-
798 Art District
A disused and converted electronics factory, 798 Art District is Běijīng's leading concentration of contemporary art galleries. The industrial complex celebrates its proletarian roots in the communist heyday of the 1950s via retouched bright red Maoist slogans decorating gallery interiors, scattered effigies of Mao and burly, lantern-jawed workers.
-
Ancient Observatory
Star-gazing may well be on the back foot in today's Běijīng - it would take a supernova to penetrate the haze that frequently blankets the nocturnal sky - but the Chinese capital has a sparkling history of astronomical observation. The observatory is the only surviving example of several constructed during the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties - was built between 1437 and 1446 to facilitate both astrological predictions and seafaring navigation.
-
Beihai Park
A relaxing opportunity to amble about, grab a snack, sip a beer, rent a rowing boat, or admire calligraphers scribbling Chinese characters on paving slabs with water and fat brushes, Beihai Park is largely lake, or more specifically the lake of Beihai (which literally means 'North Sea'). The associated South and Middle Seas to the south together lend their name to the nerve centre of the Communist Party west of the Forbidden City, Zhōngnánhǎi.
-
Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum
Located within what is called the Hall of Jupiter (太岁殿; Tàisuì Diàn) is the excellent Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum (; - ) which informatively narrates the elements of traditional Chinese building techniques. Brush up on your dǒugǒng brackets and sǔnmǎo joints, get the lowdown on Běijīng's courtyard houses, while eyeballing detailed models of standout temple halls and pagodas from across the land. English captions.
-
Beijing Aquarium
The stellar Beijing Aquarium is a worthwhile diversion in the northeastern corner of the Beijing Zoo. On view is an imaginative Amazon rainforest (complete with piranha), coral reefs, a shark aquarium (where you can dive with the flesh eaters), and a marine mammal pavilion. The last hosts lively aquatic animal displays.
-
Beijing Botanical Gardens
The well-tended botanic gardens, set against the backdrop of the Western Hills, make for a pleasant outing among bamboo fronds, pines and lilacs. The Beijing Botanical Gardens Conservatory contains 3000 different types of plants and a rainforest house.
-
Beijing Natural History Museum
The main entrance to this overblown, creeper-laden museum is hung with portraits of the great natural historians, including Darwin and Linnaeus (here spelt Linnacus). Escort kiddies to the revamped dinosaur hall facing you as you enter, which presents itself with an overarching skeleton of a mamenchisaurus jingyanensis - a vast sauropod that once roamed China - and a much smaller protoceratops .
-
Beijing Planetarium
Across from the zoo, children will find something to marvel at among the telescopes, models of the planets and the solar system, and the variety of shows in the new building, even though the typical absence of thorough English captions can make full comprehension an astronomical task.
-
Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall
This little-visited exhibition hall takes particular pains to present Běijīng's gut-wrenching, hútòng -felling metamorphosis in the best possible light. English labelling is sadly scarce; the only exhibits of note are a detailed bronze map of the town in 1949 - ironically the very year that sealed the fate of old Peking - and a huge, detailed diorama of the modern metropolis.
-
Beijing Police Museum
Infested with propaganda perhaps, but some riveting exhibits make this a fascinating exposé of Běijīng's dà gài mào (local slang for the constabulary). Learn how Běijīng's first Public Security Bureau (PSB) college operated from the Dongyue Temple in 1949 and find out how officers tackled the 'stragglers, disbanded soldiers, bandits, local ruffians, hoodlums and despots…' planted in Běijīng by the Kuomintang (KMT).
-
Advertisement
-
Beijing Underground City
By 1969, as the USA landed men on the moon, Mao had decided the future for Beijing's people lay underground. Alarmist predictions of nuclear war with Russia dispatched an army of Chinese beneath the streets to burrow a huge warren of bombproof tunnels which has now been put to use as warehouses, hotels and restaurants.
-
Beijing Wangfujing Paleolithic Museum
Archaeologists and anthropologists will be rewarded at this simple museum detailing the tools and relics (stone flakes, bone scrapers, fragments of bone etc) of Late Pleistocene Man who once inhabited Běijīng. The discoveries on display were unearthed during the construction of Oriental Plaza in 1996. To find the museum, take exit 'A' from the Wangfujing metro station.
-
Beijing Zoo
A pleasant spot for a stroll among the trees, grass and willow-fringed lakes, Beijing Zoo is notable for its pandas (if Sìchuān is not on your itinerary), even if the remaining resident menagerie is cooped up in pitiful cages and enclosures. The polar bears pin their hopes on graduating from their concrete cosmos to the far more stellar Beijing Aquarium in the northeastern corner of the zoo.
-
Bell Tower
First constructed in 1272 but felled numerous times by fire and war, the tower's present structure dates from 1745. Climb up the steep steps (very carefully!) to gawk at the 63-tonne bell.
-
Capital Museum
With Běijīng busily hatching a huge and disparate brood of new and often rather pointless museums, this modern and sleek addition is a showpiece achievement. Staging a headline-grabbing exhibition in 2006 from the collection of the British Museum, the museum aims at high-profile exhibitions from abroad while maintaining permanent displays of ancient bronzes, Buddhist statues, jade, calligraphy, paintings and ceramics.
-
Central Academy Of Fine Arts Gallery
A short stroll from Wangfujing Dajie and part of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, this rather old-fashioned but centrally located exhibition hall displays a selection of Chinese art in a variety of media over three floors.
-
Chairman Mao Memorial Hall
An obligatory place of pilgrimage for China's proletariat and a must-see for those breezing around Tiananmen Square, this mausoleum should not be missed. Mao Zedong died in September 1976, and his mausoleum was constructed shortly thereafter on the site of Zhonghua Gate. Easy as it now is to vilify his excesses, many Chinese still show deep respect when confronted with the physical presence of the man.
-
China Art Museum
This revamped museum has received a healthy shot of imagination and flair, with absorbing exhibitions from abroad promising doses of colour and vibrancy. Běijīng's art lovers have lapped up some top notch presentations here, from the cream of Italian design to modern art works from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
-
China Millennium Monument
Vaguely resembling a vast sundial pointing directly south to Beijing West Train Station, this cumbersome monument solidifies Běijīng's triumphant 21st century aspirations in stone. For such a momentous statement, the design is devoid of imagination or artistry, while examination of the stone cladding shows it already requires repair.
-
China National Museum
Housed in a sombre 1950s edifice, this museum is a work in progress, suffering from chronic lighting, a tawdry layout and sporadic English captions. At the time of writing only three halls were open, the most absorbing of which houses the gorgeous bronzes and ceramics of the Selected Treasures of the National Museum of China - look out for the Bronze Rhino-Shaped Zun inlaid with gold and silver designs from the Western Han. The cheesy waxworks museum is mildly diverting.
-
Advertisement
-
Confucius Temple & Imperial College
Long neglected like a piece of unloved bric-a-brac, the arid Confucius Temple offers a quiet sanctuary from Běijīng's smoggy streets and snarling traffic. West of the Confucius Temple stands the Imperial College (Guózǐjiān), where the emperor expounded the Confucian classics to an audience of thousands - an annual rite. Some of Běijīng's last remaining páilou (decorative archways) bravely survive in the hútòng outside (Guozijian Jie).
-
Courtyard Gallery
Recently relocated from its famous location in the basement of the namesake restaurant just east of the Forbidden City, this gallery is a trendy component of the flourishing contemporary art scene in Caochandi, a few kilometres northeast of the 798 Art District .
-
Creation Gallery
Opened and curated by the son of celebrated landscape artist Li Keran (1907-89), this gallery specialises in contemporary works. It's a favourite place for travellers to scoop up prints, sculpture and oil paintings by up-and-coming artists from all over China.
-
Ditan Park
Site of imperial sacrifices to the Earth God, Ditan lacks the splendour of the Temple of Heaven Park but is worth a stroll if you've just been to nearby Lama Temple. During Chinese New Year, a temple fair is held here, and in winter, a sparkling ice festival is staged. The park's large altar ( fāngzé tán ) is square in shape, symbolising the earth.
-
Dongan Men Remains
In an excavated pit on Beiheyan Dajie sits a pitiful stump, all that remains of the magnificent Dongan Men, the east gate of the Imperial City. The gate was a single-eaved, seven-bay wide building with a hip and gable roof capped with yellow tiles. The remnants - just two layers of 18 bricks - may make for dull viewing but of more interest are the accompanying bricks of the excavated Ming dynasty road that used to run near Dongan Men.
