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Tian'anmen Square
Located in the heart of the city, the square is 880 metres from
north to south, and 500 meters from east to west. Said to be the biggest
of its kind in the world, Tian'anmen Square has the capacity to hold one
million people. Tian'anmen (Heavenly Gate) Tower sites at the north end of
the square while the Monument to the People's Heroes dominates the centre.
The square is flanked by The Great Hall of the People (west), The Museum
of the Chinese Revolution and The Museum of Chinese History (east).
Chairman Mao's mausoleum and Qianmen (Front Gate) sit in the south of the
square. Considered one of the top 16 tourist attractions in Beijing,
Tian'anmen Square is also the witness of the Chinese people's great
struggles for democracy and personal freedom since 1919. |
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Forbidden City
Also known as Palace Museum or Gu Gong in Chinese, Forbidden City was the
place where the emperors of Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911)
Dynasties lived and carried out their administration. The largest imperial
palace of the world, the complex covers a floor space of 720,000 square
metres. The rectangular palace is encircled by a moat of 52 metres wide
and 6 metres deep. The wall surrounding the palace has a watchtower on
each of the four corners. Until 1924 when the last emperor Puyi was driven
out, there had been 24 emperors ruling the country from here. |
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The Temple of Heaven
Situated in southeastern Beijing is China's largest extant
sacrificial temple where, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emperor
conducted the elaborate and most exalted sacrifices addressed to "the
Supreme Ruler of the Universe." Construction of the temple started in
1406, during the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle, and took 14 years to
complete. The temple was expanded under the Qing emperors Qianlong
(1736-1796) and Jiaqing (1796-1820). Occupying 2,668 hectares (6,670
acres), the area of the Temple of Heaven is more than twice that of the
Imperial Palace. |
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Beihai Park
West of the Forbidden City is a wide expanse of water called Tai Ye Chi,
which is divided into three sections, Beihai (North Sea), Zhonghai (Middle
Sea) and Nanhai (South Sea). Beihai is the best known of the three lakes
and was turned into a royal garden as early as 1,000 years ago. Inside the
park, you'll find such splendid sites as Five Dragon Pavilion, Nine Dragon
Screen, White Dagoba (an onion-shaped shrine pagoda erected in honor of
the fifth Dalai Lama's visit to Beijing in 1651). |
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Summer Palace
Known as Yi He Yuan in Chinese, Summer Palace is one of the best-preserved
royal garden complexes in Beijing. The imperial resort was first named
Garden of Clear Ripples, which was burnt down by the allied forces of
Great Britain and France in 1860. Reconstruction started 25 years later
and was completed in 1895 when the name was changed to Yi He Yuan (Garden
of Good Health and Harmony). The design gives prominence to Longevity Hill
and Kunming Lake, south of the hill. The sprawling complex covers an area
of 290 hectares and the buildings inside consist of over 3,000 bays. |
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The Great Wall
Zigzagging over 6,000 kilometres from east to west along the undulating
mountains, the Great Wall, said to be visible from the moon, was built to
hold off tribal invaders from the north. As history shows, the Wall failed
the Chinese rulers miserably when Kublai Khan and his men swept across
China and moved the capital of the vast Mongol empire from
Karakorum,
Mongolia, to present-day Beijing, thus the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty
(1279-1368). Construction of the earliest sections of the Wall started in
the 7th century B.C. A major renovation started with the founding of the
Ming Dynasty in 1368 and took 200 years to complete. The wall we see today
in Beijing is almost exactly the result of this effort. |
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Ming Tombs
Fifty kilometres northwest of Beijing stands an arc-shaped cluster of
hills fronted by a small plain. Here is where 13 emperors of the Ming
dynasty (1368-1644) were buried, and the area is collectively known as the
Ming Tombs.Construction of the tombs
started in 1409 and ended with the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. In
over 200 years, tombs were built over an area of 40 square kilometres,
which is surrounded by walls totalling 40 kilometres. Each tomb is located
at the foot of a separate hill and is linked with the other tombs by a
road called the Sacred Way. The stone archway at the southern end of the
Sacred Way, built in 1540, is decorated with designs of clouds, waves and
divine animals. |
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Shaanxi Provincial Museum of History
The modern, well-organized museum was completed in 1992 and traces the
history of Xi'an from prehistory to the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The
extensive galleries and exhibitions offer the visitor an excellent
introduction to the area that greatly improves understanding of the
numerous historical sites in and around the city. |
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