Most travel guides will tell you to avoid Beijing from December through February. Most travel guides are wrong. Yes, the cold is real — the weather in Beijing in January can drop to -10°C overnight, and the wind off the northern plains has a way of cutting through cheap coats. But the winter city has rewards no other season offers. The Forbidden City under a fresh snowfall, with the imperial yellow roofs dusted white and almost no other visitors in sight, is one of the most photographed scenes in Chinese travel for a reason. The frozen lakes at Houhai and the Summer Palace turn into improvised skating rinks, and locals rent out chair-sleds for the price of a coffee. Hotel rates drop by 30 to 50 percent compared to peak season. Even the Great Wall in winter, with the watchtowers rising out of the snow, is worth the colder hike. Pack the right clothes — thermal layers, a windproof shell, gloves — and the season delivers an entirely different city.