reaches the sacred goal of enlightenment. The performance is broken into seven acts with each act preceded with English narration setting the scene for the upcoming sensorial feast. With beautiful costume, Modern dance and stage arts, the performances bring the audience into a vivid world of a legend, as well as the world of the Chinese Martial Arts.

Dining Out

     Beijing is an epicurean paradise offering a great variety of Chinese dishes and local delicacies that guarantee to please the palate. The four major cuisines –Cantonese, Shandong, Sichuanses and Huaiyang, can be found in most restaurants. The city’s major restaurants are in the hands of famous chefs with creative techniques and the dining environment is elegant and cozy. Ordinary restaurants in streets are cheap and practical.

     Beijing Duck is representative of all exotic food Beijing has to offer. There are so many Roast Duck Restaurants in the city nowadays, but the Quanjiude Restaurant is definitely the best.

     Imperial dishes, made exquisitely with choice materials, are another salient feature of the Beijing school of cooking. In bygone days these dishes were prepared in the kitchen of the imperial palace for the exclusive delight of the emperor. Today, the Fangshan Restaurant in the Beihai Park, the Tingliguan Restaurant in the Summer Palace and the Dashanyuan Restaurant, have made these once secret dishes available to the public.

     If you happen to be in Beijing in winter you may choose to enjoy the Beijing style hot pot with mutton as a major ingredient. Slices o f mutton rinsed in a chafing dish are unusually yummy and refreshing. Donglaishun, Nengrenju and Youjishun are among the Beijing restaurants best known for their instant-boiled mutton.

     The dishes of the Tan Family Kitchen, now available in the Dining of Beijing Hotel, were typical family fare in old Beijing. Kaorouyuan and Kaorouji restaurants on Xuanwumennei Street are known for their grilled meat.

     There are also a good variety of local snacks and refreshments in Beijing. These include almond junket, milk curd, tiny corn buns, eight-treasure porridge with lotus seeds, pea flour cakes, Fuling cakes, cakes baked in a clay oven and stuffed with minced meat, fermented soy bean milk, sautéed pork liver, sausages, odd-odor bean curd, sugar coated haws, sliced steamed cakes, sesame seed-speckled cakes and sweet sour plum juice.

     Apart from Chinese dishes, Beijing ‘s epicurean scene is also dotted with restaurants and bistros serving French, American, Italian, Russian and other Western cuisine. There is no lack of Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Thai restaurants as well. Mcdonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and other Western fast food outlets are found all over the city.
　

Long Peace Avenue

Nationalities and the Museum of Chinese History and 1990s’ additions of the China World Trade Center, the Henderson Center and the Oriental Plaza and many others.