Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If your kids are learning Chinese—or, unlike you, are already having fluent conversa-
tions in it—then they might enjoy visits to the China Children's Art Theatre, just northwest
of Dongdan subway station on Dong'anmen Dajie. While the plays and musicals presented
are in Chinese, the stories are often Western classics, such as
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves,
and
A Journey with Hans Christian Andersen.
The Ma Lan Hua Art School, at-
tached to the theater, offers acting and dance classes for children aged five to 12.
From a tourism perspective, your guests will think you live in the most convenient spot
possible. Within easy walking distance, you have Jingshan Park, the Forbidden City, and
Tian'anmen Square. There's also Wangfujing Paleolithic Museum, which is interesting,
whether you are a tourist or not. When workers were digging up the site for Oriental Plaza,
they uncovered the relics of several 25,000-year-old Chinese ancestors. You'll find the mu-
seum in the passageway from Wangfujing subway station up into the mall.
Getting Around
While everything is close at hand in this part of town, the downside is that there are no
smooth-flowing arterial roads. You're really burying yourself in the heart of the city here.
So unless you're willing to take the subway, you could be committing yourself to a lot of
time personal time with your cab driver. In an ideal condition, let's say at 3am or during
Spring Festival when the city virtually empties out, you're just a 10-minute drive from the
CBD, 10 to 15 minutes from Sanlitun, and around 20 minutes from Beijing United Family
Hospital, the major international hospital in the city. Put realistic traffic conditions into the
picture, and those times double or even triple. The upside is that despite these times, if you
do insist on cabbing it to work in the CBD, your 50-minute cab ride is still likely to cost
you only about RMB30.
SUBWAY
Living here, you can take advantage of Lines 1, 2, 5, 6 and part of 8. The south section of
Line 8, which will connect the National Art Museum of China to Daxing in the far south, is
still under construction and won't be rolling until around 2015. Be warned that Line 1 is the
most congested subway line in the entire city. During rush hour, keep luggage to a minim-
um, do not relax and unfold your newspaper, and do not expect anyone to stand aside. Just
send a word of thanks to your deity of choice if you actually manage to get on and off.
BUSES
1, 4:
These are the buses to get anywhere along Chang'an Jie.
