Park of China
Overview
| Province | Beijing |
| Location | Beijing |
| Latitude, longitude | 39.9, 116.4 Google Maps |
| Nearby sites | Stone Flower Cave 40km, Ming Tombs 46km, Mount Pan 77km, Chengde Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples 178km Search nearby |
| Top sights | Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Badaling |
| Nearby cities | Tianjin |
| Themes | Big City, Palace, Ancient City, Ancient Building, Culture, Museum, Buddha, Temple, Tower, Garden, Tomb, City Wall, Building, Prehistory, Mountain, Lake, Theme Park, Stamp, Imperial palaces & gardens, Chinese gardens, Passes & fortifications, Food, Confucian academies & temples |
About
Beijing, the capital of China, is a municipality with over 3,000 years of history; five dynasties made it their capital. The 2008 Summer Olympics were held here.
In 2007 Forbes ranked Beijing the 12th most crowded city in the world.
Travel tips
Getting there: Capital and Daxing airports connect to the city by metro and airport lines. Beijing, Beijing West, Beijing South, Fengtai and Beijing Chaoyang are the main railway stations, and the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed line has a Badaling Great Wall station. Within the city the metro does most of the work, with buses and taxis.
Central area: the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Jingshan, Beihai Park and Shichahai lie along the central axis and can be linked on foot in a day. The Forbidden City needs a ticket booked ahead, with identity checked at entry, and closes on Mondays.
Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace: the Temple of Heaven is in the south of the city and the Summer Palace in the north-west, each needing half a day. The Old Summer Palace ruins are next to the Summer Palace and can be seen the same day.
Great Wall: Badaling is nearest, with a Badaling Great Wall station on both the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed line and suburban line S2. Mutianyu is in Huairou, Jinshanling in Chengde in Hebei and Simatai around Miyun; use a direct shuttle bus or a hired car.
Suburbs: the Ming Tombs, Zhoukoudian, Tanzhe and Jietai temples, Fragrant Hills and Badachu are in the outskirts; Zhoukoudian is in Fangshan district.
Time: four to five days gives time for the main city sights plus one section of the Great Wall.
Season: spring and autumn are best; summer is hot and rainy, winter dry and cold.
Where to stay: around Tiananmen, Qianmen and Wangfujing for the Forbidden City; elsewhere along the metro lines.
City sights
Forbidden City: the Ming and Qing imperial palace, World Heritage
Tiananmen Square
Jingshan: north of the Forbidden City, overlooking it
Beihai Park: first-batch national key park
Temple of Heaven: World Heritage, national key park
Temple of Earth (Ditan)
Yonghe Lamasery
Beijing Zoo: national key park
Beijing Botanical Garden: national key park; the Sleeping Buddha Temple, Cherry Valley, Cao Xueqin’s former home
Summer Palace: imperial garden, World Heritage
Shichahai: one of the five most beautiful city districts in China
Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) ruins: a great imperial garden burned by the Anglo-French force in 1860
The hutongs
Central Radio and TV Tower
Beijing Amusement Park
Suburban sights
Marco Polo Bridge (Lugouqiao): famous old bridge, site of the 7 July 1937 incident
Ming Tombs: imperial tombs, World Heritage
Badaling Great Wall: the most famous section of the Great Wall
Mutianyu Great Wall
Simatai Great Wall
Jinshanling Great Wall
Zhoukoudian: Peking Man site, World Heritage
Tanzhe Temple
Jietai Temple
Badachu
Miaofeng Mountain
Longqing Gorge
Longmen Ravine
Yunju Temple pagodas, scripture caves and stone sutras: Fangshan District, on China’s World Heritage tentative list
Further afield
Yesanpo: second-batch National Park of China
Eastern Qing Tombs
The Eight Views of Yanjing
The eight views have differed from age to age; as fixed by the Qianlong Emperor they are: Autumn Wind on Taiye Pool, Spring Shade on Qiong Island, Sunset at the Golden Terrace, Misty Trees at Jimen, Clear Snow on the Western Hills, Gushing Jade Spring, Dawn Moon at Lugou Bridge and Layered Green at Juyong.
Food
Quanjude Peking duck
Donglaishun mutton hotpot
Specialities
Cloisonné
Peking opera
Education
Peking University
Tsinghua University
Ten new landmarks
The top 20 in the 2007 vote for new Beijing landmarks: the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest), Beijing West station, the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Qianmen Street, Houhai bar street, China World Trade Center phase 3, Xihuan Plaza, Financial Street, the CCTV headquarters, Zhongguancun West; the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube), the Ming City Wall Relics Park, the Capital Airport terminal, Oriental Plaza, subway line 5, Tiantongyuan, Yongdingmen Square, the FLTRP building and the Central Radio and TV Tower.
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing.
Stamps
Many stamps have featured Beijing since 1949; a few representative sets:
On 15 June 1956 China Post issued S15 “Famous Sights of the Capital”, five stamps: the Summer Palace, Beihai, Tiananmen, the Temple of Heaven and the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
On 2 April 1979 the definitive set R20 “Beijing Scenery”, three stamps: Jingshan Park, the Summer Palace and Beihai Park.
On 20 December 2007 the set 2007-32 “Games of the XXIX Olympiad – Competition Venues”, six stamps and a souvenir sheet: the China Agricultural University gymnasium, the Laoshan velodrome, the National Indoor Stadium, the Peking University gymnasium, the National Aquatics Center, the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, and the National Stadium.
More photos
Photo credits: Forbidden City: xiquinhosilva (CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons); Temple of Heaven: xiquinhosilva (CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Nearby
| World Heritage | Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble Exhibiting the Ideal Order of the Chinese Capital 1km, The Forbidden City (Palace Museum), Beijing 2km, The Temple of Heaven, Beijing 3km, The Summer Palace, Beijing 15km, Ming Tombs 46km, Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian 49km, Badaling Great Wall 60km, Western Qing Tombs 110km |
| National parks | Stone Flower Cave 41km, Badaling–Ming Tombs Scenic Area 53km, Mount Pan 77km, Yesanpo 109km, Mount Heng (Northern Sacred Mountain) 207km |
| Detailed guides | Shidu 77km |
| AAAAA attractions | Prince Gong's Mansion Scenic Area 4km, Olympic Park 11km, Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) 15km, Mutianyu Great Wall Tourist Area 61km, Beijing (Tongzhou) Grand Canal Cultural Tourist Area 101km, Tianjin Ancient Culture Street (Jinmen Guli) 108km |
| AAAA attractions | Ming City Wall Ruins Park 1km, Zhongshan Park 2km, Jingshan Park 3km, Beihai Park 3km, Longtan Park 4km, Taoranting Park 4km |
| UNESCO Global Geoparks | Yanqing UNESCO Global Geopark 69km |
| National key parks | Beijing Zhongshan Park 2km, Tiantan Park 2km, Beijing Botanical Garden 20km |
| Cities | Tianjin 104km |
| Historical sites | Dongjiaomin Lane Legation Buildings <1km, Asbury Church <1km, Site of Peking Union Medical College <1km, Huangshi Cheng (Imperial Archives) <1km, Beijing Railway Station Building 1km, East Cathedral 1km |
| National geoparks | Jizhou National Geopark 86km, Yanqing Petrified Wood National Geopark 89km, Xinglong National Geopark 133km |
| Nature reserves | Baihuashan National Nature Reserve 68km, Songshan National Nature Reserve 84km, Dahaituo National Nature Reserve 90km, Baxianshan National Nature Reserve 103km, Wulingshan National Nature Reserve 118km, Xiaowutaishan National Nature Reserve 127km |
| Historic villages | Liuliqu Village 29km |