Wang Zhiyong

China, July 8, 2011

 

Traveling in today's fast-paced city of Beijing requires incorporating both historical techniques and inspirational modern updates.

 

On July 5, local officials joined together in Beijing's Zhongguancun Square to launch the summer festival for the capital's unique hi-tech tours, which takes visitors to long-established places such as Peking University, as well as the innovative computer research and research centers.

 

At the kick-off ceremony, eight recommended tour itineraries specially designed for young people to increase their knowledge, broaden their horizons and provide inspirational experiences in their summer holidays.

 

These tours hit hot attractions like Peking University, the Beijing Planetarium and the Beijing Aquarium. Some other institutions will also open their doors to youngsters during the two-month summer season, including two institutions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences -- the Institute of Botany and the Computer Network Information Center.

 

The New Oriental School, famous for its training courses for TOEFL and GRE, is also on the list. The research and development centers for the big-name information technology companies Lenovo and Baidu will also be tour stops.

 

Some 1,300 Beijingers will be invited to experience these weekend tours. And, fortunately for the struggling college students, the tours will be free.

 

To promote the new tours, the local tourism authority is making full use of new communications, like microblogs, to spread the information via the Internet.

 

This time last year, about 44,000 summer campers joined these tours.