Jingshan Park:
Originally an imperial garden, it is now a public park. The focal point of which is an artificial hill constructed during the Ming Dynasty entirely from the soil excavated in forming the moats of the Imperial Palace and nearby canals. It is especially impressive when one considers that all of this material was moved only by manual labor and animal power. Jingshan consists of five individual peaks, and on the top of each peak there lies an elaborate pavilion. The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty committed suicide by hanging himself here in 1644. (Wikipedia.com)
Beihai Park:
Beihai Park was once an imperial garden, and is located to the northwest of the Forbidden City. First built in the 10th century, it is amongst the largest of Chinese gardens, and contains numerous historically important structures, palaces, and temples. The White Dagoba (a dome-shaped shrine containing relics of the Buddha) is 40 m high and placed on the highest point of Qiónghuá Island. Its body of this tower is made of white stone decorated with sun, moon, and flame engravings. Secreted inside the structure are Buddhist Scriptures, monk's mantles, alms bowls, and the bones of monks.
Once a week my sister and I try to spend an entire afternoon together. Life is too short to get caught up in the routine of everyday life, and forget to spend time with those who are most important to you: family. Visiting these two parks today was part of our brother/sister date this week, and the parks were absolutely beautiful! We were also accompanied by a nice young man from Germany for most the day, as he has been touring around Beijing by himself most of the week. When we saw him sitting on a bench this afternoon he seemed kind of lonely, so we asked him if he wanted some company. This semester here in China has been much more of an international experience than I ever could have expected.
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