Must see attractions in Forbidden City & Dongcheng Central

This renovated courtyard was the home of Lao She (1899–1966), one of Beijing’s best-loved 20th-century writers. Author of Rickshaw Boy and Tea House, and…

In two roadside excavations north and south of the crossroads here are the remains of the once magnificent Dong'an Men – the east gate of the Imperial…

Sandwiched between the Gate of Heavenly Peace and Meridian Gate, Duan Gate (Gate of Uprightness) was stripped of its treasures by foreign forces quelling…

Monolithic shopping malls face each other across this prestigious avenue thronged with mostly out-of-town tourists. The late-20th-century Chinese…

After the CCTV Tower and the Bird's Nest Stadium, Beijing's Galaxy Soho trumpeted itself as the capital's next modern architectural landmark when it…

Shijia Hutong has seen plenty of action over the decades, as this spiffy museum in a rebuilt sìhéyuàn (courtyard residence) explains. English is ample…

There's a reason this park is 2.4km long yet only 30m wide; it traces part of the old Imperial City walls dismantled in the 1950s. The walls enclosed the…

In the centre of Tian'anmen Sq rises the 40m-high Monument to the People’s Heroes, an obelisk of Qingdao granite completed in 1958 (though it was…

Squeezed between shopping malls on Wangfujing Dajie is the delightfully incongruous St Joseph's, dating, in its current incarnation, from 1901. In fact,…

In the northern boundary of the Treasure Garden is the site where Zhen (the Pearl Concubine), favourite consort of Emperor Guangxu, was said to have been…

This hall was the principal residence of the emperor in the Ming and early Qing dynasties, where the son of heaven slept and worked. Later in the Qing…

The imposing red gateway here, bearing a passing resemblance to the Arc de Triomphe, belonged to the French Legation. The two Chinese lions flanking the…

The middle of the three outer halls, the Hall of Union was the place for the empress to receive greetings from her high-ranking subjects during major…

Within the former Legation Quarter is this wonderfully gothic church, established in 1901 to serve the neighbouring Former French Legation and meet the…

The Gate of Heavenly Purity was the main portal between the outer and inner courts of the Forbidden City. Note the pair of gilded bronze lions guarding…

The Forbidden City’s north gate, for exit-only. From here you can cross the road into Jingshan Park. During imperial times, the gate was used by servants…

A green-roofed building rises behind a wall at No 40, which was once the Dutch Legation. To the north, a faded street sign reads 'USSR Embassy Compound…

One of the six western palaces in the Forbidden City, this was the residence of various empresses and imperial concubines. The Chongzhen Emperor (1628…

Built after the Boxer Rebellion in 1910, this is one of most impressive western-style buildings in the Former Legation Quarter. It's now home to the China…

This hall contains interesting photos of the last emperor Puyi, who lived here as a child ruler at the turn of the 20th century. Empress Dowager Cixi also…