DK Travel : Beijing

At the heart of Beijing is tradition, given physical form in the mighty Forbidden City, from where successive imperial dynasties have ruled since the 15th century. Neighboring Tian’an Men Square is the China of recent history, of red-flag socialism and Mao. But this is also a city on the move, as an all-pervading spirit of change makes Beijing the most 21st-century of capitals.

Grand World Electrical Market

Pick up a used mobile phone for under ¥300, or a new model for two-thirds the normal retail price. Aside from phones, there are three floors packed with TVs, CD and mp3 players, and games consoles.
Great Bell Temple

The 18th-century Da Zhong Si follows a typical Buddhist plan, with a Heavenly Kings Hall, Main Hall, and a Guanyin Bodhisattva Hall. What distinguishes it, though, is the 46.5 ton (47, 250 kg) bell – one of the world’s largest – that is housed in the rear tower. The bell was cast between 1403 and 1424 and Buddhist sutras in Chinese and Sanskrit cover its surface. Hundreds more bells can be seen in another hall on the west side of the complex.
Great Hall of the People

Over 300 rooms large, yet built in only 10 months.
Great Hall of the People

This the Chinese parliament building, home of the nation’s legislative body, the National People’s Congress. Regular tours visit the banquet room where US President Nixon dined in 1972 and the 10,000-seat auditorium with its ceiling inset with a massive red star. The building is closed to the public when the Congress is in session.
Great Wall

A visit to the wall is an absolute must. The closest section to Beijing is at Badaling, and you can get there and back in half a day. However, if you suspect that your appreciation of this matchless monument would be improved by the absence of coach-loads of fellow tourists, then considering traveling that little bit farther to the sites at Mutianyu, Huanghua Cheng, and Simatai (see Great Wall of China).
Great Wall

“Great” is something of an understatement; the wall is nothing less than spectacular. Clamber up the perilously sloping carriageways to one of the crowning watchtowers and the experience is also quite literally breath-taking (see Great Wall of China).
Great Wall Sheraton

Although one of the biggest hotels in Beijing, rooms are surprisingly small. Still, service is pleasant, and the Canton restaurant on the 21st floor gets good reviews.
Green Beijing

Morning

Be at the East Gate (Dong Men) of the Summer Palace for 8:30am to beat both the heat (if you are visiting in summer) and the crowds. Make your way along the north shore of Kunming Lake via the Long Corridor and ascend Longevity Hill. Descend again to the Marble Boat and take a pleasure cruiser across the lake to South Lake Island. Cross back to the mainland via the supremely elegant Seventeen-arch Bridge; from here it’s a short walk north to exit where you came in at the East Gate. In the car park pick up a taxi and instruct the driver to take you to Xiang Shan Gongyuan, otherwise known as Fragrant Hills Park. Before you enter, Sculpting In Time is a café near the East Gate that does good salads, pastas, and pizza.

Afternoon

From the park’s East Gate turn right for the Temple of Brilliance, built in 1780 and ransacked by Western troops in 1860 and 1900. Close by is the Liuli Pagoda, with bells hanging from its eaves that chime in the breeze. Continue north to pass between two small round lakes linked by a small hump-backed bridge – the whole known as the Spectacles Lakes. Beyond is a chair lift that takes you up to the top of the “Fragrant Hill”. Zigzag back down past many more pavilions to arrive at the Fragrant Hills Hotel, designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei, otherwise best known for his glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.
Green T. House

With its vast empty spaces and furniture so over-designed that the chairs and tables are scarcely recognizable as such, Green T. House seems more gallery than restaurant. The strangeness extends to the menu: from roast lamb with oolong and fennel, to green tea wasabi prawns, everything contains tea (see Green T. House).
Green T. House

Art here has to compete with Beijing’s wackiest bit of interior design (see Green T. House). www.greenteahouse.com. cn

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