ACP 2013 & Co-located IPOC 2013

Tours in Beijing
Beijing is unarguably one of the most visited places in the world. Every year finds millions of people come to Beijing to see the capital of China, a fast changing metropolitan city of old and new. Beijing is a sleepless city, so you can easily find something for you at any time for whatever you like. There are in fact a great number of tourist attractions and historic sites in Beijing, and we recommend some famous traveling places for your interests as the following.

1. The Great Hall of the People
The Great Hall of the People lies to the west of Tian'anmen Square and south of the West Chang'an Street. It is where the National People's Congress is held and also where state leaders hold diplomatic meetings and the masses stage political activities. As one of the "Ten Great Constructions" completed in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of PRC, it was built in just 10 months between October 1958 and September 1959. Facing east, the hall covers an area of 150,000sqm, 336m long from south to north, 206m wide from east to west and 46.5m high. The building area reaches to 171,800sqm, even larger than that of the Forbidden City, hence the largest among hall structures in the world.

2. The Forbidden City http://www.dpm.org.cn/
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 720,000 m2. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

3. The Summer Palace http://www.summerpalace-china.com/
Regarded as the largest imperial garden in China, Beijing's Summer Palace is in fact a park-styled royal retreat extending out over 10 square miles in northwest suburban Beijing. Once a summer resort for emperors, this 290-acre park-palace is still a retreat for visitors, who can take a rest here or wander around old pavilions, buildings, temples, bridges and the huge lake - Kunming Lake. Summer Palace is mainly comprised of Longevity Hill (Wanshoushan) and Kunming Lake. Much of the park is covered by Kunming Lake. With masterly design and artistic architecture integrating the highlight of Chinese garden arts, the Summer Palace has earned a title of "Royal Garden Museum". It is a royal garden most completely preserved with richest landscapes and large compact buildings. The Summer Palace was listed as the world cultural heritage in 1998.

4. The Badaling Great Wall http://www.badaling.gov.cn/language/en.asp
The Great Wall of China possesses thousands of famous passes. Badaling, located in the outer town of Juyong Pass, is eulogized as one of the top nine passes in the world. It boasts strategically important position, long history, rich culture, spectacular architecture, inspiring sight, and great fame. For these reasons, it is rated as the best of all famous passes. Badaling Great Wall is the outstanding representative of the Great Wall of China. It is the best part of Ming Dynasty Great Wall. It is a precious part of human cultural heritages and a center of attention for world tourists. Badaling Great Wall embodies the wisdom and civilization of the Chinese nation. It is laid with historical heritages of thousands of years. Badaling Great Wall, a place contested by all strategists since ancient times, is endowed with new historical missions these days. It strides across high mountains, straddles deep oceans, crosses time and space, and serves as a bridge of friendship for all people of the world. The seeds of friendship are sown here. The songs of peace are sung here. Let us pray – May the flowers of true friendship never fade at Badaling Great Wall!

5. The Beijing National Stadium
The Beijing National Stadium, also known as the bird's nest, was the main track and field stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics and hosted to the Opening and Closing ceremonies. In 2002 Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. Located at the southern part of the Olympic Green in Beijing, the National Stadium was the main stadium of the 29th Olympiad in 2008. Occupying an area of 21 hectares, it has a floor space of 258,000 square meters. Its seating capacity amounts to 91,000, including 11,000 temporary seats. The venue hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, the track and field competitions, and the football finals. After the Olympics, the stadium has been a large-scale sports and entertainment facility for the residents of Beijing -- an architectural landmark and Olympic legacy.

6. The Shicha Lake http://www.shichahaitour.com/
Shicha Lake Scenic Zone, beginning from the Second Ring Road in the north to Ping’an Avenue in the south and from Di’anmenwai Street in the east to Xingjiekou Street in the west, is a paradise for tourists. It encompasses 146.7 hectares(362.5 acres). The Zone is the only area in the city center where vast open waters, comprised by Xihai (West Lake), Houhai(back or Rear Lake) and Qianhai (Front Lake ) lakes, exist. More than 40 units for protection of historical relics are located there. They include the former residence of honorary president of People’s Republic of China Soong Ching Ling(1893_1981); Guo Moruo(1892_1978) Museum, which is devoted to the famous writer, poet and historian; and Guanghua Temple.

7. The Wangfujing Commercial Street
The Wangfujing commercial street is of our positioning in its international first-class commercial street. The world's leading commercial streets have common characteristics, one of the features is that it has a long history, the history of Wangfujing Street can be traced back to the 13th century, the early Yuan Dynasty in 1267, on the streets has become so far Have been 700 years. In this 700-plus years, Wangfujing great changes have taken place. From its name, is the beginning Three-way Street, later called 10 Palace Street, Palace Street, to 1905, as Wangfujing Street has a sweet dig wells, so called from the 1905 start of Wangfujing Street. Wangfujing genuine commercial activities from the beginning of the 15th century, truly a relatively prosperous business Street is 1903. In an abandoned training camp of the Qing Dynasty God built the famous market in the East after the market from the early 20th century, forming a famous commercial street, formed a relatively busy commercial street and has 100 years of history.

8. The Beijing Central Business District (CBD)
The Beijing Central Business District (CBD) is the primary area of finance, media, and business services in Beijing, China. Beijing CBD occupies 3.99 sq km of the Chaoyang District on the east side of the city. Geographically situated to the east of the city center, sandwiched between the 3rd Ring Road and the 4th Ring Road, the Beijing CBD is currently undergoing large-scale development. As Beijing is becoming one of the most important international financial centers in China, Beijing CBD was recently positioned as the secondary core area in Beijing’s International Financial Center Development strategic plan published in May, 2008. Beijing CBD is also emerging as China’s media center as Beijing Television Station (BTV) just moved in its new headquarters (Beijing TV Centre) in this area and the new CCTV Headquarters is soon to be completed by the end of 2008.