The National Stadium, known as the “Bird’s Nest,” and the National Aquatics Center, known as the “Water Cube,” are the core Olympic landmarks of Beijing, the city that has hosted two Olympic Games. Many visitors come here, take a few photos, and leave, but if you understand the background of…
Beijing Central Axis stretches 7.8 kilometers from the Bell and Drum Towers in the north to Yongding Gate in the south, running through the heart of the city. On July 27, 2024, it was officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming China’s 59th World Heritage Site. It is…
The remains of the southern section of the Central Axis are not a palace, sacrificial altar, temple, or city gate. They are a stretch of road that was buried underground and later unearthed by archaeologists—a path once traveled by emperors. In 2024, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage…
If you’re visiting Beijing for the first time, standing on the vast Tiananmen Square, you’ll immediately spot the Tiananmen Gate Tower with its red walls and yellow tiles to the north. Many first-time visitors to China tend to confuse three locations: Tiananmen Square is a massive public square; the Tiananmen…
If you can only visit one museum during your trip to Beijing, the National Museum of China is definitely worth adding to your itinerary. Located on the east side of Tiananmen Square, across from the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China is one of the world’s…
Just east of the Forbidden City, separated by a red wall, lies an imperial hall even wider than the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City—the Imperial Ancestral Temple. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, this was where emperors paid homage to their ancestors. “Being enshrined in the Imperial…
Next to the Forbidden City, west of Tiananmen Square, stands a red wall that conceals an imperial altar dating back over 600 years—the Altar of Land and Grain. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, emperors performed rituals here to honor the gods of the earth and the five grains, praying for…
Walking north from Tiananmen Square and passing through the archway, you’ll see a gate tower that looks almost exactly like Tiananmen Gate. The vast majority of tourists walk straight through Duanmen without even looking up, heading straight for Wumen Gate and the Forbidden City. But what they don’t realize is…
Nine out of ten visitors to Tiananmen Square will cross one of these seven white marble bridges. But many people don’t know that the bridge beneath their feet has an official name—Outer Jinshui Bridge (Wài Jīnshuǐ Qiáo). It spans the Outer Jinshui River in front of Tiananmen Gate and marks…
