Longtan Park: home of the dragons
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Boats glide under one of the many pedestrian bridges in Longtan Park on the Dragon Boat Festival. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com] |
![Boats glide under one of the many pedestrian bridges in Longtan Park on the Dragon Boat Festival. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20110608/000cf1a48f870f5978b528.jpg "Boats glide under one of the many pedestrian bridges in Longtan Park on the Dragon Boat Festival. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]")
The east side of Longtan Park is home to the Dragon Stone Tablets scenic area where more than 150 stone tablets totaling over 2,000 tons have found a home. All tablets are inscribed with calligraphy by famous scholars and officials and contain references to dragons; some tablets date back as far as the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD).
For a more modern form of entertainment, the park's west side has amusement park rides. Most are geared towards young children, but there are bumper cars for the young and the young at heart. Visitors can win a prize at the carnival games such as the ball toss or the fish pond.
During the Dragon Boat festival, a local man set up a table near carnival vendors and showed a captivated crowd how to make dolls from clay. Children and adults crowded his table as he carefully but quickly modeled a life-like head and fashioned a hairpiece.
Farther down the row of vendors, sugar sculptures and classic toys were on offer for the park's robust crowd of both local and foreign festival-goers.
A quick escape from the city, Longtan Park is a great family-friendly outing; try searching the park for all dragon references you can find. The park is open for enjoyment until 8:30 pm every day, and admission is 2 yuan.
