China Tours

Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China and it is renowned for its extraordinary history and beauty impressive to all. The country's long history has brought many capital cities to power over the centuries, but Bejing was the last imperial capital and has remained capital for most of the 20th century. Covering about 16,800 square kilometres, and with a population of approximately 13 million, Beijing consists of numerous cultural relics and ruins, as well as magnificent architectural structures that mirror its 3,000 year history. Most of the ancient glories there today are from the last two dynasties, the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911), and include 2,600 temples and 51 historic sites that have been preserved by the state. Modern Beijing possesses a certain grandeur from its colourful past and a visit here is essential.

The Great Wall of China

 The Great Wall has been noted as the most magnificent man-made project on earth and as a symbol of Chinese genius; its awesome nature can even be seen from outer space. As it now stands, the wall dates mainly from the Ming dynasty. However, its construction spanned a period of 2,000 years and involved about 20 states and dynasties. Eventually, the Great Wall covered more than 6,000 km of terrain, from the coast of the Bohai Bay in the east and ending in the Jiayu Pass in the west, thus making it one of the most spectacular architectures of ancient China. It has played such a significant role in Chinese history as keeping the barbarians out of the Middle Kingdom. Visitors usually go to the restored section of the wall in Badaling, about 70 km north of the city centre. It is open from 8am to 5:30pm.

Badaling

 Built of huge granite slabs and special-sized bricks, the Great Wall at Badaling, about 70 km north of Beijing, is the most typical of the wall during the Ming Dynasty. This access point to the Great Wall is very popular among tourists as it is well restored. The wall top is wide enough for 10 adults to walk side by side and the Juyong Pass in the Badaling Mountains is both a strategic post and a scenic location.

The Forbidden City

 The imperial yellow roofs and walls of the Forbidden City dominate the centre of Beijing. It occupies 775,000 square feet, has 9,999 rooms and is surrounded by a 33-foot-high wall. Under the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) dynasties, Beijing was divided into walled sections or cities; the Forbidden City was the most important because it was home for the emperor and their families, the focal point of the empire and the "Middle Kingdom" (China). Entry was forbidden to all but those on imperial business until 1911, when the last emperor, Puyi, was overthrown. Often referred to as the Imperial Museum or Palace Museum, today the Forbidden City holds more than 900,000 pieces of cultural relics and ancient art for display. Located in the city centre, visitors are welcome from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm daily.

The Summer Palace

 The Summer Palace, known as Yiheyuan, is a classical imperial garden located about 20 km from the city centre. It is here that Qing royalties spent leisure time and celebrated birthdays or other anniversaries. Within the Palace are over 3,000 buildings surrounded by hills, paths and lakes. A walk through the Summer Palace is essentially scenic and visitors can visit it daily 6:30 am to 6 pm.

Tiantan Park / Temple of Heaven

 This is China's most famous temple, which stands within a 667 acre park. Here, emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties prayed for good harvests, made sacrifices, and worshipped Heaven. The whole area is enclosed by a wall, the round northern section (heaven) and the half square in the south (earth). The principle buildings are at either end: the Qiniandian (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) and the Huangqiongyu (Imperial Vault of Heaven), which houses the famous Echo Wall and Triple Sound Stones. Located on the south of the city, Tiantan Park is open daily from 6:30 am to 8 pm.

Beijing's Hutongs and Courtyard

 A Hutong is a unique form of community that perhaps exists only in China. If you are fed up with high rises and wide streets, enter Beijing's hutongs then. Here, you will experience the "Hutong Culture".

 The word hutong came from the Mongolian language about 700 years ago. The original Mongolian word was hottog, meaning "water well", a place where people gather, for people always gather where there is water. Today in Beijing, the word hutong refers to a small street or lane between courtyards, although the word can also mean a community within the city consisting of hutongs and residences. They are typical of the old part of Beijing and are formed by lines of siheyuan (a compound nade up of rooms around a courtyard) in which most Beijing residents used to live. Shanghai local people call it a "Nong". There are thousands of hutongs in Beijing City. Most of them were built in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty (1271-1911). Every hutong has a name. Some hutongs have had only one name since they were built, but some have had more than five names in the past.

 Beijing's traditional courtyards (siheyuan) are within the second ring road, housing many of the city's residents. Siheyuan line the small lanes, or hutongs, that make up most of the central part of the city. However, many of the siheyuan, which consist of four houses around a central yard, are being torn down, and quite a large number of people who have been living in courtyards for generations have now moved to high-rise condominiums in new residential areas.

 The siheyuan is a typical form of ancient Chinese architecture, especially in the northern part of China. They are designed to be as comfortable as possible to live in a climate that is at times inhospitable. For instance, the siheyuan are enclosed and inward facing to protect them from the harsh winter winds and dust storms of spring. Their design also reflects the traditions of China, following the rules of feng shui and the patriarchal, Confucian tenants of order and hierarchy that were so important to society.

 Walking through the hutongs, it is common to come across groups of elderly citizens playing cards, mahjong or Chinese chess. In the early mornings and evenings, they gather to practice traditional forms of exercise such as taijiquan, to dance and to sing folk songs or Peking Opera arias. Also important to hutong life is the traditional foods being sold in carts or small stalls, which change according to the season from flavoured ice in the summer to long kebabs of crab apples covered in sugar lollipops in the autumn and winter.

 So important  are the hutongs to the culture of Beijing that there have been many operas, plays and films about them. One of the representative is a drama titled "Teahouse" by Lao She (1899-1966), one of the greatest Chinese novelists and playwrights in the 20th century. The story of the drama happens in a teahouse, a gathering place for the hutong community, where people from the old streets of Beijing often come to gossip. A more modern film about hutong is Zhang Yang's "Shower" (1999), which is about a traditional bathhouse where men from the community gather to drink tea, receive massages, play crickets fighting and find temporarily an escape from their marital problems. The film laments the loss of such traditional ways of life when hutongs are being knocked down to make way for modern blocks of flats.

History of Hutongs

 According to historical records, there was already a small city on the site of present-day Beijing 3,000 years ago. It was only in the 12th century during the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) that Beijing became a capital city for the first time. At the time, there were no hutongs in Beijing. They first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) after the original city was destroyed during a war.

 Most of the hutongs still in existence today date from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It is, however, still possible to find some from the Yuan Dynasty. For instance, the Zhuanta Hutong on Xisi in the west of the city is one such ancient hutong. In dramas written during the Yuan period the Zhuanta Hutong is often mentioned. The area was also the home of the famous playwright Guan Hanqing, China's Shakespeare of the Yuan Dynasty.

 Many hutongs have a story behind them. Near the Forbidden City in the heart of old Beijing is a hutong called "the Weaving Girl" named after the daughter of a celestial god who descended on the human world with her sisters to swim in a river, but fell in love with a cowherd. Her enraged father, the Celestial Emperor, took the girl back and separated the couple with the Milky Way. On the opposite side of the Forbidden City, there used to be a Cowherd Bridge flanked by the cowherd and the weaving girl. The suggestion was that the feudal emperors living in the Forbidden City were the sons of Heaven.

 Beijing's hutongs are more than just architecture. They are the people who live there, they are a museum of Beijing's folk custom, and they are a witness to the city's history.

The Ming Tombs

 The Ming Tombs are located on the southern slopes of the Jundu Mountains north of Beijing. These are the tombs of the Ming emperors but only 13 of the 16 emperors are buried here. The Sacred Way, 1 7 km passageway, leads ot the tombs and passes the Great Red Gate (Dahong Men), Stela Pavilion, a group of stone statues, and Dragon and Pheonix Gate. Each of the tombs are quite similar in shape however, Chan Ling, tomb of Emperor Yong Le, is the largest and the best preserved dating back to over 500 years. Chan Ling consists of a group of palatial buildings, including Tomb Gate, Ling'en Men (The Gate of Eminent Favour), the Inner Red Gate, Soul Tower and the Precious Summit. Ling'en Dian covers a floor space of about 2,000 square metres and is supported by huge, smooth columns made from a single Nanmu tree. Thirty-two of these marvellous columns are open and the four in the centre are 1.17 metres in diametre and 2 can barely embrace them.

Jingshan Park

 Jingshan Park covers approximately 23 hectares and consists of five pavilions, the most important one being at the centre, Wanchun, which is said to be on the axis of the inner city of Beijing. As an imperial garden of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jingshan Park is located opposite the north gate of the Palace Museum.

Beihai Park

 Beihai Park is one of China's oldest and largest gardens of classical elegance; it is a dainty inner city palace garden covering an area of 68 hectares. Construction began during the 10th century just northwest of the Palace Museum. Presently, the Jade Islet consists of small towers and pavilions, and is topped by a White Pagoda built in the 17th century surrounded by the North Sea. The Round city by the southern gate of Beihai Park is a miniature fortress of less than a half hectare. In the fort, a 13th century jade urn, weighing three and a half tonnes, is definitely worth seeing.

Tian An Men Square

 Tian An Men Square, of the Gate of Heavenly Peace, was first built in the 15 years of the Ming Emperor Yongle (1417) as the main gate leading to the Forbidden City during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

 The gate stands 33.7 metres high and contains five passages leading through it. Five marble bridges lead over the moat (Jinshui River or Gold Water River) to each of the gateways and two ornamental columns of stone lions with marble pillars make Tian An Men Square magnificent. It is indeed a perfect masterpiece in its architectural design and artistic form. Tian An Men Gate bounds the northern end of the square in the centre of the city.

 The Monument to the People's Heroes is in the centre of Tian An Men Square. The late Chairman Mao Zedong laid the cornerstone on September 30, 1949 and construction commenced in 1951. Finally in April, 1958, the monument was complete and boasted a 37.94 granite obelisk decorated with carvings depicting major events of the revolution. The gilded inscription on the north face is in Chairman Mao's calligraphy: "The People's Heroes are immortal." Immediately behind the Monument of the People's Heroes on the southern side of Tian An Men Square is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. It stands just over 30 metres high, the glazed twin-roof being supported by 44 granite pillars. Over the entrance appears the inscription, "Chairman Mao Memorial Hall."

Liulichang Street

 Located outside the Gate of Heavenly Peace is the bustling Liulichang Street of downtown Beijing. Visitors can enjoy about 800 metres of unique and impressive antique shops of ancient Chinese culture. One can find wonderful works of art suitable as gifts to bring back home.

The Drum Tower and The Bell Tower

 The Drum Tower is one of the oldest buildings in Beijing. The present building, nearly 600 years old, was once the centre of the old Mongol capital, Da Du, founded in the 13th century. The Tower itself has a solid brick base with three passageways in the north-south direction and one passageway in the east-west direction. Located due north of Coal Hill (Jing Shan Park) at the north end of Dianmen Street, the Drum Tower lies on the north-south axis, passing through the Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square.

 The Bell Tower was first constructed during the Ming Dynasty in 1420 but was devastated by a fire and reconstructed in 1745 under the reign of Qian Long. The current building is about 33 metres high and comprised of a base and an upper story with a double roof of gray tiles. The upper story is traversed by three passageways from each side and once housed a giant iron bell which has been removed. The Bell Tower is located just north of the Drum Tower.

Temple of the White Pagoda

 The Temple of the White Pagoda, formally known as Miao Ying Temple, was opened in 1271. During the reign of Kubilai Khan in the Yuan Dynasty, a Lamaist temple was built in front of it. Fifty-one metres in height, the Pagoda is the largest existing Yuan Dynasty Pagoda. It is located in a little lane on the northern side of Fu Cheng Street.