Temple fair has a unique status in people's life.

I spent my first Chinese new year in Beijing with various entertainments. One of the most interesting social activities here is the temple fair, where you can find hundreds of delicious snacks and gorgeous handicrafts.

Temple fair in China has a unique status in ordinary people's life. It is the time to worship gods, pray for the blessing and have fun. All the traditional shows went on at the temple fairs, banner shows, kongfu shows, lion shows, etc.

In traditional temple fairs around Beijing, there are performances and booths demonstrating and selling traditional arts and crafts. The fairs always have lots of games to play, food to eat, performances and lots of people.

If you stay in Beijing during the Chinese new year, don't miss this good chance to realize the real Beijing culture!

--by Cathryn, your tour guide in Beijing

Cloth Tiger is a Popular Folk Art in China.

2010 is the year of the tiger

Cloth tiger is a popular folk art in China. Tiger is regraded as a symbol to ward off evils and to protect wealth. People like to make cloth tigers or draw tiger pictures on the forehead, hoping to bring health, strength and braveness.

Chinese people believe that a Cloth Tiger in the house can bless the whole family, so it is  a good decoration for house and a good present to relatives and friends.

                                                                                        --by Cathryn, your tour guide in Beijing

Local Snacks in Beijing is Very Popular.

Local snacks in Beijing is various and popular, now I will show you my favorite one:Cooked tripe of sheep or swine.

This delicous snack dates back to Qing dynasty about hundreds of years ago, it is introduced by the Hui nationality to the whole China.

The cooked tripe of sheep or swine be modeled after a sheep on the past very dainty. Ability mounts a cooked tripe of sheep or swine except should be fresh, in exploding , the time exploding is going to reverse benefit just , the cooked tripe of sheep or swine is both fragile and fresh.

If you come to Beijing, I will take you to some famous restaurant to taste this typical local flavour.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

Bing Tang Hu Lu is a popular snack in Beijing

The sugar-coated haws, or Bing Tang Hu Lu in Chinese, is a popular traditional snack of Beijing. It looks brightly red, bearing a little sour and sweet.

Nowadays they also have various kinds of it, sugar-coated yam, chufa, grape, orange, and walnut kernel. But sugar-coated haws is the most authentic, and helps digestion while rich in Vitamin C and E.

This food is so popular that it is almost an indispensable part of every Beijinger's childhood.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

Fried Enema is very popular in Beijing

In fact this famous Beijing snack is not made of intestine, but Tuanfen Monascus and make the kind of things like sausage, sliced and placed in pan fried pig with Coke, plus time to eat garlic salt.

Venders used to sell the enema with a burden. The burden is a small table with a pan. The stalls can be seen everywhere.

Nowaday, this unique snack is not easy to find in the street.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

Chatang is a traditional gruel common to both Beijing cuisine.

Chatang or seasoned flour mush is a traditional gruel common to both Beijing cuisine, and often sold as a snack on the street.

It is prepared in two steps. First, flours of sorghum or millet are cooked in advance, often stir fried, then flour is ready to be served. When a customer orders the dish, hot water is poured into the bowl containing the flours to create a paste-like mush, and it is served with white or brown sugar, and Sweet Osmanthus sauce.

Street vendor pouring boiling water from a dragon-headed copper kettle into a bowl of chatang traditionally. The kettle was extremely large, up to four feet tall with a diameter in excess of a foot, and was often made of copper.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

La Yang Pian is a kind of traditional Chinese entertainment.

La Yang Pian is a kind of traditional Chinese entertainment. It was quite popular a hundred years ago, older than movie.

In the big wood box, there are many picture which is about Chinese traditional stories, and there are many holes on the box. The people may have a seat to look in to the box from those holes,the story teller beside the box, sing the story while it is putting on the screen inside the machine different images.

In old China, there are not movie theater, so the people enjoy to watch this kind monologize, espcially the children.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

One of the most famous avenue in Beijing .

One of the most famous avenue in Beijing is the Qianmen Avenue. This is a vivid description of people in this avenue enjoying the Chinese new year.

Qianmen Avenue is the most ancient business street which owns a long history of almost 500 years. Reputed as the world’s biggest outdoor plaza, Tiananmen Square is one of the must-see places in Beijing for visitors from throughout the country and the world.

After three times reconstruction, it is opened again on August 7, 2008 to welcome the Beijing Olympic Games.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

Here is Quanjude, one of the most famous Chinese restaurant known for its Peking Roast Duck.

The renovation in Qianmen Avenue brings back the old Beijing flavor. Most of the Beijing's time honored brands have moved back into their old locations.

Here is Quanjude, one of the most famous Chinese restaurant known for its Peking Roast Duck. It was establishment in 1864. Quanjude uses open ovens and non-smoky hardwood fuel to add a subtle fruity flavor with a golden crisp to the skin. 

Their roast duck was originally reserved for the imperial families.

--by Cathryn, your personal shopping assistant in Beijing

Lord Rabbit is a famous handicraft in Beijing.

Lord Rabbit or Tu'er Ye in Chinese is a famous handicraft in Beijing.

The legend derives from the story of Chang'e, the beautiful lady lived in the moon. Her pet is a jade rabbit. The fairytale rabbit descended to a plague-stricken world and healed the people. For his good deed, clay rabbits usually are placed in northern cities during the mid-autumn festival.

Lord Rabbit used to ride a tiger in the clay sculpture. Later on he rides a black tiger, a white elephant, a kylin. The meaning is always the same, each image symbolizes an auspicious blessing.

--by Cathryn, your tour guide in Beijing