Beijing's parks are its best-kept secret

When people living outside of Beijing think about the capital, two different sets of images come readily to mind. One consists of historic palaces, temples and buildings - notably the Forbidden City and old hutong alleys. The other images are of the sleek, modern office and apartment towers symbolizing the new Beijing.

In both cases, the picture is dominated by solid and inanimate objects - old Beijing's stone and wood structures and new Beijing's steel and concrete high-rises. In neither instance is there much, if any, evidence of nature.

But those of us who have lived in the capital for some time know that it is filled with surprises. One of the most pleasant surprises awaiting me when I moved here was the amount of green space, even in the center of the city.