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Beijing consists of two older sections in the center of the city and new outlying residential, industrial, and institutional areas built mainly after 1949. Once encircled by a wall about 24 km (about 15 mi) long and about 15 m (about 50 ft) high, the Forbidden City lies at the core of the inner city. Between 1421 and 1912, this was the walled palace and inner compound of China's imperial family. It was the most sacred space in imperial China. Beyond the Forbidden City was the Imperial City, which contained government offices, temples, gardens, palaces, and parks. Outside the Imperial City were upper-class homes, markets, and more temples. The adjacent outer city contained important temple areas and residential areas. After the Communist revolution in 1949 most walls of the old city were demolished and replaced with  thoroughfares.

Beijing has many colleges, universities, museums, and theaters. Despite modern construction, it remains a city of great monuments, palaces, temples and other remnants of imperial China. The Palace Museum, located within the Forbidden City, was the former residence of the imperial family and court. Built more than 500 years ago, this complex comprises a series of great halls and palaces that served for official and ceremonial occasions of state, banquets, and residential purposes.

Beijing's location on the northern flank of the Huabei Pingyuan (North China Plain) was a crucial geographic and political intersection between the settled farming populations of the Han Chinese and nomadic tribal groups. An administrative capital was built here during the Zhou dynasty (1027?-256 BC). Successive dynasties controlled the area over the next few centuries. The elaborate development of the city emerged after the establishment of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. The Mongol ruler Kublai Khan established his capital at Beijing in 1272, and for the first time the new capital, named Khanbalik, became the political and administrative center for all of China. Under the Ming dynasty the city developed and grew, and the basis for its current design and layout was implemented during this time. Additional construction of temples and palaces occurred during the succeeding Qing dynasty, which ruled from 1644 to 1911.

After the Republic of China was established in 1911, Beijing became the political center of China. The Nationalist Party, headed by Chiang Kai-shek, moved the capital to Nanjing and renamed Beijing to Beiping. Following the Communist revolution in 1949, the city's name was changed back to Beijing and designated the capital of the newly established People's Republic of China.
 
 Places that we Visited

Tian'an Men Square (Tiananmen)

Tian'an Men Square is the site of large celebrations and rallies, such as the annual National Day celebrations held October 1. The center of the square contains the tomb of Mao Zedong, who established the Communist government in 1949. The square was the site of massive student demonstrations in 1989 that were violently suppressed by the army. See  Tian'an Men Square Protest. In the northwestern suburbs are tombs of emperors of the Ming dynasty, who ruled in China from 1368 to 1644. Northwest of the Ming tombs is a portion of the Great Wall. The many temples in the old city include the Temple of Heaven, a complex with two circular ceremonial buildings with blue-tiled roofs. These were the shrines where China's emperors worshipped.
 
 

Mao Zedong (1893-1976), Chinese Communist leader who was chairman of the Communist Party of China and the principal founder of the People's Republic of China.

Mao was born in the village of Shaoshan, Hunan province. He helped found the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai in 1921. In 1923, when the Communist Party allied with the Nationalist Party ( Kuomintang), Mao became a full-time party worker. However, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang, broke with the Communists in April 1927 and began a military campaign against them. Mao retreated to Jiangxi where he extended considerable Communist influence over the peasants.  Mao was elected first chairman of the new Chinese Soviet Republic in 1931. As chairman, Mao initiated moderate land reform and evolved new guerrilla tactics that ultimately defeated Kuomintang forces. In 1934, however, Chiang threw a blockade around the Communist bases. Breaking through, Mao and the Red Army undertook the 9600-km (6000-mi) Long March northwest to Shaanxi.

Meanwhile, the Japanese had invaded Manchuria (1931) and northeastern China (1932). In 1937 Chiang reluctantly allied himself  with the Communists to fight the Japanese. The Communist guerrilla resistance against the Japanese was successful, while the Kuomintang forces retreated to southwestern China. This military success made Mao, head of the Communist Party, a national leader. Unwilling to cooperate after World War II (1939-1945), Mao and Chiang resumed the civil war.By 1949 the Communists had captured most of China. The People's Republic of China was proclaimed and Mao was elected president.

Mao had evolved a Communism that reflected China's differen demography, his own experience with the peasants, and his hostility to bureaucracy. Economically, he stressed self-reliance through labor-intensive rather than technologically advanced cooperative agriculture and through local community effort. Politically, he created the concept of "mass-line" leadership, which integrated intellectuals with peasant guerrilla leaders. He rejected Soviet emphasis on heavy industry, arguing that increasing peasant purchasing power was the key to rapid—and socialist—economic development. He also insisted, contrary to Soviet views, that conflict was both inevitable and healthy. In 1958 he applied his policies in the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to substitute for the bureaucratic state a cellular system of autonomous local communes and projects, united by common ideology.

The Great Leap failed. Mao retired as head of state in 1959, and disillusioned Communist leaders returned to the East European socialist practice of giving autonomy to large undertakings, suppressing small ones, and tolerating leadership by an educated elite. Mao fought back. In the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1969) he mobilized
youth into the Red Guard to attack the party establishment. After much rioting and the near destruction of the party, he allowed the army to restore order and the party to be rebuilt. He was made supreme commander of China in 1970.

Tiananmen Square Protest: Tiananmen Square Protest (1989), culmination of a series of student-led prodemocracy demonstrations in China. On April 15, 1989, students began peaceful memorial demonstrations in several cities following the death of former Communist Party General Secretary and democratic reformer Hu Yaobang. The demonstrators called for the removal of China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and other Communist officials and ignored the government's demand to end the demonstrations. On May 4 approximately 100,000 students and workers marched in Beijing demanding democratic reforms. On May 20 the government declaredmartial law and eventually ordered troops to Tiananmen Square. On June 3 and 4 the People's Liberation Army suppressed the movement,  killing hundreds of demonstrators, injuring thousands, and arresting hundreds of students and workers. Following the violence, the government conducted widespread arrests, summary trials, and executions.
 
 The Great Wall of China

To the northwest and north of Beijing, a huge, serrated wall zigzags its way to the east and west along the undulating mountains. This is the Great Wall, which is said to be visible from the moon. Construction of the Great Wall started in the 7th century B.C. The vassal states under the Chou Dynasty in the northern parts of the country each built their own walls for defence purposes. After the state of Chin unified China in 221 B.C., it joined the walls to hold off the invaders from the Tsongnoo tribes in the north and extended them to more than 10,000 li or 5,000 kilometers. This is the origin of the name of the 10,000-li Great Wall . The Great Wall was renovated from time to time after the Chin Dynasty. A major renovation started with the founding of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, and took 200 years to complete. The wall we see today is almost exactly the result of this effort. With a total length of over 6,000 kilometers, it extends to the Jiayu Pass in Gansu Province in the west and to the mouth of the Yalu River in Liaoning Province in the east.
 

The Summer Palace

Ten kilometres northwest of Beijing, the Summer Palace of 290 hectares is one of China's largest and best-preserved imperial gardens. It consists mainly of  Kunming Lake of 210 hectares and Longevity Hill dotted with halls and pavilions. Places of interest in the garden include the Long Corridor of 728 metres,the Pavihon of Buddha's Fragrance on top of Longevity Hill, the Bronze Pavilion cast in 207 tons of that metal, the Marble Boat mooring forever by the lakeshore, the Suzhou Street flanked by bric-a-brac shops,  the Garden of  Harmonious Interest, one of southern-style landscaping  within the bigger northern-style imperial garden, theSeventeen-arch Bridge, the Bronze Ox on guard by the waters, and the Spring Harbinger Pavilion built on the lake. During the Qing Dynasty it was extravagantly endowed by the Emperor Qianlong and became the favourite resort of the Empress Dowager Cixi, who added a theatre and restor the marble boat.
As a symbol of the Manchu court, it was sacked and looted by Anglo-French troops during the Taiping Rebellion of 1860 and further devastated in 1900 following the Boxer Rebellion. Since then much has been restored and the palace with its large, classic KunmingLake, is today a popular park for Beijingers. The lake contains small islands, ornamental bridges and the famous marble boat, which was once a teahouse. On shore, at the foot of Longevity Hill, are the imperial residences, which now contain the 'Listing to the Orioles Pavilion' court restaurant, a theatre museum and the first automobile to be imported into China, a Mercedes Benz.                                                                  . .   .
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.The Forbidden City
                                 
The former Forbidden City, built between 1406 and 1420 in the center of Beijing City proper, had been the imperial residence of 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. One of the largest and best preserved palace complexes in the world, it has become the Palace Museum since the 1950s. Here are collected around a million rare and valuable objects. Covering an area of 72 hectares, the Palace has a total floor space of some 160,000 square metres with 9,999 room units. The Throne Hall-Hall of Supreme Harmony-is China's tallest ancient palace building of timber, where during the reign of the Ming and Qing emperors all the important national ceremonies took place.

 With yellow tiles over red walls, gilded doors behind vermilion colonnades, and carved white marble balustrades around, the palace halls in symmetrical array represent the acme of China's ancient architectural art.
 
The Imperial Palace

The Imperial Palace is one of the many structures located in the Forbidden City, a walled complex in northern Beijing,
that housed emperors of many Chinese dynasties. The Forbidden City was so named because only members of the imperial household could enter it. Now open to the public, the buildings in the complex serve as museums.
 
The Ming Tombs 

 The Ming Tombs are the mausoleum of 13 Ming Dyndsty emperoes after the Ming capital was shifted to Beijing. Located at the southern foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping County, Beijing, the Ming tombs cover an area of about 120 km^2. With a plain belt in the middle, the Tombs area is surrounded with mountains and right in front of the Tombs is a winding river. Every tomb is shielded by a mountain and the tomb is on the east, west and north slopes.

 The construction of the first tomb, Ding Ling Tomb, was started on the seventh year in Ming Emperor Yongle's reign (1409) and the building of the last one ,Si Ling Tomb was undertaken in the early years of Emperor Shunzhi's reign in Qing Dynasty. Altogether, the construction of the Ming Tombs lasted for a period of more than 200 years. By the order of their construction, the names of the Ming Tombs are follows: Chang Ling, Xian Ling, Jing Ling, Yu Ling Mao Ling, Tai Ling, Kang Ling, Yong Ling, Zhao Ling, Ding Ling, Qing Ling, De Ling and Si Ling. There were buried 13 emperors, 23 empress, one highest rinking imperial concubine and tens of maids of honour who were buried alived with their deseased masters. At present, the Chang Ling Tomb, Ding Ling TOmb, Zhao Ling Tomb and the Sacred Road are formally open to tourists.

Covered with green trees, the Ming Tombs area boasts of both high mountain and beautiful rivers. As the " auspicious land" for the mausoleum of the emperors, the Tianshou Mountain is featured by its continuous and precipitous ranges, fertile soil, rich water sources and verdan woods. With hills behind and waters in front, each imperial tomb was carefully chosen before its construction. Mountains, rivers, plain and other varied landforms set off with buildings, red walls and yellow tiles in the Tombs, creating a solemn, serene and fresh environment.

With its grand buildings and elegant style, the Ming Tombs is one of the largest and complete extant imperial tomb complexes whose ground and underground constructions are both well-preserved. In the middle of the Tombs is the Sacred
Road, demonstrating the dignity of the emperors. Along the Sacred Road orderly line the Stone Carving Arch, Down-Horse
stele, the Red Gate, the Stele Building, Watch Pole, Stone Honour Guard, the Ling Xing Gate and large and small brides,
which add to the solemn atmosphere in the Tombs. Though different in size, each tomb is composed of ground construction
and undergrount construction. Of all the tombs, the Ching Ling Tomb (the tomb of Ming Emperor Chengzu, Zhu Di) is the best preserved and the largest as well. The Ling En Hall in the Chang Ling Tomb, which was used to offer sacrifices, is one of
the largest existing NANMU halls. The framework of the spacious hall is propped up by sixty NAUMU pillars. It was documented that these precious NAUMU were from the deep forests in places such as Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and Guizhou,
etc. Also called "Black Palace" or "Black Bedroom" in the ancient time, the underground construction is where the coffin
platform of the emperors and the empressesare placed. The Ding Ling Tomb (the tomb of Ming Emperor Shengzong, Zhu
Yijun) is the first imperial tomb that was excavated in a planed way. Having five rooms altogether, the "Black Palace" of the Ding Ling Tomb covers a floor space of 1195 m^2.

In 1957, appoximately 3,000 precious cultural relics were discovered with the successful excavation of the Ding Ling Tomb. Most of them were rare national treasures, including phoenix coronet of the enpress, imperial robe, gold coronet, gold and silver utensils, etc. Except for the cultural relics that were unearthed, other things that are exihibited include the Ding Ling Tomb's construction history, process of excavation, the life stories of the emperor and the empress and grand scenes of offering sacrifices to the emperial tomb
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