beijing
There are some sights in Beijing, and no doubt you’ll be seeing some culture here in addition to the Summer Games. Here is a starter list of what you’ll undoubtedly want to see while in Beijing. We include some sightseeing in our tours; we can help you figure out how to visit the rest. Click on any icon below to learn more information. Beijing Olympic Sightseeing and Tours.
The Great Wall
Ok, so you can’t see it from space…not really sure where this particular
myth started, but it’s still an amazing tourist sight that you won’t
want to miss. Put simply, China's most well known attraction is mind-boggling.
The world's largest historical site is referred to in Mandarin as Wanli Changcheng
(10,000-Li Long Wall, or in laymen’s terms: Very Long Wall!).
The Great Wall begins at Shanhai Guan and dates back to the Warring States Period (453-221 B.C.), when rival kingdoms began building defensive walls to thwart each other's armies. The king of Qin engaged in large-scale wall building toward the end of his reign, although tales of 300,000 conscripted laborers have surely been exaggerated. During the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), the Wall was extended west.
Although many tour guides will try to persuade you otherwise, the Ming Wall
you see today is unrelated to the Qin Wall, which lays far to the north. The
original Wall was built almost entirely from tamped earth, and often crumbled
away within decades of being constructed. Talk of satellite mapping the current
Wall is almost comical -- for most of its length, you can barely see it from
the ground. This, coupled with the fact that there is no single "Great
Wall," makes it virtually impossible to say a specific length of the Wall.
The Wall's most easily visited sections are Ba Da Ling and Juyong Guan, while Mutianyu, Jin Shan Ling, and the vertiginous Simatai require a full day's outing.
Ludus Tip: wear some good walking shoes and light clothing (and water). You’re going to get pretty sweaty on this hike. It’s pretty challenging overall…as you’re constantly climbing stairs (or going down). You’ll definitely feel this excursion the next morning when you get out of bed!
Tiananmen Square
The world's largest public square is about the size of 90 American football
fields (almost 100 acres) with standing room for 300,000 people...although
in Beijing, this is just a summer party guest list. It is surrounded
by the Forbidden City to the north, the Great Hall of the People in the west,
and the museums of Chinese History and Chinese Revolution in the east. The
Monument to the People's Heroes (Renmin Yingxiong Jinian Bei) stands in the
middle of the Square; it is a 124 foot granite obelisk engraved with
scenes from famous uprisings and bears a central inscription (in Mao's
handwriting): The People’s Heroes are Immortal.
The area on which the square stands was originally occupied by the Imperial Way -- a central road that stretched from inside the Forbidden City, through Tian'an Men, and south to Da Qing Men (known as Zhonghua Men during the Nationalist era), which was demolished to make way for Mao's corpse in 1976. This road, lined on either side with imperial government ministries, was the site of the pivotal May Fourth movement (1919), in which thousands of university students gathered to protest the weakness and corruption of China's then-Republican government. Mao ordered destruction of the old ministries. The vast but largely empty Great Hall of the People rose from the rubble to the west, and equally vast but unimpressive museums were erected to the east, as part of a spate of construction to celebrate 10 years of Communist rule.
The site has continued to be a magnet for politically charged assemblies; of course, the most famous being the gathering of student protestors in the spring of 1989. That movement, and the government's violent suppressive reaction, still defines Tian'an Men Square to most of the West. Don’t go looking for bulletholes in the building; the killing took place off the main square. Brutal scenes were witnessed near Fuxing Men and Xi Dan (west of the square); workers and students were brutally shot in the back. Today, stiff-backed soldiers, video cameras, and plain-clothed police still keep a close watch on the square.
Other than flying a kite and getting approached by vendors selling bootleg merchandise, there isn't a lot to do in the square, but early risers can line up in front of Tian'an Men at dawn to watch the flag-raising ceremony.
The Forbidden City
Located at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Twenty-four emperors, 14 in the Ming and 10 in the Qing dynasties ruled from this location. The last dynasty fell in 1911, but Emperor Puyi continued to live in the Inner Court until 1924, when he was thrown out of the palace by the troops of General Feng Yuxiang. The palace was then opened to the public as the Palace Museum and it was no longer forbidden to the common people.
Construction of the palace took 14 years and was completed in 1420. It is the world's largest palace complex at 720,000-square-metre surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall and contains 9,999 buildings.
The 1987 film The Last Emperor was the first feature ever authorized by the government to shoot inside the palace, which in turn introduced the world to this gem of Beijing. In 1998, it was also listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO and is one of the most popular tourist attractions world-wide.
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The Summer Palace
China's second largest and best preserved 800 year old royal garden. The Summer Palace, called Yiheyuan in Chinese, is located in the northwestern suburb of Beijing was built in 1750. It is by far the best-preserved imperial garden in China. It contains examples of the ancient arts and has elegant landscapes and magnificent structures. The Summer Palace is the classic Chinese garden, and is ranked amongst the most noted and classical gardens of the world. In 1998, it was listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. This huge garden includes Longevity Hill, whose beauty is set off by a multitude of halls, kiosks and trees, and Kunming Lake. Major tourist attractions are Tower of Buddhist Incense, 17-Span Bridge, Long Gallery, Cloud Dispelling Hall, Marble Boat, Beamless Hall, Garden of Harmonious Delights, the theatre in the Garden of Moral Harmony, and Suzhou Street.
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Mao's Mausoleum/Tomb
Mao’s Tomb is located at the southern end of Tiananmen Square just behind the Monument to the Heroes of the People. It is a relatively new structure; construction began in 1976 after the death of leader Mao Zedong and completed only a year later in 1977. The monument provides a place for people to show their respects to Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao was born on December 26, 1893, in Hunan Province. He passed away in Beijing on September 9, 1976 at the age of 83. While Chairman Mao was still alive, he was one of the first high-ranking officials to sign up for cremation, a procedure that was shunned by the superstitious population. So, the construction of this mausoleum actually went against the leader's wishes. This disobedience was well-intended as the people only wanted to honor the man for all he had done to help the People s Republic of China. They felt it was only right to put his remains in a memorial hall. Like the Monument to the Heroes of the People, it is also located on the central axis of old Beijing. It has five parts; the Courtyard, the Memorial Hall, the North Hall, the Viewing Hall and the South Hall.
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Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought that 'The heaven is round and the earth is square'.
Major structures include the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Imperial Vault of Heaven, Circular Altar, and Abstinence Palace. UNESCO endorsed the Temple of Heaven as a world cultural heritage site in December 1998.
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