"Guidebook to BEIJING" a Beijing Travel Page by honestjohn

The Great Wall
The Forbidden City
The Tiananmen Square
The Summer Palace
The Temple of Heaven
Best Season to Visit Beijing

Autumn is the most comfortable season in Beijing. In Autumn, the weather, temperature, air quality and scenery are best among whole year. If possible, you'd better come to Beijing during the period of Sept, 1 to Oct 31

Tsinghua University(Beijing)
Beijing University(Beijing)
University of Science and Technology of China(USTC)(Hefei, Anhui Province)

---EATING:
[The most famous food of Beijing]
Beijing roast duck, Hotpot,Barbecue
[The snacks of Beijing]
It is said that there are over two hundred kinds of snacks in Beijing, including dishes going with wine, such as Quick-Fried Tripe (Bao Du), Boiled Sheep's Head (Bai Shui Yang Tou), Flour-Pastry desserts, like Pancakes with Meat-Fillings (Rou Mo Shao Bing) and some other snacks for breakfast or as midnight snack, like Sticky Rice with Sweet Fillings (Ai Wo Wo) and Rolling Donkey (Lu Da Gun). What local Beijing people, especially elder ones like most are Mung Bean Milk (Dou Zhi), Fried Liver (Chao Gan) and Filled Sausage (Guan Chang).
---THE WEARING:
Although people's wearing is greatly infuluenced by world popular fashion, some chinese distinctive clothing still keep its strong vitality. Cheongsam (in chinese "Qipao"), the most traditional clothing in ancient China, is so much liked by women not only of China but of foreign countries as well. The Zhongshanzhuang, the man's jacket popularized by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, also has its market nowadays.
---HOUSING:
Accommodation in Beijing is not very expensive, If you planned to stay in Beijing just for several days, to stay in hotel is suitable choise. Generally, you can easily find a clean and tidy hotel room which cost 160~200RMB per day. If you live in Beijing for a very long time, above one month, maybe, I suggest you rent a house. Normally, it costs about 2000~3000RMB for one month for a set of aparment in the downtown area.<br>
---TRANSPORTATION:
You can get around Beijing by bike, pedicab, taxi, bus or subway, Beijing's street is pretty straight, it's very very easy to find the direction for tourists. therefore, if you decide to get around by yourself, you'd better buy a map first. please see my "Beijing Transportation Tips" page for more infomation.
Trains run between Beijing and Shanghai

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Beijing->Shanghai
D31 10:50 20:49 09:59h
1461 14:30 14:32 24:02h
Z21 19:32 07:00 11:28h
Z13 19:38 07:06 11:28h
Z7 19:44 07:12 11:28h
Z1 19:56 07:29 11:33h
Z5 20:02 07:36 11:34h
T109 20:14 09:14 13:00h
T103 20:20 09:20 13:00h

Shanghai->Beijing
D32 10:50 20:50 10:0h
1462 13:00 12:12 23:12h
Z6 19:15 06:48 11:33h
Z2 19:21 06:54 11:33h
Z14 19:32 07:00 11:28h
Z22 19:38 07:06 11:28h
Z8 19:44 07:12 11:28h
T104 20:36 09:36 13:0h
T110 20:42 09:42 13:0h

Price: the non-stop train(with "Z" in the front of Train Number), RMB499 for soft-sleeper, I don't know the ticket price for the hard seat(I never buy it), I guess around RMB240.
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(Updated in March 2005)