Having the largest royal park and being well preserved, it was designated, in 1960 by the State Council, as a Key Cultural Relics Protection Site of China. Situated in the western outskirts of Haidian District, the Summer Palace is 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from central Beijing. Some literary scholars believe this was the setting of the Dream of the Red Chamber, China's best-known classic novel. The largest hall offers summertime Beijing opera and afternoon tea to guests on guided hutong tours. With nine courtyards joined by covered walkways, it was once one of Beijing's most lavish residences. Built during the Ming Dynasty, it fell to Prince Gong, brother of Qing emperor Xianfeng and later an adviser to Empress Dowager Cixi. This grand compound sits in a neighborhood once reserved for imperial relatives. Opening hours: Open daily all year.ĭistance: 10 km (one way)/20-25 minutes Prince Gong Mansion (恭王府) Listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions world-wide. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses numerous rare treasures and curiosities. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family. The southern section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is 750 meters. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 buildings.
Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The main astronomical devices are located on the observatory roof and the exhibition rooms within house ancient star maps dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). In 1673, the Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest supervised the rebuilding of some of the instruments and further developed the observation of the stars and planets with other Jesuits. The astronomical instruments were also utilized for sea navigation. During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, this observatory served astronomers in their star-gazing reports to the Emperor, who considered the movements of the celestial bodies to be a highly important affair. Located on the southwest side of the Jianguomen crossroad in the Dongcheng District, the Beijing Ancient Observatory, one of the oldest observatories in the world, was built in 1442.
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