My parents and I will be visiting China March 20 - April 3 with my 10 year old daughter. This trip is a gift to her from my parents. She chose China because of her love of Pandas. We will be doing Chengdu of course, but I am looking for any other great experiences tht would be especially enjoyable for a child.

We will visit Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Yangshuo, Shanghai.

Thank you for your help.

I would think that one of the highlights for any child, during a visit to China, could be a chance to meet Chinese children. Trying to find Chinese contacts, who can introduce your daughter to both Chinese children and children's activities - would surely be something that could make your child's China experience something very special.

Remember stuff like Pandas are great - we know, we live in Chengdu - but a lot of other mainstream Chinese tourist stuff can be a little difficult for kids (the crowds- staring - even touching).

On the subject of Pandas - take a look at our Chengdu travel blog - there's pics of Pandas on there - with reports from both the Chengdu and Bi Feng Xia centers - and a piece about finding a wild Red Panda at Laba He Forest park (3hours from Chengdu). We also have kids with us on some of the trips we write about. Go to -
http://chengdutravel.blogspot.com/

If you explore the articles you'll find the Panda stuff in there

I took my two kids, who are 9 & 11, to China in November. Of the cities you list, they only visited Beijing. However we spent seven days there, and could easily have spent another week. There highlights (not in any order) include:

1) Parks - especially the park surrounding the Temple of Heaven and Ritan Park. Go in the morning before 9 or 10 am. The parks are full of people dancing, exercising, playing with all kinds of new (for us) and interesting toys. It was fascinating to see for them, as you just do not see adults (mostly retired) participating outdoors in an organized social way. They were not competing, just participating together. The kids tried a few of the tops, yo-yos, fans, feathered hackey sacks, long ribbons etc out, and then we bought a few to bring home.

2) We spent 4 hours at a Chinese cooking lesson in a hutong by the drum tower. It was great, and we all really enjoyed it - even my husband. My son especially likes to cook, so I had researched and booked this place online before going to China. If this interests you, you can see the website at hutongcuisine.com There were different menus, and I had emailed in advance for help choosing one with no bones. The chef was very good with the kids (teaching them hold to hold and use a HUGE cleaver), and they absolutely loved it. You prepare and cook your meal yourself, and then eat together. Her english is excellent.

3) Water Cube and Bird's Nest - they had seen these buildings on TV, and we wanted to visit up close. You can take the subway there, and buy tickets on site. The Water Cube tickets are timed, so secure those first.

4) Take your daughter for supper at the Noodle Loft. It has an open kitchen, and they beat, pound,
swing and slice the noodle dough in front of you. The kids sat at the counter in front of the cooks and watched fascinated.

5) Go to the Great Wall at Mutianyu (they loved this) and take the toboggan down. It is a blast for kids and adults.

6) Go for hotpot and Peking duck. I like Nanmen for hotpot and Dadong for duck. The kids especially had fun at the hotpot place. Make sure your daughter gets her own hotpot to cook in.

7) Take a stroll around Houhai lake. You will see lots of adults flying kites, and enjoying life. There are lots of restaurants here to enjoy as well.

8) Of course, go see the flag raising or lowering in Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven.

9) Go to the Wangfujing night market and see the bugs and larvae (still moving) on the kabob sticks. Great for photos to show to your friends!

The kids both really enjoyed themselves, and hope to go back in a couple of years.

Before you go:

1) She will need to be able to feed herself with chopsticks. Give her some chopsticks and a bowl of popcorn. My daughter (who was very reluctant) learned how to use chopsticks this way. It made the experience much more fun.

2) Watch the first 30 - 40 minutes of the Last Emperor. They show the Forbidden City, and it makes it much more real for kids when they visit.

3) I showed my 11 year old the BBC youtube footage of Tiananmen Square 1989. It was not graphic, but he appreciated it. Background info only.

4) It is possible that your child will receive attention from the out of town visiting Chinese. I had not realized this - my kids are not blond, and look more or less like any other kid their age. However, my son was like a rock star for Chinese adults. At all the Beijing tourist sites, we/he was approached to have his picture taken with visiting Chinese tourists. I had told him it wasn't a bad thing, and maybe it would make someone happy. At first, I think he was a little freaked, because as soon as someone saw that one person was having their photo taken with him, there was a swarm of other Chinese waiting for the same same opportunity. No one was anything but polite (and enthusiastic) however, and by the end of the week, he had a brilliant (I'm the man!) smile on. Notice, this did not happen with my daughter.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Wow!!! That is a great help. Thank you so much for the ideas. I am excited about the cooking school and will definetly look into that.

What do you do at the water cube? is there a tour or do you just walk through it or is the ticket just to get near it?

I saw the noodle loft on the travel channel. Glad to hear it was worthwhile.

When is the flag ceremony? was one better than the other?

Thanks again for the input.

In November, they had temporary ticket stalls outside the Bird Nest and Water Cube. One ticket was 50 RMB and the other was 30 RMB (I do not remember which is which). This is to access the building, and no tour is involved. The Water Cube tickets had a 1.5 hour access window, so we bought those tickets first, and then since we had to wait at least an hour to get in, we walked over and visited the Bird Nest. I would definitely try and verify this info close to your trip date as it could have completely changed by then.

My son really likes buildings and architecture so we went for this reason, and because the Olympics had just recently ended. I think if I only had 3 or 4 days in Beijing, and wasn't interested in the building design itself, I would give it a miss. It will take you a good half day (at least).

We went to the flag lowering ceremony, which was at 5 pm when we were there. I think the time might change depending upon what time the sun sets. There were quite a few people surrounding the actual flagpole, so it was hard to see the soldiers. The next day we happened to be in the Forbidden City at the same time of day, and saw the soldiers lined up and marching from the Forbidden City side. You don't see the flag lowering, but you do see the soldiers much better. I have never made it to the flag raising - too lazy! It might be a good idea if you are up very early with jet lag.

Adding to Poutine's excellent post, and for those reading who have sons in particular:

The China Railway Museum has a large collection of vast steam engines many of which can be mounted (in the Da Shanzi district of Beijing, northeast of the 798 art district)

Speaking of Da Shanzi/798 there's a lot of very curious public art there which might interest some children

There are several places in Beijing with dinosaur skeletons fully assembled such as the Ancient Animals Museum (in Beijing across the road and slightly west of the Zoo)

Another open noodle kitchen would be the Noodle Bar at 1949: The Hidden City (in Beijing, behind Pacific Century Plaza, on Gongti Bei Lu just inside the Third Ring Road)

On insects, why not visit an insect market where the singing kind and the fighting kind are both on sale, along with assorted song birds and those trained to do tricks (Guanyuan Market at Chegong Zhuang, or Shi Li He Tian Qiao Market on the southeast corner of the Third Ring Road). There are also displays of goldfish, kites, and other pastimes

Shops selling traditional toys (including some of those seen in the parks) are often attractive to children, such as Bannerman Tang's shop on the south side of the west end of Guozijian Jiē (the street with the Confucius Temple).

On the Water Cube, tickets are still being sold for ¥30 from booths across the road on the west side of the building, with the entrance point on the east side. The ¥50 tickets for the Bird's Nest are one sale on the south side of that building, with the entrance just adjacent on the southeast side. Oddly, the interior of the Bird's Nest feels little different from any other stadium and the main pleasure is viewing the outside, since no climbing up the staircases within the lattice is permitted. I'd suggest looking at that from the outside, whereas the translucent bubbles make the interior of the Water Cube worth a view.

And for strange architecture, the Duck Egg (National Grand Theatre) and the Big Shorts (CCTV building) are both worth visiting (although the latter is not complete yet).

A quick request: I had planned to visit the cooking school mentioned a couple of weeks ago, but had to leave Beijing unexpectedly. Any chance of a more detailed description in anticipation of a return there?

Peter N-H

I'm just a grumpy old child-free Dog. But I gotta say these ideas for kids are really cool [and the care and love behind the ideas].

I'm wondering if poutine would be prepared to adopt a stray Dog?

Thank you for the kind comments. I don't post very often, but I read this board almost daily.

While I sometimes wish for an adult only vacation (which isn't a possibility for us), the great thing about travelling with kids is that we wind up doing things that we very likely wouldn't consider if it were only the two of us. I try and mix things up a bit wherever we go. So far it has worked out quite well. Probably the place they liked the least was Prague. Kids don't "get" atmosphere......

Peter, I did not know about an insect market! I definitely would have made that a stop had I known. I am wondering how you train an insect?

We did tour the Grand National Theatre. Unfortunately, they had emptied all the water out to clean. It isn't as beautiful without the water and reflection. I am not sure that the inside decor will age well. I guess in five years or so we will know.

We drove by the CCTV building several times - I think it is great! It seemed to be complete, but I was told that visits were not permitted.

I would agree that the Bird Nest and Water Cube are most impressive from the outside, and especially at night. If you have a driver for a day, request that he drive by the Olympic buildings when it is dark. They are truly beautiful when lit up. That said, when we were outside leaving the Water Cube, there was a team of 11 washers repelling down the outside of the cube, washing the exterior as they went. It seemed so funny to see, we stood there for five minutes watching this production. They have to window wash the whole building with squeegees!

Peter....

The location of Hutong Cuisine is about five minutes walk from the drum tower, in one of the historic hutong communities that the Beijing government has decided to keep. We were there on a sunny day, and it was beautiful.

Chun Yi operates 6 days per week, and has six different, set (dependant on which day of the week you choose) menus. Her website www.hutongcuisine.com lists the dishes which will be covered on a specific day. The photos on the website are actually her home, which is where the cooking class is held.

There are a maximum of six places available, as it is a small kitchen. Although there were four of us attending, we only booked for three (with her permission). There were two French nationals there as well. Both were vegetarians, so they made their Gong Pao chicken and celery beef with tofu instead. We each prepared and cooked our own individual meals, and she instructed us throughout the entire process.

There is a 45 minute "seasoning" class available beforehand. Although it is optional, I would highly recommend this as it added immensely to my knowledge of the basic ingredients of chinese cuisine. The different kinds of oils, vinegars, wines and soya sauces used and the ideal percentage of acid etc. you should have in each. Very interesting. She had examples of the sauces, and bottles for us to view and smell as she went along. I came home and threw out most of what I had!

We took turns cooking our meals (there are two gas burners), and ate each dish after it was prepared rather than all together at the end.

The teacher is very serious, and I get the sense that she could also get a lot more technical with a more experienced group of students.

Beforehand, I looked for online reviews and only found one or two in english. However, there are also several in french. I get the feeling that this is something that has caught on more with European travellers than North Americans.

Definitely one of the best experiences we had during our week, and I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the cooking class notes.

The insects are not trained. Most are variations on the cricket, and different kinds are kept for different purposes. The xishuair, for instance, are fighting crickets with bets laid on the outcome of bouts between pairs placed in a jar (or these days a perspex enclosure). It only takes the insects catching sight of one another to get them going, but a rat whisker on a stick (traditionally--may be a pig bristle or something else these days) is used to tickle then into looking in the right way. The first to run away is the loser.

Other types (ququr, guoguor, jinzhongr 'golden bells' etc.) are kept for their song, and a wide variety of miniature cages, jars, flasks, and feeding kit, much of it ornate and used for pampering the creatures as much as any Pekinese, are also on sale.

The trained birds are mostly the wutong (masked grosbeak) and jiaozui (crossbill), trapped during migratory flight south down the east coast of China, and taught tricks, most notably da danr ('hit the balls') in which beads are thrown in the air or blown high with a blow pipe, and the bird takes off and retrieves them, returning to its master's hand for a treat in flax seed.

There's also pleasure in looking at popular mutant goldfish varieties, such as shizitou (lion heads) and wangtianr (sky-gazers).

Another possible source of interest for children, although completely of another world, would be a ride on the newly completed fasted conventional train in the world--faster than the French TGV--between Beijing and Tianjin. Tianjin itself doesn't have a great deal to offer, but the new Beijing South Station and the gleaming trains are something else.

Peter N-H

The thought of supporting a tourist site that exhibits wild-birds which have been caught during migration is rather disturbing!!!!
There are intense pressures on Chinese wildlife - anybody who believes in conservation should seriously think about boycotting this place.

While no one would contest the need to promote wildlife conservation in China (not that that's necessarily the reason for the post), there's some ignorance of the facts.

Those who would prefer to avoid pet shops (because they sell wild creatures) should certainly avoid these markets, as I'm sure could be worked out from the original information given. But they are not tourist sites [sic] and entirely serve the Beijing residents who enjoy certain traditional pastimes.

Nothing is staged for foreign visitors (who are almost non-existent there), the species in question are not endangered, and there is no economic interaction involved in observing the training of the birds, which is fascinating to see.

The lives of the wutong, jiaozui, and taiping (waxwing) while better not interfered with, are more pleasant than those of the budgerigars, larks, and other permanently caged birds on sale, since once domesticated they are treated like aerial dogs, sometimes tethered rather than caged, but spending much of the time flying free playing 'fetch'. When purchased, so long as they are kept warm through the winter, they live rather longer than in the wild (about eight years).

The birds to worry about a little more are the mynahs, both the talkative liaoge and the noise-making bage, since Chinese demand is reported to have stripped the forests of southern China and Nepal. Foreign residents do occasionally buy these, and this was perhaps best not done, but foreign visitors are going to have no impact whatsoever on the pet trade in China, unless donning masks and conducting direct action. Even then food markets, where endangered species can sometimes be found available for consumption and treated with extreme brutality, would make a better target. And that's before we get on to the question of how people are treated.

To those who have no objections to the keeping of pets these markets provide an opportunity to see a number of traditional pastimes going on (not merely avian ones), providing just about the only surviving link to the Beijing of a century (or more) ago.

Peter N-H

Well even the Chinese are starting to take note of the plight of their wild-birds - and how pet-traders could be a real threat to existence of certain species. Here’s a snippet from the Times -

BEIJING--Trafficking in song thrushes and
six other bird species often kept as caged pets
is now banned throughout China, effective since
January 1, 2008.
Birds already in private possession may
remain with those who have them, but may not be
sold or traded.
The seven prohibited bird species, also
including parakeets, larks, and mynahs, were
reportedly the first additions since 1989 to the
Chinese list of protected wildlife.
"The aim is to try to save China's
dwindling numbers of birds," reported Jane
Macartney, Beijing correspondent for the London
Times

I hope it doesn't take too long for these measures to be effective - but I suspect the wild-bird trade goes on as before.

I don't want to go into a long protracted argument over - the pressures that are put onto wild bird species by trapping - and the preservation of traditions that exploit wildlife in a way that only adds to the ever mounting pressures on Chinese wildlife - but for those who believe in the ideals of wildlife conservation - then going to a Chinese bird market, with those packed cages full of wild-birds, sometimes containing truly endangered species, can be a distressing affair.

Since the forum subject relates to Children - if parents go to such areas with their kids - I hope they point out to them that capturing wild-birds is something that has long-been effectively banned in many other countries - and is normally considered to be both cruel and wrong.

For those of you who are interested in wild birds - that truely are in the wild - I run two birding blogs (I hope you don't find them too dangerous Peter) - lots of pics and info here on the marvelous bird watching that can be done in China -
http://sichuanbirds.blogspot.com/

http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?u=6819