Top 10 Attractions in Beijing

Top 10 Attractions in Beijing

Beijing is definitely one of the most visited cities in the world. Every year, millions of visitors flock to Beijing to see the capital of China, a great blend of old and new.

Beijing is a city for all seasons. You can always find something for you no matter what time you are in Beijing and whatever your interests are. There are actually hundreds of tourist scenic spots and historical sites in Beijing. Some are walkable. Some are a little far from the city center.

Here you find top 10 attractions to do while visiting Beijing, China

1. Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Located in the exact center of Beijing proper, The Forbidden City was political and ceremonial center of China and home to China’s Emperors for more than 500 years. Built in 1406, the palace was built and rebuilt through the Ming (1638-1611) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties. The palace, which is now technically named The Palace Museum, was built to showcase the power and grandeur of China and its architecture and treasures are testament to that. The palace is the largest palace complex and the largest collection of ancient wooden structures in the world and was placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1987. The Palace Museum’s collection of priceless artifacts is centered on the collections of China’s Emperors.

2. Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square in Beijing is unarguably the stone heart of China. Although technically there are three other public squares in China that are larger, Tiananmen is a seemingly endless plain of concrete and monolithic structures meant to showcase the grand scale of the communist party.

The square draws in visitors. Even with 109 acres (440,000 square meters) and a capacity of around 600,000 people, it still feels busy! It can easily reach capacity during big events such as National Day on October 1.

3. Temple of Heaven

Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven showcases a perfect geometrical setup and heavy emphasis on ancient symbolisms as old as the great philosopher Confucius (551-497 BC) himself.

The principal structures – The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, The Imperial Vault of Heaven, The Altar of Heaven – are placed along the temple’s central north-south axis, with the northern section (the prayer hall) set on a slightly higher elevation than the southern section (the altar) to symbolise heaven’s superiority over the earth.

 

4. The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace, one of the finest examples garden architecture in China, is located in the northwest suburbs of Beijing. The 100-odd examples of traditional architecture in the park include pavilions, terraces, temples, pagodas, waterside gazebos, covered corridors, stone bridges and the famous marble boat. The palace occupies a total area of 290 hectares, three quarters of which is made up of shallow lakes.

 

5. The Ming Tombs

The Ming Tombs

The Ming Tombs, a major tourist site in Beijing's suburb, announced the temporary closure of its indoor spaces from Saturday amid a resurgence of fresh COVID-19 cases over the past week. The outdoor spaces of the tourist site are still open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day, according to the office administering the site. Visitors must make real-name reservations and purchase tickets online. Besides, visitors are also required to wear masks, show health codes and undergo temperature screening before entry.

 

6. The Great Wall

The Great Wall

The Great Wall started to come together in the third century BC on the direction of Qin Shi Huang, the ambitious emperor also responsible for building the mausoleum of the Terracotta Army outside Xian. He conceived the wall as a defence system on the northern border of the country joining together a series of earlier fortifications. The idea was taken up by successive empires and building work continued for more than a millennium; by the time of the Ming dynasty in the 17th century, the Great Wall was the world’s largest military structure.

 

7. Hutongs

Hutongs

Hutongs are a type of narrow street or alley commonly associated with northern Chinese cities, especially Beijing. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.

Since the mid-20th century, many Beijing hutongs were demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, however, many hutongs have been designated as protected, in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history. Hutongs were first established in the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) and then expanded in the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties.

 

8. Beijing Olympic Park

Beijing Olympic Park

Almost everybody knows that the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing, China. However, when the International Olympic Committee announced that the 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing as well, it became the first city all over the world to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics. The Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympics held in Beijing Olympic Park, which has an area of 2,864 acres (1,159 hectares).

The Olympic Forest Park occupies 1,680 acres in the north, 778 acres in the center, and 405 acres in the southern area with various venues also used for the 1990 Asian Games. The park was constructed to hold 10 venues, the Olympic Village, and other buildings needed for the Olympics operations. To boost Tourism, the sites were transformed into a complete multi-functional activity center for the city’s locals and visitors.

 

9. The Capital Museum Beijing

The Capital Museum Beijing

The Capital Museum is an art museum in Beijing, China. It opened in 1981 and moved into its present building in 2006, which houses a large collection of ancient porcelain, bronze, calligraphy, painting, jade, sculpture, and Buddhist statues from imperial China as well as other Asian cultures. Part of the museum's collections were formerly housed in the Confucius Temple on Guozijian Road in Beijing.

 

10. Beijing Opera

Beijing Opera

While they may differ only slightly in costume and makeup, all traditional opera forms, including Peking opera, are, strictly speaking, "regional," in that each is based on the music and dialect of a specific area. Since, however, Peking opera assumed its present form about two hundred years ago in Beijing, then the capital of the Qing Dynasty, it is usually regarded as a national art form. It was developed and improved by masters of the performing arts for many generations before it reached maturity and perfection. It is considered a superb art form, famous for its great artistic skill in singing, dancing and martial arts. Peking opera is the most representative of all Chinese traditional dramatic art forms.