Take this Friday night train to Datong  Hanging Monasteries &  grotto statues !

Meandering Mandarin

CCC's Meandering Mandarin is a joint culture and language program.  At each event, participants will take a field trip and learn useful vocabulary and phrases to be used on the outing. The acquired knowledge will enable participants to converse with locals and learn about Chinese culture, as well as communicate better in their daily lives in Beijing.  Each lesson will be themed, self-contained, and applicable to everyday situations.

CCC will start this program on July 12 (Wednesday) with its first tour to Carrefour and local market (see the link here), and two other tours of the month.

 Tours this weekend

Take the last minute to book Datong tour (grottos and hanging monasteries) or join in our Saturday wine-tasting tour to the Vineyard in Huailai, Hebei; or make it to attend this Sunday's Beijing Amblers to the Dragon Gate Gorge, a cooler place with brook (mainly walking, no hiking  involved).

Travel news

Next Weekend (July 8-9) tour to see pandas !

Two types of inner Mongolia grasslands are now offered for both scheduled group tour and private tours throughout July and August. Contact us for details.

Weekend tour: Sichuan Pandas Natural Reserve & Leshan Giant Buddha (July 8-9)

7-day trip to Tibet (July 17-23)






Upcoming in details

Dragon Gate Gorge is   Beijing Amblers (not hikers)'s Sunday program to the cool summer retreat

Beijing Tour
Saturday, July 1, 9am-6pm
Beijing Amblers: Vineyard & Wine-tasting
Beijing Amblers is going to tour the best winery and vineyard at Huailai, 130 kilometres to the northwest of Beijing, which is the same latitude as Bordeaux and California. Situated inbetween Guanting reservoir and Yanshan mountain range, Huailai boa

Sunday, July 2, 9am-6pm
Beijing Amblers: Dragon Gate Gorge
The Dragon Gate Gorge is a great place to avoid the heat of the summer. Located in the valley in the southwest of Beijing, the deep gorge provides natural springs, running streams and waterfalls reminding people of the start of the Yellow River. The

Thursday, July 6, 9:30am-1pm
Yanjing Beer Brewery Visit
Tour the workshop, learn brewing process and taste fresh beer in the bar


Friday, July 7, 9:30am-12:30pm
Walk: Forbidden City & Tiananmen Square
The 3-hour guided walk will not only cover history, architecture, fengshui and religion and ritual of the Forbidden City, but also the city planning of the whole walled capital (gates, walls, etc.) and the recent development (English narration)

Saturday, July 8, 9am-6pm
Beijing Amblers: Reed & Water Village
Beijing Amblers will check out another ancient village around Beijing. Located at Mentougou, south of Beijing, Reed & Water Village remains untouched by tourists and visitors. Go with CCC to see a dam (boasted to be the largest in the world),

Beijing Events

Monday, July 10, 4-6pm Hands-on: Chinese Sword Play at Park

Monday, July 10, 4-6pm
Hands-on: Chinese Sword Play at Park
Learn Chinese swordsmanship with outstanding Chinese Martial Arts practitioner in Ditan park. All people, beginners or the advanced alike, are welcomed, just join us to stretch yourself after a long week sitting.

Wednesday, July 12, 8pm
Philosophy Lecture: "Ming" or Destiny
The CCC philosophy lecture series will talk in this session about Ming Yun - destiny, fate and lot. It is, of course, connected with the Chinese notion of the Tian-Heaven which can refer to God, morality, virtue, personal will, nature, and ...

Wednesday, July 19, 8pm
New Long March Talk By McEwen
On October 16th 2002, Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen set out to retrace the route of the original Long March. They were the first foreigners to do so since 1934; their intention was to record the experiences of the last-remaining witnesses and particip

Thursday, July 20, 2-4pm
Hands-on: Tying Chinese Knot( macramé)
Learn to make the auspicious knots (Chinese style macramé) from a CCC folk artists, and work out your own knots (knots, butterfly or lily shoes, and other patterns of crafts), and hang them up on your neck or your handbag

Wednesday, July 26, 8pm
Talk: Up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers
Xiao Li, a Fullbright scholar, will do a presentation for CCC members on the up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers in China-documentary, video art, and feature length movies.


Explore China

Two-day panda tour at the Wolong Panda Natural Reserve in Sichuan (July 8-9)

July 1-2
Qinghai Lake & Chaka Salt Lakes
It is the largest salt water lake in China, and rank No.1 of the top ten best lakes in China -- large, high, salty, and stunningly blue. Yellow reep blossom will be all over the region. Over 100,000 birds migrate from the Indian Ocean feed on spawn

July 1-2
Datong Trip (Grottoes & Hanging Monastery
Join this weekend tour to see the second-largest of the nearly 51,000 sandstone statues of Buddha in 53 Yungang grottoes. Buddhist cave art began here in Datong, 160 miles west of Beijing, in the fifth century, by Xianbei minority, which ruled North

July 8-9
Xilin Gol Inner Mongolia Grassland
Compared to another Inner Mongolia Grassland tour to Huitengxile, which is a resort provideing concret yurt, this Xilingguole grassland tour will be the off-the-beaten-path tour in small groups, offering authentic yurts with real Mongol residents.

July 8-9
Sichuan Pandas and Leshan Giant Buddha
Visit the Panda center at Wolong Natural Reserve, taking photos with the giant Pandas or even holding a panda; visit the famous Le Shan Giant Buddha, world's largest Buddha statue in the World

CCC youngest participant (2 years old) plucks little yellow blossom on the grassland (CCC last year' s inner Mongolia grassland tour)

July 17-23
7-day trip to Tibet


July 15-16
Ancient Xi'an Town (Terracotta Warriors)
Take weekend trip to visit the famous Terracotta Warrior Site; walk on the ancient walled City, Shaanxi Museum; Great Mosque and Muslim Street; Wild Goose Pagoda, etc.

July 22-23
Huitengxile Inner Mongolia Grassland
It was worthwhile to visit the enchanting steppes & fantastic grassland! To find the less spoiled and touristy grassland with relatively full-up grass, and yet accessible for a two or three days excursion, CCC recommends the grassland Huitengxile (2,

July 29-30
Xilin Gol Inner Mongolia Grassland
Compared to another Inner Mongolia Grassland tour to Huitengxile, which is a resort provideing concret yurt, this Xilingguole grassland tour will be the off-the-beaten-path tour in small groups, offering authentic yurts with real Mongol residents. Yo

August 7-13
7-day Yunnan Trip (Lijiang, Dali, Shangrila, Kunming)
Join CCC's trip to Yunnan (Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangrila, etc) to experience the dreamland and its diverse minority ethnic groups.

August 3-6
4-day tour: Four Sisters at Sichuan

Gyantze, one top of CCC 7-day Tibet tour  July 17-23 and Sep. 4-10

August 5-6, Fri.10pm-Sun.9pm
Trip to Qingdao (beach and old buildings)
Joining the August Qingdao Beer Festival has been proven to be unwise by our CCC friends because of the extreme crowding; the festival is just like a Karaoke site and the hotel fees for all of August are tripled. Take Friday night train with CCC

August 12-13
Xilin Gol Inner Mongolia Grasslands
Compared to another Inner Mongolia Grassland tour to Huitengxile, which is a resort provideing concret yurt, this Xilingguole grassland tour will be an off-the-beaten-path tour in small groups, offering authentic yurts with real Mongol residents.

Fri.night-Sun.evening, August 19-20
Pingyao--Raise the red lantern
Listed as UNESCO Heritage Site, this exotic ancient city and city walls bring you back to the history and the atmosphere and environment like the Europeans back to the Middle Age Europe, and the awesome walls and carvings of the Wang Family Residence

August 26-27
Weekend trip to Chengde Mountain Resort
Take CCC's comfortable bus to Chende, Hebei Province to see the Summer Mountain Resort (Bishushanzhuang) and its Outlying Temples. The size of Chengde Summer resort is as big as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace combined.

August 26-27
Trip: Huitengxile Inner Mongolia Grassland
it was worthwhile to visit the enchanting steppes & fantastic grassland! To find the less spoiled and touristy grassland with relatively full -up grass, and yet accessible for a two or three days excursion, CCC recommends the grassland Huitengxile