It’s all about AI nowadays, and there’s a new indoor park that’s embracing AI full on. The newly opened SoReal VR 超体空间 is a dazzling attraction that redefines what immersive experiences can be. Developed by the creative team of Zhang Yimou (the acclaimed director behind the Beijing 2008 Olympics opening ceremony), SoReal combines cinematic storytelling with interactive gameplay, transporting visitors into fantastical worlds.

Walking through SoReal’s doors feels like stepping onto a movie set where you’re the star. The venue blends VR, AR, AI and motion-sensing tech to create experiences so vivid you’re meant to forget where the real world ends and the digital one begins.

Inside, you’ll find attractions that are based on Chinese folklore, like the Legend of the Dragon, where mythical creatures and breathtaking landscapes feel startlingly real, as well as rides that defy gravity at Zero Gravity, where you can experience what it would be like to be in space.

There are also multiplayer VR arenas that deliver heart-pounding action. Teams face off in futuristic battle scenarios where every duck, dash and shot is tracked with pinpoint accuracy.

SoReal offers more contemplative encounters with its AI-driven holographic displays. These lifelike digital characters hold surprisingly natural conversations, offering guided tours through fantastical environments or interactive storytelling sessions that adapt to your responses. One moment you’re in a Beijing shopping district, the next you’re swordfighting dragons or floating through the cosmos. It’s this magical quality that makes the experience so memorable – and it’s why visitors keep coming back to try every adventure on offer.

Prices:
Single experiences starting around RMB 150-300, while a full-day unlimited pass runs about RMB 500. For the ultimate experience, the RMB 800 VIP package grants priority access and exclusive perks inside.

Find it:
26 Shijingshan Lu, Shijingshan District
石景山区石景山路26号

Images: Dianping, Freepik

As spring blooms across Beijing, nature enthusiasts and cherry blossom aficionados alike flock to Yuyuantan Park to witness one of the city’s most spectacular natural displays. Renowned for its stunning cherry blossoms, Yuyuantan Park offers visitors a picturesque setting to immerse themselves in the beauty of these delicate pink blooms.

Find it:
Yuyuantan Park
RMB 10 per ticket. Daily 6am-9.30pm (summer), daily 6.30am-7pm (winter). 10 Xisanhuan Zhonglu, Haidian District (8865 3800) www.yytpark.com
玉渊潭公园：海淀区西三环中路10号

Photos: Uni You

It’s getting cold fast but we all know the real Beijing winter isn’t quite here yet, so I’m taking every advantage of this time to get the kids out and about while the leaves are still on the trees – which is also a great way to admire the beautiful yellows and reds of autumn. So I’m happy to share my discovery of the Beijing Chateau Star River park, which is well-sized, well positioned (within the fifth ring road, and walking distance to Joy City mall) and best of all, completely free!

The Star River park is located across the street from another free park – the Kids’ Theme Park, which in itself is worth a quick visit if you have really little ones below 5. It’s got cute kid-friendly features like a sand pit, slide, mini rock wall and a tiny playground. Beginner cyclists will also enjoy going over the easy cycling bumps around the park. But for a much larger and open play space, cross the street and head over to the Chateau Star River park!

PRO TIP: There’s only one entrance on the east side of the park, and while the sign there may read No Dogs, the park was full of them! It’s a bit of a hit or miss though, as we did see the security turn away a local lady with her dog, citing complaints from others that “there were too many (dogs?) inside”. I did successfully bring my dog inside the park on the occasion I visited, but there are no guarantees. I believe going earlier in the day will increase your chances of entering with your pet!

The park itself spans a pretty large area that took us over an hour to fully explore. It doesn’t have any amusement parks or arcades; only a small basketball court on the far west side. But there are sprawling willow trees around a pond and open green spaces where we spotted many a yoga practitioner, kite-flier, and families picnicking. It seems silly to get excited about picnicking in a park, but if you’ve been chased off of the grass by security as often as we have in parks around Beijing (once by turning the sprinkles on us), you’ll understand.

On our visit, we secured a wide area for ourselves to play with the football, frisbee, and bicycles we brought with us. For lunch, we had pizza delivered to the park entrance where we picked it up and ate in the shade of the trees. We could have just as easily walked the 1 kilometer distance to Joy City Chaoyang and dined at one of the many restaurants there.

If you’re looking for a nice, quiet park where you and your family can roam freely and do just about anything you want (within legal limits of course), this is definitely the place to visit!

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Images: Vivienne Tseng-Rush

Since summer rhymes with sunny weather, it is the best time of the year to organize outdoor activities with your family and friends. Super shining grass and warm weather, let’s take a look at our picnic essentials to guide you this summer.

The location

The first step in the preparing for your perfect picnic is finding the location. Let’s dive into some possible spots to lay out your picnic blanket.

If you are willing to spend a nice afternoon at the Beijing’s largest park, Chaoyang Park offers you multiple places to enjoy the beauty of nature. Installed on soft grass, next to a lake or sheltered under large weeping willows, it is the ideal location to spend a relaxing day.

Perfect for gatherings, the National Olympic Park is a delightful place. Open from 7am to 10pm, the park offers a lake and vast areas of lush grass. This park is ideal for picnics.

If you are seeking for more spot ideas for your outing, feel free to check our other article on this subject.

The Checklist

Once you found the perfect spot, pack up your belongings and spend a pleasurable lunch. We created the perfect checklist for this occasion:

Picnic blanket and cushions

To keep your pants clean, the picnic blanket is a must! Bringing cushions will also add extra comfort.

Paper plates, utensils, and glasses

Assuring practicality, they are the fundamental of a picnic. How would you eat otherwise? You could prefer wooden or paper utensils over plastic ones for a more sustainable aspect. You can also reuse the endless utensils you receive when ordering waimai (takeout). Wine or champagne glasses will add an extra touch of fanciness to your experience.

Food and beverages

The main purpose of a picnic is eating! Try selecting dishes that are convenient to take away.

You could go for appetizers such as carrot, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and olives, all types of salads, chips, cheese, or sandwiches for example.

Do not forget to take sweet snacks as well. Store-bought or home-made biscuits, and cookies are always a hit. Fruits like strawberries, raspberries or bananas, or chocolate, which may be risky in warm weather though.

For beverages, lemonade, soft drinks, juice, smoothies, or milkshake will take the lead but make sure not to forget a big bottle of water!

The famous picnic basket

Probably the most iconic picnic detail to make your outing a little more chic than it already is.

Napkins and hand sanitizer

Covid has undoubtedly changed our hygiene behaviors forever. Always pack some hand sanitizer and napkins. It’ll come in handy, trust me.

Board games or sports games

Fun and easy games to play outdoor such as Who am I, Times up, Twister, or sports like badminton, frisbee, volleyball or football will spice up your afternoon.

A baguette

Famous in movies, how could you forget the essential piece of bread. We could recommend you the one from T11 for its crunchy crust, Chez Morel’s baguette for its authentic French taste and consistency, or the one from the Schindler’s if you tend to prefer soft baguettes.

A loudspeaker

To add a pleasant atmosphere and music to your picnic.

Swiss Army Knife and a cutting board

Much more convenient than the usual knife, the Swiss army one is portable, takes very little space, and give you access to large possibilities of blades and tools.

Mosquito spray

Do I even have to explain this one?

Plastic bags for trash

Crucial for keeping your place tidy.

Hand-held Fans

One of the best ways to fight against warm weather.

Accessories to make your picnic picture perfect

The final key to your perfect picnic is a cute decoration. Fairy lights, flowers or the classic red picnic blanket will make your afternoon even more enjoyable.

Now that your outing is organized, just call your family and friends to enjoy a nice picnic all together!

Images: Pexels, Emma Sortais, Unsplash

It’s spring in the Jing and that means picnics are back! Between the food, the drinks, the folding chairs, and the blankets, there’s a good amount of lifting and hauling involved in any good picnic, and you can’t forget to bring a few things to keep the kids busy. But how can you add fun without the extra bulk to cart around? Here are my go-to, easy, portable, and lightweight toys for your Qingming Festival picnic.

before you make your plans, here‘s how to check if the park you want to go to is open.

Frisbee: An oldie but a goody, frisbees are flat, light, and inexpensive. Plus, they are a two-for-one kind of toy. If you bring four they can serve as safe bases for games of tag or kickball.

Beach Balls: Beach balls are flat, light, and inexpensive (sensing a theme here). There are also a billion games you can play with them, and if they break or get lost they, well, they were only RMB 2.5 each. For a switch-up on kickball that even your smallest friends can play, have the kids kick the lightweight ball from a still position (instead of pitching it) and run the bases.

Bubbles: Who doesn’t love bubbles? But don’t bring a massive, heavy bottle. Instead, bring one or two of the tiny party bottles that can fit easily into any pocket. They are the exact right amount of liquid for 30 minutes to an hour of bubble fun, which is all you really need anyway.

Tissue Box: This is a great hack for entertaining your toddler I learned years ago from a friend. You will need to bring tissues on your outing anyway. Once you arrive at your picnic area, pull the tissues out of the box or bag and set them aside. In the empty tissue box put small manipulatives like key chains, small toys, a spoon, a leaf, a rock, etc. Then give it to your toddler and tell them it’s a surprise box! Let them reach in and pull the toys out one at a time. Then they can refill it with their own small treasures. It’s object permanence, fine motor skills, and will keep them entertained for 15 min while you unpack.

Chalk: Just don’t get the massive and heavy jug of 50 pieces. The small box is fine and the kids will have fun. If there is no concrete around, have them color on rocks they scavenge or on paper plates.

Spot It: I love this game for the entire family. It’s simple to learn but surprisingly addictive, and I would bet money your kids will beat you at it. If the kids do get bored there are alternate ways to play, and if a few cards get lost the game is still usable.

We wish you a laughter-filled and ant-free day in the fresh air!

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Images: TaoBao, Canva

We know the culture shock that many of us went through when we first landed in Beijing and discovered to our mild horror that many parks here require admission, do not allow picnics (or sometimes even for you to step on the grass), and are laden with money-making play areas designed to capture our kids’ attention. So when a free public playground opened up in a new neighborhood park in Dongcheng District, I just had to go see for myself.

The Liangmahe Park in Dongcheng District finally opened last week after a lengthy renovation. Situated right across from the MOMA residences near the start of the Liangma River, the park is small and quite barren, except for the brightly-colored play area located close to the main entrance in the northeast corner of the park. The playground is divided into two areas – one suited to toddlers under 3, and one meant for older kids. My nearly 7-year-old enjoyed himself for an hour, running up and down the larger open play area, which offers some simple climbing challenges with ropes and tires on the sides of low-inclined hills. There are also large circular rope swings and a sand pit.

Due to schedule constraints, we had to check out the park during the weekend, which meant some serious crowds. But even so, everyone had fun. There are also a few benches right next to the playground so you can get comfortable while keeping an eye on your kid. Also noteworthy are be the public toilets, which are thoughtfully located right next to the play area, and which come equipped with Western-style toilets and are not just squatty potties! For the first time, I also saw a family toilet option with a changing table! Because the park is still so new, the toilets are in great shape. Let’s hope they stay that way…

You can walk through the entire park in under 20 minutes, and for a longer stroll you can just exit the park and walk along Liangma River all the way down to Solana Mall. This new neighborhood park is totally worth a visit, especially on the weekdays, if you have little ones. Hopefully, we’ll soon see more neighborhood parks like this one around Beijing!

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Images: Ray Wu, Vivienne Tseng-Rush

温榆河公园 (Wēnyúhé gōngyuán) Whenyuhe Park, which just opened last year, is my new favorite natural space in Beijing for so many reasons:

1. Admission is free!
2. It is within the 5th ring road and a one-and-a-half-hour drive from downtown Beijing.
3. It is huge, with wide-open spaces and green rolling hills, plus no amusement parks in sight! (Though there is a train the kids can ride.)
4. There are bookstore cafes on the premises where you can simply read and sip tea or coffee.
5. There is a sandy beach area by the river which offers water activities like boating. 
6. Camp Leopard!

Take a walk through the park with us in the video below!

Camp Leopard is a newly-opened day camping facility minutes away from the park’s lake and beach area, offering up to six hours’ worth of family-friendly activities. You can book one of their rustic little tents for just under RMB 700 and choose from a variety of tents overlooking the camp’s golden sunflower field. Enjoy their homemade fruit pizzas, ice creams, or juices (which are included with each tent booking) while sitting inside or outside the tent on a cushy chair. You are also welcome to bring your own picnic lunches.

There’s a small trampoline, hammock, and small kids’ toys available at the campgrounds to keep the kids occupied. Though just exploring nature will already keep your kids busy and out of trouble. For a small additional fee of around RMB 200, the camp’s super-friendly staff will lead the kids in a host of nature-driven activities that include painting a straw hat, learning to identify insects and to catch them, planting rice saplings in the paddy fields, and catching mudfish. Older kids can even learn to cut down the mature rice plants and harvest the grains! This involves handling a small sharp scythe so some parents may want to supervise, but the staff – all of whom are farmers themselves – are more than capable of managing the kids safely.

This brings me to my next point: parents can be as hands-off as they want, or participate in the activities. We sat around and chatted while the kids attended the straw hat-painting and insect identification classes. When it came time for insect catching though, most of us trekked through the tall grass alongside our kids to help them find grasshoppers and crickets, which we later chose to release. (You can bring them home as pets too.)

Even though the kids will don wet gear that covers them up to the chest, be sure to pack at least one change of clothes, for both parent and child, as we all got splashed aplenty as we excitedly stood around the mud pool pointing out mudfish for the kids to catch. Again, you can choose to release the mudfish you catch or bring them home. Apparently, they make an excellent dish served with tofu.

If you are staying in Beijing during the upcoming Golden Week and need a place for the kids to run off some steam, Whenyuhe Park and Camp Leopard are an absolute must. 

Address:
北京市朝阳区孙河乡来广营北路1号院、2号院
Sunhe Township, Chaoyang District, Beijing, to Guangying North Road

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Images: Vivienne Tseng-Rush, Qi Shu