Tiananmen Square   天安门广场

Most people visit Tiananmen Square on their way to the Forbidden City, both can be done together in a morning or afternoon. Chinese citizens from around the country descend on Tiananmen to take their photos in front of the portrait of Chairman Mao. When there is a breeze you can buy a kite and fly it on the square.

Tiananmen Square is the largest public square in the world. It is a tourist site everyone tends to visit on their trip to Beijing. A vast desert of paving stones, the square can hold over one million people. It lies on the historical central axis going through the Forbidden City.

Expect to go through airport level security when going onto the square, with metal detectors and x-ray machines. There is also a high level of police presence. Nonetheless people are very friendly and its on most Beijing itineraries.

The Forbidden City   故宫

The Forbidden City was the former imperial palace which was the home to twenty-four Chinese emperors over 491 years between 1420 and 1911. The Forbidden City is now known as the Palace Museum and is open to Beijing's visitors.

Wear comfortable walking shoes as the palace is 960 metres long and 750 metres wide. It has 9,999 rooms - a room being the space between four pillars.

The well guarded palace is surrounded by a moat 3,800 metres long and 52 metres wide. Intruders were discouraged by guards in watchtowers with bow and arrows.

There are five entrances to the gate - the central one reserved for the emperor. The empress was allowed through it only once - on her wedding day.

As well as walking through the wide open courtyards along its central axis, the sides offer some museum exhibits and small courtyards worth exploring.

An excellent view of the Forbidden City from the north is seen atop Coal Hill in Jingshan Park. The hill is made from the dirt excavated from the moat surrounding the Forbidden City, and according to Feng Shui, keeps the evil spirits from the north from entering.

Jingshan Park   景山公园

Jingshan Park was a part of the Forbidden City until the early 1900's when the walls were pulled down and a road cut through it destroying several gates and buildings between the park and the rear entrance of the palace. The hill in Jingshan Park was made with the earth removed to create the palace moat. It is well worth the climb on a clear day for spectacular views of the Forbidden City and Beijing.

The best view of Beijing is from the Pavilion of Everlasting Spring (Wanchun-ting) perched on top of the middle peak, which used to be the highest point in the city. Northwards, one can see the Drum and Bell Towers, a traditional feature of old Chinese cities. To the northwest, the two slabs of water of the Shichahai and Beihai Lake are intersected by Di’anmen Dajie. To the south, the golden roofs of the Imperial Palace can be seen stretching into the distance.

Just north of the Imperial Palace, the site occupied by Prospect Hill was a private park reserved for the use of the emperor in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). During the Ming (1368-1644), an artificial hill with five peaks was made, utilizing earth excavated when the moat of the Imperial Palace was dug.

There is an old but fallacious story that an emperor kept supplies of...   Read more here

Hutong Tour   胡同游

Hutongs are the old traditional alleyways and courtyard homes which once covered all Beijing. Many still survive today and are pleasant to walk or bike through. Not much has changed and you can see how people lived in the past.

The China Guide's Hutong Tour starts with a cycle rickshaw ride through the hutongs. Cycle rickshaws are a traditional means of transportation in the old narrow streets.

We take you into a traditional family courtyard home. The family will greet you, serve tea and show you through their home. Your guide will explain the cultural and historic significance of various aspects. For instance, the layout of the courtyard, who lived where and how to tell the importance of the people living in a home.

Nanluoguxiang is a trendy hutong area with fun restaurants and cafes, nice to visit during the day for a coffee or lunch, or return in the evening for dinner.

Olympic Venues (outside view)   北京奧林匹克公園

The Olympic Swim Cube and the Bird's Nest Stadium on the Olympic Green are two of the major architectural achievements of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. You can walk around the Swim Cube whose skin is modeled on soap bubbles and the Birds Nest Stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies occurred as well as many broken olympic records.

This tour takes you around the outside of these two venues. It is also possible to arrange a visit to the inside of the stadium or Swim Cube at additional cost, please select this in advance with your agent. You can even swim inside the Swim Cube.

The Silk Market (Xiushui)   秀水

Once a real outdoor silk market, the modernized Xiushui "silk market" is a popular destination for tourists. It has a huge array of goods over 5 floors including silk goods, souviniers, luggage, name brand goods and clothes. The vendors are a bit on the pushy side and they try to charge as much as they can get away with, so you need to be tough, bargain hard and shop in a few stalls since most goods are repeated. One advantage of this market is most of the vendors speak some English and a lot of the goods are aimed at the taste of western tourists. This is not a commissions shopping market. Surrounding the market you can find coffee, sandwiches and western fast food in case you want a snack or dinner.

Great Wall Mutianyu Section   慕田峪长城

For those who want to see a restored section of the wall which is more fun and less touristy than Badaling and not as far as Simatai or Jinshanling, then Mutianyu is a good choice. Just over an hour from Beijing in normal traffic, it is possible to see in a morning or afternoon and combines well with the Ming Tombs.

Mutianyu has some good options. You can take the cable car up, have a little stroll on the wall then come back down the cable car. Or you can take the cable car up and walk for about 45 minutes on the wall, down hill mostly, to the toboggan sled. Its pretty long run on the toboggan track down the hill from the wall. There are double cars for parents with kids as well as the usual single cars. Fun and safe, everyone seems to enjoy this.

In Mutianyu village there are fish farms and restaurants, so you can fish out your own trout from the pond and have it cooked up for your lunch.

The Great Wall was key to protecting agriculture and resisting cavalry of the Huns and other warrior tribes from the north. The advantages of the enormous barrier diminished with the advancement of gunpowder and other weaponry.

The wall was originally built of stone, wood, grass and earth. In the Ming Dynasty bricks were produced in...   Read more here

Summer Palace   颐和园

Time allowing, the Summer Palace is well worth a visit for its historical significance and to enjoy strolling its spacious grounds. You may take a boat ride across the lake if you prefer not to walk. Located 15 km northwest from the central city and occupying an area of about 300 hectares, the Summer Palace is associated with the Qing dynasty's dowager empress Cixi, but has a history of more than 800 years as an imperial garden dating back to the 1150s.

The name in Chinese, Yiheyuan, means "garden of restful peace." It served as a suburban pleasance for emperors, a place in the countryside yet near the capital.

The Yiheyuan in its present form dates from Manchu rule over China, 1644-1911. In the 1750s the emperor Qianlong commanded the creation of the lake and redesigned the temple atop Longevity Hill. Severely damaged during the punitive Anglo-French expedition of 1860 the Empress Dowager ordered its restoration in the 1880s. It became a public park in 1924.

The Long Corridor - The function of corridors in Chinese garden architecture is offer a sheltered passageway from direct sun as well as inclement weather when passing between buildings. The corridor in the Summer Palace, over 700 meters long, is interspersed with a...   Read more here

Beijing 北京

Beijing offers much for visitors to do. It is the gateway to the Great Wall, which is 1 - 2 hours drive from the city depending on which part you visit. Within the city, the major sights include The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Hutong tours and cycle rickshaw rides.

Aside from the sights Beijing is a fabulous place to dine. Arguably, it has some of the best Chinese food in the world with lots of regional variations. Western food in Beijing is also excellent due to the abundance of foreigners and embassies.

Beijing also boasts some fantastic parks, with boating, amusements for children, Chinese martial arts and good people watching in a quiet green atmosphere.

The pollution in Beijing comes and goes, blown away by a good wind. Sometimes it builds into a haze, but visitors planning a short trip should not put off. It's just another aspect to life in a city of over ten million.

Hotels in Beijing vary greatly, with the huge buildup and many renovations that occurred in conjunction with the 2008 Olympic Games. There are some palatial five star hotels, plenty of great four star hotels and budget hotel abound. Finding the good ones can take some effort but we personally check the ones we use...   Read more here

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