beijing introduction

Beijing is the nation's political, economic, cultural and educational center as well as China's most important center for international trade and communications. Beijing i s an ancient city in China. It has been the heart and soul of politics and society t hroughout its long history and consequently there is an unparalleled wealth of disco very to delight and intrigue travelers as they explore Beijing's ancient past and enjo y its exciting modern development.The city covers an area of more than 16,410 square kilometers (6336 square miles) and has a population of 14.93 million people.Beijing is a city with four distinct seasons. Its best is late spring and autumn. Touri sts visiting Beijing during the months of May can enjoy bright sunshine and blue s kies. An abundance of international class performances are presented in May.How can one city boast so many phenomenal places? Beijing's long and illustrious history started some 500,000 years ago. It is here that the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens, Peking men, lived in caves. Records show that Beijing has been a n inhabited city for more than three thousand years and has endured invasions by warlords and foreign powers, devastating fires, the rise and fall of powerful imperial dynasties and has emerged each time as a strong and vibrant city. For more tha n 800 years, Beijing was a capital city - from the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368) to t he Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) dynasties. Thirty-four emperors hav e lived and ruled the nation in Beijing and it has been an important trading city fro m its earliest days.Although now Beijing is a modern and fashionable city complete with a full 21st C entury vitality, you can experience authentic Beijing life and become acquainted wit h 'old Beijing' by exploring its many teahouses, temple fairs, Beijing's Hutong and Courtyard and enjoy the Beijing Opera. Add any or all of these to your Beijing tour and you will leave with a feeling of special appreciation in your heart for this anci ent city that has truly seen it all and tells its story with matchless grace, charm an d vigor.With the biggest central square in the world - Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden C ity that is the largest and best-preserved imperial palace complex, a superbly prese rved section of the Great Wall, as well as the largest sacrificial complex in the world - the Temple of Heaven, Beijing attracts both domestic and foreign visitors who all come to wonder at its century-old history and unique cultural relics.Dwelling too much on the historical past of Beijing may give tourists the false impr ession that it is little more than an ancient city in style but this is definitely not so! Strolling around Beijing, you'll find it has much in common with any other great m etropolis elsewhere in today's world. There are towering skyscrapers; busy shopping malls and an endless stream of traffic that makes the city much the same as oth ers. The most famous and popular commercial circles and commercial pedestrian st reets are predominantly located near the Yansha Shopping Mall, Tiananmen and W angfujing Street, Guomao Shopping Mall, Qianmen Street and Xidan Street, etc. Ho wever, although you will find multinational chains with their own brands to offer, no where else on earth will you find such a variety of gourmet Chinese restaurants off ering the very best of the eight different styles of Chinese cuisine as well as weste rn style dishes. Modern hotels abound, each offering the highest standards of servi ce and convenience.After a day's Beijing tours, nighttime can hold other surprises for you. These can v ary from traditional performances such as the Beijing Opera, acrobatics and martial arts to modern ones including concerts, ballroom dancing, pubs and clubs. Each a nd every one has its individual enchantment for the tourist. No description of our c apital city is complete without mention of the friendly people who throng the streets. Everywhere you will encounter smiling faces and a warm welcome, especially fromthe children who love to say 'Hello!' All these things add up to truly make your vi sit a cultural experience of a lifetime.What strikes one first in a bird's -eye view of Beijing proper is a vast tract of golden roofs flashing brilliantly in the sun with purple walls occasionally emerging amid them and a stretch of luxuriant tree leaves flanking on each side. That is the former Imperial Palace, popularly known as the Forbidden City, from which twenty-four emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties ruled China for some 500 years——from1420 to 1911. The Ming Emperor Yong Le, who usurped the throne from his nephew and made Beijing the capital, ordered its construction, on which approximately 10,000 artists and a million workmen toiled for 14 years from 1406 to 1420. At present, the Palace is an elaborate museum that presents the largest and most complete ensemble of traditional architecture complex and more than 900,000 pieces of court treasures in all dynasties in China. Located in the center of Beijing, the entire palace area, rectangular in shape and 72 hectares in size, is surrounded by walls ten meters high and a moat 52 meters wide. At each corner of the wall stands a watchtower with a double-eave roof covered with yellow glazed tiles. The main buildings, the six great halls, one following the other, are set facing south along the centralnorth-south axis from the Meridian Gate, the south entrance, to Shenwumen, the great gate piercing in the north wall. On either side of the palace are many comparatively smallbuildings. Symmetrically in the northeastern section lie the six Eastern Palaces and in the northwestern section the six Western Palaces. The Palace area is divided into two parts: the Outer Court and the Inner Palace. The former consists of the first three main halls, where the emperor received his courtiers and conducted grand ceremonies, while the latter was the living quarters for the imperial residence. At the rear of the Inner Palace is the Imperial Garden where the emperor and his family sought recreation. The main entrance to the Palace is the Meridian Gate(1), which was so named because the emperor considered himself the "Son of the Heaven" and the Palace the center of the universe, hence the north-south axis as the Meridian line going right through the Palace. The gate is crowned with five towers, commonly known as the Five-Phoenix Towers (2), which were installed with drums and bells. When the emperor went to the Temple of Heaven, bells were struck to mark this important occasion. When he went to the Ancestral Temple, it was the drums that were beaten to publicize the event.Beyond the Meridian Gate unfolds a vast courtyard across which the Inner Golden Water River runs from east to west. The river is spanned by five bridges, which were supposed to be symbols of the five virtues preached by Confucius——benevolence, righteousness, rites, intelligence, and fidelity (3).At the north end of the courtyard is a three-tiered white marble terrace, seven meters above the ground, on which, one after another, stand three majestic halls; the Hall of Supreme Harmony(4), the Hall of Complete Harmony(5), and the Hall of Preserving HarmonyNotes:1. the Meridian Gate 午门2. the Five-Phoenix Towers 五凤楼3. benevolence, righteousness, rites, intelligence, and fidelity 仁、义、礼、智、信4. the Hall of Supreme Harmony 太和殿5. the Hall of Complete Harmony 中和殿6. the Hall of Preserving Harmony 保和殿7. the Palace of Heavenly Purity 乾清宫8. the Hall of Union 交泰殿9. the Palace of Earthly Tranquility 坤宁宫这是故宫的英文解说。