Watching Cole Flower-Enjoy Spring in China

Spring is a season when trees begin to turn green and flowers start to blossom. With large areas of cole farms in rural places, China is a good place to watch cole flowers. The flower season is usually from February to April aacording to different places. The following is a few places worth visiting.

1. Luoping

Luoping is located in the east of Yunnan Province. The Cole Flower Festival of 2015 is from February 8th to April 23rd. The landscape of Luoping is typical Karst. When the flowers blossom, the mountains and the bright yellow cole farms form a picturesque scenery. Book a Yunnan tour.

2. Wuyuan

Located in Jiangxi Province, Wuyuan is said to be the most beautiful village in China. It is also a constituent part of ancient Huizhou. The residence of the village is the typical architectural style of Ancient Huizhou. Each house is built with black tiles and white walls. There are exquisite carving on the wooden windows, pillars, tables and stones. The best time to watch the cole flowers is from mid-March to late April. The back and white houses and yellow flowers set each other off beautifully.

3. Hanzhong

Hanzhong is located in the southwest of Shaaxi Province, which is about 270 kilometers southwest of Xian. The flower season lasts from late February to early May. The cole flowers are at their best during mid-March and mid-April.

4. Xinghua

Xinghua is located in the center of Jiangsu Province. Its history dates back to two thousand years ago. The cole flowers start to blossom in late March and at their best in early April. One thing makes flower watching in Xinghua different from others is that the flowers are growing on the islands. There are hundreds of islets full of cole flowers on the lake.

5. Qinghai Lake

Qinghai Lake is about 130km away from Xining City, Qinghai Province. There will be cole flowers blossoming along the Qinghai Lake in July. Due to the climate of Qinghai, the flower season is much later than other places in China. If you didn’t catch the spring blossom of cole flowers, then Qinghai Lake would be your best choice. Another famous place for flower watching in Qinghai Province is Menyuan. The flower season is usually from July 5th to 25th.

 

Watching Cole Flower-Enjoy Spring in China

Mutianyu Great Wall

Located in Huairou County about 45 miles from Beijing, the Mutianyu Great Wall enjoys a long history and is part of the historic culture of China. It connects to the Juyongguan Pass in the West and the Gubeikou Great Wall in the East. The wall was first built during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550 – 557). During Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang, two famous patriotic generals, rebuilt it in order to strengthen its defensive potential as they regarded it as a strategic block for national defense. It served as the Northern area’s protective block, guarding the capital and imperial mausoleums for generations.

The fortifications and the Great Wall here are characterized by many watchtowers on overlapping mountain ranges. The wall was built with slabs of stones, is crenellated on both sides with bricks. Horsetrapping snares outside the wall offer better protection and ward off attacks. With Juyongguan in the west and Gubeikou in the east.

 

What makes Mutianyu Great Wall special?

Mutianyu Great Wall is the most beautiful section of the Great Wall. The vegetation coverage is about 96%. In summer, the mountains will be covered with green trees with the wall twisted and turned along the mountains. In late autumn, the leaves are turning yellow or red, the scenery is amazingly beautiful. The main pass of Mutianyu Great Wall is made up of three watchtowers. It is rarely seen in the history of the Great Wall.

The Structure of Mutianyu Great Wall

Mutianyu Great Wall is about 5400 meters long. It is the longest section of the Great Wall opening to the public.There are 23 watchtowers in Mutianyu Section. The Mutianyu Great Wall is of a special architectural style, as it is equipped with intensive watchtowers and perilous passses, battlements on both sides of the walls,and a main pass platform with three watchtowers standing abreast on the southeast side, which is quite rare along the whole Great Wall. The whole section streches and winds by following the terrains of the mountain, just rsesembling a huge dragon flying.

Opening Hours

Peak Season 7:00am-6:30pm

Low Season 7:30am-5:30pm

Entrance fee

Entrance fee: CNY 45

Cable Car One Way: CNY 60

Cable Car Round Way: CNY 80

Toboggan One Way: CNY 60

Toboggan Round Way: CNY 80

The Map of Mutianyu Great Wall

How to Get to Mutianyu Great Wall

Bus 867

Depart from Dongzhimen at 7:00am and 8:30am for Mutianyu Great Wall

Depart Mutianyu Great Wall Parking Lot 3 at 2:00pm and 4:00pm for Dongzhimen

Click here  for information of other Great Walls.

Recommended Mutianyu Great Wall tours:

1 Day Tour: Mutianyu Great Wall, Dingling, Olympic Stadiums from $35

2 Days Beijing Tour Package including Mutianyu Great Wall from $74   >> more Great Wall tours

 

Mutianyu Great Wall

The Dumpling Dinner

Dumpling is one of the most popular traditional Chinese food. It has a history of over 2000 years. It is made with flour wrappers filling with all kinds of stuffing. Xi’an Dumpling Dinner is famous for its many kinds of stuffing, different flavours and beautiful shapes. The stuffing can be vegetables in season, chicken, duck, fish and other meat. The stuffing may also be sea cucumber, hericium, seaweed and etc. It is called “a hundred dumplings with a hundred flavors”, which includes spicy, fish-flavored,curry, sweet-and-sour and so on. The basic methods to make the dumplings are steam, fry and boil. The methods specifies according to different stuffing and flavors. The dumplings shapes different such as fish, flowers, pearl, butterfly and etc. They are delicious as well as good-looking. The Dumpling Dinner is very popular among both domestic and foreign tourists.

The Dumpling Dinner