A China Experience
The capital of China, Beijing, is a bustling hive of activity with countless glittering skyscrapers, sprawling suburbs and buzzing markets. Cranes pepper a skyline seemingly in continuous construction and modernisation, accommodating some 20 million residents who call this megacity home.
Beijing boasts an abundance of attractions of cultural and historical interest. Some of the most popular include the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and the remains of Peking Man at Zhoukoudian, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Chinese history and culture fascinate Western visitors, and Beijing is a great place to dive in. The city is dotted with palaces, temples, gardens and tombs, many epitomising classical Chinese architecture, and it also has roughly 120 museums and more than 100 public gardens.
The first port of call for most visitors is the Forbidden City, which lies at the heart of Beijing, with the rest of the city sprawling out from it in a grid pattern. For five centuries, this massive palace complex, with 9,999 rooms, functioned as the country’s administrative centre and played host to a succession of emperors who lived in luxurious isolation, surrounded by courtiers and retainers. The Palace overlooks the infamous Tiananmen Square, a historical site of considerable political drama and dissent and a vibrant social and cultural centre point.
In preparing to host the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing underwent many significant renovations. Public transport was improved, environmental issues were addressed, and a general city clean-up was ordered. The games highlighted Beijing’s economic rise and emergence as a world power, and the city has just gone from strength to strength since then.
Travellers should prepare for less-than-stellar air quality in this booming city, but luckily breathlessness is just as likely to stem from excitement and awe. Beijing is a traveller’s delight, a shrine to modernity and ancient history.
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