Among all the prince mansions in Houhai lake area, Prince Gong’s Mansion is one of the most attractive and worth visiting. Once, an official named Heshen lived here, who got the deep trust of the Emperor. He collected large amount of treasure to decorate luxurious mansion. You can compare it with the surrounding houses when roaming in Hutong lanes.

In the morning, your guide will take you to Houhai Lake area where Hutong lanes crossing like chess board.

Here you will visit Prince Gong's Mansion, once private house for several royal families in different ages. You may see the shadow of the past prince's luxury life in the garden yard. The Hutong tour also includes the visit of a local family, playing with the children in a kindergarten, climbing on the Bell Tower, which was the only time counter 500 years ago and rang only at morning, to take a bird eye view of the Hutong area.

Chinese dumpling lunch with other local dishes cooked by the housewife at a quadrangle will be offered. The rest of today will be free for you to have a leisure time in the bar street at the bank of Houhai Lake.

Tonight, if you like, you can try the Imperial Dishes(USD45) in Beihai Park and Beijing Opera (USD38). Beihai Park was the royal park during the past 600 years. And Beijing Opera, which is dubbed National Quintessence now, performed originally exclusively for the emperor's birthday celebration.