Discover China

Spring is coming. It’s the time to refresh and feel the new energy of nature. See the CNTV Travel story Top 10 places to feel spring in Beijing to find out about some great places to enjoy the warmer temperatures.

The National Museum of China, located to the east of Tian’anmen Square in central Beijing, has been closed for almost four years while a major expansion and renovation has taken place. It is now ready for its grand reopening day on 27 March. The museum has nearly tripled in size from 65,000 square meters to almost 200,000 square meters, making it the world’s largest museum. After already visiting two outstanding museums in China – the Shenzhen Museum and Henan Museum – I can’t wait to visit the National Museum on a future trip to China. It will undoubtedly be an outstanding experience, and probably require two or three days to take in such a great range of exhibits. Find out more in the CNTV Culture Express stories National Museum of China reopens, Inside the China’s National Museum and A centennial history of the National Museum of China.

In Beijing’s Xicheng district is the Lu Xun Museum, which includes Lu Xun’s tiny courtyard house. This was where Lu Xun (1881-1936), who many say gave Chinese literature its modern form (baihua), wrote Chaohua Xishi (Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk) – his reminiscences from childhood to early youth – the poems that went into Ye Cao (Wild Grass), and several short stories like Pang Huang (Wanderings). The Lu Xun Museum is easily one of the most detailed shows on the life and times of 20th century China’s best-known man of letters and has 21,482 cultural relics under one roof. To find out more see the China Daily article Following in Lu Xun’s footsteps.

When I visited Beijing in January the city had been experiencing a long period of very dry weather, and at that time there had been no snow despite sub-zero temperatures. Snow finally fell on 10 February, breaking the longest snow-free winter for 60 years. Beijing woke up to white on Saturday as snow fell for the third time this year. Despite being bigger than the previous snowfalls, the accumulated depth is still smaller. Find out more in the CNTV news item Beijing sees biggest snow this year.

It’s been three amazing weeks visiting Beijing, Tianjin and Zhengzhou, taking in incredible sites like the Imperial and Summer Palaces, Temple of Heaven and Henan Museum.  This time we flew to and from China with Air China, the national flag carrier, and their service was excellent. Already I miss the vibrant daily modern life, friendly Chinese people, rich ancient culture, and the amazing diversity of food – hopefully the next visit won’t be too long away! Look for the full story and pictures from this trip in My China Trips and the Galleries soon (and in the meantime check out the stories and pictures from my previous four trips).