    It's not easy being a teenager– nor is it easy being the parent of a teenager. You can make your child feel angry, hurt, or misunderstood by what you say without realizing it yourself. It is important to give your child the space he needs to grow while gently letting him know that you'll still be there for him when he needs you.

    Expect a lot from your child, just not everything. Except for health and safety problems, such as drug use or careless driving, consider everything else open to discussion to help them grow up more independently. If your child is unwilling to discuss something, don't insist he tell you what's on his mind. The more you insist, the more likely that he'll clam up. Instead, let him attempt to solve things by himself. At the same time, remind him that you're always there for him should he seek advice or help. Show respect for your teenager's privacy (隐私). Never read his mail or listen in on personal conversations.

    Teach your teenager that the family phone is for the whole family, which can make them more mature. If your child talks on the family's telephone for too long, tell him he can talk for 15 minutes, but then he must stay off the phone for at least an equal period of time. This not only frees up the line so that other family members can make and receive calls, but teaches your teenager moderation (节制). Or if you are open to the idea, allow your teenager his own phone that he pays for with his own pocket money or a part-time job.