May will soon be over, and high school students are approaching their joyous graduation day. To make your life easier, we’ve chosen 10 unusual ways to celebrate this momentous occasion.
1. Loop and Speed Into Summer
We still think the best present for your child is for you to spend some time together so they can feel all that parental love. Where can you show it to them better than in an amusement park? Enjoy the day with candy floss, bubbles, and roller coasters. There is quite a large choice of parks around Beijing: Shijingshan, Happy Valley, Crab Island, Water Cube and many others. Take Note: always make sure parks are currently safe.
2. Display Childhood Pride
What about spending some time preparing a photo collage of your child’s best moments from their childhood years? It’s probably about time to print all those iPhone snapshots from Christmas celebrations and family vacations. To make the printing process easier, we recommend FreshPrints (same name in WeChat) which allows you to do print and set up delivery right from your phone.
3. For the Musical or Cultured
Tickets to a concert! No matter whether your child loves rock or classical music, summer is a time when there are all types of performers coming to the capital of China during their world tours. We suggest you take a look at a few concerts we’ve picked out for you: the Philadelphia Orchestra, STOMP, Abba and many others will make for an unforgettable experience. A warm summer night, smiling people around, shining stars and projector lights… what could be better?
4. Your Graduate’s Personal List of Beijing Uncharted
It is a never-ending paradox how people living at the seaside never go swimming, and Beijingers never go to Tiananmen Square. After all the tough days filled with studying, final exams and essay writing, students deserve some carefree days somewhere new in this city they’ve called home. An Old Dragon Head section of the Great Wall, a riveting art museum in central Beijing, a famous last train in the middle of 798 District are all great places to start. If you want to go above and beyond, make a list and let your graduate pick. Or let him or her make a personal list.
5. Beijing Based Book
Is your child interested in Chinese history? Beijing politics? The economy of the country? A great present for any future college student would be a book with all the data and facts collected – an indispensable help with writing papers. Beijing offers a great variety of books, but the best quality books are only sold in a few main bookstores: the ones in Wangfujing, Haidian, and branches of Page One. Such a book will be a great start to a future library for your young graduate. Our favorite is “Beijing Coma” by Ma Jian.
6. Precious Adornment
Don’t forget about Beijing’s famous jewelry! There are many small sets of opera masks or flowers designed by Beijing masters available throughout the jewelry markets in Beijing. Golden necklaces in the form of lucky characters have become trendy.
7. Traditional Chinese Game Set
Xiangqi (Chinese chess), wéiqí (Go), or mahjong sets – all these can be bought at antique markets or in out-of-the-way stores in small Beijing hutongs. They are a perfect gift for kids who like strategy games. It’s also something they can take to college and use to decorate a cozy corner in their room. They’ll be able to teach their new friends to play it, or, who knows, maybe start a new game club? Anyway, it all begins with a favorite playing set.
8. Family Picnic
All you need is a sunny day, a blanket, some sandwiches, and your high spirits. Try Chaoyang Park, Beihai Lake or other parks we’ve written about. Whether near in the city or far for a breathtaking view, your graduate will pine for family in memory of this momentous picnic.
9. Traditional Beijing Food
Peking duck, hot pot, malatang/ jianbing (street food), dumplings (jiaozi, baozi), noodles – your kid will miss these traditional Beijing foods far away at college. Check the best restaurants with our editor’s pick recommendations, or just explore the hutongs – either way it should be a fun and relaxing family evening with a lot of talk and tasty snacks. If that sounds too easy for you – take up family cooking classes. Beijing offers a variety of different culinary schools. The most popular are The Hutong, Hias Gourmet, and Beijing Cooking School.
10. A Night at the Opera
Last but not least is the sort of cultural show that many hear about, but rarely get a chance to actually see. We mean the Chinese Opera, Acrobatic and Kung Fu shows, the Circus. All of which will bring positive energy to your family celebration and be a good end to a year of study. Moreover, such shows are usually very inspiring in terms of considering how much work each of the artists put into preparing their act, and how spectacularly it all paid off.
Photos: Go Asia, Trendir.com , Wise Geek.org, Beijing Sightseeing.net, Bridging the straights, Luxuo.com, Tzsnw.com , Magic Jump rentals, Ebejing.gov.cn, China Edition
