Half Day Private Village Tour: Gaobeidian Village

1. Pick you up from your hotel in Beijing at 2:00pm and drive about 20 minutes to the 1000-year old Beijing Gaobeidian Village.

2. Stop at the statue of Guo Shoujing in front of Gaobeidian Village and visit the ancient Ping Jin Floodgate from about 2:20pm to 2:40pm.
- Guo Shoujing (1231–1316) was a leading hydraulics expert of the time as well as a famous Chinese astronomer and mathematician. He lived during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368).
-The ancient Ping Jin Floodgate was used at the middle of Tonghui River (Gaobeidian section) to control water level. Now only a small part is existent.

3. Visit akindergarten from 2:40pm to 3:10pm. This nursery is run by a private owner. It is a two-storey building located in the residential area of the village. The nursery is sectioned into three classes - lower, middle and high. The children start attending kindergarten at the age of 2 until they are at least 6 years old. The kids are so lovely, you will surely forget any worries when you see them.

4. Visit a small "People's Commune Museum" at 3:10pm to 3:30pm. The people's communes used to be the highest of three administrative levels in rural areas effective from the year 1958 to 1978. Now they are replaced by townships. As the largest collective units, People's Communes, were divided in turn into production brigades and production teams. The communes had governmental, political, and economic functions.

5. Learn to paint a Beijing Opera Mask from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. Facial mask painting is worth appreciating for its artistic value. The paintings tell the characters's roles. For example, a red face usually represents heroic bravery, uprightness and loyalty; a white face depicts a sinister and treacherous character and a green face symbolizes stubbornness, impetuosity and lack of self-restraint.

6. Walk along the Gaobeidian Classic Furniture Street from 4:30pm to 4:50pm. The 1,500 meters long classical furniture street is located along the Tonghui River in the east part of the Gaobeidian Road. It opened in the 1990s. Now it becomes much larger in these years. The Gaobeidian classical furniture street is a good stage for representing and trading Chinese Traditional furniture. The main type of the furniture is of Ming and Qing Dynasty. Vendors and buyers come from all China, even from many parts of the world.

7. Visit the local market in the village at 4:50pm. The market is a village market so most of the frequenters are come from the local village. People buy vegetable, fruit, meat, eggs, local snacks etc from the market. The market offers a wide selection of fruit and vegetable either locally produced or taken from other parts of the country. People like shopping there for they it is convenient and they can enjoy very good prices when they do shoppping at their own local village or community markets instead of some large markets located in the business centers in Beijing. Each village has one or two fruit and vegetable markets for convenience to local people to purchase daily necessities.

8. Finally visit a local famer's house from 5:20pm to 6:30pm, talking with the locals, having tea, taking part in making the dinner-dumpling and having dinner with the family. After the tour, transferred back to the hotel down town.