Languages Plus - Beijing, China - Cultural Activities

About Us | Credits / Exams | School Video | Partners Page | Language Test

Activities and Lifestyle in Beijing
As to be expected from a capital city, Beijing is leading the country’s cultural revival, and a crop of teahouses have recently reappeared in the capital that show a variety of Beijing Opera, martial arts and acrobatics and serve delicious selections of tea and cakes.

Western influences have been embraced to transform traditional Chinese art forms into contemporary pieces and the theatrical scene is changing fast. A recent development has been a fashion for Chinese translations of Western plays, or home-grown dramatists experimenting with foreign styles, such as Absurdist theatre, or emulating influential playwrights, such as Samuel Beckett. In addition, Western music and dance is now performed, and the city often receives visits from international acts.

The Beijing Concert Hall has a mix of Chinese and Western music, whereas the Zhengyici Theatre has mainly Chinese productions. Also worth seeing is traditional Chinese acrobatics, which have existed in China for two thousand years and cover anything from gymnastics and animal tricks to magic and juggling. The style may be vaudeville, but performances are spectacular, with truly awe-inspiring feats.

Beijing is a great place for shopping, ancient or modern, inexpensive or name brand expensive, its always great fun when you talk about shopping in Beijing. You can find a great variety of goods from the modern shopping centers or if your looking for something real like bone carvings, jade and lacquer which represent the treasures of Beijing crafts, then you have to go to the shopping districts like Wan fu jing Dajie where department stores, book , art and crafts shops are located.

From sharp, sweet, oily Shanghainese and fiery Sichuan to fresh, delicate Cantonese, seafood-dominated Chaozhou and "strange flavor" Hunan, all of China's Eight Major Cuisine are represented in the restaurants, fast-food eateries and street vendor locations of Beijing. Invented, developed and refined throughout thousands of years of Imperial China, the Beijing cuisine and its Peking Duck centerpiece have a special spot in the hearts of the natives of the national capital.

For the visitor, it's just a matter of choice. Similarly, there will be a restaurant if the choice is to forego Chinese in favor of the world's other great foods, whether European, African, Asian or North American. There are even places like the Black Earth and Old Three Gredes in which to sample the "basic survival" nostalgia cuisine dishes, just as there are outlets that serve up McDonald's, Kentucky Friend chicken and Pizza Hut fast food fare.

Beijing’s nightlife and entertainment scene is currently undergoing something of a revolution, as modern Beijingers, who suddenly find themselves with a disposable income and living through comparatively liberal times, seek out new outlets for having fun. Throughout the 1990s, numerous new nightclubs were set up to cater for a chic and affluent clientele and new ones continue to open all the time. The music at these Western-style clubs covers a wide range, with techno and house being hugely popular with both tourists and locals. Many nightclubs are open every night until the small hours of the morning and charge an entrance fee of RMB100-200.

After class activities
After classes are over for the day, our program allows you plenty of time to discover your new country, culture, traditions, customs and everyday life. Our optional cultural and social activities allow you to make new friends among you’re new international classmates, experience cultural and social activities together, and also practice your new language skills in real life situations. In some cases, a small additional fee will be charged to cover local transport and entrance costs.

Activities could include trips to local galleries, museums, Opera House, Badaling Section of The Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, Zheng Yang Gate (watch tower), Lu Gou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge), LiuLiChang Cultural Street, Tian'anmen Square, Liyuan Theatre (Beijing Opera, known as "China's State Opera"), the Alter of the Sun (one of the five famous altars in Beijing) and the Summer Palace.

At the weekend many students can arrange to take optional excursions to local cities or local places of interest. These excursions are slightly more expensive as they are normally full day or full weekend excursions and could include (transport, meals entrance fees and even accommodation). If you are interested in sight-seeing by yourself or with other class mates, our school staff are more than willing to assist you with any questions you may have and help you book local travel or excursions.

Cultural activity photo's