Beijing
BEIJING INTRODUCTION
1 Audio file
Today, Beijing is a modern, constantly evolving city, bustling with cars and bicycles, with the vibrant, pulsating pace of life to be expected of the political and economic capital of a superpower...
THE WONDERS OF LOCAL CUISINE
1 Audio file
Among the most popular starters are vegetarian spring rolls, chūnbǐng juǎncài, filled with mushrooms or vegetables, and there’s also a Beijing version of the famous wonton Chinese...
TIANANMEN SQUARE
2 Audio file
With a surface area of 440,000 square meters, 880 meters long and 500 meters wide, this is the largest square in China, and the sixth largest in the world. It is especially well known as the location...
THE FORBIDDEN CITY
14 Audio file
Its Chinese name, Zǐjìnchéng, means forbidden purple city, because the ancient Chinese astronomers believed that the Purple Star, or the Pole Star, marked the center of heaven, and...
JINGSHAN PARK
1 Audio file
Its history stretches back almost a thousand years, to the time when China was governed by the Liao and Jin dynasties, when it was the garden of the imperial palaces, located where the Forbidden City...
NATIONAL MUSEUM
2 Audio file
The Museum of History, originally founded in 1912, was renamed the Museum of the History of Beijing on October 1st, 1949, the date on which the People’s Republic of China was founded, and ten...
BEIHAI PARK
2 Audio file
It was built during the Liao dynasty, between 916 and 1125, and was expanded and altered on numerous occasions. For the most important reconstruction, however, we have to thank Emperor Qianlong, who...
TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
8 Audio file
The complex was later expanded and given the name Temple of Heaven during the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming dynasty in the 16th century, and renovated again in the 18th century under Emperor...
THE GREAT WALL
1 Audio file
The Great Wall also allowed for border controls and for the imposition of duties on goods. It was used to keep checks on immigration and emigration and as a transportation corridor for carriages....
SUMMER PALACE
8 Audio file
Its origins date to 1153, when the fourth emperor of the Jin dynasty ordered the building of a palace on a small hill known as Jar.
Around 1271, after the Yuan dynasty established its capital in...
YONGHE TEMPLE
3 Audio file
The temple was built in 1694, during the Qing dynasty, where one of the residences housing the eunuchs of the emperor’s court once stood. It was replaced with a residence destined for Prince...
SHICHAHAI HUTONG
1 Audio file
During the Yuan dynasty, from 1271 to 1368, Shichahai marked the end of the Grand Canal, the longest artificial canal in the world. This was one of the main reasons for its prosperity, although its...
MING TOMBS
4 Audio file
These 13 magnificent tombs are spread out over 40 square kilometers on either side of the Changling Tomb, arranged in the shape of a fan, with the exception of the Siling tomb, built away from the...
