National Parks of China
Overview
| Province | Beijing |
| Location | Beijing |
| Latitude, longitude | 39.9, 116.4 Google Maps |
| Nearby sites | Badaling & Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty, Chengde Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, The Forbidden City (Palace Museum), Beijing, The Temple of Heaven, Beijing, Beijing Central Axis, The Summer Palace, Beijing |
| Top sights | Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Badaling |
| Nearby cities | Tianjin, Dalian, Taiyuan, Qingdao |
| Themes | Metropolises, Palaces, Ancient towns, Historic buildings, Culture & history, Museums, Buddhism, Temples, Pagodas & towers, Gardens, Tombs, City walls, Architecture, Prehistory, Mountains, Lakes, Theme parks, Stamps |
About
Beijing, the capital of China, is a municipality with over 3,000 years of history; five dynasties made it their capital. The 2008 Summer Olympics were held here.
In 2007 Forbes ranked Beijing the 12th most crowded city in the world.
City sights
Forbidden City: the Ming and Qing imperial palace, World Heritage
Tiananmen Square
Jingshan: north of the Forbidden City, overlooking it
Beihai Park: first-batch national key park
Temple of Heaven: World Heritage, national key park
Temple of Earth (Ditan)
Yonghe Lamasery
Beijing Zoo: national key park
Beijing Botanical Garden: national key park; the Sleeping Buddha Temple, Cherry Valley, Cao Xueqin’s former home
Summer Palace: imperial garden, World Heritage
Shichahai: one of the five most beautiful city districts in China
Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) ruins: a great imperial garden burned by the Anglo-French force in 1860
The hutongs
Central Radio and TV Tower
Beijing Amusement Park
Suburban sights
Marco Polo Bridge (Lugouqiao): famous old bridge, site of the 7 July 1937 incident
Ming Tombs: imperial tombs, World Heritage
Badaling Great Wall: the most famous section of the Great Wall
Mutianyu Great Wall
Simatai Great Wall
Jinshanling Great Wall
Zhoukoudian: Peking Man site, World Heritage
Tanzhe Temple
Jietai Temple
Badachu
Miaofeng Mountain
Longqing Gorge
Longmen Ravine
Yunju Temple pagodas, scripture caves and stone sutras: Fangshan District, on China’s World Heritage tentative list
Further afield
Yesanpo: second-batch National Park of China
Eastern Qing Tombs
The Eight Views of Yanjing
The eight views have differed from age to age; as fixed by the Qianlong Emperor they are: Autumn Wind on Taiye Pool, Spring Shade on Qiong Island, Sunset at the Golden Terrace, Misty Trees at Jimen, Clear Snow on the Western Hills, Gushing Jade Spring, Dawn Moon at Lugou Bridge and Layered Green at Juyong.
Food
Quanjude Peking duck
Donglaishun mutton hotpot
Specialities
Cloisonné
Peking opera
Education
Peking University
Tsinghua University
Ten new landmarks
The top 20 in the 2007 vote for new Beijing landmarks: the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest), Beijing West station, the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Qianmen Street, Houhai bar street, China World Trade Center phase 3, Xihuan Plaza, Financial Street, the CCTV headquarters, Zhongguancun West; the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube), the Ming City Wall Relics Park, the Capital Airport terminal, Oriental Plaza, subway line 5, Tiantongyuan, Yongdingmen Square, the FLTRP building and the Central Radio and TV Tower.
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing.
Stamps
Many stamps have featured Beijing since 1949; a few representative sets:
On 15 June 1956 China Post issued S15 “Famous Sights of the Capital”, five stamps: the Summer Palace, Beihai, Tiananmen, the Temple of Heaven and the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
On 2 April 1979 the definitive set R20 “Beijing Scenery”, three stamps: Jingshan Park, the Summer Palace and Beihai Park.
On 20 December 2007 the set 2007-32 “Games of the XXIX Olympiad – Competition Venues”, six stamps and a souvenir sheet: the China Agricultural University gymnasium, the Laoshan velodrome, the National Indoor Stadium, the Peking University gymnasium, the National Aquatics Center, the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, and the National Stadium.
More photos
