If you are looking to see something different Beijing other than main sites like Forbidden City and the Great Wall, one very interesting place to go to is the Shichahai Sports School. The Shichahai Sports School is China’s training ground for present and future Olympic stars. Daily tours are available Monday to Friday, from 3 p.m.

The school was established in 1958 and is located just north of the Forbidden City. Taekwondo, boxing, badminton, wushu, shanshou, table tennis, gymnastics and volleyball teams train at the school.

The school has trained Teng Haibin, Ma Yanhong in gymnastics, Zhan Yining in table tennis and Luo Wei gold medalist in Athens in taekwando.

The school now has around 500 students. The young gymnasts aged from around 6 years of age are most impressive. I saw a young boy who is around 2.2 meters tall who looks sure to be a volleyball champion if he doesn’t start playing basketball! The school also accepts foreign students for varying periods of time from two weeks to six months.

The tour costs 50 RMB and goes for aroun 1.5 hours.

Address: No.57 Dianmen West Street, Xicheng Disrict, Beijing

Website: sch.bjedu.gov.cn/english/home.htm

Phone: 86-10-661-80791

Email: [email protected]