Gallery: Celebrate Spring Festival in China with New Year Paintings

China’s most important traditional festival, Spring Festival is round the corner. Celebrate it in the Old Way, and have an ultimate Chinese culture experience.  

New Year painting is definitely one of the most important parts of the celebration.  

Recommended China New Year Holidays

Chinese New Year painting was created around Tang Dynasty (618-907) as a unique art form of folk culture, and later in Ming and Qing Dynasty (1366-1912) was posted on the door or wall during the Spring Festival holiday (Chinese Lunar New Year) for decoration, symbolizing the health, wealth, joy and good luck for the coming year. 

To understand the main subjects of New Year painting, we will learn more about the folk daily life of China, the festival custom, people’s religious beliefs, the interesting folktales, mythology and legends. As decorative paintings for the New Year, most of the paintings feature auspicious and joyous subjects, and are themed at money tree, treasure bowl, lovely baby, gods, auspicious animals like lion, tiger, deer, and phoenix, and auspicious flowers like lotus and peony.  

For visitors who would like to have a Chinese New Year painting as souvenir, please note thatChina's four great production locations of New Year paintings are Yangliuqing of Tianjin,Yangjiabu of Weifang in Shandong, Taohuawu of Suzhou in Jiangsu and Mianshu of Sichuan. If you travel there, you can witness the traditional printing methods of New Year paintings, including woodblock printing, stone block printing, offset printing, traditional Chinese painting, watercolor painting and sketch etc. 

Where to Enjoy the Best Panorama View of Beijing

From above, one can take in the spectacular view of Beijing’s long-standing historical sites and magnificent ancient architectural complexes, as well as the newly built landmarks of jaw-dropping design and gaudy facades.  

The CCTV tower (CCTV Headquarters) 

Panoramic views of the city skyline will be available on the CCTV tower, 386.5m above the streets of Beijing, and overlooking Forbidden City, Bird's Nest, China's National Grand Theater, Summer Palace, etc. Inside the tower, there is a hanging revolving restaurant that is one of Beijing’s most distinctive restaurants and one of the city’s most romantic places. 

Location: 32 E 3rd Ring Rd Middle, Chaoyang, Beijing 

Jingshan Park

Right behind the Forbidden City (Palace Museum), the park was built over 1000 years ago and was the royal garden during Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and still keeps the ancient hills, gates and walls. On the top, one can have the full picture of Forbidden City and marvel at its magnificent size and perfect layout. Look afar to enjoy the unique scenery of the imperial city. 

Location: 44 Jingshan West Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 

Dingdu Peak

The 680-meter-high Dingdu Peak is another viewing platform for the panoramic 360 degree views of Beijing. Hidden in the stretches of mountains, Dingdu Pavilion is of quaint ancient Chinese structure and offers a great view of Yongding River and Chang’an Street from afar.  

Location: Sangyu Village, Tanzhe Temple Town, Mentougou District, Beijing 

Xiangshan Park (Fragrant Hills Park)

Famed for the red fall foliage, Xiangshan Park is also one of the best places for Beijing panorama views. Xianglu Peak (香炉峰), the main peak of the hill, is 557 meter high, where you can see the entire city in a clear day.

Location: eastern side of the Western Hills, approximately 10 kilometers to the west of Beijing 

Atmosphere at China World Summit Wing - The Highest Bar in Beijing

Despite its haunting nostalgic aura, Beijing is also an exciting metropolis with wonderful night life. Have a trip to the top of China World Trade Centre Tower III (80th floor), the tallest building in Beijing, and enjoy the romantic hours at Atmosphere, with 360-degree panoramic views of the city (especially beautiful by night). 

Location: 1 Jianguomen Outer St, Chaoyang, Beijing

Bird Watching Tour to Tianjin with the Newly Opened Birding Festival

North China sees its first snows in November. As the temperature drops, the migratory birds have flown southward, and some of them stop in Tianjin. Therefore it is time to head out for fall birding.  

Approximately 130km away from the capital Beijing, Tianjin faces Bohai Gulf in the Pacific Ocean to the east, with Haihe River winding across the city. One of China’s top birding destinations, Tianjin is an important stop on fresh water birds’ east migration route. And the Beidagang Wetlands in Tianjin’s Binhai District is a natural sanctuary for birds.

10 Best Places in China for Winter Birding

To better protect the rare species of birds, the water birds wetlands park is expanded and under construction. Meanwhile the first “China Tianjin Binhai International Birding Culture Festival" that has been prepared for over half a year was successfully opened in November 7th. A number of ecologists, ornithologists, birders, twitchers and photographers were attracted and came to Tianjin’s Beidagang Wetlands Park for bird watching, bird photography, and sharing the knowledge and experiences of birding.  

It is said that there are about 400 species of birds in Tianjin, including the endangered oriental stork, mute swan, saunders' gull, argentatus, etc. Every spring and autumn, a great number of migratory birds get together at the wetlands park and fly over Tianjin. While in winter, the Binhai New Area sea beaches become the best place for 50,000 birds to live through the winter, including 12,000 relict gulls which are endemic to China.  

Apart from Beidagang Wetlands, Ninghe River Qili Wetlands, Dongli Lake, Wuqing Dahuangbao Wetlands and many forests and parks in Tianjin also offer a rich array of birding opportunities. 

Alice's Fantastic Journey to Shangri-La (Early November, 2015)

My Yunnan journey started at Kunming, with two stopovers at Dali and Lijiang, continued through theTiger Leaping Gorge, and finally reached the dreamland of Shangri-La.

There are regular buses (coaches) from Lijiang to Shangri-La departing every half an hour. The journey takes 4 ~ 5 hours, and is scenic and dramatic with gorges, rivers, mountains, waterfalls, terraced fields…

We were told to drink more water and exercise less in case of discomfort or even altitude sickness, as Shangri-La is 3200~3500m above sea level.

Half of the Dukezong Old Town was burned and destroyed in Jan 2014, and is still under reconstruction and expected to be completed by 2017. Walk through the narrow, intricate ancient streets to get lost in the track of time. The Moonlight Square is the way to the Guishan Park and the Giant Buddhist Temple where world’s largest prayer wheel is located. Standing beside the prayer wheel, I had the great panorama view of Shangri-La Town that is aloof from the outside world and embraced by the lofty mountains. 

 

Shangri-La in early November doesn’t see many snowy days, so I changed the itinerary of taking the cable car up to the Shika Snow Mountain to visiting the Potatso National Park (but you’re still encouraged to ascend Shika Snow Mountain to overlook the sacred Meri Snow Mountain, Gaoligong Mountain, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the three sacred mountains in Daocheng, and also have a bird’s view of Napa Lake wetlands).

I’ve heard that Potatso National Park has its most beautiful time in spring and summer when the small wild animals make the lush forests alive and the wetlands and pasture are besprinkled with a variety of colorful flowers. However, Potatso in winter totally impressed me too and brought me a time of peace and tranquility, with its purified blue sky and liquid water in Shudu Lake and Bita Lake. 

 

The little naughty squirrels were running everywhere in the forests and people can feed them with peanuts and sunflower seeds. Potatso National Park is an interesting place and worths at least half a day visiting by hiking and boating.

I felt that it was my great honor to visit the Songzanlin Lamasery - the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple complex in Yunnan Province, and reputed as the Lesser Potala Palace of Tibet. Built in 1679 by the Fifth Dalai Lama, the lamasery houses a wealth of stunning Buddhist art treasures. I was not a Buddhist, but still I visited it with reverence and pious heart.