Great Wall

The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties. Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC, the most famous being the one built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang; this wall was located much further north than the current wall built during the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains.

The Great Wall is one of the existing megastructures and the world’s longest man-made structure, stretching over 6,352 km (3,948 miles) from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia.

The Great Wall, like the Pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal(1) in India and the Hanging Garden of Babylon(2), is one of the great wonders of the world.
Starting out in the east on the banks of the Yalu River in Liaoning Province, the Wall stretches westwards for 12,700 kilometers to Jiayuguan in the Gobi desert, thus known as the Ten Thousand Li Wall in China. The Wall climbs up and down, twists and turns along the ridges of the Yanshan and Yinshan Mountain Chains through five provinces——Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu and two autonomous regions——Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, binding the northern China together.
Historical records trace the construction of the origin of the Wall to defensive fortification back to the year 656 B.C. during the reign of King Cheng of the States of Chu. Its construction continued throughout the Warring States period in the fifth Century B.C. when ducal states Yan, Zhao, Wei, and Qin were frequently plundered by the nomadic peoples living north of the Yinshan and Yanshan mountain ranges. Walls, then, were built separately by these ducal states to ward off such harassments. Later in 221 B.C., when Qin conquered the other states and unified China, Emperor Qinshihuang ordered the connection of these individual walls and further extensions to form the basis of the present great wall. As a matter of fact, a separate outer wall was constructed north of the Yinshan range in the Han Dynasty(206 BC——1644 BC.), which went to ruin through years of neglect. In the many intervening centuries, succeeding dynasties rebuilt parts of the Wall. The most extensive reinforcements and renovations were carried out in the Ming Dynasty (1368——1644) when altogether 18 lengthy stretches were reinforced with bricks and rocks. it is mostly the Ming Dynasty Wall that visitors see today.
The Great Wall is divided into two sections, the east and west, with Shanxi Province as the dividing line. The west part is a rammed earth construction, about 5.3 meters high on average. In the eastern part, the core of the Wall is rammed earth as well, but the outer shell is reinforced with bricks and rocks. The most imposing and best preserved sections of the Great Wall are at Badaling and Mutianyu, not far from Beijing and both are open to visitors.
The Wall of those sections is 7.8 meters high and 6.5 meters wide at its base, narrowing to 5.8 meters on the ramparts, wide enough for five horses to gallop abreast. There are ramparts, embrasures, peep-holes and apertures for archers on the top, besides gutters with gargoyles to drain rain-water off the parapet walk. Two-storied watch-towers are built at approximately 400-meters internals. The top stories of the watch-tower were designed for observing enemy movements, while the first was used for storing grain, fodder, military equipment and gunpowder as well as for quartering garrison soldiers. The highest watch-tower at Badaling standing on a hill-top, is reached only after a steep climb, like “climbing a ladder to heaven”. The view from the top is rewarding, hoverer. The Wall follows the contour of mountains that rise one behind the other until they finally fade and merge with distant haze.
A signal system formerly existed that served to communicate military information to the dynastic capital. This consisted of beacon towers on the Wall itself and on mountain tops within sight of the Wall. At the approach of enemy troops, smoke signals gave the alarm from the beacon towers in the daytime and bonfire did this at night. Emergency signals could be relayed to the capital from distant places within a few hour long before the invention of anything like modern communications.
There stand 14 major passes (Guan, in Chinese) at places of strategic importance along the Great Wall, the most important being Shanghaiguan and Jiayuguan. Yet the most impressive one is Juyongguan, about 50 kilometers northwest of Beijing.
Known as “Tian Xia Di YI Guan” (The First Pass Under Heaven), Shanghaiguan Pass is situated between two sheer cliffs forming a neck connecting north China with the northeast. It had been, therefore, a key junction contested by all strategists and many famous battles were fought here. It was the gate of Shanghaiguan that the Ming general Wu Sangui opened to the Manchu army to suppress the peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng and so surrendered the whole Ming empire to the Manchus, leading to the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. (1644-1911)
Jiayuguan Pass was not so much as the “Strategic pass Under the Heaven” as an important communication center in Chinese history. Cleft between the snow-capped Qilian Mountains and the rolling Mazong Mountains, it was on the ancient Silk Road. Zhang Qian, the first envoy of Emperor Wu Di of the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C-24 A.D), crossed it on his journey to the western regions. Later, silk flowed to the west through this pass too. The gate-tower of Jiayuguan is an attractive building of excellent workmanship. It has an inner city and an outer city, the former square in shape and surrounded by a wall 11.7 meters high and 730 meters in circumference. It has two gates, an eastern one and a western one. On each gate sits a tower facing each other. the four corners of the wall are occupied by four watch towers, one for each.
Juyongguan, a gateway to ancient Beijing from Inner Mongolia, was built in a 15-kilometer long ravine flanked by mountains. The cavalrymen of Genghis Khan swept through it in the 13th century. At the center of the pass is a white marble platform named the Cloud terrace, which was called the Crossing-Street Dagoba, since its narrow arch spanned the main street of the pass and on the top of the terrace there used to be three stone dagobas, built in the Yuan Daynasty(1206-1368). At the bottom of the terrace is a half-octagonal arch gateway, interesting for its wealth of detail: it is decorated with splendid images of Buddha and four celestial guardians carved on the walls. The vividness of their expressions is matched by the exquisite workmanship. such grandiose relics works, with several stones pieced together, are rarely seen in ancient Chinese carving. The gate jambs bear a multi-lingual Buddhist sutra, carved some 600 years ago in Sanskrit(3), Tibetan, Mongolian, Uigur(4), Han Chinese and the language of Western Xia. Undoubtedly, they are valuable to the study of Buddhism and ancient languages.
As a cultural heritage, the Wall belongs not only to China but to the world. The Venice charter says: “Historical and cultural architecture not only includes the individual architectural works, but also the urban or rural environment that witnessed certain civilizations, significant social developments or historical events.” The Great Wall is the largest of such historical and cultural architecture, and that is why it continues to be so attractive to people all over the world. In 1987, the Wall was listed by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site.
Notes:
1. the Taj Mahal in India  印度的泰姬陵
2. the Hanging Garden of Babylon  巴比伦的空中花园
3. Sanskrit  梵语
4. Uigur  维吾尔语

the Old Summer Palace

Located in Beijing’s northwest, was built in Kangxi 48 (1709), was built during the heyday of the Qing Dynasty emperors Royal Park, Yuanming, Changchun, Yi-chun of the three parks, covering 350 hectares. It is China’s architecture, landscape art masterpieces, as the “000 Park Garden.”

Address: Qinghua West Road, Haidian District, on the 28th

Transportation: 331,333,365,375 branch, 801,810 Summer Palace, Yuan Ming Yuan green alight.

Tel: 62543673

Tickets: 10 yuan, 20 yuan passes

All:

The Old Summer Palace which is also known as the Ruins of the Yuanmingyuan (the Garden of Perfection and Light) is located northwest of Beijing and to the east of the (present-day) Summer Palace. The Garden was first constructed in the year of 1709 during the reign of the Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Over the next 150 years of the Qing Dynasty, this Garden was expanded to be a large-scale Chinese emperors’ private pleasure garden, covering a total area of 350 hectares (over 864 acres).

Generally speaking, the Old Summer Palace consists of three parts – Yuanmingyuan, Wanchunyuan (the Garden of Blossoming Spring) and Changchunyuan (the Garden of Eternal Spring). These three gardens are often referred to as one common name: Yuanmingyuan. Hundreds of scenic spots in the Garden are made up of exquisitely constructed halls, pavilions, chambers, kiosks, earth and rock hills, rivers and ponds, and exotic flowers and grasses from different parts of the country. Indeed, it embodies the essence of Chinese ancient landscape gardening.

To be distinct from other traditional Chinese Gardens, the garden construction and horticulture of Yuanmingyuan is a harmonious blend of typical Chinese scenery and western architecture. The more famous scenic spots include, for example, the Grand Waterworks, the Throne for viewing the Waterworks and the Labyrinth. No wonder Yuanmingyuan was also called the ‘garden of gardens’ or the ‘Versailles of the East’ in Europe during that era. Furthermore, Yuanmingyuan was also an imperial museum that collected a large number of books, treasures and cultural artifacts. However, a large number of these collections were plundered by the Anglo-French Allied Forces in 1860, at the same time as the Garden was burnt down. Now, most of these historical curiosities are displayed in the other countries’ museums, including the British Museum; Bibliotheque Nationale de France; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA; Oslo Museum of Applied Art and so on.

The vast majority of the remaining scenic spots were destroyed in the 1980′s, but under the due protection of the ruins of Yuanmingyuan, a park has been established on the ruin site. So visitors can imagine the former grandeur of the Old Summer Palace from the crumbling walls and ruins. What’s more, there is also an opportunity for visitors to view the complete picture of Yuanmingyuan in its ‘heyday’ in the exhibition hall. The reconstruction of some of the original structures and scenic spots provides people with a lovely place to relax.

Ming Tombs

Are located in Changping District, Shannan military wing. Ming Tombs of the East, North, West three, three Shou-shan, Tai Yu Shan, five Fengshan, Cuihua Hill wins mountain range, and so erect, such as screen such as accounting, Central take a radius of about 40 square kilometers of small basin, during which 13 tombs scattered . The most famous tomb to a few Dingling and Changling. Chang Ling-Ling in the domain centre, is the Ming Tombs in Zuling, the grand scale of building palaces, magnificent.

Transportation: Tour 1, 2 Yu, Yu 3, 4 YOU, YOU 5 to reach. Madian Bridge while driving from the Badaling Expressway to the island after Changping, road signs.

Tel: 60761196 (Dingling)

Tickets: 20 yuan Zhang Ling, Ding Ling 20 yuan, Zhao Ling 20 yuan, 12 yuan God Road

All：

The Ming Tombs are located in Changping District, about 50kilometers(31miles) to the northwest of Beijing. This imperial cemetery covers an area of 40square kilometers with 13 Ming emperors, 23 empresses, many imperial concubines, princes and princesses buried there. These tombs are the best preserved of all Chinese imperial tombs.

The Ming Dynasty started from 1368 to 1644, lasting 276 years. Altogether 16 emperors ruled in the Ming Dynasty. But out of the 16 emperors, 13 emperors were buried in Beijing Ming Tombs area. The first Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang had his tomb built in Nanjing and he was buried in Xiaoling of Nanjing. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming  Dynasty, was born in 1328 and died in 1398. He buled China for 31 years. he came from a poor peasant familuy. In 1345 both his parens and his brother died of serious natural calamity within half a year when he was 17 years old. In order to make his livelihood, he went to a temple, there he took tonsure and became a Buddhist monk. He went out three years for begging alms in Henan, Anhui and south of the country. In 1348, he came back to the temple and was determined to study diligently. In 1351, the Red Turban Peasant Army appeared in China, later in 1352, he joined the Red Turban Peasant Army, fighting against the Yuan court. Finally he became the chief leader in the army. In 1368 Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty with its capital in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. In 1398, after his 31 years on the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang died at the age of 71 and was buried in his tomb Xiaoling, eastern suburbs of the capital Nanjing.

According to the Chinese hereditary system, the eldest son should be the successor. But unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang’s eldest son Zhu Biao died in 1392, six years earlier than the emperor. So Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang chose his grandson Zhu Yunwen as the successor.  In 1398, after Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang died, his 21-year-old grandson succeeded his throne and became the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty named Emperor Jian Wen. At that time Emperor Jian Wen was assisted by cout officials in governing the country. In order to centralize the power, he adopted the suggestion of his court officials to weaken the power of the regional garrison commanders who were actually his uncles, the sons of the first emperor. But these measures met with strong resistance from his uncle Zhu Di, the prince of Yan ,the fourth son of the first Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Di got so enraged when he heard the news that his power would be reduced. With an army of 100000stong, he was the most powerful garrison commander among all the princes, then under the excuse of wiping out the evils around the emperor, he launched punitive expedition to the capital in 1399 in the name of “wiping out evil for the country ”. the war lasted for three years, finally Zhu Di usurped the power from his nephew and became the 3rd emperor of the Ming Dynasty and adopted the reign title “yongle”. Emperor Jian Wen, the dethroned emperor disappeared with nowhere to be found. Some people said that he died in a big fire; another saying is that he had escaped to a temple and became a Buddhist monk. Anyway his whereabouts remained unknown till now in spite of Yongle’s search for him all over the country. So there is no tomb for the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)

Beijing’s northern suburbs in the West, used to the Qing Dynasty royal palace and gardens. Longevity Hill and the Park mainly by the composition of Kunming Lake, an area of 290.8 hectares, of which about three-quarters of the surface. Huguangshanse the Summer Palace with its beautiful, elegant garden art, fine historical heritage, to become the world-famous imperial gardens.

Address: Haidian District, the new road on the 19th Gongmen

Transportation: 330,332,333,346,362,349,801,808,817, American Express 106, get off at the Summer Palace Road special 6, 301,303, with 333,346,362, with 375,375, 384, Northbound Gongmen 394,904,801,808 get off, with 374,374, 905 new road Gongmen alight.

Tel: 62881144 Tickets: 8 yuan, 33 yuan passes

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Situated in western outskirts of Beijing, the Summer Palace is 10 kilometers from the central city. It is China’s leading classical garden which enjoys a worldwide reputation. The Summer Palace was opened to the public in 1924 and included in the UNESCO world heritage list in 1998. A whole day is needed to view it in detail.The Summer Palace was first built in 1153 and served as an imperial palace for short stays away from the capital. Empress Dowager Ci Xi rebuilt it in 1888 with a large sum of money which had been appropriated to build a Chinese navy.

The two main elements of the garden are Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake. Kunming Lake, with an exquisite building in the middle, takes up three quarters of the garden’s 290 hectares. The garden consists of three parts: the political activity area, the empress’s living quarter and the scenic area which separately centers on the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity(1), the Hall of Jade Ripples(2) and the Hall of Happiness and Longevity(3), and Longevity Hill(4) and Kunming Lake. The groups of buildings, hills and lakes, together with the background of West Hills, give an ever changing scene.

The buildings on the southern slope of Longevity Hill are characteristic of the garden. Cloud-Dispelling Hall, the Pavilion of the Buddhist Incense(5) and the Wisdom Sea(6) on the axis line are flanked by the Wheel Hall, Wufang Pavilion and Baoyun Pavilion and are major attractions. The Pavilion of the Buddhist Incense is 41 meters high and stands on a 20-meter-high terrace. At the foot of Longevity Hill is the 728-meter-long passageway which links the three areas together. The passageway is famous for its paintings and at its western end is a 36-meter-long Marble Boat(7).

The bridges of the western causeway of Kunming Lake are replicas of the bridges of famous Su and Bai causeways on West Lake in Hangzhou. The marble Seventeen-Arch Bridge which spans the Eastern Causeway to South Lake Island has balusters topped by 540 carved lions in different poses.

Back Lake at the northern foot of Longevity Hill is natural and peaceful. On its bank is Suzhou Street, a replica of a commercial street in the old days. At the northeastern corner of the garden there is the Garden of Harmonious Interest which imitates the famous Jichang Garden(8) in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Diminutive and elegant, it is known as a garden within a garden.

The Palace Museum

Is the Ming and Qing imperial palace of the two Koreas, the Common name Forbidden City, known as the Forbidden City, now known as the Palace Museum. Total of 24 emperors of the rule here. Covers an area of 720,000 square meters. A high wall surrounding the National Palace Museum, also outside the city moat of 52 meters wide (also known as cheese River). Gongqiang inside the towering, all kinds of palace 8704, the building area of 155,000 square meters. City Quartet has tall floor of the Shing Mun. South of the main entrance gate called afternoon, north of Shen Wumen, said Donghua Men east, west, the West Gate. City have a beautiful 1.40 Jiaolou. The entire complex by the layout of the axis of symmetry, structured, the main highlight, according to the layout can be particularly North Korea, the two most Neiting. Ethernet, and North Korea, and that Bulgaria and the three main hall as the center, Wen-hua, Wu Yingdian for the two wings, is the emperor at the ceremony and a variety of places to engage in political activities. The extension to stem Qinggong, the TAC Qin palace, Kunning Gong as the main body, while Yang Xindian, Yu Huayuan, and the West Road, East Road, is handling day-to-day government and the emperor living in it. Majestic Building, North Korea, the magnificent; Neiting splendid construction, layout stringent.

Address: Dongcheng District Jingshan Qian Jie on the 4th

Zip Code: 100009

Getting There: 1,2,4,5,10,20,52,57,22,54,120,802, special one way or Tiananmen Square, Zhongshan Park Station, the subway, 9,17,44, 48,53 , 59,66,110,307,803,808,819,922, 4 special, special 7, Tuanjie Hu green front door or get off fast 101,103,103, 109, 812,814 Palace Road alight.

Tel: 65132255

Tickets: 30 yuan, 50 yuan passes

All：

The Palace Museum, historically and artistically one of the most comprehensive Chinese museums, was established on the foundation of the palace that was the ritual center of two dynasties, the Ming and the Qing, and their collections of treasures. Designated by the State Council as one of China’s foremost protected monuments in 1961, the Palace Museum was also made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Situated at the heart of Beijing, the Palace Museum is approached through Tiananmen Gate. Immediately to the north of the Palace Museum is Prospect Hill (also called Coal Hill), while on the east and west are Wangfujing and Zhongnanhai neighborhoods. It is a location endowed with cosmic significance by ancient China’s astronomers. Correlating the emperor’s abode, which they considered the pivot of the terrestrial world, with the Pole Star (Ziweiyuan), which they believed to be at the center of the heavens, they called the palace The Purple Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was built from 1406 to 1420 by the third Ming emperor Yongle who, upon usurping the throne, determined to move his capital north from Nanjing to Beijing. In 1911 the Qing dynasty fell to the republican revolutionaries. The last emperor, Puyi, continued to live in the palace after his abdication until he was expelled in 1924. Twenty-four emperors lived and ruled from this palace during this 500-year span.

The Forbidden City is surrounded by 10-metre high walls and a 52-metre wide moat. Measuring 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west, it covers an area of 720,000 square meters. Each of the four sides is pierced by a gate, the Meridian Gate (Wu men) on the south and the Gate of Spiritual Valor (Shenwu men) on the north being used as the entrance and exit by tourists today. Once inside, visitors will see a succession of halls and palaces spreading out on either side of an invisible central axis. It is a magnificent sight, the buildings’ glowing yellow roofs against vermilion walls, not to mention their painted ridges and carved beams, all contributing to the sumptuous effect.

Known as the Outer Court, the southern portion of the Forbidden City centers on the halls of Supreme Harmony, Central Harmony, and Preserving Harmony. These are flanked by the halls of Literary Glory and Military Eminence. It was here that the emperor held court and conducted his grand audiences.

Mirroring this arrangement is the Inner Court at the northern end of the Forbidden City, with the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility straddling the central axis, surrounded by the Six Palaces of the East and West and the Imperial Garden to the north. Other major buildings include the halls for Worshipping Ancestors and of Imperial Splendor on the east, and the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Pavilion of the Rain of Flowers and the Palace of Benevolent Tranquility on the west. These contain not only the residences of the emperor and his empress, consorts and concubines but also the venues for religious rites and administrative activities.

In total, the buildings of the two courts account for an area of some 163,000 square meters. These were laid out precisely in accordance with a code of architectural hierarchy, which designated specific features to reflect the paramount authority and status of the emperor. No ordinary mortal would have been allowed or even dared to come within close proximity of these buildings.

After the republican revolution, this Palace as a whole would have been sequestered by the Nationalist government were it not for the “Articles of Favorable Treatment of the Qing House” which allowed Puyi to live on in the Inner Court after his abdication. Meanwhile, all of the imperial treasures from palaces in Rehe (today’s Chengde) and Mukden (today’s Shenyang) were moved to the Forbidden City for public display in History Museum established at the Outer Court in 1914. While confined to the Inner Court, Puyi continuously used such vestiges of influence as still remained to plot his own restoration. He also systematically stole or pawned a huge number of cultural relics under the pretext of granting them as rewards to his courtiers and minions or taking them out for repair.

In 1924, during a coup launched by the warlord Feng Yuxiang, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City and the management of the palace fell to the charge of a committee set up to deal with the concerns of the deposed imperial family. The committee began a sorting and counting of the imperial treasures. A year of intense preparations later, its members arranged a grand ceremony on 10 October 1925 in front of the Palace of Heavenly Purity to mark the inception of the Palace Museum. News of the opening flashed across the nation, and such was the scramble of visitors on the first day that traffic jams around Beijing brought the city almost to a standstill.

According to a 28-volume inventory published in 1925, the treasure trove left by the Qing numbered more than 1,170,000 items including sacrificial vessels and ancient jade artifacts from the earliest dynasties; paintings and calligraphy from the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties; porcelain from the Song and Yuan; a variety of enamelware and lacquer ware; gold and silver ornaments; relics in bamboo, wood, horn and gourds; religious statues in gold and bronze; as well as numerous imperial robes and ornaments; textiles; and furniture. In addition, there were countless books, literary works and ancient records. All these were divided into separate collections of antiquities, library materials and historical documents and placed under teams of staff to sort and collate. Exhibition halls were opened to display some of the treasures, while writers and editors worked away at publishing in book or journal form all the new areas of research and academic inquiry that the establishment of the museum had ushered in. The Palace Museum was soon a hive of activity.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese, having annexed territory in China’s northeast, proceeded to march on Beijing. With this looming threat, the museum authorities decided to evacuate its collection rather than let it fall into enemy hands or risk destruction in battle. For four frantic months between February and May 1933, the most important pieces in the collection were packed into 13,427 crates and 64 bundles and sent to Shanghai in five batches. From there they were dispatched to Nanjing where a depository was built and a branch of the Palace Museum established.

On 7 July 1937 shots fired around Marco Polo Bridge west of Beijing heralded the eruption of the Sino-Japanese War. Within a year, the Japanese had penetrated to most of eastern China. Now the treasures stored in Nanjing had to be moved again, this time by three routes to Sichuan, where they were secreted in three locations, Baxian, Emei and Leshan. Only at the end of the war were they consolidated in Chongqing, whence they were returned to Nanjing in 1947. By then the Nationalists were considerably weakened, and with the imminent takeover by the Communist armies of areas south of the Yangtze, they began their retreat to Taiwan. Between the end of 1948 and the dawn of 1949, the Nationalists picked relics to fill 2,972 crates for shipping across the Strait. A rival Palace Museum was set up in Taipei to display these antiquities. Most of what were left were gradually returned to Beijing, although to this day 2,221 crates remain in safe-keeping in storag in Nanjing.

During this tumultuous decade of war and revolution, not one item of the treasures was lost or damaged even though the volume involved was enormous. This was largely due to the dedicated energy of the Palace Museum staff, whose achievement in preserving these treasures was nothing short of heroic. But it was also as a result of this long period of upheaval that the treasures have been dispersed. Yet the rationale for keeping the collection together, representative as it is of the motherland’s traditional culture, seems so incontestable that most people believe the treasures will be re-united one day.

In the early 1950s, shortly after the establishment of the People’s Republic, the Palace Museum staff worked with a new will and enthusiasm to return the Forbidden City to its former glory. Where previously the dirty and dilapidated halls and courts lay under weeds and piles of rubbish, some 250,000 cubic meters of accumulated debris were now cleared out, giving the place a sparkling fresh look. A policy of comprehensive rehabilitation was also launched, and in time the crumbling palace buildings, repaired, and redecorated, looked resplendent once more. All the tall buildings were equipped with lightning conductors, while modern systems of fire protection and security were installed. It has been a priority of the People’s Government, particularly since the beginning of the reform era in the early 1980s, to keep the surrounding moat dredged and clean.

As for the collection of antiquities, a systematic inventory was completed during the 1950s and 1960s, redressing the legacy of inaccurate cataloguing. The collection was moreover augmented, for example by the salvage of a number of precious artifacts from a jumble of apparently worthless objects. After more than a decade of painstaking efforts, some 710,000 relics from the Qing palace were retrieved. At the same time, through national allocations, requisitions and private donations, more than 220,000 additional pieces of cultural significance were added, making up for such omissions from the original Qing collection as colored earthenware from the Stone Age, bronzes and jades from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, pottery tomb figurines from the Han Dynasty, stone sculpture from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and tri-color glazed pottery from the Tang Dynasty. The ancient paintings, scrolls and calligraphy added to the collection were particularly spectacular. These included, from the Jin Dynasty, Lu Ji’s cursive calligraphy “A consoling letter” (Ping fu tie), Wang Xun’s ” Letter to Boyuan (Bo yuan tie) and Gu Kaizhi’s “Goddess of the Luo River” (Luo shen fu tu); from the Sui Dynasty, Zhan Ziqian’s landscape handscroll “Spring Outing” (You chun tu) ; from the Tang Dynasty, Han Huang’s “Five Oxen” (Wu niu tu ), Du Mu’s running-cursive script handscroll “Song of the Courtesan Zhan Haohao” (Zhang haohao shi) ; from the Five Dynasties, Gu Hongzhong’s “The Night Revels of Han Xizai” (Han Xizai yeyan tu) “; from the Song Dynasty, Li Gonglin’s “Painting after Wei Yan’s Pasturing Horses” (Lin Wei Yan mu fang tu) Guo Xi’s “Dry tree and rock, level distance landscape” (Ke shi pingyuan tu), and Zhang Zeduan’s “Going up River on Spring Festival” (Qingming shang he tu)–all masterpieces without exception.

Unremitting though this attempt at recovery has been, however, there have been further exertions in recent years to acquire such works as Zhang Xian’s “Landscape with Poems (Shi yong tu)” (Song Dynasty), Nai Xian’s calligraphy “Ancient poem on south of the city” (Cheng nan yong gu shi) (Yuan Dynasty), Shen Zhou’s landscape handscroll “After Huang Gongwang’s ‘Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains’” (Fang Huang Gongwang fuchun shan ju tu) (Ming Dynasty), Shi Tao’s ink bamboo “Calling Wen Yuke” (Gao hu Yu ke tu) (Qing Dynasty). The first two were spirited out of the palace by the last emperor Puyi on the excuse of bestowing them on his brother Pu Jie; they fell into the hands of others and only now have been returned to their rightful place in the Palace Museum collection.

From the 1950s onwards, the museum’s existing storehouses were completely overhauled to provide a damp-proof and insect-proof environment for the treasures. In the 1990s a new storehouse with a capacity of over 600,000 items was built, equipped with controls for maintaining constant temperature and humidity, as well as safeguards against fire and theft. A workshop was established in the 1950s and expanded in the 1980s to encompass a scientific Conservation Department. These not only continued traditions of craftsmanship, but also drew upon scientific discoveries to facilitate the restoration of damaged relics. In the past few decades the Conservation Department has treated as many as 110,000 objects from the Palace Museum and other public collections. Besides its continuous refurbishment of the main courts and halls, the museum has opened galleries to display bronzes, porcelain, crafts, paintings and calligraphy, jewelry, and clocks to expand the scope of its exhibitions. A number of thematic shows have been held in galleries devoted to temporary exhibitions; in recent years these have included such acclaimed ones as “A Comparison of Authentic and Counterfeit Paintings and Calligraphy”, “Genuine and Imitation Examples of Ancient Porcelain and Materials from Ancient Kilns”, “The Art of Packaging at the Qing Court” and “Selections from the Finest Acquisitions of the Last Fifty Years”. Traveling exhibitions have also graced various provincial museums and museums abroad. In fact, since the beginning of the economic-reform era, an increasing number of exhibitions have been mounted in countries such as Britain, the USA, France, the former Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, Spain, Australia, Japan and Singapore, among others. All of them have aroused great interest and admiration and played a key part in the promotion of international understanding and cultural exchange.

The number of visitors to the Palace Museum has risen along with the growth of tourism, in the last decade reaching six to eight million a year.

General interest has been further stimulated by the Palace Museum’s range of publications touching on both the architecture of its buildings and its vast cultural holdings. Published works include Famous Historical Paintings in the Palace Museum Collection, Selected Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, National Treasures, Palaces of the Forbidden City, Daily Life in the Forbidden City, A Collection of National Treasures, and The Complete Palace Museum Collection (in 60 volumes, of which 18 have been published so far). There are also two periodicals, The Palace Museum and The Forbidden City.

Since 1997, the Palace Museum’s administration has been significantly reorganized. Where previously there were three departments covering conservation, exhibition and research, these have now been split into the departments of Antiquities; of Painting and Calligraphy; of Palace Arts; and the Exhibition, Promotion and Education Department. With substantial investment, the latest technology has been deployed by the newly established Resources and Information Center to set up the Palace Museum website. The website you are now browsing enables all, even those in distant places, to enjoy a sightseeing tour of this mysterious palace and feast their eyes on its splendid treasures.

The creation of a state-of-the-art virtual Imperial Palace is no longer just a dream.

Tiananmen Square

At the centre of Beijing, 880 meters long from north to south, 500 meters wide things, the area of 440,000 square meters, is the world’s largest square.TianAnMen Rostrum located in the northern end of the square, five-star red flag fluttering high above the square. People’s Heroes Monument stands in the central square. Great Hall of the People and the Museum of Chinese Revolution, the National Museum of Chinese History in the square things on both sides of a distant relative. Chairman Mao Memorial Hall and Zhengyang Men Chenglou towering over the square in the south. Every day thousands of people to visit here, tours and photos. National Day in Tiananmen Square, tens of thousands of pots of colorful flowers and decorated with fountains, is the most beautiful square in 2001 when.

Address: Dongcheng District Jingshan Qian Jie on the 4th

Zip Code: 100009

Getting There: 1,2,4,5,10,20,52,57,55,54,120,802, special one way or Tiananmen Square, Zhongshan Park Station, the subway, 9,17,44,48,53 , 59,66,110,307,803,808,819,922, 4 special, special 7, Tuanjie Hu green front door alight.

Tickets: 15 yuan (TianAnMen Rostrum)

About Beijing

History: From the mid-12th century AD, as Beijing Yuan, Ming and Qing history before and after the capital of nearly 800 years. October 1, 1949, after the founding of New China, Beijing People’s Republic of China was designated as the capital.

Area: Beijing a total area of 16,808 square kilometers.
Administrative divisions: 16 Beijing administered zone two counties, followed by the Dongcheng District and Xicheng District, Xuanwu District, Fangshan District, Chongwen District, Haidian District, Chaoyang District, Fengtai District, Mentougou District, Shijingshan District, Tongzhou, Shunyi District , Changping, Daxing, Huairou, Pinggu and Miyun County District, Yanqing County.
Location: adjacent to the northwest Shanxi, Inner Mongolia plateau, South and the North China Plain convergence East near the Bohai Sea.
Climate: temperate monsoon climate, four distinct seasons and pleasant weather. Rainfall concentrated in the summer, the average annual rainfall 644 mm, spring and autumn is the best tourist season.

Beijing outlined

Beijing called Beijing, the People’s Republic of the capital. City Centre at 39 degrees north latitude, 116 degrees east longitude, is located in the northwest edge of the North China Plain, south-east about 150 km from the Bohai Sea. Area of over 16,800 square kilometres. The city’s total population of 13.819 million people. North Hill has all the military, a Western Hills West, the mountainous area of the city’s 62 percent; southeast of the Yongding River, the Chaobai River and other rivers from the alluvial, slowly tilt to the Bohai Sea on the plain. Mountain coal, iron and other minerals and granite, marble and other fine materials.

Beijing Plain in the altitude of 20 to 60 meters, mountain general elevation of 1,000 to 1,500 meters, and Hebei at the junction of East Mountain 2,303 meters above sea level, the highest peak for Beijing. River runs through the territory of five, mainly the eastern part of the Chaobai River, North Canal, the western part of the Yongding River and Juma He. Beijing is the topography of the northwest, southeast low. Yu Mo is the Taihang Mountains west of the Western Hills, north of the Yanshan Mountains are mountains of the military, the two-ditch clearance in the south of the intersection, forming a semicircle to the southeast of the start bending the mountains, known as “Beijing bends,” it around the small Beijing Plain is the small plains. Looking at Beijing terrain, the mountain Jin, the magnificent situation. As the ancients said: “You Zhou land, sea, Central left, right Yong Taihang, North pillow Ju Yong, South River Ji Jin,-the Land of Abundance.”

Beijing city’s total land area of 16807.8 square kilometers. Plain area of 6390.8 square kilometers, accounting for 38 percent. Mountain area of 10417.5 square kilometers, accounting for 62 percent. City area of 87.1 square kilometers. Suburban area of 1282.8 square kilometers, the suburb area of 3,198 square kilometers. County, an area of 12239.9 square kilometers. Urban planning: Ding Fuzhuang the east, west Shijingshan, Nanyuan the south, north and Qinghe, 750 square km area. Downtown area (that is, the old city areas and things to the Second Ring Road center for the community, north-south axis for the sector to a moat) area of 62.5 square kilometers.

Beijing’s climate is typical of the temperate sub-continental monsoon climate, hot summer rainy, cold and dry winter, spring and fall short. The average annual temperature of 10 to 12 degrees Celsius in January -7 ~ -4 degrees Celsius, on July 25 to 26 degrees Celsius. Minimum -27.4 degrees Celsius, 42 degrees above the highest extreme. Annual frost-free period 180 to 200 days, the western mountain shorter. The average annual rainfall over 600 mm, for the most rainfall in North China one of the regions, Piedmont windward slope up to 700 mm and above. Season is very uneven distribution of precipitation, 75 percent of annual rainfall concentrated in the summer, 7, 8, often heavy rain.

Beijing Tourism Resources

Beijing is rich in tourism resources, the opening up of more than 200 tourist attractions, the world’s largest palace Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven temple worship of heaven, the Royal Garden in the North Sea, the Royal Summer Palace gardens, Badaling, Mutian Valley, Sima Tai Great Wall And the world’s largest courtyard Prince Gong House, and other sites. The city’s total of 7,309 cultural relics, of which 42 units of national cultural relics, the municipal heritage preservation unit 222. Beijing existing tourist hotels designated 456, including 407 star hotels and 84,000 rooms, 456 travel agencies, 21 major languages of the tour guides more than 5,000 people, operating on a global market. 2000 received 2.821 million overseas tourists trips, tourism foreign exchange earnings 2.77 billion U.S. dollars. Beijing by the National Tourism Administration as “excellent Chinese tourist city.”
As of March 1995, Beijing has opened the forest park and forest total of 15 tourist areas, including: the Western Hills, Mangshan, at the top of hill and Jiufeng four national forest parks; Yunmengshan, small goal-Xin Three city-level forest parks, Pine Tree Hill National Nature Reserve, municipal Baihua Mountain Nature Reserve,丫Kyrgyzstan Hill tourist areas and tourist areas, such as four floor, a group of state-owned tree farms.
The list of attractions:
Dongcheng District: People’s Heroes Monument, Yu Qian Temple, Tiananmen Square, Tai Miao (labour People’s Cultural Palace), the National Museum of Chinese History, the Museum of Chinese Revolution, the China Art Gallery, Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, Wen Tianxiang Temple, Confucian Temple, Zhengyang Men (the front door ), The East four mosques, Peking University red chamber, Ditan, the Observatory, Sun Yat-sen Museum trip, the Corfu Palace, Imperial College, the National Palace Museum (Forbidden City), Jinshui Qiao, Berlin Temple, the imperial history (Mian + 10%), the clock tower, intellectual and Temple, Purdue Temple, the Drum Tower and the Lama Temple.
Xicheng District: Great Hall of the People, the high-Hyun Hall, Wansong elderly tower, Guang Jisi,Temple of Ancient Monarchs, Zhongnanhai, Yingtai, Zhongshan Park, Shi Shahai, on altar, Beihai, Baiyun Guan, National Culture Palace, the Xi Shi Church, Mission City, the Tomb of Matteo Ricci, the former residence of Soong Ching Ling, Miaoying Temple Baita (Baita Si), Shing Wong Basilica, Prince Gong House, Xu Beihong Memorial Hall, the former residence of Guo Moruo, Jingshan, the former residence of Lu Xun, Deshengmen Jianlou, the China Science and Technology Hall.
Xuanwu District: Tianning Temple, the Niujie Mosque, Xian Nongtan, at Temple, Song Jun Um, Fayuan Si, South Hall, Taoranting Park, Liulichang, Liyuan Theatre and the Lao She Teahouse.
Chongwen District: Temple of Heaven, flyovers and music tea Longtan temple fair.
Haidian District: 10, Pu McGREGOR Temple (Wat Pho), 7 Wang Fen, the Tomb of March 18, Tai Juesi, large-hui Temple, the Chinese People’s Revolutionary Military Museum, Yuquan Shan, the Beijing Planetarium, Li Dazhao martyrs Park, the 1911 revolution Luanzhou Martyrs Tower, Pine Hall, Diaoyutai, McGREGOR Health Temple (Dazhong Si), Xiangshan, the Capital Gymnasium, I really feel Temple (Wu Tasi), Yuanmingyuan ruins, sorghum Bridge, Snow tomb, Zizhu Yuan, Jingtai Mausoleum, and the Longtan, Jimenyanshu monument, the Summer Palace, Cishousita, Biyun Si, Ying Taogou, Mo he Um, Wei Wo statues and the China Millennium Monument.
Chaoyang District: on the altar, Dongyue Miao, West Huang Si and the National Agricultural Exhibition Center.
Fengtai District: the western Bao Han Tomb, Changxindian February 7 revolutionary relics, the Lugou Bridge, the site in Tucheng, the town Kong tower and Yan pier.
Mentougou District: Mountain and Baihua Mountain, Miao Fengshan, Longmen Jian, Tanzhe Temple, Xifeng Temple, Jietai, riverside city, Zhenzhu Hu, while the Great Wall of Taiwan’s enemy and under-the village.
Shijingshan District: Western Hills Bada Chu, the Shijingshan glaciers Cahen and Fahai Temple.
Changping District: Xiaotangshan Hot Springs, Gong Hua City, Gougou Cliff, the Ming Tombs, Juyongguan, Juyongguan Haeundae, pagodas and Yinshan Zhaozong Bridge.
Yanqing, Huairou, Miyun County: Badaling Great Wall, the statue of Zhan Tianyou, Mutian Valley Great Wall, hit Crossing, Gubeikou Great Wall, the Longquan Temple Qi Jiguang and poetry landmark Sima Tai Great Wall.
Shunyi District and Tongzhou District: Jiaozhuanghu tunnel warfare sites, bridges and Lizhuo Wu Yong-tomb.
Fangshan District: Shidu, at the top of mountains, cloud water tunnel, the Chinese Yuan Ren sites, Zhoukoudian fish fossil origin, Shandingdongren sites, new holes were sites, Liangxiang Dubbo pagoda, Yunju Si towers and Liuli He Shang and Zhou sites.
Pinggu District: Jinhai Hu (Haizi Reservoir).
Transregional: Tucheng yuan site, the southeast corner Jiaolou City, Beijing Mass Transit Railway, the Commissioner ditch King, 72, pillow-sen, Hakuho mound, Mu Guiying dianjiangtai, white trees, Play Gap, Turtle Rock, the natural barrier, Tsing Lung inverted water, Wangjing stone, Chadao Town and courtyard dwellings.

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