Parks and labs in Bejing offer locals and visitors a glimpse into the future

Although some may try, many of us will never experience true space travel. With a hefty price tag and safety concerns, most of us will have to keep our feet planted firmly on the ground.

However, Zhongguancun, known as Beijing's "'Silicon Valley," offers visitors a glimpse into the next dimension.

With the development of different science parks, high-tech museums and advanced labs open to visitors, transnational enterprises have greatly increased Beijing's science tourism over the past three years.

Haidian District holds science and technology tourism events every summer that attract millions of visitors from across the world.

Zhongguancun area, which links Haidian and Xicheng districts, devotes itself to promoting science, training scientific professionals and spreading healthy and scientific forms of leisure through sightseeing. In this way, visitors are attracted to Zhongguancun and tourism serves as both a window and a bridge for the development of science parks in the area.

Among the dozens of science parks, museums and labs open to visitors, we have selected a portion of them, which we feel are really worth a look….

Space Amusement Park

Touted the first park in the world to offer ordinary people's fulfillment of their dreams to travel in space, the park gives visitors a taste of life "as an astronaut."

The 7,400 square metre space park, costing US$5.2 million, opened in 2003 at the Beijing Exhibition Hall, in Xicheng District.

In the park, visitors can land on a virtual surface of the moon while experiencing weightlessness. They also get a chance to taste space food.

The park blends advanced technology with sci-fi movie thrills to provide a vivid, altered sense of reality.

This location is a great option for children to play.

Tickets: 68 yuan (US$8.2) for adults and 48 yuan (US$5.8) for students.

Location: 135 Xizhimenwai Daijie.

To get there: Take bus routes 7, 15, 19, 27, 107, 111, 708 to Zhanlanguan (Beijing Exhibition Hall).

Sony ExploraScience Museum

Sony ExploraScience features thirty-five exhibits from the Exploratorium, as well as Sony’s advanced digital technologies, presented in the form of Sony-developed interactive exhibits for the public. It also features temporary exhibits and a "live" space for workshops and activities for youth and their parents. Activities are both hands-on and Internet/Live Webcast based in the 1,500-metre exhibition space.

At Sony ExploraScience, exhibits are meant to be handled and enjoyed and to bring to life such phenomena as light, vision, and hearing. The featured exhibits–selected from the permanent collection of more than 650 exhibits at the Exploratorium–emphasize surprise and discovery in the areas of depth perception, figure ground illusions, colour vision, reflection, light, interference, sound, waves and resonance.

Sony ExploraScience is located in the first floor of Oriental Plaza. And the Sony Gallery was opened in Zhongguancun’s "Silicon Valley" area in 2004, featuring new Sony products.

Sony ExploraScience is also a great outing for children.

Ticket: 30 yuan (US$3.5) for adults and 20 yuan (US$2.5) for children over 6 years old at the ExploraScience; admission at the Sony Gallery is free.

Location: South end of Wangfujing Street.

To get there: Take subway to Wangfujing Station.

Location of Sony Gallery: Inside of the Top Electronics City in Zhongguancun.

Zhongguancun Hi-Tech Commercial Center (Zhongguancun West Zone), Zhongguancun State Software Park, Zhongguancun Life Science Park, Zhongguancun Hi-Tech, Export-Oriented Industrial Park

These parks would prove boring for children, but can be interesting places for professionals and those who hope to invest in Beijing.

They are all ideal places for hosting scientific and technological tours, business tours and convention tours.

In the past three years, the local government of Haidian District has already launched several tourist routes focusing on seismology, astronautics, and modern agricultural science and technology.

The district has set up the 1.8-square-kilometre Shangdi Information Industry Base and the 4-square-kilometre Yongfeng Experiment Base.

At present, the Zhongguancun Scientific and Technological Garden has more than 8,000 hi-tech enterprises, over 50 percent of which are IT enterprises. It not only houses large Chinese computer enterprises such as Founder and Legend, but also houses many foreign enterprises. Some enterprises including Hitachi Founder open part of their labs to visitors.

Ticket: Free for all.

Location: Haidian District.

To get there: Dozens of bus routes go to Zhongguancun.

Beijing University Science Park and Tsinghua University Science Park

The two universities are included in the science tourism promotion by the local government. Both universities share a history of more than 100 years. Many young Chinese citizens include a trip to the famous campuses in their tour of Beijing.

Ticket: Free.

Location: Near the North 4th Ring Road.

Fengtai Industrial Park

This new industrial zone in southwest Beijing specializes in developing the optical and electronic industries, and also contains pharmaceutical research and environmental protection labs.

Ticket: Free.

Location: The park is located close to the southern portion of the West 4th Ring Road. It is only 12 kilometres away from Tiananmen Square. There are three nearby highways (Jingshi, Jingkai, Jingjintang) that link the area with various parts of the country.

To get there: West 4th Ring Road.

(Beijing Weekend January 7, 2005)