Located on the west side of Landscape Avenue in the Olympic Green and to the west of Beijing National Stadium(Bird's Nest), the National Aquatics Center contains the official 2008 Olympics swimming facility. The construction started on December 24th, 2003 and was finished on January 1st, 2008. It measures 177 meters (194 yards) long, 177meters wide, and 30 meters (98 feet) high and covers an area of 62,950 sq meters (75,287 sq yard). It has four floors: one at street level, two above, and one below. Its floor space reaches 79,532 sq meters (95,119 sq yard), while the below street level area is no less than 15,000 sq meters (17,939 sq yard). The one below served as the service area during the Olympics. The first floor is for tourists. The auditorium is on the second floor with 6,000 fixed seats (2,000 of which are movable), and 11,000 temporary seats. The third floor is strictly for business.
Design IdeaThe Water Cube design combines modern technologies with Chinese traditional values. In tradition, Chinese conceptualized a square Earth and a round Heaven, and this formed the design's central theme. Moreover, the cube shape dominates ancient urban buildings. The National Aquatics Center's design is of traditional style to meet all its functional requirements.
The Blend of Architecture & Advanced Technology
The National Aquatics Center, designed by Chinese and Australian, is the first building in the world built upon "the soap bubble" theory, and sports a polyhedral steel-framed structure.
The ETFE (the ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer) membrane insulates the Water Cube. This advanced membrane structure is formed by 3,065 bubble-like pneumatic cushions of all sizes. The National Aquatics Center becomes the first large-scale public project coated with the membrane, and it also has set up a new world record for its massive deployment.
The National Aquatics Center looks like a huge blue box, from which it takes its nickname: the Water Cube. The Water Cube is blue in order to reflect sunlight. The National Aquatics Center shines in the sunlight like a pearl in water. From the inside of the National Aquatics Center, you may discover that the pneumatic cushions of all sizes are just like sea bubbles.
Various high technology and green technology are present in the National Aquatics Center construction. Popular Science magazine chose it the Best of What’s New of 2006.
Post-Games Uses
During the 2008 Olympic Games, the National Aquatics Center hosted swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming competitions. After the Games, the Water Cube turns into the international advanced center of swimming, sports, health-building services, and leisure activities.
The National Aquatics Center has temporary closed since October 2009. In 2010, the National Aquatics Center will reopen.
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The bell and drum were originally used as musical instruments in China. Afterward, however, they were used for telling time. As early as in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220), there was 'a morning bell and a dusk drum'. Telling the time by bell and drum played an important role in helping people live and work regularly when there was no other means to keep track of the time. As a result, bell and drum towers became public architectures, and were widely constructed in almost every city throughout the country since the Han Dynasty. In the history of their construction, the bell and drum towers of Beijing are the largest and highest. Their layout is unique, in that they were placed fore-and-aft, not as the traditional sense of standing right-and-left horizontally.
Lying to the north of Beijing-south axis line in Dongcheng District, the bell and drum towers are visibly prominent constructions and represent the symbol of this old city. They were built in 1272, and rebuilt twice after two fires. At one period in history they were the time-telling center of the capital city during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties (1271-1911).

With the Great Hall of the People to its east, the National Centre for the Performing Arts is located in Chang'an Avenue West. The NCPA (originally named National Grand Theater), designed by French architect Paul Andrew, includes the main building (containing three performing venues: the Opera House, the Concert Hall, the Theater), the underwater corridors, the underground garage, the artificial lake and the green space. It covers an area of about 118,900 sq meters (about 142,203 sq yard); and the total area of building is about 217,500 sq km (about 260,127 sq yard). The whole project started from December 2001. After more than 5 years' construction, it was finally completed in September, 2007. Now it is believed to be the deepest architecture in Beijing (the deepest place of the center is -32.5 meters, equivalent to the height of a 10-floor building.). National Centre for the Performing Arts presents a sharp contrast to its surroundings with its oval exterior, which makes it very eye-catching.
Symphonies, dance shows, ballets, dramas, operas and other kinds of performances are frequently staged in National Centre for the Performing Arts. If time is allowed, you can enjoy any shows that you like. The NCPA visiting tour includes art exhibitions, thematic activities, as well as facilities. You will both appreciate the magnificent architectural style and enjoy the profound art environment of thematic exhibitions here.
 

Ancestors of Tujia nationality have lived on this quartz sandstone land for thousands of years and no one has ever expected that there is a son of Tujia people, who changes the sleeping sand into a new type of world recognized art — sandstone painting. Li Junsheng, born in 1963, grew up in a very poor family and likes drawing since his childhood. One day, he found people like to spread color cobblestones on the wall when repairing houses and it’s very pretty, which inspired his idea of painting with sandstone. Li Junsheng’s sandstone paintings break through the using of traditional painting materials and use nature materials by making use of the hue of natural plant creatively, are of great artistic values.

Maoyan River is a 50-kilometer river lying in the upstream area of Li River in Yongding District of Zhangjiajie City. It is also called Rock River because of rocky cliffs on both sides of the river.

Maoyan River is famous for the green mountains along the river, clear water, queer rocks, many shoals and rapids. Drifting in the river one can experience the breathtaking feeling of drifting as well as enjoy the sight of the particularly beautiful scene along the river. There are over 30 scenic spots along the river. Among which the Rock River Gorge is the best of all. Cliffs rise steeply up to 500 meters. Many water falls are seen on both sides of the river. Shuidongzi Water Fall is the most magnificent one. Water pours out from a cave 70 meters above the river and formed a huge several decameters wide before it falls scattered into the river. It is no wonder that visitors enjoy lingering about such terrific mountains and rivers.

Mount Siguniang (Chinese: 四姑娘山; literally "Four Girls Mountain" or "Four Sisters Mountain";Tibetan: རི་བོ་སྐུ་བླ་འི།,[3] Skubla) is the highest peak of Qionglai Mountains in Western China. It is located in the bordering area of Rilong Town, Xiaojin County and Wenchuan County in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

Mount Siguniang encompasses four peaks: DaFeng (Big Peak or 1st peak), ErFeng (2nd peak), SanFeng (3rd peak), and Yaomei Feng (4th peak). The highest peak is Yaomei Feng (Chinese: 幺妹峰; literally: "peak of the youngest sister"), also known as the "Queen of Sichuan's peaks" (Chinese: 蜀山皇后), standing at 6250 meters. It is also the second highest mountain in Sichuan Province. The first ascent was in 1981 by a Japanese team via the east ridge. Very few people attempt to climb this and very few of them succeed after that.[4] The first ascent of the southwest ridge was made in 2008 by Chad Kellogg and Dylan Johnson.[5][6]

The other three lower peaks are regular mountaineering destinations through all seasons. Mount Siguniang DaFeng (Chinese: 四姑娘山大峰 or 大姑娘山; literally: "peak of the oldest sister", 5025 m) is normally considered as a pure trekking peak while ErFeng (Chinese: 四姑娘山二峰 or 二姑娘山; literally: "peak of the second sister", 5276 m) and SanFeng (Chinese: 四姑娘山三峰 or 三姑娘山; literally: "peak of the third sister", 5355 m) is more challenging as it involves basic climbing technique.[7][8]

Mount Siguniang is famous for its beautiful scenery. The area is reputed to be the "Oriental Alps". Mount Siguniang National Park was identified as a UNESCO Heritage Site as part of Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries in 2006. The park comprises Mount Siguniang and the surrounding three valleys, namely Changping Valley (Chinese: 长坪沟), Haizi Valley (Chinese: 海子沟) and Shuangqiao Valley (Chinese: 双桥沟), covering an area of 2,000sq km.[9]

Altitude 2,995m  depth 6.6m  , area 5,645m2 

The Five Coloured Pool is one of Jiuzhai Valley's smallest but most colourful lakes. Its colours are a result of travertine sedimentation on the uneven lakebed, as well as various algae. But legend has it that the pond was where Goddess Semo washed and combed her hair and Dage came everyday to bring her water. The pool's colours are said to come from Semo's rouge coming off her pretty face and colouring the water 

Although people of the Han Nationality are the principal part in Zhangjiajie, the populations of ethnic minority groups like the Tujia and Miao are sizeable. The night life is not as modern as that in the big cities, but it definitely has its own flavor.

Tourism is a major industry in Zhangjiajie and people visit the city particularly to see the folk singing and dancing performances at night in Wulingyuan Scenic Area or at the Charming Xiangxi (refers to Zhangjiajie)Theatre. In Zhangjiajie there are two lists of plays of the folk singing and dancing performance: one is ‘Charming Xiangxi' and the other 'Dream Zhangjiajie'. At the show of 'Charming Xiangxi', the actors all come from the local Tujia and Miao families, and their fair-sounding singing and multicolored folk finery are the highlights of the party. Performances of Xiangxi Magic and Xiangxi Ganshi (chucking corpse) add to the mysterious and thrilling luster of the show. The performance lasts for three hours, and it provides a window into the soul of the culture of Zhangjiajie.

At night, the streets of Zhangjiajie are full of vendors selling barbecue and local snacks. One such snack, Glutinous Rice Balls in Rice Wine Soup, is made of small glutinous rice balls, Chinese dates and sweet rice wine. This snack is not only very nutritious, but tasty as well. The cost is typically CNY1. Bean curd, grilled dried Tofu, Grilled Beef Skewers, and Grilled Mutton Skewers are very special local snacks found in the night market and are very inexpensive. Tujia Spicy Radish and pickled vegetables must be included in your tasting menu.

Drinks
The Tujia minority group has a long history of wine making. Their methods are fairly dainty and they use many different ingredients to make a wide variety of wines including: Rice Wine, Corn Wine, Kaoliang Spirits, Gegen Wine, and Snake Wine. Once you've tasted their wines, you will never forget the unique taste.