ASIA BEIJING DESTINATIONS


surrounding park, as this is where many retired locals come to take part in communal activities, from tai chi to what looks like a sort of ritualised dance with a tennis racket and ball. Cox & Kings can even organise for guests to join one of the tai chi lessons. To the northwest of the city


centre is the Summer Palace, another large complex but this time set around lakes and gardens. Pavilions, halls, temples and bridges were landscaped to create a summertime idyll for the imperial family, and now tourists usually spend half a day exploring, walking around the lake, taking a boat ride and looking for the marble boat built for the infamously extravagant Dowager Empress Cixi. Lesser-known


sights include Factory 798, a sprawling Mao-era munitions factory packed with Communist murals, Bauhaus architecture and modern art in the heart of Beijing’s burgeoning arts district, and Cuandixia, a historic Ming-era village in the western suburbs known for its well-preserved courtyards and Mao Zedong propaganda. If clients are shoppers, don’t


forget to build in time for them to visit either the huge designer stores or to head for the Silk Market, a vast complex famous for its good-quality fakes. Outside Beijing but often


visited from it, the Great Wall of China can’t fail to be on every client’s list. The most touristy section is at Badaling, and here clients will find guard rails, restaurants and even a


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