Tourist Attractions in Shenzhen

Tourist Attractions in Shenzhen

Binhai Thoroughfare: The 9.6 km road is flanked with coconut trees and fascinating sea views.
Boundary Stones of Zhongying Street: A historic site under provincial protection, the eight boundary stones are located in the middle of Zhongying Street in Shatoujiao Township, Yantian District, where Shenzhen and Hong Kong meet. They bear witness to the occupation of Chinese territory by British colonists following the Opium War.

China Folk Culture Villages: Covering 180,000 square meters, it is one of the four well-known tourist attractions of the city's Overseas Chinese Town (OCT) and the first in the country to blend folk cultures and the architecture of all nationalities in China.

Chiwan Ancient Fort: This fort lies east of Chiwan Village in Nanshan District. Built during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, it was a proof to the then coastal defense facilities.

Chiwan Beacon Tower: Built in the 27th year ruled by Emperor Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, this was the most important beacon tower in Dongguan in the Ming Dynasty. It lies atop Mount Xiaonanshan, Chiwan.

Chiwan Tianhou Temple: The temple lies beside Chiwan Village in Nanshan District. It is the largest temple in honor of the heavenly queen in Guangdong Province, enjoying a fame in Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia.

Dameisha Relics: Located beside Dameisha Village, objects dating from the New Stone Age and the Bronze Age have been found at this site.

Dapeng Fortress: A historic site under State protection, the fort is located in Pengcheng Village in Dapeng Township, Longgang District. Built in the Ming Dynasty, it has survived for over 600 years.

Diwang Mansion Top-floor Sightseeing: The 384-meter-high Diwang Mansion and 360-meter-tall SEG Building are Shenzhen's two highest tourist attractions.

Evergreen Resort: Located along Moon Bay near Mount Dananshan, it covers 200,000 square meters and is Shenzhen's first sightseeing farm, featuring its simplicity and rural setting.

Fairy Lake Botanical Gardens: Located in Liantang, Luohu District, it is home to Hongfa Temple, one of the largest in Guangdong Province. It has set up many gardens focusing on different plants and has more than 3,000 varieties. The late leader Deng Xiaoping planted a Banyan Tree in the garden in 1992.

General Lai Enjue's Cemetery: The cemetery is situated in Wangqitang, Dapeng Township. General Lai was originally buried in Dakengshang Village and his tomb was removed here in the third year ruled by Emperor Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Golden Beaches in the East: With Dameisha, Xiaomeisha and Xichong beaches threading along its coastline, eastern Shenzhen is a combination of green mountains, blue sea and golden beaches. It is being built into a recreational and tourist resort to appeal to holidaymakers. The Dameisha Beach Park is open to the public free of charge.

Happy Valley; A member of the new generation of theme parks set up by the OCT, it offers unusual and adventurous activities.

Hehu New Building: Built in the 56th year ruled by Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, this building is located in Luoruihe Village in Longgang Township, Longgang District. It took three generations 22 years to finish the building, which is among best-preserved Hakka-style residential buildings in Guangdong.

Honey Lake: Situated in the west of Futian New City Center and neighboring Shennan Thoroughfare, the resort blends recreation with sightseeing, boasting a world-class water park.

Minsk World: Opened on May 10, 2000, Minsk World was transformed from the world's fifth largest aircraft carrier into a military-themed tourist attraction. Located at Dapeng Bay, Shatoujiao, the Minsk was originally built by the former Soviet Union.

Nantou Ancient City: Situated in Jiujietou Village in Nanshan District, it is testimony to Shenzhen's ancient civilization and history and is praised as a common historical resource shared by Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Places of Historical and Cultural Interest: Shenzhen is home to over 40 protected historical and cultural sites, including Zhongying Street, Dapeng Fortress, Hakka buildings and Tainhou Temple.

Shaodi Emperor's Mausoleum: West of Chiwan Village in Nanshan District, it was built and renovated in memory of the last emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Shennan Thoroughfare: Stretching westwards for 20 kilometers along the 26-kilometer-long Shennan Thoroughfare is a parkway. Every intersection and building along the road are carefully decorated with plants and flowers.

Shenzhen Safari Park: Covering 120,000 square meters and situated by Xili Lake, the park is the country's first subtropical garden displaying wild animals, plants and natural history.

Shenzhen Waterlands Resort: Located in the hi-tech, high-yield and high-returns agriculture base in Bao'an District's Shajing Township, the resort has a distinctive sea view and rural scenery. This has made the area another natural resort, covering an area of 20 square kilometers.

Splendid China: Situated along Shenzhen Bay, the park covers an area of 300,000 square meters. It is one of the world's largest miniature scenic spots, reflecting China's natural landscape and cultural history.

Wenwudi Palace: Situated in Pingshan Township, Longgang District, it is the best-preserved palace of its kind in the city.

Window of the World: Situated on the south side of Shennan Thoroughfare and along the Shenzhen Bay, it occupies an area of 480,000 square meters. It collects wonders from around the world: historic sites, natural landscapes, folk architecture, sculptures, paintings, folk singing and dancing.

Moon Bay Park

I spent most of my weekend at this park, it is very new having been just completed and opened in May of 2007. What is fun is that it has trees that are over 100 years old they are very unique with a twisty kind of trunk. See the text above. It also has some great sculptures and man made features.

Moon Bay is near Mount Dananshan, it is a very nice park with nice green areas and water features. No bikes or cars are allowed, Yahoo! It is just far enough away from the current housing and new enough that you feel like you can walk around without feeling that you are in a popular zoo and your the attraction.

Hong Kong Flu Outbreak

Masked Boy
c Reuters Picture

So Bev and I were going to HK this weekend, Bev has decided not to go. We have just rec'd warnings from our administration. I may opt to go someplace more local.

HONG KONG, March 13 (Reuters) - More than half a million Hong Kong schoolchildren stayed at home on Thursday after the government shut all kindergartens and primary schools for two weeks to contain an outbreak of flu.

A government-appointed panel of experts is probing the deaths of three children, aged 2, 3 and 7, over the last two weeks. The two older children were infected with seasonal flu, while the cause of illness in the youngest child is unknown.

The health scare has not been linked to H5N1 bird flu but the government's decision on Wednesday night to close the schools brought back memories of 2003, when an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome hit Hong Kong.

Health Secretary York Chow said the government closed the schools because the numbers of young children getting infected seemed higher this year.

"Our main concern is the infection of young children. The percentage of young children getting influenza this season seems to be higher," he said at a press briefing. "The second is the mortality ... if there're two deaths related to flu even before the peak, then we need to do something to minimise the numbers in the weeks to come," he said, referring to two of the three children -- a girl aged 3 and a boy aged 7.

The government disclosed two new cases on Thursday, a 3-year-old boy WHO was in stable condition in hospital and a 21-month-old boy who died in late February after being admitted to hospital with flu-like symptoms. His cause of illness is unknown.

Mrs Kwan, a mother of a 10-year-old student, was worried.

"You can see that many people in Hong Kong are a bit scared of such viruses. It's not like before when kids would just have regular cough and fever. Now, you just don't know how serious any outbreak might be. I am very worried," she said.

Experts say there was no reason to panic.

"This year, there seem to be slightly more flu cases. But from what I can see, we get a bad flu year every few years. I don't think it is very unusual or different from previous years," said Leo Poon, a virologist from the University of Hong Kong. (Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn and James Pomfret; Editing by Nick Macfie)

QSI School Location

This is where the school is located if you want to look at Google Maps and find it. Most of the two attached buildings are the school and gym. Some other businesses reside primarily on the first floor. Park and Shop being the primary one. It is a small grocery store bigger than a 7-11 but not really very big. It caters primarily to expats. It is convenient to get something for lunch or pick-up something to take home for dinner.

QSI Student- Chinese New Year Celebration

Staff Member and her Husband sing Love Song

Staff Members sing duet

QSI Director Britt Bratley

The students put on a large production at the Old Shekou Theater. Actually two different performances. Here are a few pictures from the performance that I attended. This is a very big deal and the Chinese Teachers at the school put many hours into making the production something very special.

Chinese New Year

Year of the Rat, turned into the more palatable sweet Mouse

View of Seaworld from our Apartment

Costal Rose New Mall, Lantern Display

Poster in Seaworld

We were gone during much of Chinese New Year but here are some pics of the sights around our area. Lanterns, lights, and nightly fireworks that go off at any hour, 10 pm to 5 am every night even now three weeks after the actual date of the main celebration.

Subtle Messages!

These giant size posters are two that are within a few blocks of our home. I just love them. The message is so Subtle!

Staff Apartment

Click on any picture to see a slightly larger version.Front door to the building

Large Living Room

Dining Room and Kali

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Kali's Room

Main Bathroom

Molly in Molly's Room

Beautiful Chinese piece purchased in ZhuHai a nearby town

Mr. Brantley, our School director, asked me to post another set of pictures of a different apartment that is occupied by our QSI staff members. Many of the staff coming to QSI this Fall are looking at this blog and our wondering about the provided housing. The Wood's were gracious enough to let me take pictures today of their apartment. Darcy and Eric have two girls Molly in the 8yr old class and Kati who is a Secondary 1 student. They live just one block from the school on the sixth floor of this building. The 3 bedroom apartment has views in two directions and is about 1600 sq ft. These apartments do not have a outside balcony but do have roof access as well as a building elevator. Most of the furniture except the Chinese piece is either the schools or came with the furnished apartment. They also have a spot with a washer and dryer, I did not get a picture of it. They have quite a lot of built-in cabinets for storage.

If you missed it, our apartment is at the other end of the general area that most all the staff lives in Shekou. You can see our apartment on this blog. The posting is in the archive and is dated 11/05/07.