BEIJING
The capital of the People's Republic of China, Beijing (formerly
Peking) is a very modern and exceedingly busy city (nearly
14 million people call it home) with high-rise buildings,
international hotels and sprawling suburbs. The city is
abuzz and bristling with cranes on the skyline as
construction projects give rise to new skyscrapers and
modernisation proceeds apace. However, Beijing also
encompasses numerous attractions of cultural and
historical interest, of which some, such as the Great
Wall, former Imperial palace (known as the Forbidden
City), the Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and the
remains of Peking Man at Zhoukoudian, are UNESCO-endorsed
World Cultural Heritage Sites. Chinese history and
culture fascinates Western visitors, and Beijing is the
place to start exploring it. The city abounds in
imperial palaces, temples, mansions, gardens and tombs
that epitomise classical Chinese architecture. It has
120 museums and more than 100 public gardens.
The first port of call for most visitors is the
Forbidden City, which lies at the heart of Beijing with
the rest of the city radiating out from it in a grid
pattern. For five centuries this massive palace complex
with 9,999 rooms functioned as the administrative centre
of the country and home to a succession of emperors, who
lived in luxurious isolation, surrounded by courtiers
and retainers. The Palace overlooks the famous Tiananmen
Square, site of so much political drama and dissent, the
epitome of this capital city. |