Strawberry fields and hotsprings bless lagging district

A do-it-yourself affair, the annual strawberry picking festival in Changping district is attracting a growing number of visitors, particularly on weekends.

Pick-it-yourself farms allow visitors to harvest the fruit to bring home to relatives and friends. It's become a bit of a cult activity for Beijingers, and created a calling card for Changping in the process, the district's head said.

"We have as many as 70 varieties of strawberry, including 10 domestic species," said Jin Shutong, the governor of Changping district. "Sixty of them are of overseas origins, including from the US, Italy, Japan and Spain."