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<a href="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/National-Theatre.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5997" alt="Beijing" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/National-Theatre-300x185.jpg" width="300" height="185" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">Beijing</span>
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One of the world’s fastest growing, most energetic and exciting cities, millions of people come from all over China and the world to live and work here. There are new bars, restaurants, highways, skyscrapers opening every month – you will never get bored.

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[caption id="attachment_6008" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Great-Wall.jpg"><img alt="Great Wall" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Great-Wall-300x185.jpg" width="300" height="185" /></a> The Great Wall North of Beijing[/caption]

At the same time Beijing is the city were Chinese history and traditions were probably preserved best, with not only world-famous sites, like the Great Wall or the Forbidden City, but with countless palaces and temples hidden deep inside the small alleyways of Beijing Old Town. Beijing is a contrast of new and old, big and small, modern and traditional that cannot really be explained, but has to be experienced. Ancient temples and palaces in old Beijing are next to the skyscrapers of the Central Business District, where the nightlife is crazier than anything and people walk, work, and live faster than just about any other city in the world - except maybe Shanghai. On your way to school you might cycle first past the Forbidden City and little noodle shops and then through Beijing skyline, past the skyscrapers, the shopping malls and the international nightlife district, all together in one city, with endless opportunities for entertainment. As the cultural centre of China, Beijing has a very vibrant music, art, and student scene, while preserving the traditions of Beijing Opera (京剧), traditional stand up comedy (相声) and the Countries imperial legacy. Let 19 million Beijingers show you what is possible in today's China, between tradition and modernity.

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<a href="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CityView.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6007" alt="Shanghai View" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CityView-300x176.jpg" width="300" height="176" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">Shanghai</span>

Cosmopolitan Shanghai is not only China's most modern city, but also it's richest, fastest and most glamorous. 23 million Shanghainese make it one of the most energetic, fastest changing, and interesting places this planet has to offer today.

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[caption id="attachment_5995" align="alignright" width="300"]<a href="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ShanghaiCityViewSmall.jpg"><img alt="Shanghai Skyline" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ShanghaiCityViewSmall-300x199.jpg" width="300" height="199" /></a> Shanghai City[/caption]

Twenty years ago Shanghai started to transform the vegetetable fields of the Pudong area into what is one of the world's most magnificent skylines and turned Shanghai into a metropolis that very cities could hope to compare with. The world's biggest subway system, the world's highest observation deck, the world's fastest skyscraper construction pace - in Shanghai most things are fast, modern and big. However, at the same time many of the old colonial neighborhoods were preserved in the former French concession and international settlement areas, as well as the old original Chinese town. If you come to Shanghai you look for excitement an international environment and fun. Less traditional and Chinese than it's main rival Beijing, Shanghai embraces modernity as well as western life style and culture. The general English level in Shanghai is much higher than other cities, just like customs and habits are much more in line what one would expect to see in the USA, Europe or Japan. Full of five star hotels, internationally renowned restaurants and bars, the city is the most expensive to live in China and offers the most international life style, with about half a million foreigners living in the city.

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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/21cac1c770c3c0a70fbc62db90afdf46.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-6006" alt="Chengde" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/21cac1c770c3c0a70fbc62db90afdf46-300x225.jpg" width="300" height="225" /></a>Chengde</span>

The ancient Chinese imperial summer capital Chengde, could not be more different to China's two biggest metropolises, Beijing and Shanghai. About two hours Northeast of the capital, in the Northern Mountains next to the old Great Wall, China's old summer capital is today a quiet city, full of history, and moves at a much slower speed than China's bigger cities.

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[caption id="attachment_6012" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Chengde-3.jpg"><img alt="Chengde's Puto Temple" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Chengde-3-300x201.jpg" width="300" height="201" /></a> Chengde's Puto Temple[/caption]

Even though both the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/703" target="_blank">Imperial Mountain Resort </a>and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putuo_Zongcheng_Temple" target="_blank">Putuo Temple</a> in Chengde are today UNESCO world heritage sites, very few people outside of China have heard of the city and you will most likely not meet a single other foreigner during your stay there. LTL students live with a Chinese homestay family, study 1-on-1 classes and are fully immersed into Chinese language and culture.<strong> </strong>

As the former imperial summer capital, many of Chengde's residents are descendants of China's old Manchu aristocracy and as a result the Mandarin spoken in Chengde is considered one of the most standard in all of China. Students are surrounded by native speakers of Mandarin all day and all communications, from ordering food to discussing the city's history will be in standard Manarin. It is one of the few places in China where people on the street speak almost exactly the same as the characters in your textbook.

<strong>Environment</strong>

Chengde is located in the mountains North of Beijing, with clean air, blue skies, hiking trails, and a ski resort in the area. It is a city that can easily be navigated on foot or by bike, while taxis are easily available and very cheap. During the summer it has a refreshing breeze and is cooler than the cities in lower lying areas, which is why in the old pre air-con days, the emperor chose to spend most of his summers there. With about half a million inhabitants, it would be considered a city in most other parts of the world, however by Chinese standards, it is little more than a big village.

[caption id="attachment_5782" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/chengde.jpg"><img alt="The imperial mountain resort" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/chengde-300x199.jpg" width="300" height="199" /></a> The Imperial Mountain Resort[/caption]

<strong>History</strong>

Visiting the Putuo Temple and the Imperial Mountain Resort is a must when you are in Chengde. You can do so during the weekends or choose the Chengde Safari option, where your teacher will visit the sights with your teacher, learning Mandarin while exploring the city and it's sights. It is worth to do a bit of reading about the Chengde's history before coming, to understand why the Qianlong emperor decided to build such a big Tibetan temple here or why the city was so important for the Qing dynasty. In Chengde you can choose to get out of the classroom and explore the city together with your teacher, learning Chinese in real life situations and practice your spoken Cinese.

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