Preparing for China

My friend Patrick is putting up a web site helping people prepare to come to China, at Prepare 4 China.

Things to do in Beijing, part 1

Peking University is located in the north of Beijing, not far from the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace. It’s one of the most famous universities in China – I’ve heard it said it’s the Harvard of China, and nearby Tsinghua is the MIT of China.  It’s also just a beautiful place to walk around; I also like that there are fairly developed park areas, but also quiet areas, relatively undeveloped.  I particularly like the area around Wei Ming  lake.  In winter you can go ice skating there – they rent skates.   North and then west of of Wei Ming Lake, you can get to China Center for Economics Research, housed in a Qing dynasty mansion.

The west gate is more traditional Chinese style architecture.  Near the west gate is the Arthur Sackler Museum, which sometimes has interesting exhibitions. At the east gate, Peking University Hall can be a good and affordable place to see music, movies, etc.  (I’ve never seen an English version of the PKU Hall web site).

Welcome

This is my first post here.  Perhaps some of you have come from my Sun blog.

I’m looking forward to posting more information about China, as well as my ongoing life. Stay tuned …