Beijing beauties

The national craze for Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, has proved again Chinese people's love for its national treasure, the giant pandas.

At the zoo's Panda Coffee, visitors can sip a cup of coffee bedecked with a latte-art panda and sample toast stenciled with the image of a panda. Since the panda is the theme of the cafe, it is decorated accordingly, and it has become a must-visit place for those who love the black and white bundles of joy.

Experience the royal getaway

From the dock of the zoo, you can hop on a traditional-style boat for a leisurely one-hour cruise up the Changhe River to the Summer Palace.

The 9-kilometer-long waterway passes by the city's landmarks such as Purple Bamboo Park, or Zizhuyuan, and Wanshou Temple. The cruises operate between April and October.

The imperial families of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) used to take such boats along the river, which was then exclusively for their use, to their imperial abodes in the suburb.

The Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) made the same journey along the willow tree-lined Changhe River every summer to escape the city-center heat.

The river is also an important section of the 3,200-kilometer-long Grand Canal connecting Beijing and Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province, the longest artificial waterway in the world.

Today, the voyage allows ordinary people to enjoy rights and privileges of the rulers in the feudal society.

Spring is a good time to visit the Summer Palace, and you can extend your time on the water by taking a boat on Kunming Lake to enjoy the breeze and charming scenes of the imperial garden.

Young Chinese like to have an elegant afternoon tea on the electrical boat, with coffee or tea, pastries and fruits in lunchboxes that they carefully prepare in advance.

Then comes the inevitable ritual for hipsters of the internet era－taking a pretty selfie, retouching it and posting it on social media.

Before sunset, photographers who train their lens on things other than themselves will want to secure their spot on the bank to shoot photos of the marble 17-arch bridge under the sunset's glow.

Today, the royal park, like any park in the city, is among the best places to observe how ordinary residents enjoy their leisure time.

Especially the elderly, they will get up early to exercise, sing songs and socialize. The Summer Palace is no exception, and elderly visitors will be standing with their year cards in their hands ready to enter the Summer Palace when it opens at 6 am.

You can see such energetic older people in many Chinese parks.

Sitting in a pavilion, they take turns to sing old songs that remind them of their youth, or sing in chorus. The background music is often provided by an electronic keyboard or accordion player, with a portable stereo set.