A Walk in the Park,
COLIN SIMPSON
Yuyuantan Park Cherry Blossom Festival, Beijing
3/5
EACH year in late March cherry blossom season arrives in Beijing in all its glory. What could be better, you might think, than a relaxing stroll through one of the city’s many fine parks gazing at the beautiful pink blooms?
Unfortunately you would not be alone in thinking this, and in a city of 21.7 million people in a country that’s home to 1.4 billion that means just one thing – huge crowds.
Political theorists talk about “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, and a walk in the park with Chinese characteristics at cherry blossom time means footpaths swarming with families and young couples, the screams of fed-up children, and plants trampled underfoot as people spill out onto flower borders. This sort of overcrowding is common at many attractions in China’s capital.
We went to see the blossom at Yuyuantan Park, a vast open space with a large lake in the west of the city. It has about 3,000 cherry trees and is regarded as the best place in town to view the annual springtime spectacle.
However, we were dismayed to see the crowds, which made our visit a very different experience from what we had expected as we edged our way slowly along the packed pathways. Still, the blossoms were pretty.
At quieter times the park provides a refuge from the city and is a good place to have a picnic, fly a kite or enjoy a boat trip – the name Yuyuantan means “deep jade lake”. When we were there a giant yellow rubber duck was afloat, and there’s a monument with lots of shiny silvery statues.
Other plants at the park include roses, magnolias and forsythias, and there are ginkgo, poplar and crab-apple trees. Admission is cheap. Nearby attractions include the CCTV Tower, which looms over the west of the park, and the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution.
Top tip: The blossom doesn’t last for long, so head over to the park as soon as you hear that the season has started.
Verdict: Good place to see cherry blossoms – but, oh, the crowds.
Top photo: Crowds throng a path at the park during the cherry blossom season.
Updated January 2020
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CHINA
A Walk in the Park,
Beijing Style
COLIN SIMPSON
Yuyuantan Park Cherry Blossom Festival, Beijing
3/5
EACH year in late March cherry blossom season arrives in Beijing in all its glory. What could be better, you might think, than a relaxing stroll through one of the city’s many fine parks gazing at the beautiful pink blooms?
Unfortunately you would not be alone in thinking this, and in a city of 21.7 million people in a country that’s home to 1.4 billion that means just one thing – huge crowds.
Political theorists talk about “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, and a walk in the park with Chinese characteristics at cherry blossom time means footpaths swarming with families and young couples, the screams of fed-up children, and plants trampled underfoot as people spill out onto flower borders. This sort of overcrowding is common at many attractions in China’s capital.
We went to see the blossom at Yuyuantan Park, a vast open space with a large lake in the west of the city. It has about 3,000 cherry trees and is regarded as the best place in town to view the annual springtime spectacle.
However, we were dismayed to see the crowds, which made our visit a very different experience from what we had expected as we edged our way slowly along the packed pathways. Still, the blossoms were pretty.
At quieter times the park provides a refuge from the city and is a good place to have a picnic, fly a kite or enjoy a boat trip – the name Yuyuantan means “deep jade lake”. When we were there a giant yellow rubber duck was afloat, and there’s a monument with lots of shiny silvery statues.
Other plants at the park include roses, magnolias and forsythias, and there are ginkgo, poplar and crab-apple trees. Admission is cheap. Nearby attractions include the CCTV Tower, which looms over the west of the park, and the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution.
Top tip: The blossom doesn’t last for long, so head over to the park as soon as you hear that the season has started.
Verdict: Good place to see cherry blossoms – but, oh, the crowds.
Top photo: Crowds throng a path at the park during the cherry blossom season.
Updated January 2020
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A Walk in the Park, Beijing Style
Yuyuantan Park Cherry Blossom Festival, Beijing, China
3/5
EACH year in late March cherry blossom season arrives in Beijing in all its glory. What could be better, you might think, than a relaxing stroll through one of the city’s many fine parks gazing at the beautiful pink blooms?
Unfortunately you would not be alone in thinking this, and in a city of 21.7 million people in a country that’s home to 1.4 billion that means just one thing – huge crowds.
Political theorists talk about “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, and a walk in the park with Chinese characteristics at cherry blossom time means footpaths swarming with families and young couples, the screams of fed-up children, and plants trampled underfoot as people spill out onto flower borders. This sort of overcrowding is common at many attractions in China’s capital.
We went to see the blossom at Yuyuantan Park, a vast open space with a large lake in the west of the city. It has about 3,000 cherry trees and is regarded as the best place in town to view the annual springtime spectacle.
However, we were dismayed to see the crowds, which made our visit a very different experience from what we had expected as we edged our way slowly along the packed pathways. Still, the blossoms were pretty.
At quieter times the park provides a refuge from the city and is a good place to have a picnic, fly a kite or enjoy a boat trip – the name Yuyuantan means “deep jade lake”. When we were there a giant yellow rubber duck was afloat, and there’s a monument with lots of shiny silvery statues.
Other plants at the park include roses, magnolias and forsythias, and there are ginkgo, poplar and crab-apple trees. Admission is cheap. Nearby attractions include the CCTV Tower, which looms over the west of the park, and the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution.
Top tip: The blossom doesn’t last for long, so head over to the park as soon as you hear that the season has started.
Verdict: Good place to see cherry blossoms – but, oh, the crowds.
Top photo: Crowds throng a path at the park during the cherry blossom season.
Updated January 2020
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BEIJING TOUR COMPANY’S guide to the Yuyuantan Park Cherry Blossom Festival, with information about opening hours and ticket prices. READ MORE
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THE TOWERS AND THE GLORY: I love super-tall buildings. There’s nothing like standing hundreds of feet in the air, peering out across the urban skyline and gazing down at the roofs, cars and people far below. While the appeal of this is lost on some… READ MORE
THE STORY GOES that this was the walk a famous professor of philosophy at Kyoto University took every day to work. His name was Kitaro Nishida, and he retired in 1927. I’d never heard of him, but the walk appealed as I was getting templed-out… READ MORE
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SHIMLA, QUEEN OF THE HILLS: Government officials once retreated to Shimla in the foothills of the Himalayas to escape India’s blazing hot summers. Now tourists make the same journey. READ MORE
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