Chaoyang Park beach opens to the public on August 1

Step on the fine, soft Hainan “Olympic sand,” practice beach volleyball with friends, and experience all the fun of the seaside at an open air swimming pool. On August 1, Beijing’s first beach themed recreational park – the Olympic beach bathing area, will formally open to residents. The extra large beach covering 15,000 square meters is laid with “Olympic sand,” and residents are free to touch the fine, soft sand.

Chaoyang Park beach opens to the public on August 1

The beach bathing area, converted from the Olympic beach volleyball training ground, covers 25,000 square meters, and is located in the west of Chaoyang Park beach volleyball ground. The biggest highlight of the area is the “Olympic sand” from Hainan. In order to reuse Olympic venues, and at the same time allow Beijing residents to share in the achievements of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, from the end of last year Chaoyang District set about converting the beach volleyball ground into Beijing’s first beach themed recreational park – the beach bathing area. 17,000 tons of “Olympic sand” has been used in its construction. Aside from the beach bathing area, beach volleyball and soccer grounds will also be built to promote beach sport culture in Beijing.

After nearly a year of elaborate preparation, the beach bathing area will formally open to residents on August 1. On the afternoon of July 28, reporters paid a visit to Beijing’s inland beach. After passing through a tree lined lane, a large stretch of beach unfolded, with dozens of fountain heads spraying water across the sand. “Even if the wind picks up, the sand will not blow away,” said a Chaoyang Park official. The beach is one of the most appealing features for visitors.

Every day after the park closes; workers will clean the delicate “Olympic sand”, and pick up anything left behind by visitors to keep the beach clean and neat.

Walking barefoot across the soft, fine sand, the infinite “sea surface” unfolds before visitors. Two showers are installed at the side of the beach to stop visitors traipsing sand into the water carelessly. The shower automatically sprays water to wash off sand, as long people stand under the shower for at least three seconds. The swimming pool is divided into three parts, the children’s zone, shallow zone and standard competition pool. Because the swimming pool adopts the same purification technology as the Water Cube, machines installed at the bottom of the pool filter out impurities in the water, keeping it clean all day.

According to sources, the beach bathing area can take up to 3,000 visitors a day, and is open from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. The ticket price is set at 80 yuan per person, and visitors can buy tickets at any of Chaoyang Park’s ticket booths.

Translated by LOTO