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This day tour explores the deserted area of north Beijing, including a poor village near the Great Wall; Tianmo, the closest desert to Beijing; and the Ming-period Cockcrow Postal Town (Ji Ming Yi or Station of Rooster Crows). It is about 2-hour more drive from Beijing. We will have lunch in a local home - stewed chicken, other dishes and vegetables. Meet at the China Culture Center, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China to board the bus.

Located at Huailai County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, approximately 145 kilometers northwest of Beijing, Cockcrow Post Town is the largest postal town of its kind in China, and the only surviving example of its era. It was recently listed by World Monuments Fund (WMF) in the World Monuments Watch List of world 100 most endangered sites.

Ji Ming Yi was a major post office and an important location for travelers and workers alike to change horses and pass on transport duties between Beijing and western areas of China and beyond; as a result for some time this small village prospered. Dowager Empress Cixi stayed here one night as she fled the invading forces attacking Beijing.

Cockcrow (Ji Ming Yi) is still inhabited with temples, offices, schools, and a wealth of courtyard houses, all surrounded by a massive rammed-earth-and-masonry town wall. The brick surfaces of the town wall have begun to decay, exposing their clay inner structure to damaging rains. Seven out of 17 remaining original temples in the town are in danger of being lost. To date, the government has provided little funding and few solutions to these problems. The Hebei Province Institute of Urban Planning in conjunction with Tsinghua University has developed a masterplan for the site, which would include removing plaster from murals and carvings as well as several major pilot restoration projects.