3 Hours in ... Beijing - 1

3 Hours in ... is written by readers of The Asian Wall Street Journal to share their advice on how to spend a few hours of spare time in major cities in Asia.

This Week: Making the most of your spare time in Beijing.

Your Guide: Anna Ning, marketing executive, J.Gallery, Hong Kong.

Where She'd Go: The Ancient Library located to the west of Beihai Park on Baishiqiao Lu. It's located inside the National Library of China, formerly the National Peking Library, and dates back to the 1930s and was recently reopened after a three-year facelift.

What She'd Do There: Pick something to read from the shelves and settle into one of the reading rooms where each seat is lit with its own traditional Chinese-style lamp.

Visiting the library is like stepping into an ancient imperial garden. The collection is spread among several buildings within a large courtyard. While the exteriors of the buildings boast beautifully crafted wooden Chinese characters, the spacious interiors are reminiscent of Western architecture.

Why You Should Go: The library is famous for its collection of old Chinese tomes, but equally valuable is its extensive collection of ordinary ancient books, local histories and magazines. The library and its gardens are a place to escape the frenzy of modern Beijing and slip into the city's cultured past.


3 Hours in ... Beijing - 2

Your Guide: Meg Maggio, a lawyer with the Beijing office of Vinson & Elkins.

Where She'd Go: The Aixin Keep-Fit Center for Chinese Traditional Massage by the Blind, one of Beijing's many 24 hour 'healthy life' massage parlors. It's located at No. 2 Baijiazhuang Road, Chaoyang District (tel. 86-10-6595-0997).

What She'd Do There: "Unlike most Beijing massage centers, which can be extremely noisy, Aixin follows a house practice of silence. All queries are whispered and the communal massage room is thankfully and uniquely devoid of music, television, karaoke and waitresses selling soft drinks. The masseurs, who are all blind, are trained at one of Beijing's traditional Chinese medicine colleges, and they take their jobs quite seriously. Like most traditional Chinese massages, the session should be followed by a glass of lukewarm water."

Why You Should Go: "How to describe the myriad pleasures of paying someone to spend the better part of one hour pounding on your back? Well, let's just say that it's best to go on an empty stomach. Sleep after a good massage is like no other, guaranteed to result in hours of sound and deep relaxation.

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Ken in Sacramento