Beijing on the North China Plain

Beijing is the huge capital city of China with a history stretching back to 3 millennials. The city sits on the North China Plain. It is known for its mix of ancient sites like the amazing Forbidden City complex and modern architecture.

The Imperial Palace, also known as the Forbidden City, is China’s most significant building and has roots in the Yuan Dynasty of the 13th century. Enlargements were made during the Ming Dynasty between 1406 and 1420. This lovely palace has been home to 24 Ming and Qing Emperors. The complex is surrounded by a 10-meter-high wall with towers in the four corners and a 50-meter-wide moat.

Among the highlights are the Golden Water Bridges, five decorated white marble bridges.

Nearby you’ll find the Imperial College, founded in 1287 by Kublai Khan and closed in 1900.

Tiananmen Square (The Square of Heavenly Peace) is the world’s largest inner-city square. It was designed to hold a million people and was built to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Republic in 1958.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace has double eaves and is characterized by a giant-framed portrait of Mao Zedong and is guarded by two pairs of Ming stone lions. It was built in the 15th century and restored in the 17th century and was formerly the largest of the four gates of the Imperial City Wall. It was from this gate that Mao proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949. For great views of the square visitors can climb the gate and get an awesome look at the impressive beams. Altogether there are 60 gargantuan wooden pillars and 17 vast lamps suspended from the ceiling. In the gate tower, you can find a fascinating photographic history of the gate and Tiananmen Square and footage of military parades.

Chairman Mao Memorial Hall is a prominent landmark in the middle of Tiananmen Square. On public display is Mao Zedong’s embalmed body within the mausoleum. The body lies in a crystal cabinet, draped in an anachronistic red flag emblazoned with hammer and sickle.

Not far from the Imperial Palace is Beihai Park, one of the oldest surviving imperial gardens in Beijing. It was laid out in the 19th century and takes its name from the nearby Lake Beihai (North Lake).

Upon Lake Beihai is Jade Islet where you’ll find the 36 m-high Tibetan-style White Dagoba, built in 1651 for a visit by the Dalai Lama and rebuilt in 1741.

On the northern shore of the lake is one of the most interesting temples in Beijing, Xitian Fanjing. The first hall is The Hall of the Heavenly Kings.

Nearby is the Nine Dragon Screen, a 5 m-high and 27 m-long spirit wall with colored glazed tiles that depict coiling dragons.

The Temple of Heaven dates back to 1420 and includes a group of some of Beijing’s most sacred buildings. It is surrounded by lush vegetation.

The Lama Temple is also known as The Yonghe Temple and it is one of Beijing’s most attractive and best-preserved temples. The temple was completed in 1745 and it served a political purpose by giving Lamaism, the religion of the then just annexed Tibet, an official seat in the capital.

The Bell Tower stands behind the impressive red-painted Drum Tower which used to be the city’s official timekeeper, with drums and bells beaten and rung to be able to mark the hours of the day. It was originally built in 1272 and was once the heart of the Mongol capital of Dadu, as Beijing was then known. After a fire, it was rebuilt as a Qing Dynasty structure.

Inside you can climb the steep inner staircase to view the gray-tiled rooftops in the surrounding Hutong alleys. There are regular drumming performances using the reproductions of the 25 Ming Dynasty watch drums. On display are the 25 original drums – the Night Watchman’s Drums.

The Beijing Capital Museum is one of the country’s leading art museums. It was opened in 1981 and has a vast collection of artifacts among them ancient items of porcelain and bronze, traditional calligraphy and artwork as well as many impressive statues from Chinese and other Asian cultures. Some of the other highlights include over 200,000 important cultural artifacts, a great many of them originating from in and around Beijing. Quite impressive is the huge stele of Emperor Qianlong, weighing over 40 tons, standing nearly seven meters in height, and containing ancient scripts and writings.

The National Centre for the Performing Arts is well worth a visit and is a modern landmark, nicknamed the Giant Egg. It is considered to be one of the best opera houses in Asia. It was opened in 2001 and has played host to many of the world’s leading operatic performers.

Marco Polo Bridge is a 266-meter-long, multi-arched granite bridge. It is the oldest bridge in Beijing.

It is decorated with 485 individually carved stone lions, each one different. The bridge dates back to 1189 and spans the Yongding River.

The Houhai Lakes consist of three lakes – Qianhai (Front Lake), Houhai (Back Lake), and Xihai (West Lake). This is one of the city’s favorite outdoor spots with many people gathering in the summertime both locals and visitors. Here you can see people strolling along, using the exercise machines scattered along the lakeshore, fishing, flying kites, or just relaxing. At night it becomes a great nightspot with all of the restaurants, bars, and cafes opening up around the lakes. There are many neon lights illuminating the night and lots of karaoke playing everywhere.

The 798 Art District is a vast area of disused factories that were built by the East Germans. This is where you’ll find the main concentration of contemporary art galleries. Here you’ll find signboards with English language maps to guide you.

The Great Wall of China is a World Heritage Site. It was continuously built from the 3rd century B.C. to the 17th century A.D. on the northern border of the country as the great military defense project of successive Chinese Empires with a total length of over 20,000 km. The Great Wall begins in the east at Shanhaiguan in Hebei province and ends at Jiayuguan in Gansu province to the west. Its main body consists of walls, horse tracks, watch towers, and shelters on the wall and includes fortresses and passes along the Wall.

The Beijing World Park is a miniature of the world with five continents represented and located inside following the pattern in which they exist in the world. Visitors can see 109 world-famous attractions from 40 countries. Scattered all about are Italian or Japanese-style gardens. You’ll also be able to see hundreds of statues. There are laser fountains and a maze made up of plants and fairy-tale land.

Beijing Botanic Gardens are lovely and come alive every spring. They are set against the backdrop of the Western Hills. Here you can walk among bamboo fronds, pines, orchids, lilacs, and China’s most extensive botanic collection. There is a rainforest house, Beijing Botanical Gardens Conservatory with 3,000 different varieties of plants.

About a fifteen-minute walk from the front gate but still on the garden grounds is Sleeping Buddha Temple. It was first built in the Tang Dynasty and houses a huge, reclining effigy of Sakyamuni, weighing 54 tons.

Beijing Zoo is the biggest zoo in China. It features pandas, elephants, gorillas, dolphins, and sharks. The zoo is a natural garden with dense groves of trees, plenty of grassland, a small stream, lotus pools and small hills dotted with pavilions and halls. It was called Wansheng Garden in the Qing Dynasty which literally means the “garden of 10,000 animals”.