Beijing
Lying on the northwestern fringe of the Great North China Plain, Beijing serves as a gateway to the Inner Mongolian steppes in the north, the Shanxi plateau in the west and, through the easternmost pass of the Great Wall at Shanhaiguan. With an area of 16,808 sq. kilometers, it is today the political, cultural and administrative center of the People's Republic of China, the home of more than 13.8 million citizens and the seat of government. Major rivers flowing through the city include Yongding River, Chaobai River, Beiyun Canal and Juma River. With a typical continental warm temperate zone monsoon climate, Beijing has four distinct seasons. The average annual temperature at Beijing is around 12 degrees Centigrade while the average annual precipitation is 626 mm. Beijing is rich in mineral resources including coal, iron,copper, limestone and marble as well as relatively rich in the terrestrial heat resource.
Beijing is an ancient city with a long history. Beijing has been in existence as a settlement for more than 3,000 years, although the remains of "Peking Man" show that human life existed in this part of China half a million years ago. It has been a center of power under the Mongols, the Ming, the Manchu and now the People's Republic of China for a period spanning almost seven hundred years. The old civilization and modern culture present the new Beijing.
Beijing opera or Peking opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in the late 18th century and became fully developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. Major performance troupes are based in Beijing and Tianjin in the north, and Shanghai in the south.
The Imperial Palace, also known as the Forbidden City, is located in the center of Beijing City, 1 km north from the Tiananmen Square, right opposite the south gate of Jingshan Mountain. Outside the Imperial Palace lies a moat, on the inner side of which there’s the city wall whose perimeter is 3 km with a height of nearly 10 meters. The wall has one gate on each side: the Meridian Gate to the south, the Shenwu Gate to the north, the Donghua Gate to the east and the Xihua Gate to the west; besides, there’re four exquisitely carved unique turrets standing at each corner of the wall.
The Great Wall of China is the national military defensive project in cold weapon era that took the longest period of time to build and with the largest project amount in the world. With a total length of about 6700 km, it’s called “the Great Wall”. Based on historical records, Chu State first built the wall “Fangcheng” in 700 BC and the construction never ended until Ming Dynasty, the construction of the Great Wall lasted for over two thousand years during which more than 20 kingdoms and feudal dynasties once took part in building the Great Wall. In Qin, Han and Ming Dynasties, the length of the wall were all more than 5000 km.
Located in southern Beijing City, the Temple of Heaven is the place where the emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties worshiped Heaven and prayed for bumper crops. The Temple of Heaven is comprised of the Circular Mound Altar and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, and there’re two walls, the inner one and the outer one, surrounding the Temple of Heaven. With north wall being circular and the south one square as it intersects with the east and west walls at right angles, they’re given the name “the Heaven and Earth Walls”, representing Heaven and Earth, for in ancient China, people believed that Heaven was round and Earth was square.
Located in the western suburbs of Beijing, the Summer Palace which is regarded as the most typical Chinese classical garden is composed by the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake, covering a total area of about 290 hectares. The whole palace is mainly divided into 3 areas: the political activities area with the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity as the center; the royal living area, the Hall of Jade Ripples and the Hall of Happiness and Longevity; the scenic area which consists of the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake.
Quadrangle is Jeongbang, things rooms around the courtyard between the traditional layout of a plane residential collectively. In residential areas in China with the longest history and the most widely distributed, is a typical form of the Han residential areas. Its history has been over 3,000 years, the Western Zhou Dynasty, the forms had already begun to take shape. Quadrangle is the typical characteristic appearance of the rules, the center line symmetry, and is very flexible in use. The general distribution for the courtyard door, the first to the center, lobby, and the second to the center, book store and houses, both sides have rooms, the corridors are, door connected.
The National Indoor Stadium also called “Bird’s Nest” is situated in the south of the Olympic Park in Beijing North Four Ring Road. Its covered area is about 260 thousand square meters, which can hold 100 thousand audiences, can conduct the track and field and the football game of Beijing Olympic Games, and can hold the opening and closing ceremony of the Olympic Games at the same time. After the Beijing Olympic Games, the Bird’s Nest is widely known as the large professional place for citizens to take part in the sports activities and enjoy the sports entertainment. It also becomes the landmark sports building and the Olympic legacy.
Beijing is an ancient city with a long history. Beijing has been in existence as a settlement for more than 3,000 years, although the remains of "Peking Man" show that human life existed in this part of China half a million years ago. It has been a center of power under the Mongols, the Ming, the Manchu and now the People's Republic of China for a period spanning almost seven hundred years. The old civilization and modern culture present the new Beijing.
Beijing opera or Peking opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in the late 18th century and became fully developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. Major performance troupes are based in Beijing and Tianjin in the north, and Shanghai in the south.
The Imperial Palace, also known as the Forbidden City, is located in the center of Beijing City, 1 km north from the Tiananmen Square, right opposite the south gate of Jingshan Mountain. Outside the Imperial Palace lies a moat, on the inner side of which there’s the city wall whose perimeter is 3 km with a height of nearly 10 meters. The wall has one gate on each side: the Meridian Gate to the south, the Shenwu Gate to the north, the Donghua Gate to the east and the Xihua Gate to the west; besides, there’re four exquisitely carved unique turrets standing at each corner of the wall.
The Great Wall of China is the national military defensive project in cold weapon era that took the longest period of time to build and with the largest project amount in the world. With a total length of about 6700 km, it’s called “the Great Wall”. Based on historical records, Chu State first built the wall “Fangcheng” in 700 BC and the construction never ended until Ming Dynasty, the construction of the Great Wall lasted for over two thousand years during which more than 20 kingdoms and feudal dynasties once took part in building the Great Wall. In Qin, Han and Ming Dynasties, the length of the wall were all more than 5000 km.
Located in southern Beijing City, the Temple of Heaven is the place where the emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties worshiped Heaven and prayed for bumper crops. The Temple of Heaven is comprised of the Circular Mound Altar and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, and there’re two walls, the inner one and the outer one, surrounding the Temple of Heaven. With north wall being circular and the south one square as it intersects with the east and west walls at right angles, they’re given the name “the Heaven and Earth Walls”, representing Heaven and Earth, for in ancient China, people believed that Heaven was round and Earth was square.
Located in the western suburbs of Beijing, the Summer Palace which is regarded as the most typical Chinese classical garden is composed by the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake, covering a total area of about 290 hectares. The whole palace is mainly divided into 3 areas: the political activities area with the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity as the center; the royal living area, the Hall of Jade Ripples and the Hall of Happiness and Longevity; the scenic area which consists of the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake.
Quadrangle is Jeongbang, things rooms around the courtyard between the traditional layout of a plane residential collectively. In residential areas in China with the longest history and the most widely distributed, is a typical form of the Han residential areas. Its history has been over 3,000 years, the Western Zhou Dynasty, the forms had already begun to take shape. Quadrangle is the typical characteristic appearance of the rules, the center line symmetry, and is very flexible in use. The general distribution for the courtyard door, the first to the center, lobby, and the second to the center, book store and houses, both sides have rooms, the corridors are, door connected.
The National Indoor Stadium also called “Bird’s Nest” is situated in the south of the Olympic Park in Beijing North Four Ring Road. Its covered area is about 260 thousand square meters, which can hold 100 thousand audiences, can conduct the track and field and the football game of Beijing Olympic Games, and can hold the opening and closing ceremony of the Olympic Games at the same time. After the Beijing Olympic Games, the Bird’s Nest is widely known as the large professional place for citizens to take part in the sports activities and enjoy the sports entertainment. It also becomes the landmark sports building and the Olympic legacy.