Beijing
Beijing 5-day 4-night group
Start at RMB ¥6,800.00 per person
* Round-trip international air tickets NOT included.
• D1： Beijing local airport pick-up-check-in-free activities
• D2： Temple of Heaven—Tiananmen Square—In-depth Tour of the Forbidden City
• D3： Flag Raising Ceremony - Badaling Great Wall - Bird's Nest
• D4： Badachu Park—Outlook Tsinghua University—Summer Palace—Shichahai (including Hutong viewing party or Summer Palace cruise)
• D5： Prince Kung's Mansion - Free activities on Qianmen Street - Beijing drop off.
Beijing is an ancient capital with a history of more than 3,000 years. It has different names in different dynasties. Roughly speaking, there are more than 20 other names, such as Yandu, Youzhou, Jingcheng, Peking and so on. As the former imperial city of the emperor, Beijing is full of distinctive ancient buildings. It can be said that you can step on cultural relics every step of the way. Every ancient building tells a wonderful history. So, what are the most popular ancient architectural attractions in Beijing? Let's take a look together.
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City in Beijing is the royal palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. It was formerly known as the Forbidden City. It is located in the center of the central axis of Beijing. It is one of the largest and best preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. The Forbidden City in Beijing is centered on three main halls, covering an area of 720,000 square meters, with a construction area of about 150,000 square meters. There are more than 70 palaces of different sizes and more than 9,000 houses. It is a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction. It was listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units in 1961 and listed as a world cultural heritage in 1987.
The Forbidden City in Beijing started construction in the fourth year of Yongle (1406), Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty. It was built on the basis of the Forbidden City in Nanjing, and it was completed in the eighteenth year of Yongle (1420). It is a rectangular city, 961 meters long from north to south, 753 meters wide from east to west, surrounded by walls 10 meters high, and a moat 52 meters wide outside the city. The buildings in the Forbidden City are divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner court.
The center of the Outer Dynasty is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony, collectively referred to as the Three Great Halls, where the state holds grand ceremonies. The center of the inner court is Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, and Kunning Palace, collectively referred to as the Housan Palace, which is the main palace where the emperor and empress live.
Tiantan Park
The Temple of Heaven Park is the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties "worshiped heaven" and "prayed for the valley". It is located on the east side of Zhengyang Gate. The altar area is circular in the north and square in the south, implying "the sky is round and the earth is round". Two altar walls are built around it, dividing the whole altar into two parts, the inner altar and the outer altar, with a total area of 273 hectares, and the main buildings are concentrated in the inner altar.
The inner altar is divided into two parts by the wall, the north and the south. The north is the "Prayer Valley Altar", which is used to pray for a good harvest in spring. The central building is the Hall of Prayer for Harvests. In the south is the "Circular Mound Altar", which is dedicated to offering sacrifices to heaven on the "Winter Solstice" day. The central building is a huge circular stone platform named "Circular Mound". The two altars are connected by a 360-meter-long corridor above the ground - the Danbi Bridge, which together form a 1,200-meter-long north-south architectural axis of the Temple of Heaven, with large ancient Berlins on both sides.
On the south side of the West Gate, there is a "Zhai Palace", which is the residence of the emperor before the sacrifice. The Western Outer Altar has a "Sacred Music Department", which is in charge of the teaching and performance of sacrificial music and dance. The main buildings in the altar include the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, the Hall of Emperor Qian, the Circular Mound, the Imperial Vault of Heaven, the Zhai Palace, the Beamless Hall, the Long Corridor, the Longevity Pavilion with Double Rings, etc., as well as the Huanqing Echo Wall, the Sanyin Stone, and the Seven Star Stone.
Badaling Great Wall
The Badaling Great Wall, located at the north entrance of the Guangou Ancient Road in Jundu Mountain, Yanqing District, Beijing, is an important part of the Great Wall, a great defense project in ancient China, and a pass of the Ming Great Wall. The Badaling Great Wall is an important outpost of Juyongguan. It was said in ancient times that "the danger of Juyongguan is not in the pass but in Badaling".
The Badaling Great Wall is the earliest part of the Great Wall opened to tourists in the Ming Dynasty. The Badaling Scenic Area is mainly based on the Badaling Great Wall. There are modern tourist service facilities with complete functions such as the Badaling Hotel and the Great Wall Museum of China signed by Chairman Jiang Zemin himself. Badaling Scenic Area is a demonstration site of national civilized scenic tourist areas. It is famous for its magnificent landscape, perfect facilities and profound cultural and historical connotations. It is a worldfamous tourist attraction.
summer palace
The Summer Palace, a royal garden during the Qing Dynasty in China, formerly known as Qingyi Garden, is located in the western suburbs of Beijing, 15 kilometers away from the urban area, covering an area of about 290 hectares (2.9 square kilometers), adjacent to the Old Summer Palace. It is a large-scale landscape garden built on the basis of Kunming Lake and Wanshou Mountain, modeled on Hangzhou West Lake, and drawing on the design techniques of Jiangnan gardens. It is also the most complete preserved royal palace and royal garden, known as the "Royal Garden Museum". , is also a national key tourist attraction.
On March 4, 1961, the Summer Palace was announced as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. Together with Chengde Summer Resort, Humble Administrator's Garden and Lingering Garden, it was also known as China's Four Famous Gardens. It was listed in November 1998. "World Heritage List". On May 8, 2007, the Summer Palace was officially approved by the National Tourism Administration as a national 5A-level tourist attraction. In 2009, the Summer Palace was selected as the largest existing royal garden in China by the China World Records Association.
Prince Gong's Mansion
Prince Gong's Mansion is located on Liuyin Street, Xicheng District, Beijing. It was the largest royal mansion in the Qing Dynasty. In 1851, Prince Kung Yixin became the owner of the house, hence the name of Prince Kung’s Mansion. Prince Gong's Mansion is large in scale, covering an area of about 60,000 square meters. It is divided into two parts: the mansion and the garden. In the front and back sea where the Wang Mansion and Baylor Mansion gather together, Prince Kung's Mansion is known as "the best landscape in the city" for its richness, and it is also famous for its mansion system comparable to the Forbidden City.
Prince Gong’s Mansion has gone through the historical process of the Qing Dynasty from its heyday to its decline, carrying extremely rich historical and cultural information, so there is a saying that “one Prince Gong’s Mansion, half of the history of the Qing Dynasty”. With the concern of Zhou Enlai, Gu Mu and Li Lanqing, three generations of leaders of the State Council, the restoration work of Prince Gong's Mansion was completed in 28 years, making it the only Qing Dynasty royal mansion open to the public in China at that time.
Lama Temple
Lama Temple is located in the northeast corner of downtown Beijing. In the 33rd year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1694), Emperor Kangxi built a mansion here and bestowed it on his fourth son, Prince Yong, and called it Prince Yong's Mansion. In the third year of Yongzheng (1725), the palace was changed into a palace, called Lama Temple. In the thirteenth year of Yongzheng (1735), Emperor Yongzheng died and his coffin was parked here. Therefore, the original green glazed tiles of the main hall of Lama Temple were changed to yellow glazed tiles.
Because Emperor Qianlong was born here, and two emperors came out of Lama Temple, it became a "blessed place for dragons to dive into", so the palace has yellow tiles and red walls, which are the same specifications as the Forbidden City Palace. In the ninth year of Qianlong (1744), the Lama Temple was changed into a Lama Temple, and the Minister of Prime Minister Affairs Wang was appointed to manage the affairs of the palace without a fixed number of staff. It can be said that the Lama Temple is the highest-standard Buddhist temple in the country in the middle and late Qing Dynasty.
Lama Temple is located in the northeast corner of downtown Beijing. In the 33rd year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1694), Emperor Kangxi built a mansion here and bestowed it on his fourth son, Prince Yong, and called it Prince Yong's Mansion. In the third year of Yongzheng (1725), the palace was changed into a palace, called Lama Temple. In the thirteenth year of Yongzheng (1735), Emperor Yongzheng died and his coffin was parked here. Therefore, the original green glazed tiles of the main hall of Lama Temple were changed to yellow glazed tiles.
Ming Tombs
The Ming Tombs are located at the foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping District, Beijing. From the beginning of the Changling in May of the seventh year of Yongle (1409) to the burial of Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, in Siling, thirteen tombs were built successively during more than 230 years. The emperor's tomb, seven concubines' tombs, and one eunuch's tomb. A total of thirteen emperors, twenty-three empresses, two princes, more than thirty concubines, and two eunuchs were buried. As of 2011, the scenic spots that have been opened include Changling, Dingling, Zhaoling and Shenlu.
The Ming Tombs are famous all over the world for their majestic scale, complete cemetery system, solemn and harmonious layout, beautiful and quiet scenery, and elegant and simple style. In 1957, it was listed as the first batch of key ancient buildings and cultural relics protection units in Beijing. In 1961, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit. In 1982, the Ming Tombs and Badaling were listed as one of the national key scenic spots protection areas as a complete scenic spot. On July 3, 2003, the Ming Tombs, as an expansion project of the royal tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, were approved by the 27th United Nations World Heritage Conference and included in the "World Heritage List".
Beijing Taimiao
The Taimiao is the family temple where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties paid homage to their ancestors. It was first built in the eighteenth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420), covering an area of more than 200 mu. The Taimiao is rectangular in plan, 475 meters long from north to south, and 294 meters wide from east to west. It has triple walls, and the front, middle and back halls form a three-story closed courtyard.
Taimiao, the main hall stands in the center of the entire Taimiao complex, with a width of eleven rooms and a depth of four rooms, with a construction area of 2240 square meters; the roof of the hall with double eaves, triple white marble xumizuo-style platform, and stone guardrails around; Liangdong is covered with agarwood, and other building components are all precious golden nanmu.
Beihai Park
Beihai Park is located in the central area of Beijing, on the west side of Jingshan Mountain in the city, and on the northwest side of the Forbidden City. Together with Zhonghai and Nanhai, it is called the Three Seas and is an ancient Chinese royal garden. It began in the Liao Dynasty, and the Jin Dynasty built the grand Taining Palace in the 19th year of Dading (1179) on the basis of the Liao Dynasty. The Taining Palace followed the regulation of "one pool and three mountains" in the royal gardens of our country, and moved the Taihu Stone from the Genyue Imperial Garden in Bianjing, Northern Song Dynasty to Qionghua Island.
In the fourth year of Zhiyuan (1267), Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, built Dadu with Qionghua Island in Taining Palace as the center. Qionghua Island and the lake where it is located were included in the imperial city and named Longevity Mountain and Taiye Pool. In the 18th year of Yongle (1420), the Ming Dynasty officially moved the capital to Beijing, and Longevity Hill and Taiye Pool became the imperial garden to the west of the Forbidden City, called Xiyuan. In the Ming Dynasty, the water surface was opened up to the south, forming a pattern of three seas. The Qing Dynasty inherited Xiyuan from the Ming Dynasty, and the Qianlong period carried out large-scale reconstruction of Beihai, which established the scale and pattern of the future.
Centered on Beihai, the whole park covers an area of about 71 hectares, 583 acres of water surface and 480 acres of land. It was originally the Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasty palaces, and it was established as the imperial garden in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is one of the oldest, most complete, most comprehensive and representative royal gardens in China. It was opened as a park in 1925 and is a national key. It is a cultural relic protection unit and a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.
