Skip to main content

Beijing Zoo 北京动物园

Ni hao!


Today´s blog is about the Beijing Zoo, tomorrow I will folloow up with the Summer Palace. We went there walking to the subway, and after the subway with a rickshaw ride. The chinese rickshaw man was very interested in swedish money, so I gave him some for his collection. He was very happy with this. The Beijing Zoo 北京动物园, lies west of Xixhimen and is in the western part of Beijing, China. It was known for a short time after the founding of the People´s Republic as Western Suburbs Park (Xijiao Gongyuan). The grounds combine cultivated flower gardens with stretches of natural scenery, including dense groves of trees, stretches of grassland, a small stream, lotus pools and small hills dotted with pavilions and halls. Beijing Zoo mainly exhibits wild and rare animals of China. The Giant Pandas are one of the most popular exhibits, but other popular animals including the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey, Manchurian tigers, white-lipped deer, yaks from Tibet, enormous sea turtles, polar bears from the North Pole, kangaroo from Australia, and zebra from Africa. The zoo is also a center of zoological research that collects and breeds rare animals from various continents. Construction: The buildings in the zoo cover an area of more than 50,000 square meters, including the monkey hall, the panda hall, the lion and tiger hall, the elephant hall, and many others. Altogether there are more than 30 large halls. The Zoo exhibits not only the variety of habitats for the animals but also the different rooms, halls, pavilions and luscious trees and plants. The Beijing Ocean Hall was opened to the public inside the Zoo in 1999. It is the biggest ocean hall in China. Besides enjoying the sight of all the different species of fish, guests are invited to watch the shows performed by the dolphins and the sea lions. In addition, visitors can explore many old buildings built in the Qing Dynasty inside the Beijing Zoo. History: Initially named The Ten Thousand Animal Garden, the zoo was built in 1908, making it almost 100 years old. It is located in Xicheng District of Beijing City, beside Beijing Exhibition Hall, facing Beijing Astronomical Observatory. The Zoo was originally an imperial manor during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). Plants were cultivated and animals were raised here during the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). After the establishment of the People´s Republic of China, it was reconstructed and renamed the West Suburb Park. In 1955, the name was changed to the Beijing Zoo. Present: The zoo has developed rapidly and by 1987 covered an area of over 40,000 square meters. Bears, elephants, pandas, lions, tigers, songbirds, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, antelopes and giraffes were brought in the late 1950s, and a gorilla cage, leaf-monkey cage and aquarium house, was opened, containing specimens of over 100 species of reptiles from all over the world, including crocodiles and pythons. The Beijing Zoo now houses over 7,000 creatures of 600 different species from all over the world. I visited the Beijing Zoo at the same day as the Summer Palace. It took the whole day. We went by boat on Emperess Xici´s river to the Summer Palace. A one hour ride that I recommend very much. Very interesting and if you have the time visit them one day each! Zoo!

Zai jian!

Peter



Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
Hallo Peter!
Thank you for your telling about Beijing! It's very exciting to follow your observations during your visit in Beijing! It nearly feels as if I was there myself. It's a very interesting reading and beautiful pictures as well.
I like your mix of Beijings history, your own observations of everyday life and useful information for me as a tourist to be in Beijing.
Greetings from
Eva Maria
September 1, 2007 at 1:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The China Millenium Monument in Beijing 北京!

Ni hao! The China Millenium Monument in Beijing 北京. All over the world, celebrations and festivities to usher in Year 2000 make up one of the grandest spectacles at the end of the century, as mankind strides towards the new century and millennium. New opportunities, challenges, and hopes are emerging over the horizon of China of the 21st century. The Chinese nation, with its splendid civilization of 5000 years, is on the threshold of an epoch of great renewal, as a future of yet greater splendour is arising in the East of the world. At the turn of the century and millennium, the China Millennium Monument. with its oriental cultural overtones and contemporary architectural art, will promote the national spirit by embodying an original style, displaying a modern aestheticism, and expressing hopes of the future. The China Millennium Monument, as China' s symbolic and commemorative building to welcome the Year 2000, is a gift for the world of the 21st century from the Chines
Post a Comment
Read more

Beijing Hutongs 北京胡同 and Siheyuans 四合院!

Ni hao! Todays blog will tell you a little bit more about the Hutongs in Beijing. We all call it hutong. But when we talk abut them we really mean siheyuan. Siheyuan are the courtyard houses, and hutong are the streets or alleys inbetween them. So we should really talk about the Siheyuans inBeijing! Hutongs 胡同 are narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing, China. The word hutong comes from the Mongolian hottog meaning "water well." During the growth of towns and cities, wells dug by villagers formed the centres of new communities. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of Siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods. In old China, streets and lanes were defined by width. Hutongs were lanes no wider than 9 metres. Many are smaller; Beijing hutongs range in widt
Post a Comment
Read more

Dongzhimen 东直门

Ni hao! This day I will tell you about Dongzhimen 东直门 in the Dongcheng District, Beijing. Dongzhimen is the name of one of the gates in the old city walls of Beijing, it´s now a transportation node in Beijing. The 2nd Ring Road links with Airport Expressway. The Beijing Subway has a station at Dongzhimen, where Lines 2 and 13 connect. Line 13 has its eastern terminus at Dongzhimen. The Dongzhimen bus station is also situated here. For me it feels and seems like the central station in Stockholm! It really is near and we can walk there from home! Talking about minutes! We reach all corners of Beijing very easily from here during our 30 days visit. The subway station is only 8 minutes walk from our own apartment. West of Dongzhimen is Guijie, or "Food vessel street" (Dongzhimen Inner Street), extremely well-known to locals in Beijing as a food street. We go often to the restaurants on this street. There are so many different restaurants there. I think they must be 100 ones!
Post a Comment
Read more