Overview

Da-Xing covers an area of around 391 square miles and has a population of 671,444 and is on the outskirts of Beijing near the 5th Ring Road. A new subway system was completed at the beginning of 2011, and you can be in downtown Beijing within half an hour. Da-Xing is great for individuals who are looking for a cultural experience in that it is far enough away from the big city to warrant a small-town atmosphere. Many people in Da-Xing have never even seen a foreigner! Furthermore, you would be close to Beijing, so you would really have the best of both worlds. Teaching English in Beijing is a great opportunity.

Parks

Due to DaXings wide open and famed green areas, DaXing naturally has many parks to visit, all with different features to give you some variety. Check out the Youlong Chinese Culture Park to experience an educational journey of Chinese culture.

Or perhaps you would like to try out the Beijing fishing park where you can enjoy a day of relaxing fishing along beautiful traditional style ponds and streams. Perhaps even stay in one of the hotels situated close to the waterside, many offering a barbeque service so you can cook whatever you catch.

If you enjoy the big wide open green plains but don’t care too much for fishing and culture, then try out the Jingcheng Golf Club where you can spend a relaxing day playing golf amongst the plush green landscape.

Tours

Due to DaXing’s pride in their ecological agriculture there are many tours that centre around this subject. You can take part in many ecological rural tours including the Ancient Mulberry Gardens of Anding.

The mulberry is famed as being the ‘king of fruits’ due to the Chinese belief that it enriches the liver and the kidney, whilst also improving eyesight. The garden comes in at 23, 333 square meters and boasts 446 old trees, the eldest (known as the mulberry tree king) is almost one meter in diameter of breast height and about 25 meters in the diameter in the crown. The tree produces 400-500 kg or mulberries every year and is so precious they have listed it as a grade 2 protected tree.

If sustainable energy and organic foods are of a great importance to you then you must visit the Liu Min Ying Ecological Farm. At the core of this project is sustainable energy and ecological farming. Whilst here you can walk around the 145 hectares of sustainable farming and learn about how they are using a cutting edge marsh fermentation system to maintain the energy used for the farm.

Or perhaps you would enjoy living the life of a farmer; this farm offers the chance to live in one of the 250 farmer households where you will eat, live, drink, and sleep farming.

Festivals

Be sure not to miss out on a little of the culture whilst you are in DaXing, and what better way to peek into the heart of the culture than by attending some traditional festivals. Why not visit the annual watermelon festival? A festival for watermelons you ask? Unfurl your eyebrows my friend, watermelons just got interesting. Here you can find watermelons that have been shaped in certain ways, ones that have somehow been grown with designs on the surface, and of course the giant watermelon competition. This takes place on May 28^th every year.

Other festivals include the Mulberry Culture Festival in late May in Anding Town, the Flower Admiring Festival in Early April in Panggezhuang Town, and the Grape Culture Festival which lasts from August 18^th – August 22^nd in Caiyu Town.

Other Attractions

Beijing Wild Animal Zoo is a great day out for people of all ages. The zoo boasts 10,000 rare animals from 200 species. The zoo is broken up into various sections including a viewing zone, an entertainment zone for animals playing, a science and education zone and a children’s zoo.

Dongfangqishi Horse Riding Paradise may also capture your attention and makes for a great day of fun and a night of relaxed entertainment. Here you can stay in a tourist village which offers accommodate, food and entertainment. But the real focal point are the horses, over 60 horses of varying breeds can be ridden, you can choose a horse and gallop on the track, or go horse-ride hiking, to then come back to a roaring camp fire party.

DaXing has a main transportation area called Huangcun Town, here you can find four railways that connect there which will grant you some easy access to cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Typically it takes around 35 minutes to get into Beijing.
There are also many good bus routes such as the 366, 957, 962, 410, 937 and the 901 which all shuttle from the Beijing urban area to Daxing.

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