Cityscape features of Beijing

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It began to build in 1406, finished in 1420, about 600 years until now. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China. It now houses the Palace Museum.
The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms. It covers 720,000 square meters. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the "Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties", and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China,The Great Wall of China, also known in China as the Great Wall of 10,000, is an ancient Chinese fortification built from the end of the 14th century, until the beginning of the 17th century, 6,700-kilometer-long (4,161-mile-long). Now well-known as the Great Wall of China, it starts at the Jiayuguan Pass of Gansu Province in the west and ends at the Shanhaiguan Pass of Hebei Province in the east. As one of the Eight Wonders in the world, the Great Wall of China has become the symbol of the Chinese nation and its culture.

The Summer Palace(Yiheyuan)

The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) is a palace in Beijing, China. The initial construction of the Summer Palace began in 1750.
The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. The central Kunming Lake covering 2.2 square kilometers was entirely man made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill. In the Summer Palace, one finds a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures. The Summer Palace has been listed by the UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites

The Confucius Temple and Guozijian

The Confucius Temple and Guozijian (the Imperial College) in Beijing were first build in the Yuan Dynasty, and followed the ancient architectural rules ‘temple on the left and school on the right,’ which served respectively as the place to worship and enshrine Confucius by the emperors and the highest imperial college. The two building complexes were respectively constructed along its central axial line, in the traditional Chinese architectural format of symmetry, and formed a complete set of magnificent and grand ancient building complex. The Dacheng Hall, the main architecture of the Confucius Temple, is as magnificent and splendid as the Taihe Hall in the Forbidden City. The stone tablets bearing the names of 51,624 scholars from all over China who passed the triennial imperial examinations tell the history of China’s imperial examination system.

National Center for the Performing Arts

The construction of NCPA is a major achievement of the reform and opening up, which reflects the enhanced comprehensive national strength in the cultural field and highlights the confidence and determination for the party and the country to vigorously promote advanced socialist culture and promote social harmony. As China's top performing arts centre, the NCPA will adhere to the three major objectives of '"for the people, for the arts and for theworld" and strive its vision to be:

A key member of prestigious international theatres;

The supreme palace of performing arts in China;
The leader of arts education and outreach;
The grandest platform for international arts exchange;
An important base for cultural and creative industry

Opening Hours

Monday closed.

Tuesday-Sunday & National Holidays: 9:00-17:00 admission before 16:30

Opera Festival Theme Tickets

RMB 30 / person at the Box Office

Family Package: RMB 55 or RMB 88

CCTV Tower

CCTV Tower Introduction: Rem Koolhaas' twisted take on the skyscraper has made his headquaters for China's state television network a symbol of the nation's far-reaching ambitions. Each 40story, 60-degree-learning tower turns dramatically at the bottom and top, forming a single loop that has earned it many nicknames, including wei fang, or "dangerous building". It's also one of the biggest structures in the world, with more floor space than any other single structure save the Pentagon. Koolhaas has defended his work for the world's largest state-run television network by pointing to the building's public-ness (it features a "public loop" that will be open to all). The main building will most likely be off limits to the curious masses, but the 241-room Mandarin Oriental hotel, in the adjoining Television Cultural Center (TVCC), will offer prime views overlooking a brave new urban world.

Overview of the National Stadium

Located in the south of the Beijing Olympic Green, the National Stadium (Bird's Nest) has a floor area of 258,000m2 and a site area of 204,000m2; and with about 80,000 fixed seats it is able to accommodate 91,000 audiences. The National Stadium is constructed on a plinth which rises gradually from the ground, so audiences can access the Stadium by walking along the plinth through the Olympic Green. Among world's sport facilities, the National Stadium has one of the largest spans in its steel structure.
The National Stadium was constructed with an advanced energy-saving design and such environment-friendly features as natural ventilation and lighting, full recycling of rainwater, utilization of renewable geothermal energy resources and application of solar photovoltaic power generation technologies.

open Time：Mar-Oct (9:00-18:00) Nov-Feb(9：00-17：30)
Add: No. 1, National Stadium South Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

Beijing's hutongs

Beijing's hutongs, lanes or alleys formed by lines of Siheyuan (a compound with houses around a courtyard) where old Beijing residents live, witness the vicissitude of the city. The word "Hutong" originates from the word "Hottog" which means "well" in Mongolian. Villagers dig out a well and inhabited there. Hhutong means a lane or alley, in fact the passage formed by lines of Siheyuan (a compound with houses around a courtyard) where old Beijing residents live, be care not to lost in it! It was recorded that in the Yuan a 36-meter-wide road was called a standard street, a 18-meter-wide one was a small street and a 9-meter-wide lane was named a Hutong. In fact, Beijing's Hutongs are inequable ranging from 40 centimeter to 10 meter in wide. The longest has more than 20 turns, either in east-west or north-south, Beijing 's Hutongs varied as slant, half or blind Hutongs" cul-de-sacs. The gray-tiled houses and deep alleys crossing with each other in identical appearance like a maze, you will find it much fun to walk through but be care not to lost yourself.