Tourism Resources
Beijing, an age-old city which was founded over 3000 years ago and has been serving as a capital for more than 800 years in history, originated from where present-day Xicheng District locates. As the core district of the five dynasties of Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, Qing, Xicheng District boasts abundant natural and cultural landscapes as well as profound historical and cultural deposits. The fine buildings and splendid cityscape of the old imperial city are well preserved in Xicheng District. Distinctive charms of Beijing as the capital integrate with multiple cultures, which adds glory and beauty to each other, endowing Xicheng District with the profundity and magnificence of being tolerant and the centuries-old cultural inheritance.
It is where 18 historic areas, 42 cultural relics under state protection, 24 state-level intangible cultural heritages and 101 guildhalls locate. Splendid beauty of the old imperial city, traditional Chinese artwork in Liulichang, time-honored brands in Dashilan, guildhalls and former residences of celebrities, wonderful Peking opera, funny Xiangsheng (cross-talks), religious culture in churches and temples… All these profound historical and cultural deposits provide valuable cultural resources and profound cultural influence for the tourism of Xicheng District. Visitors can enjoy tourism products with distinctive characteristics when they travel around Xicheng. For instances, an "imperial cultural tour" represented by a mansion tour and an imperial garden tour, a "Beijing-style tour" represented by a Hutong tour, a tour of a former residence and a tour of a time-honored brand, a "cultural centres and museums tour" represented by a museum tour, an aquarium tour and a zoo tour, and a "festival and celebration tour" represented by Xuannan Cultural Festival, Shichahai Culture & Tourism Festival, Changdian Temple Fair, Grand View Garden Temple Fair and Honglou (Red Mansion) Temple Fair. All is too much for the eye to take in.
As a central district of Beijing, Xicheng District has perfect reception and services facilities with a complete range of catering, accommodations, transportation, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment, which are all very convenient. There are 22 A-level tourist areas (spots) in Xicheng District, of which Beihai Park, Jingshan Park, Beijing Aquarium, Prince Gong's Mansion, Capital Museum, Grand View Garden and other attractions are well-known at home and aboard. 16 tourism information and services sites are set up in Xicheng District. The catering industry is well developed, serving dishes with flavors of many countries as well as all major cuisines. Quanjude, Kaorou Ji Restaurant and other time-honored brands, Fangshan Restaurant, Hongbinlou and other speciality restaurants have long enjoyed a good reputation; Family Li Imperial Cuisine, Mei Mansion and other courtyard restaurants also gradually develop. Xicheng District has 101 star-rated hotels, while courtyard hotels in hutong as well as youth hostels are popular with young travelers.
Business of Xicheng District is developed very well. There are not only traditional business areas including Dashilan and Liulichang, but also modern business areas such as Xidan and Xinjiekou. There are rich artistic performances. Peking opera, Xiangsheng (cross-talks), Kunqu opera, acrobatics, Chinese drum music, martial arts, Pingju opera and dance drama are all performed in performance venues of Xicheng District. China National Centre for the Performing Arts, China's top artistic performance venue which is a symbol leading the trend of 21st century, Mei Lanfang Theatre, a representative cultural landscape which inherits hundred-year-old cultural treasures, as well as more than 30 professional performance venues including Theatre of the Beijing Exhibition Hall, PLA Theatre, Beijing Concert Hall and Tianqiao Theatre… All these performance venues will definitely meet the demand of the audience.
Hotels
Xicheng District has 101 star-rated hotels.
The Westin Hotel
The InterContinental Hotel
The Ritz-Carlton
The Presidential Beijing
Beijing Dongfang Hotel
Qianmen Jianguo Hotel
Minzu Hotel
Grand Mercure Xidan Hotel
Jintai Hotel
Shenzhen Hotel
Beijing Guoerzhao Hotel
Beijing Debao Hotel
Beijing Guohong Hotel
Beijing Capital Xindadu Hotel
China People's Palace
Guoyi Hotel
Guangzhou Hotel
Holiday Inn Jindu Hotel
Education Resources
With rich and excellent educational resources, Xicheng District has a number of exemplary middle schools that are locally and even nationally renowned, such as Beijing No. 4 Middle School, Beijing No. 8 Middle School, Beijing Experimental Middle School and the Middle School Affiliated with Beijing Normal University. In addition, there are other famous primary schools such as the Beijing No.1 Experimental Elementary School, Beijing No. 2 Experimental Elementary School, and Beijing Elementary School. Among them, the Hui People's Elementary School, a school for ethnic groups, has a long history and has been sticking to developing various educational activities for years to promote an excellent traditional ethnic culture and lay a good foundation for cultivating talents of ethnic groups.
Xicheng District has also made continuous efforts to adjust the educational resources in primary and middle schools, and readjust school layouts, which resulted in a more reasonable educational structure and school layout, and the remarkably improved teaching conditions. By the end of 2012, Xicheng District has 51 middle schools with 18,473 new entrants, 55994 full-time students and 18,018 graduates, 72 elementary schools with 10,496 new entrants, 52,436 full-time students and 8,250 graduates, 67 kindergartens with 16522 students, 3 schools of special education with 76 new entrants, 603 full-time students and 102 graduates and 1 work-and-study school with 89 students.
In accordance with the law, Xicheng District ensures the growth of funding for education and steady improvement in the quality of education and teaching. The level of basic education maintains a leading rank in the whole city, the integration of vocational education resources makes a steady progress, and the system of lifelong education gets improved. In recent five years, 20 schools have completed renovation and expansion and sites of 360 schools have been reinforced.
Medical Service / Public Health
Xicheng District has abundant and advanced medical resources: 611 medical institutions by the end of 2012.
In the past five years, the public health service of Xicheng District has been improved. 15 community health service centers, 78 community health stations and 257 door-to-door doctor service teams have been established and 281 thousand citizens have enjoyed these services. Xicheng District has been honored as "National Health Emergency Model Zone" and "National chronic Disease Integrated Prevention Model Zone".
Traffic Network
Xicheng District has a sophisticated transportation network based on subways, light-rail lines and roads. The subway is the fastest and easiest way to travel through certain parts of the district, with Beijing Subway Lines 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and lightrail Line 13 serving the district, including transfer stations such as Xizhimen, Xidan and Xuanwumen. The Xizhimen depot, the city's largest multi-dimensional transfer station, is a comprehensive transportation hub for state-railway, urban light-rail, subway and other public transportation vehicles. It also allows passengers to enjoy the comfort of good commercial, catering and parking services. With an area of 14,000 square metres, the Beijing Zoo bus depot makes it possible for centralized transfers to more than 10 bus routes. There are also plenty of parking lots for cars.
