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Beijing's Water Cube is making a big splash with tourists.

Built for last year's Olympics, and the site of Michael Phelps' golden performances, the year-old Cube rocketed past dozens of historical attractions to grab the No 2 spot on the city's must-see list.

Along with Bird's Nest stadium, the two Olympic venues are putting a new face on an old capital.

"The Water Cube and the Bird's Nest are now must-sees for tourists to Beijing," said Zhang Huiguang, the Beijing Tourism Administration chief.

"Before the Games, however, the Palace Museum and the Great Wall were the most important," he said.

While the Badaling Great Wall still stands at the top of the list, the 590-year-old Palace Museum, where emperors of both Ming and Qing dynasties lived, retreated to No 3 on the list, according to the survey of more than 14 million netizens in May and June.

The Bird's Nest flew in at No 4.

Organized by the Beijing Tourism Administration, the survey aimed to select 30 scenic spots as candidates from which industry experts will pick 16 attractions that best represent Beijing.

The last time Beijing organized a similar vote, in 1986, Tian'anmen Square topped the list, followed by the Palace Museum, the Great Wall, Beihai Park, the Summer Palace and Xiangshan Mountain.

In the new poll, Tian'anmen Square dropped to No 5, while Beihai Park dropped to No 14.

Other new attractions gaining popularity with tourists include the National Center for the Performing Arts (No 11), the Happy Valley theme park (No 12), Shicha Lake (No 13), Nanluoguxiang (No 22) and the 798 Art Zone (No 23).

Questions:

1. What Olympian mentioned in the story performed at the Water Cube?

2. What tourist site topped the list in 1986?

3. What number did Beihai Park rank at this year?

Answers:

1. Michael Phelps.

2. Tian'anmen Square.

3. No 14.

（英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.