Beijing is the birthplace of Chinese Civilization and one of the six ancient capital cities in China. During the last 3000 years it served as a capital for several dynasties.

Beijing, a municipality directly under the Central Government is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China and the countrys political, economic, cultural and transportation center as well as a famous historic city.  Geographically located in the northwest part of the North China Plain, and covering an area of 16,800 square km. 

Beijing is the second largest city in China with a population of more than 11 million. It has a semi-humid continental climate in the warm temperate zone. With an annual average temperature of 12 degrees Centigrade and rainfall of 641 millimeters, Beijing is neither cold in winter nor very hot in summer. The best seasons in Beijing are Spring and Autumn. Beijing is indeed an ideal place to visit all round the year. 

Beijing is an ancient city with a long cultural history. The four feudal dynasties--Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing had all set up their capital here. Thats why it became a most concentrated place of the countrys scenic spots and historical sites.

Recommended Scenic Spots

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, so called because it was off limits to commoners for 500 years, is the largest and best-preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China. It was home to two dynasties of emperors -the Ming and the Qing - who didnt stray from this pleasure dome unless they absolutely had to.

The Beijing authorities insist on calling this place the Palace Museum. Whatever its official name, its open daily from 8.30 am to 5 pm (the last admission tickets are sold at 3.30 pm). Two hundred years ago the admission price would have been instant death, but this has dropped considerably to 85 Yuan includes rental of a cassette tape for a self guided tour, although you can enter for Y60 without the tape. For the tape to make sense, you must enter the Forbidden City from the southern gate and exit from the northern gate. The tape is available in several languages.

The basic layout of the Forbidden City was built between 1406 and 1420 by Emperor Yong Le, who commanded up to a million labourers. From this palace the emperors governed China - often rather erratically as they tended to become lost in this self-contained little word and allocated real power to the court eunuchs. One emperor devoted his entire career to carpentry - when an earthquake struck (an ominous sign for an emperor ) he was delighted, since it gave him a chance to renovate.

The buildings now seen are mostly post 18th century, as are a lot of restored of rebuilt structures around Beijing. The palace was constantly going up in flames - a lantern festival combined with a sudden gust of Gobi wind would easily do the trick, as would a fireworks display. The moat around the palace, now used for boating, came in handy since the local fire brigade was considered too lowly to quench the royal flames.

In 1664, the Manchus stormed in and burned the palace to the ground. It was not just the buildings that went up in smoke, but rare books, paintings and scrolls. In this century there have been two major lootings of the palace: by the Japanese forces and the Kuomintang. The latter, on the eve of the Communist takeover in 1949, removed thousands of crates of relics to Taiwan where they are now on display in Taipeis National Palace Museum. The gaps have been filled by bringing treasures (old, newly discovered and fake ) from other parts of China.

Summer Palace

One of the finest sights in Beijing, the Summer Palace includes an immense park that tends to pack out during the summer months. The site had long been a royal garden and was considerably enlarged and embellished by Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century. It was later abandoned. Empress Dowager Cixi began rebuilding in 1888 using money that was supposedly reserved for the construction of a modern navy, although she did restore a marble boat sits immobile at the edge of the lake. In 1900 foreign troops, annoyed by the Boxer Rebellion, had a go at torching the Summer Palace. Restorations took place a few years later and a major renovation occurred after 1949,by which time the palace had once more fallen into disrepair.

The original palace was used as a summer residence. It was divided into four sections: court reception, residences, temples and strolling or sightseeing areas. Three-quarters of the park is occupied by Kunming Lake, and most items of structural interest are towards the east or north gates.

The main building is the Benevolence & Longevity Hall, just off the lake towards the east gate. It houses a hardwood throne and has a courtyard with bronze animals. Along the northern shore of the lake is the Long Corridor, over 700m long, which is decorated with mythical scenes. If the paint looks new, its because a lot of pictures were whitewashed during the Cultural Revolution.

On Longevity Hill are a number of temples. The Precious Clouds Pavilion on the western slopes is one of the few structures to escape destruction by the Anglo-French forces. It contains some elaborate bronzes. At the top of the hill sits the Buddhist Sea of Wisdom Temple, made of glazed tiles; good views of the lake can be had from this spot.

Tiantan Park(the Temple of Heaven)

The most perfect example of Ming architecture, Tiantan (the Temple of Heaven) has come to symbolize Beijing. Its lines appear on countless pieces of tourist literature and as a brand name for a wide range of products from Tiger Balm to plumbing fixtures. It is set in a 267 hectare park, with four gates at the compass points, and is bounded by walls to the north and east. It originally functioned as a vast stage for solemn rites performed by the Son of Heaven, who came here to pray for good harvests, seek divine clearance and atone for the sins of the people.

Tiantan was considered highly sacred ground and it was here that the emperor performed the major ceremonial rites of the year. The least hitch in any part of the proceedings was regarded as an ill omen, and it was thought that the nations future was thus decided.

The dominant feature of the whole complex is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a magnificent piece mounted on a three-tiered marble terrace. Amazingly, the wooden pillars ingeniously support the ceiling without nails or cement -for a building 38m high and 30m in diameter thats an accomplishment unmatched until Lego was invented. Built in 1420, the Hall was burnt to cinders in 1889 and heads rolled in apportioning blame. A faithful reproduction based on Ming architectural methods was erected the following year.

The Great Wall

Also known to the Chinese as the 10,000 Li Wall, the Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan Pass on the east coast to Jiayuguan Pass in the Gobi Desert. Standard histories emphasize the unity of the wall. The original wall was begun 2000 years ago during the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), when China was unified under Emperor Oin Shihuang. Separate walls, constructed by independent kingdoms to keep out marauding nomads, were linked up. The effort required hundreds of thousands of workers, many of them political prisoners, and 10 years of hard labor under General Meng Tian. An estimated 180 million cubic metres of rammed earth was used to form the core of the original wall, and legend has it that one of the building materials used was the bodies of deceased workers.

The wall never really did perform its function as a defence line to keep invaders out. As Genghis Khan supposedly said, The strength of a wall depends on the courage of those who defend it. Sentries could be bribed. However, it did work very well as a kind of elevated highway, transporting men and equipment across mountainous terrain. Its beacon tower system, using smoke signals generated by burning wolves dung, transmitted news of enemy movements quickly back to the capital.

The wall was largely forgotten after that. Lengthy sections of it returned to dust. The wall might have disappeared entirely had it not been rescued by the tourist industry. Several important sections have recently been rebuilt, dressed up with souvenir hops, restaurants and amusement park rides. Oddly, the depiction of the wall as an object of great beauty is a bizarre one. Its often been a symbol of tyranny, as the Berlin Wall once was. Badaling Great Wall

The majority of visitors see the Great Wall at Badaling, 70km northwest of Beijing at an elevation of 1000m. This section of the wall was restored in 1957, with the addition of guard rails. Since the 1980s, Badaling has become exceedingly crowded with visitors so a cable car was added to enhance the flow of tourist traffic.