Forbidden City
Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 rooms.
The Forbidden City was home to 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The construction of the grand palace started in the fourth year of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty (1406) and ended in 1420.
Now start your tour in the Forbidden City from Wumen, called Meridian Gate in English. It is also named Five-Phoenix Tower, Wufenglou in Chinese, for it looks like a phoenix with five pavilion buildings up there. It's the main gate and south gate of the Forbidden City. Enter the Meridian Gate, across the Golden Stream Bridge you will arrive at the outer court-the Forbidden City falls into two parts: the outer court and the inner palaces.
The outer court is made up of three main buildings, the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian), the Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghedian) and Bao He Dian or the Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohedian) These halls were where the emperors attended the grand ceremonies and conducted state affairs. The first hall waiting for you is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the most important and largest structure in the Forbidden City. The emperors' Dragon Throne (Longyi) was placed at this hall. Behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghedian), resting place for the emperor before presenting the grand occasions held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Emperors would rehearse their speeches and presentations here before departing to the Temple of Heaven for the sacrifice rites. The last hall is the Hall of the Preserving Harmony used for banquets and later for imperial examinations.
Out from the Hall of the Preserving Harmony, you will notice a huge marble carved with cloud and dragons design. Go straight, you will see another gate, called Gate of Heavenly Peace (Qianqingmen). This is the main gateway to the inner living court.
The inner court is composed of the rear three main structure of the Forbidden City, namely, the Palace of Heavenly Peace (Qianqinggong), Jiao Tai Dian, or the Palace of the Union and Peace and Kun Ning Gong, or the Palace of Terrestrial Tranquility. Besides the three rear main buildings are the six eastern palaces and six western palaces, where the emperor used to handle every day affairs and was the living quarters for the emperor, expresses and concubines. Those palaces, however, have been converted into exihibition halls, where a spectacular set of imperial collections is displayed.
The first structure inside the inner court is the Palace of Heavenly Purity(Qianqinggong) - the emperors' sleeping place. Behind it is Palace of Union and Peace (Jiaotaidian), where the imperial seals were stored. The third hall is the Hall of Terrestrial Tranquility (Kuining Hall) - emperors' wedding room. Exiting the Hall of Terrestrial Tranquility and going further north, travelers will find the Imperial Garden.The garden offers an aesthetic change from the crimson or gray building complex to a colorful and luxuriant atmosphere. On the left side of the inner court, travelers will find the Mental Cultivation Hall (Yangxindian), the most important building except for the Hall of Supreme Harmony. From the time of the third emperor Yongzhen, all the Qing emperors, 8 in total resided in this hall. The places at the eastern and Western sides, the former residences of the concubines have been converted into exhibition halls.
The main exit gate of the Forbidden City is the Gate of Devine Might behind the Imperial Garden.
For security the Forbidden City is enclosed by a 10 meters high city wall, which has a circumference of 3, 430 meters. At each corner of the rectangular Forbidden City, there stands a magnificent watchtower, which was heavily guarded in the past.
Badaling Great Wall
Badaling Great Wall is situated in Yanqing County, over 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Beijing. It is the most well-preserved section of the Great Wall, built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This section with an average altitude of over 1,000 meters (3,282 feet) is the outpost of the Juyongguan Pass. The mountain slope is very steep and the roads are tortuous. These features made it a military stronghold.
Badaling Great wall was built in the 18th year of the Ming Hong Zhi reign (1505). The wall, built with high stone slabs on the outside, is 7.8 meters high on the average, some even reaches 8.4meters. The base of the wall was built with more than 2000 large rectangular slab of granite stones. It is about 6.5 meters wide on the average at its base and 5.7 meters wide on the average on the ramparts. The wall is wide enough for five horses to gallop abreast and ten people to advance shoulder to shoulder. The outside of the wall is called rampart wall. The rampart wall was built with bricks 1.7 meters high. Built for the purpose of defense, there are holes on the tip of the wall called watch-hole, and peepholes under the wall called embrasures. Inside of the wall, there are low walls with one meter high called parapets, which can be used as railings. There is a scroll door not far from the inside wall, with is a stone ladder for climbing up and down. The wall is narrow on the top and broad on the bottom forming an adder-shape structure. This made the wall stands firmly on the rise and fall ridges. The wall was built with 10-14 rectangular slab of stones surrounding its outside, filled with soilsand stones in the middle, and paved with square bricks on the top between the bricks were stuck with lime stones. This makes the wall tidy, beautiful, and firm. There are gutters with gargoyles to drain rain-water off the parapet wall.
Tiananmen Square
Measuring 440, 000 square meters, Tiananmen is the most sizable square located in the center of a city in this planet and can hold about one million people for public celebration or gatherings.In the square tourists can climb the Tiananmen Rostrum, attend the national flag raising ceremony every morning (the time varies subject to the sunrise), visit the National Museum of China, and go to Mao Zedong Memorial Hall.
The Tiananmen Rostrum, standing to the north of the Tiananmen Square, precisely in the south – north central axis of Beijing, was the main gate of the royal palace of both the Ming and Qing Dynasty. It was initially called Cheng Tian Men or the Gate of Carrying the Heaven, which means that to shoulder the edict of the Heaven, and obtain the divine power form the Heaven.
Five Star Red Flag-the Chinese national flag, flies high in the sky above the Square. To see the guard of honor raise the Flag is a must for the tourist visiting Beijing City. You have to get up very early and arrive at the Square before sunrise.
The National Museum is at the east side of the Square. It just came into existence in 2003 and is a combination of Chinese History Museum and Chinese Revolutionary Museum. Inside the Chinese Revolutionary Museum are a lot of material objects, pictures, books and models to present the development of modern China.
Mao Zedong Memorial Hall is at the south side of the Square. This Hall is divided into three halls and our dear Chairman Mao's body lies in a crystal coffin in one of the halls surrounded by fresh bouquets of various famous flowers and grasses.
The Monument to the People's Heroes
The Great Hall of the People
Hutong
Hutong is a typical lane or small street in Beijing that originated during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). "Hutong" is a Mongolian word, meaning "water well". During that time, water well is the settlement around which people lived. There are tens of thousands of hutongs surrounding the Forbidden City. In the past, Beijing was composed of countless courtyards. Hutongs were formed when people left a passageway between two courtyards to make entering them more convenient.
As the symbol of Beijing City, a hutong has its own layout and structure, which makes it a wonder in the world.Beijing 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