Chinese New Year Beijing China January 2012 - 38 photos - 419 views

We went to visit Beijing during the Chinese New Year this year. This is our third time bringing our Twin to Beijing and they love it. In additions to having dinner with friends and family to celebrate the year of Dragon, we also visited the Snow Festival at the National Stadium (国家体育场) called the “Happy Snow Season in Bird’s Nest” (鸟巢欢乐冰雪季). Costing over US$423 million, the Stadium was designed and built for use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics. This winter event was held on the playfield covering an area of 57,000 square meters with lots of snow activities for kids. Ticket price is RMB140 per person.  
 
We also visited the Beijing Zoo which houses over 7,000 creatures of 600 different species, including the giant panda, red-crowned crane and Pere David's deer-all unique to China-as well as the African giraffe, rhinoceros, chimpanzee and antelope; American continent; wild ox from Europe; and elephant and gibbon from India. With a separate admission fee, we also visited the Aquarium which measures 35,000 square meters, located in the northeast of the zoo. The hall looks like a gigantic ocean trumpet shell. It is subdivided into several zones: the Hall of Tropical Rain Forest, the Hall of the Shark, the Ocean Theater and the Ocean Library and Reading Hall among others. Our twin love the fish feeding zone as well as the sea animal show. We will definitely come back again in the future.