Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the photo. Return to this page by using your browser's "Back" button.
Tiananmen Square - center of the city, it is a modern creation as traditional Chinese town planning did not allow for spaces where large crowds might gather. |
Tiananmen Square - a girl admires a revolutionary sculpture of workers and peasants. |
||||
|
The following series of eight photos below is of the Forbidden City, so named because it was off-limits to ordinary Chinese for 500 years. The Forbidden City was home to two imperial dynasties, the Ming and Qing, and comprises over 800 buildings with 9,000 rooms. The basic layout of the city was established by the Emperor Yong Le between 1406 and 1420. |
|||||
Gate of Supreme Harmony - built in the 15C, it was used for ceremonial occasions. |
Detail of the Gate of Supreme Harmony. |
||||
The Hall of Preserving Harmony was used for imperial banquets. |
Bronze lions symbolize loyalty and strength. |
||||
One of many such passages inside the Forbidden City. |
The Palace of Heavenly Purity was a residence of Ming and early Qing emperors. |
||||
The Heavenly Purity Gate. |
The Divine Military Genius Gate.
|
||||
A typical street scene near Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. |
A capitalist country in all but its official title? |
||||
Immediately north of the Forbidden City is Beihai Park, replete with temples, a large lake, and traditional gardens such as this.
|
Beihai Park - catching up on the daily news. A familiar scene in almost any Chinese city. |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
| Confucius Temple
and Imperial College - four views (above) of the largest Confucius
temple in China outside of Qufu, birthplace of Confucius. Built in
the early 14C, it is now mostly a museum.
|
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
| Tiantan (The
Temple of Heaven) - three views (above). Set in a large park in
the southern part of Beijing, this temple was used in official
ceremonies of the Ming court. It was begun under the Emperor Yong
Le and completed in 1420. At the right, parents dress their
children in imperial costumes for pictures.
|
|||||
|
 |
 |
|||
| Lama Temple (Yonghe Gong) - three views (above), built in the late 17C as an imperial residence, it became a temple in 1723, then became a lamasery in 1744. Until 1949 it housed a large number of Buddhist monks from Tibet and Mongolia. | |||||
Lama Temple - detail of one of the prayer halls. |
Wangfujing - this has become Beijing's premier shopping street, and has been pedestrianized for a good part of its length. |
||||
The Summer Palace is set in a huge park on the shores of Kunming Lake in the northwest outskirts of Beijing. Although the area has been frequented by imperial courts for centuries, most of what remains today is associated with the Dowager Empress Cixi, who ruled a disintegrating Chinese empire from 1861 to 1908.
Entrance to the Summer Palace grounds. |
View of Kunming Lake from the Long Gallery. |
Inside the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. |
Part of the East Palace complex. |
Climbing the slopes of Longevity Hill behind the palace. |
The Precious Clouds Pavilion is among the structures on Longevity Hill. |
View of the Buddhist Virtue Temple. |
Inside the Buddhist Virtue Temple. |
A traditional bridge near the northwest entrance to the palace grounds. |
A marble boat built by Cixi, which starved the navy of funds. |
|
 |
| Maps of China and Beijing courtesy of Lonely Planet. | |
