This free park in the suburbs of Beijing is not only perfect for hiking and enjoying the autumn scenery, but also hides the source of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal

Number of days: 1 day
Time: November
With whom: and friends
Tour kinds: Humanities, Free Travel, Hiking, Weekend Tour
The author went to these places: Beijing Ming Tombs Reservoir Summer Palace Riverside Park The Great Wall Grand Canal Grand Canal Tonghui River

I've discovered a hidden gem of a free park in Beijing's suburbs—Beijing Changping New Town Riverside Forest Park. Though it's early winter, strolling here reveals clear skies, expansive lakes, and vibrant ginkgo trees. You can hike all the way to Baifu Spring, the source of the Grand Canal, to visit the Dragon King Temple, once a sacred place for Beijingers to pray for rain. See the lifelike dragon heads of the Nine Dragon Pond, admire "Dragon Spring Jade Rinse," one of the Eight Scenic Spots of Yanping, and learn about the historical and cultural heritage of the Grand Canal's source, where "the thousand-year-old Baifu Spring pulsates at the source of the Grand Canal."

Walking across the carpet of golden ginkgo leaves in Changping New Town Riverside Forest Park, gazing out at the ethereal, transparent, and stylishly designed South Ring Bridge, I deeply feel the saying, "Autumn in Beijing is paradise." Stretching from the Ming Tombs Reservoir in the north to the Beijing-Miyun Canal in the south, this 398-hectare park, twice the size of the Summer Palace, is Beijing's new hiking landmark: Changping New Town Riverside Forest Park. Once an abandoned gravel pit, it has now been transformed into a forest riverside park with beaches and wetlands.

The Baifu Spring, which served the Grand Canal for a century, allowed grain ships from the south to dock directly in Beijing via the Tonghui River, providing the city's residents with high-quality water and abundant supplies. This significantly reduced the cost of importing goods from the south, significantly boosted Beijing's population from a few hundred thousand to a populous international metropolis, and brought the city to a vibrant new level.

After the Yuan Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, it relied on the Grand Canal to transport grain from the south to the north. However, the canal abruptly stopped at Tongzhou, forcing land transport to Beijing. A shortage of carriages and horses, coupled with climate constraints, made transportation extremely inefficient. Guo Shoujing then submitted a petition to dig a new section of the canal from Tongzhou to Dadu. After a detailed survey of the water resources and topography of the Beijing area, he ultimately decided to divert water from the Baifu Spring in Changping and dredge the Tonghui River from Tongzhou to Dadu. After the Baifu Spring water diversion project was completed, the Yuan Dynasty built the Dulongwang Temple on the summit of Longshan Mountain and the Jiulong Pond at its source. The Dulongwang Temple is the only imperially constructed Dragon King Temple in Beijing's history named "Du," signifying its status as "the temple of the ancestor of the Dragon King Spring, the source of all springs." Once one of northern Beijing's most efficacious rain-praying sites, its merits benefited the people. The temple also boasts a plaque bestowed by Emperor Guangxu, inscribed with the inscription "Auspicious Signs of Time" by the Hanlin Academy.