However, conditions are improving slowly, and the zoo offers a nice walk through a large park with lakes. The zoo was originally a private garden belonging to an aristocrat from the Qing Dynasty. Later, Empress Dowager Cixi turned it into a zoo by importing 700 various critters from Germany for her personal entertainment. Old Beijing Mini-Landscape Park Located in Nankou Town, Changping County, 40km from downtown Beijing, the park reproduces ancient Beijing in its heyday albeit in miniature. The replica city features more than 100 carefully carved buildings with tiny bricks and tiles, fully revealing the thriving capital of the Qing Empire.
Many scenes are today no more than names on the map of modern Beijing.
Park China Ethnic Minorities Park is where you go to see reproductions of China's 56 ethnic minorities. Han Chinese dress up in minority costumes and pretend to be Tibetans or Mongolians. Tourists can do the same to capture that memorable photo to show the loved ones back home. The landscape is also dressed up with small-scale imitations of famous Chinese scenic spots such as a fake Jiuzhaigou Dragon Waterfall. No 2 goes there.