Beijing is the capital and political, cultural and transportation center of China. More importantly, it is home to 12 million proud Beijing ctizens.

Located at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City had served as the seat of imperial power during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The emperors had isolated themselves from the masses in this 720,000 sq meters city containing 800 buildings and 9000 rooms during their rule. Today the complex is open to public daily 8:30- 16:30. Most of the site is labelled in English, but numerous tours are available if you want a detailed explanation of the city.

Located in Tiantan Park about 2km south of Tinanmen Square, Temple of Heaven is regarded as an awe-inspring Ming architecture. The temple was completed in 1420, and was conceived as the meeting point of Earth and Heaven, and its architectural style was carefully planned out to symbolize the two. Heaven was considered round and earth square, each represented by the round shaped temple and the square bases on which it stands. It had been a site of annual ritual performed by the emperor, the son of Heaven, at the winter solstice for year's harvests.

It is one of the loveliest public park in Beijing with palaces and the beautiful Kunming Lake, which occupies about three quarters of the park. The palaces, which are on the north of the lake, were originally built for vacationing emperors and empresses. After the number of damages left behind by Opium War, Empress Dowager Cixi, who was the last of the Qing Dynasty rulers, spend the fund saved for Chinese navy on the palace which was her pleasure ground. It is said that this had lead to the decline of the Qing Dynasty rule.

The only one man-made structure visible from the moon, the impressive Great Wall, stretching some 6000km across China, stood once as a fortification from the outside forces. It was constructed during the Qing Dynasty, under the reign of Qin Shi Huang, who mobilized about a million workers to build the wall. Today it is a big tourist attraction. The majority of the visitors see the wall from Badaling or Mutianyu. If you want to escape the crowd, the beautiful view from Simatai is recommendable. The wall is accessible by bus from Beijing, and it takes approximately 90 minutes.

Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, is the nation's political and cultural centre. Beijing has continental climate. Annual rainfall averages nearly 700 millimetres, most of it comes in July and August. Winter is dry and cold and has little snow. The frost-free period is 185 days. The best time to visit Beijing is May, September and October, when people enjoy bright sunny sky. Beijing has a population of over 12 million, about 6 million live in the city proper and the rest on the outskirts. It is divided into 10 districts and 8 counties.