Beijing Cuisine (京菜, in Chinese ) is a cooking style in Beijing. It is also officially famous as Mandarin cuisine. Since Beijing was the national capital for centuries, its cuisine has been impressed by cooking traditions from all over China, but Shandong cuisine has given the greatest influence on Beijing cuisine. In turn, Beijing cuisine has also obviously influenced other cuisines, especially the Chinese imperial cuisine and the Chinese aristocrat cuisine. "The Emperor's Kitchen" (御膳房 in Chinese) was a term specialized for the cooking places in the Forbidden City, The authoritative chefs all over the country nearly were all Royal Kitcheners. Thousands of Kitchener from the different parts of China showed their best cooking skills to please royal families and officials. Hence it is hard to specify the actual origin of Beijing cuisine. However, some conclusions on Beijing cuisine can be generalized as follows:

 
Original foods in Beijing are often snacks rather than formal courses, and they are typically sold by little shops or street vendors. They emphasize on dark soy paste, sesame paste, sesame oil, and scallions, and fermented tofu which is often served as a condiment. The different way of frying is often used for cooking in Beijing. The food in Beijing catering trade is mainly represented by meat dishes. For example mutton dishes are very popular today, such as stewed mutton; instant-boiled mutton, quick-fried mutton tripe, and fried dumplings with minced mutton. In the south, rice is much more popular as the main staple of the Chinese diet, while in the north, represented by Beijing, wheat products such as noodles, flat breads, dumplings and steamed buns are as popular as or more popular than rice as the staple. For example one can find Jiaozi (small boiled dumplings stuffed with meat or vegetables) in many places throughout China, but if you travel to Beijing, you may find Jiaozi is more popular and welcome than it in southern China.

Beijing life is different from other cities. Beijing streets are relatively free of litter, although Beijing air is very dusty and polluted. Many people recycle all sorts of packages for daily life. Beijing is extremely overpopulated. Anywhere you are, the man is crowded and busy with walking and calling in cell-phones.  Beijing is a haggler's shopping paradise. Except for fixed price items in department stores, every thing else is negotiable. Flea markets are everywhere offering goods that are not easily available in the US at unbelievably low prices. The variety of cuisines or snacks generally hovers in new-comer's mind. Since many food vendors prepare their meals on the open sidewalk, you can observe how they practice their trades easily. You would be particularly fascinated by how they pulled dough into evenly sized noodles.

Beijing people lead an attractive life. Usually at nightfall or daybreak, on squares of parks, many senior residents exercise the shadow-boxing or some simple Kungfu together for keeping-fit. They wear the white long traditional garments, which are perhaps made of the expensive silk. Some senior ladies carry the fans and some carry the swords. They laugh and practise jointly in respective groups. Beijing senior men like Peking Opera. They often stay together for singing and practising leisurely in public after morning or evening exercise, though they are not professional. Some excellent performance and singing often bring the passers-by or on-lookers' applause and cheering successively. Besides many local people are the Chinese-chess-playing experts, and some Chinese famous professional chess-players come from them. They are even able to play chess all day long for leisure under trees or at street-side where are quiet. Chinese-Chess playing in Beijing, even in China is elegant but universal. It is quietly beneficial for intelligence-cultivation, so it is more welcome among the intelligent. What's more, Beijing residents like raising birds. This is a long-standing tradition in Beijing folk life. The senior often tote a birdcage when they are walking in leisure.

Beijing people are very courteous and helpful. Many residents tried to learn a little spoken English for welcoming foreign guests. They are hospitable and willing to talk with foreigners in English. People unquestionably believe Beijing will become the tourism paradise for China-lovers during and after Olympic-Games period.

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the 29th Olympiad, will be staged from August 8, 2008, to August 24, 2008 with the opening ceremony beginning at 08:08:08 pm at the Beijing National Stadium. Some events will be held outside Beijing, that is football (soccer) in Qinhuangdao (秦皇岛), Shanghai, Shenyang (沈阳) and Tianjin (天津), equestrian in Hong Kong and sailing in Qingdao (青岛).

The 29th Olympic games were granted to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo, titled "Dancing Beijing," features a classical calligraphic character 京, meaning capital, emphasizing the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa (福娃, in Chinese), representing five colors of the Olympic rings respectively. The Olympic slogan, One World, One Dream, calls on the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Athletes will compete in 302 events in 28 sports; just one event more than was on the schedule of the Athens games of 2004. Earlier in 2007, former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch had said that he believes that the Beijing games will be "the best in Olympic history." In 2008, the current IOC-president Jacques Rogge said: "Without any doubt, the bid of Beijing was the best. It offered something that no other country could: bringing sport and Olympism to one fifth of mankind. That was the reasoning behind awarding the Games to Beijing."