Once again this summer, the annual Daxing Watermelon Festival will be held from May 28 to June 1 in the south suburban district of Beijing.

Picking watermelons is always part of the fun at the festival. The festival centers on local farmers from Daxing bringing high-quality watermelons to local fruit markets.

During the watermelon festival, many evening parties and theatrical performances will be held.

Exhibitions of watermelon art will be held in the Watermelon Museum from May 27 to 29.The museum is the first of its kind in China and was just opened to the public last June.

More than 170 different species of watermelons are on display there. Information and displays of high-tech watermelon products and planting processes as well as picture exhibitions will be added.

After visiting the museum, watermelon picking in local farmers' fields is available to all visitors.

Last year a watermelon weighing 120 kg was auctioned off for 1 million yuan (US$120,482).This year, a watermelon eating contest is another unusual attraction. The person who gobbles the most melon in a limited time wins.

A mulberry festival began on May 25 at Anding Village, a place boasting 2,410 hectares of mulberry fields. Mulberry trees more than 200 years old still grow there. The next two weeks will still be a good time for mulberry picking. Local legend has it that the fields there were the only place to offer mulberry fruit to the imperial families of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

An agricultural products fair will be held in Huangcun Town from May 28 to June 1. A photography competition will also begin late this month and run until December.

Special travel routes are prepared for visitors to Daxing during the watermelon festival. Most of the travel lines are one-day or two-day trips planned for people from downtown Beijing.

Route one: Visit the watermelon museum at Panggezhuang Village and pick up watermelon in Lao Song's watermelon field. Lao Song is one of the town's famous watermelon farmers. His watermelons have captured first prizes in many years of watermelon competitions, thanks to their huge size and weight. The last two destinations of the route are a pharmaceutical company and the Beijing Wildlife Park.

Tel: 86-10-69246014  86-10-62367772 (both Chinese only).

Route two: Visit the ancient mulberry fields, the sub-primitive forest and Beijing Nanhaizi Dave Deer Garden in Daxing.

Tel: 86-10-69246014  86-10-62367772 (both Chinese only).

Route three: Visit Beijing Wildlife Park and have lunch at a local farmer's house. Visitors will have chance to enjoy a folk performance and other folk tourism activities.

Tel: 86-10-60279700 (Chinese only).

Two-day route: Day 1 brings you to the Chinese Culture Park and the China Printing Museum. Stay at Tianlun Xingming Resort. On Day 2, head to Beijing Wildlife Park, Panggezhaung watermelon field and go watermelon picking in Lao Song's watermelon fields.

(China Daily May 27, 2005)