Water sports on some of Beijing's artificial beaches could be the solution to summer heat. Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Television

Beijingers have long looked on with envy at the beach cities of the world who splash and breeze their way through the hot summer months. Now, however, residents of the landlocked city find the sea and beach being brought to them.

The past few summers have seen artificial beaches with swimming pools and aquatic entertainment facilities grow in popularity around the capital, with Chaoyang Park and Tuanjiehu Park providing some of the best beach scenes in Beijing.

Duan Jun, a 30-year-old housewife, has been to the beach at Chaoyang Park twice within the last two weeks. To relax on the artificial beach building sand castles and burying her sleeping husband in sand feels surreal for Duan.

"It is really fun, because Beijing is obviously not a seaside city, yet here we are at beach. It is great to have the sea and beach created here," said Duan, while avoiding shots from her 5-year-old son's water pistol.

"My son has made many friends in the children's swimming pool, which is a nice change from him staying at home watching TV or playing computer games," she said.

Chaoyang Park has been jointly holding the beach festival with Beijing Television (BTV) since 2009. Each year the festival opens for the summer months. After the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the beach volleyball resort was converted into an artificial beach park in 2009, covering about two hectares.

"The quality of sand is the same as that used at the Olympic Games, and was transported from Hainan Province," said Yang Zhi, the chief organizer of the beach festival at BTV. "After the sand was sent to Beijing, it was processed so it is soft and people don't have to worry about hurting their feet."

Besides Chaoyang Park, Tuanjiehu Park, also located in the Chaoyang district, is another park which has been equipped with a beach. Tuanjiehu Park's entire water complex is smaller than that of Chaoyang's beach, but the swimming pool simulates wave motions similar to the sea. Although these waves may not attract any would-be surfers, they do give a more authentic feel to the experience.

For those who want to take a day trip outside of Beijing, Tianjin has its very own Dongjianggang Beach, an artificial beach built along the actual sea shoreline located in Tianjin's coastal region.

The beach contains 200,000 tons of high-quality "gold sand" transported from Fujian Province, with paved pathways of cobblestones from Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, lining the beach to create a more natural seaside charm.

Despite the waves of people who pour onto the beaches most weekends decked out with beach balls and colorful deck chairs, there are still some who find this urban beach culture ridiculous and even mock these "fake" beach resorts.

"I can't see the meaning of them," said an anonymous tourist from Yantai, Shandong Province, when visiting Chaoyang Park.

"In my hometown the seaside has blue skies, white clouds, salty sea air and pretty shells to pick up along the beach," said the female visitor, who came to the park with a friend who had lived in Beijing his whole life and never left the city.

"Here at this fake beach, all I can see is the smog seizing us and this fake dead sand," she said. "I think it's all so unnatural."