Beijing's Top Tourism Sites 'Monumental'
Beyond the Olympics, Beijing boasts some of world's most spectacular tourism.
Aug. 19, 2008, Beijing— -- You don't need a guide book to know four of this city's five "Must Sees" of travel. Just get the boxed set of travel coffee mugs sold at most Starbucks in Beijing. They're all there, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. The only major tourist site that didn't make the cut was Tiananmen, perhaps for political reasons.
A tour of the sites during the Olympics is its own kind of world travel, with sightseers, athletes and coaches from every corner of the globe jostling with Chinese families to get the perfect photo. They all say one thing: China is big and its tourist sites are monumental. Here's a quick rundown:
The original Gate of Heavenly Peace, or Tian An, was built in the 15th century. Mao Zedong declared the formation of the People's Republic of China at this site in 1949, though it wasn't until 1958 that he enlarged it to its current almost 100 acres size, making it the world's largest city square. In the West, the square is most famous for the government crackdown on democracy protesters in 1989. To tourists, it's often the first stop on a Beijing city tour, with milling crowds trudging across the vast square under a burning sun.
"We don't have anything this big in Spain," says Aurelio Garcia Abellan of La Mancha, Spain.
Next to Tiananmen is the Forbidden City, the heart of the ancient capital. The enormous complex of palaces, apartments, ceremonial grounds and pavilions covers 120 acres. Many of the dazzling painted patterns on the buildings have been redone for the Olympics, and the buildings, once somewhat run-down, now look as sparkling as the day they were built.
Siamone Martin, 31, of Providence, called it "gorgeous" and said it would take "the National Mall and the Smithsonian all rolled in to one to get something of this caliber."
This temple complex south of Tiananmen is one of the largest in China. It's where the emperor came on the winter solstice to offer sacrifices to the heavens. While the main temple is astounding, to visitors and Beijing residents alike the vast, green lawns and gardens of the temple grounds are hugely popular as a place of respite. The long, covered walkways and wide pathways are host to knots of people doing martial arts, playing musical instruments, doing Western jitterbugs, choral singing and the occasional card game.
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