Fun Choice of Chinaren's Attractions

While more and more tourists are visiting Beijing-some three million last year alone enjoyed its cultural attractions and superb scenic spots-local children often miss out on such attractions, even during the long summer holiday. So where in the city are there places of particular interest to excite young minds? We recommend the following:

Sony ExploraScience

This is the first Beijing museum to allow children to experience science and exploration by themselves. Covering 1,600 square meters, it offers numerous major themes - illusions, sounds, refractions, reflections, colors/light, and a cyber demonstration workshop which uncovers some of the mysteries of science.

Illusions: Vision is the sense through which a person recognizes the shape and color of an object. At Sony ExploraScience, visitors can enjoy the illusion of handling visual features. For example, by "wiping out" a part of one's face, twisting one's hand and other actions, you can experience the principle of illusion.

Sounds: The spreading of sound in a dedicated space produces an "invisible" phenomenon. This museum actually makes it visible!

Refractions/Reflections: Light conveys information through space, but changes when it goes through water or is used in a mirror or computer.

1/F, Oriental Plaza Shopping Mall

Tel: 8518-2255

Beijing Aquarium

A gigantic nautilus shell has emerged from beneath the ocean floor and parked itself at Beijing Zoo or so the story goes. Either way, it is among the fascinating attractions at Beijing Aquarium, which is among the world's largest. The exhibits here are eye-openers to first-time visitors and help foster public awareness of the conservation and protection of oceans and the ecological environment.

The aquarium, shaped like a huge nautilus shell, houses several galleries, each displaying a thrilling ocean tale. Among them are the Rainforest Adventure, where visitors pass through a mysterious Amazonian forest whose waters contain creatures such as vicious piranha fish and rare Chinese sturgeon. This site leads on to an imaginary world called Tidal Encounter, which has starfish, sea anemone and sea slugs. There is even a turtle whose shell everyone likes to tap.

Also here is a display called Wonders of Coral Reefs, where visitors can enjoy a lengthy submarine experience which embraces an imaginary dive into the South China Sea, a crossing of the Pacific and Indian oceans, the Red Sea and Mediterranean before one emerges into the Atlantic Ocean.

Children also love the Shark Aquarium because of the close-up view of the creatures it affords. These so-called monsters of the deep are secure behind an extremely strong acrylic screen. The Marine Mammal Pavilion, known as "Broadway on the Sea", also offers many spectacular displays that are both exciting and educational.

Despite the aquarium's spectacular facilities, the real stars are its marine life. Visitors are constantly reminded that the waters which surround us are inhabited by fish that walk, crawl, swim and even fly, and that the richness of the ocean is the origin of life. A further message is that while the oceans continue to nurture human civilization, mankind still threatens and endangers them with pollution.

18B Gaoliangqiao Xiejie, Haidian District.

Tel: 6217-6655.

Beijing Natural History Museum

The museum is divided into four exhibition halls: flora, fauna, ancient animals and mankind. On view about 10,000 fossils, specimens and models. Also displayed is a large number of archaeological finds and materials relating to anthropology, paleoanthropology and anatomy, while a Hall Of Mankind shows how human beings came into existence and evolved.

Three hundred photographs, 800 exhibits, paintings by celebrated artists and precious specimens vividly illustrate the evolution of man and the complete process of human life from embryo and birth to growth and death. Exhibits from the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the British Museum, the Carolina Biological Supply Company are also on display.

126 Tianqiao Nan Dajie, Xuwu District.

Tel: 6702-4431.

Beijing Ancient Observatory

One of the world's oldest observatories and dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), this venue basically features large bronze astronomical instruments including an artillery sphere and celestial globe. It has installed a new 2.2-meter-diameter reflector on one of its major telescopes, an addition constructed from an ultra-low expansion glass ceramic only recently developed.

2 Dongbiaobei Hutong, Dongcheng District.

Tel: 6524-2202.

China Science and Technology Museum

This is dedicated to raising children's interest in science while they are young and encouraging them to experiment on their own. The museum is in eight sections, covering education, laboratories, video training, research and design, information, equipment service, motor stations and management. It has several laboratories for experiments in physics, chemistry, electronics, biology, computers, model making, and astronomy whose aim is to develop creative ability and to solve problems.

The museum, among the largest in China, regularly stages exhibitions that introduce modern sciences, organize experiments, hold training activities and enjoy exchanges with foreign countries. Other features include a combined cinema-lecture room and a cyclorama cinema with 500 seats.

1 North Third Ring Road.

Tel: 6237-1177.

Grand View Garden

Located in Xuanwu District south-west of Beijing, this garden is a replica of Daguanyuan, the magnificent garden of an imperial family described in the well-known Chinese novel A Dream of Red Mansions by Qing Dynasty writer Cao Xueqin (1715-1763).

Every effort has been made to accurately reproduce the Grand View Garden of old. Horticulturists, architects, archaeologists and experts on the history of the novel were asked to pay close attention to the layout of the whole garden and the specific location of trees, the arrangements of rockeries and ecoration of the main character's homes. Once recreated, it will provide a valuable insight to the lives of rich Chinese ancients.

12 Nancaiyuan Dajie, Xuwu District.

Tel: 6354-3168.