Essential Beijing

The Temple of Heaven is marked by the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a circular wooden structure topped by three tiers of deep blue glazed tiles that mimic the color of the sky. Completed in fourteen twenty during the Ming Dynasty, the…

Tiananmen Square is a vast, open plaza in the center of Beijing, defined by its enormous scale and the massive flagpole standing at its northern end where daily ceremonies take place at sunrise and sunset. First constructed in sixteen…

The Forbidden City is defined by its massive expanse of red walls and bright yellow glazed roof tiles. Spanning over seven hundred thousand square meters, this complex of nearly one thousand buildings served as the imperial palace for…

Jingshan Park is defined by a central, artificial hill that rises forty-five meters above the city, designed to anchor the imperial center of Beijing. Constructed from soil excavated while digging the moats of the Forbidden City, the hill…

The Lama Temple, or Yonghegong, is recognized by the golden glazed tiles of its roofs and the scent of incense that frequently drifts from its courtyards. Built in sixteen ninety-four, it began as an imperial residence for Prince Yin Zhen,…

The 798 Art Zone is defined by its collection of fifty-year-old, decommissioned military factory buildings that feature large, vaulted ceilings and north-facing skylights. These structures were built in the nineteen fifties with assistance…

The Summer Palace is defined by the vast, shimmering expanse of Kunming Lake, which occupies three-quarters of the site’s total area. This sprawling imperial retreat in Beijing was first commissioned in seventeen fifty by the Qianlong…

The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall stands out for its high density of watchtowers, which rise at short intervals along the steep mountain ridges of the Huairou District. While the earliest fortifications here trace back to the Northern…