A record 157,200 people visited the 11 parks in downtown Beijing Monday, up 55.5 percent from last year, the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks said on its website Tuesday.

The three former imperial gardens, the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and Beihai Park, have sought to revive traditional culture and art as a special treat for visitors during the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, also known as the Spring Festival.

The Temple of Heaven, where Chinese emperors used to worship, staged a traditional dance and prayer ritual Monday morning involving nearly 300 actors in ancient attire, the center said.

A spokesman with the Temple of Heaven said at least 17,300 people visited the site Monday, three times the usual figure.

On Suzhou Street at the Summer Palace in northwest Beijing, a "shopping center" built by Emperor Qian Long (AD 1736-1795) to resemble streets of the eastern scenic city of Suzhou, staff at bars, teahouses, pawnshops and stationery stores wore Qing Dynasty robes.

Even cleaners and security guards were dressed as peasant women and petty officials from the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911).

Traditional temple fairs, featuring performances, snacks and souvenirs, drew a record 600,000 visitors Monday, the Beijing Morning Post reported.