TimeOut

A willow garden , a nice piece of green space in the heart of Beijing ... With a lotus pond Great getaway from a hectic week ... best enjoy before sets in...  

The area seems so peaceful and lush with all the greenery, then you see the stadium looking thing in the background. Plus there's that ship, is it functional or just a boat shaped structure on the pond? -MW

That is the Workers Stadium in the back ground. The Workers Stadium was the main sporting arena in Beijing before the Bird's Nest took its crown. The Workers Stadium ( 工 人 体 育 场 ), often called Gongti or Gong Ti , is mostly used for football (soccer) matc...  

Have you been to the Bird's Nest? I thought it was pretty cool: We went when it was cold, they had this fun looking setup: -MW ...  

The Bird's Nest is now in pretty bad shape ... As with most things in China, they build it , but maintenance is a different matter altogether ... Not been there since I came to Beijing Been meaning to go in the night to capture the water cube and then som... 

The Water Cube was cool. They had a indoor water park and lots of people were doing laps in the other pools. I think you can do a daily rate or some kind of longer term membership. -MW ...