Beijing Travel Guide
Introduction of Beijing The Forbidden City Tian'anmen Square
Beijing is a world-famous ancient cultural city, the capital of China, as well as China's political, economic and cultural center as well as a center for international communications. Roughly 500,000 years ago the land was the home of Peking Man. Beijing was established as a city in 1045 BC. For nearly 800 years, Beijing was a capital city - the provisional capital of the Liao Dynasty and the capital of the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Bill Clinton, the former USA president once said: "To equate Beijing and New York, Beijing only needs 100 years while New York at least needs 2000 years." Beijing is also a young and international mega-city. What all most-developed cities have can be discovered in Beijing as well, including the intangible creativity and the seeable vitality. In summary, Beijing is a city mingled with tradition and modern life.
Beijing is located in the plain of northern China, partially covered by high mountains in north, west and northwest. The city is divided into 18 districts and counties, covering a total area of 16,800 square kilometers and a population of 11 million. Surprisingly, Beijing is one of the few major cities in China that does not lie on a major river. Instead, water is supplied from two reservoirs - Guanting Reservoir and Miyun Reservoir.
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This is the bird's-eye image of Beijing Forbidden City. Traditionally, Beijing is the heart of China where the Forbidden City is located. It is currently the Palace Museum. Hence, those who want to visit Beijing can imagine how great and magnificent the Forbidden City is! Used to be the exclusive residence of Emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasties and the symbol of superiority and supremacy of feudalistic Emperors, Forbidden City today becomes the representative of glorious ancient civilization and grandness of ancient China, thus, playing the role of a musuem. It is the largest palace museum in the world and undoubtedly one of the world wonders. |
Beijing belongs to the area of semi-humid warm continental monsoon climate. It is windy and dry in spring, hot and rainy in summer, cool and shiny in fall, and freezing in winter. So early October is indeed a nice time to visit Beijing. It is not too cold nor too warm, high at most 60 degrees F in the morning or evening, warming up to at least 80 degrees F at noon.
Beijing is the city that has the largest number of World Cultural Heritage Sites in the world, also in China. Currently, China has 38 World Cultural Heritage Sites, and 6 in Beijing, that is, The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, "Peking Man" Site at Zhoukoudian and the Ming Tombs.
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This is Taihedian or Hall of Supreme Harmony. Taihedian is the largest and highest level architecture in Forbidden City. It is the top of Chinese ancient architecture with an incomparable status and refined decorations. Considered in the aspect of royal supremacy and imperial power, Taihedian is the first and most important building in Forbidden City. From its architectural style to its show in politics and culture, visitors will be deeply amazed! |
The idea of Confucianism is also deeply shown in the titles of buildings of the Forbidden City. For instance, the Chinese characters such as "仁" (benevolence), "和" (peace), "中" (centralization), "安" (stability) are all on behalf of the essence and core of Confucian ideas highlighting the traditional ideology of Confucianism.
The color of the Forbidden City has a profound meaning. The yellow colored-glazed tiles are mostly used indoors. The layout of Qiangqing Palace is more prominent. It comes from the Five-Element Theory in The Book of History, also one of the five classical theoretical books in Confucianism School. The ancient people think this world is comprised of five elements, namely, Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Dust. Such five elements help one another and also disturb one another. It shows the changeable world. The yellow symbolizes dust, and dust is the root for all lives' growth, in other words, it means the Emperor is the root of people's life. The only building, as the royal library titled Wenyuange (文渊阁 in Chinese), has the black colored-glazed tiles where it shows the elaborate design. In the Five-Element Theory, black symbolizes water for fire-resistance.
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Originally, Tiananmen was a part of Forbidden City. Currently it is the central part of Tiananmen Square which is the largest national square in the world. On the day of National Ceremony, Tiananmen is always the world focus and the image of China because all of Chinese vital figures in all walks of life and international leaders will be seen on Tiananmen. It is actually more famous and popular than Forbidden City itself. |
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This is the image of west Tiananmen Square. Visitors can see a large westernized building built in 1950s. It is also eye-catching but inferior to Tiananmen because of the difference of the architectural styles. This is the Great Hall of People, the location where the annual national conference or meeting is held. It is another symbolic building in Beijing and even China. In the past, it was the landmark of China, and each young man in China was quite familiar with it because it used to be the image in textbooks from primary school to university. |
