This morning of July 5th representatives from some of the most successful technology and education companies, and representatives of the Beijing local government celebrated the commencement of the Second Zhongguancun Science and Education Tourism Festival. The festival promotes cultural tourism in Beijing’s Haidian District. Festival events include the opening ceremony, experience tours, tours of Yuanmingyuan (the Old Summer Palace), the Lantern Festival, a Summer Party, and an Award Ceremony. Visitors can experience what may be the nation’s densest area of advanced technology, leading educational institutions, and some of the world’s most extensive gardens and parks.

The heart of Zhongguancun is located between Bejing’s largest electronics retail buildings and surrounded by Sino Steel, Aigo, New Oriental and other advanced and forward looking enterprises. Tourists and visitors can get to know these advanced technology enterprises and learn how they have grown to have a strong presence in the world’s technology markets. Visitors can also experience some of China’s most important and front-running educational institutions including Beijing University, Renming, and Tsinghua Universities, and tour what comprises China’s core foundation of university education. Surrounding the educational institutions are some of the world’s most magnificent man-made gardens including the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan. These gardens have been built by emperors over the course of a thousand years. The spectacular density of human achievement that inhabits this small area of Beijing’s Zhongguancun may be unrivaled.

The lifeblood of Haidian, and Zhongguancun, is composed of technology, tourism, and education. Zhongguancun is a consolidated regional focus point for many technologies and is home to many enterprises who have in recent years been thrust onto the world stage. These companies have factories all over China, making this relatively small area the center of a vast web of production facilities for the nation as well as a center of distribution for Chinese technology products to the world.

The area is home to some of the most famous universities in China, including Beijing University, Renming University, and Tsinghua University. These institutions look forward into the future, a future that they are working hard to make wonderful. Graduates of these institutions are some of China’s brightest prospects, they are those who have passed every one of a long battery of academic tests and made the national grade. It is graduates of these schools who push China’s space program, who discover new treatments for cancer, and those who design China’s new automobiles and build the largest and most complicated construction projects in the country.

Surrounding Zhongguancun are some of the world’s most extensive and magnificent gardens. These gardens include the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan (the Old Summer Palace) which begin near Zhongguancun extend many kilometers north. Emperors built these gardens for entertainment and official functions. These gardens were constructed over hundreds of years, with additions made most recently by the last Empress of China.

The festival continues until September 3.