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Forbidden City
This is truly an ancient city within the more modern city of Beijing. Built by more than 200,00 laborers in the early 1400s under the direction of Ming Dynasty emperor Yongle, it served as home and palace for 24 emperors and their families for 500 years, spanning both the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Forbidden City covers an area about a half mile square (183 acres) and is adjacent to Tiananmen Square. It is enclosed by thick walls towering over 30 feet high, and a moat 170 feet across. It contains a series of palace type buildings and pavilions with a total of 9,000 rooms, and lush courtyards and gardens. Five marble bridges cross the moat. One courtyard could accommodate 9,000 people for imperial ceremonies.

Ming Tombs
This is Egypt's equivalent to the pyramids. The Ming Tombs are also known as the Royal Tombs, an elaborate complex of tombs about 4 miles North of Beijing, for 13 of the 16 emperors who ruled China during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 a.d.). Construction of the tombs began in 1409 and continued for about 200 years. Only one tomb has been opened to the public; all of the remaining tombs still contain the bodies of the emperors, their wives and concubines. A red gate is the only entrance and during the Ming era, guards made certain that no one entered.

Emperor Yongle, who was in power during construction of the Forbidden City, chose this site for the royal tombs. Architecture at this site resembles the style and colors seen in the Forbidden City.

The tomb which is open to the public is that of Emperor Wanli, his wife Empress Xiaoduan and his most important concubine, Xiaojing. Wanli ruled from 1573 to 1620. It was the first tomb excavated and opened to the public in 1958. It is a 13,000 square foot palace of marble with five chambers, 88 feet below ground. It contains a white marble throne. Three red coffins occupy the burial chamber, plus 23 wood chests filled with jewelry, costumes, gold chopsticks and many other relics numbering about 3,000. Anthropologists discovered a gold crown in the emperor's coffin, the only imperial crown to ever be found in China.

An avenue lined with 12 pairs of stone animals, some dating back to 1435 a.d., leads to the tombs. A 95 foot wide marble entrance gate carved in 1540, and a carved stone tablet bearing an inscription by the Qing dynasty emperor, Qianlong 300 years later, add to the unique nature of this site.

Tiananmen Square
This is the political center of China and it's in the center of Beijing, the nation's capital. It's a 102 acre brick and flagstone courtyard, considered the largest public area in the world and capable of accommodating 500,000 people. When Mao Tse Tung declared China a communist state here on Oct. 1, 1949, it is estimated that up to 1 million people were in attendance. A huge portrait of Mao still hangs over the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

Within the square is a monument to "heroes of the people" and Chairman Mao's mausoleum. You can join a daily procession of citizens and foreign visitors passing by the glass enclosed sarcophagus of the preserved Mao. Adjacent to the square is the Great Hall of the People, the Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. At sundown each day, a detachment of the People's Liberation Army conducts a flag lowering ceremony in the center of the square. Video cameras and long range microphones survey the square to look for dissidents and troublemakers.

Wide city streets surround the square. You can stand in the square and see MacDonalds, Starbucks and the world's largest Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.

Summer Palace
It gets hot and humid in Beijing in the Summer, so 800 years ago, an emperor built a Summer getaway northwest of the official residence in the Forbidden City. Its in the cooler hills above the city floor.

Kunming Lake is in the center of the palace grounds, and is surrounded by park-like gardens, groves of trees and a variety of elaborately decorated buildings and halls. A 2,300 foot outdoor, covered corridor stretches along one side of the lake and it decorated with more than 10,000 intricate paintings representing Chinese history, literature, mythology and geography.

The grounds, buildings and corridors of the Summer Palace have suffered greatly at the hands of Anglo-French troops during the Second Opium War in 1900, rioters during the Boxer Rebellion and the Red Guard under Mao. Everything damaged has been restored and many buildings contain original furnishings.

Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven was built between 1405 and 1420 under the reign of Emperor Yongle (who was a very busy man!). The temple resides in Tiantan Park, a 660 acre site near the Forbidden City. It was designed to be used for various imperial rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices. Among the many Ming style buildings and gates in the park, a tower known as the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is the most prominent. The original burned in 1889, but was rebuilt.

Great Wall
Starting in about 453 b.c., China faced invasions of nomads from the North. This began the practice of constructing ramparts to slow them down. The first emperor of the unified China, Qin Shi Huang Di, started construction of the Great Wall in the 3rd century b.c.. 300,000 slaves spent 10 years building the initial sections of the wall. Over the next several hundred years, further sections were built. In the year 607 a.d., more than a million workers contributed to its construction.

The Mongols eventually broke through from the north and established the Yuan Dynasty (a.d. 1271-1368), making Beijing their capital. The Ming Dynasty was established in 1368 and the Ming Emperors finished the wall. The most popular section of the wall for tourists, is several miles North of Beijing. It is nearly 8 meters high and 6 meters wide, with very steep steps and turret houses for the guards who manned the wall in the early centuries.

Museum of the People's Liberation Army
The government has created a huge, multi-story museum near Tiananmen Square for the display of military equipment, arms and other artifacts, both of Chinese origin and captured from other countries.

Among the many examples of Chinese weapons, vehicles, aircraft, rockets and other military memorabilia, are tanks, aircraft, weapons and other items of foreign manufacture that the Chinese retrieved from wars in Korea and Vietnam. Many U.S. tanks, jeeps, aircraft, weapons, uniforms, radios and other equipment is on display. An entire section of the museum on the 3rd floor, is devoted to the Korean war, with the U.S. identified as the enemy aggressor. On display are weapons, equipment, clothing and personal effects of U.S. soldiers, including helmets with bullet holes through them. The entire display is devoted to affirming the harmonious relationship of the Chinese and North Korean peoples, and blaming the U.S. for tearing the Korean peninsula apart. The wreckage of an American U2 spy plane is included in the collection of aircraft.

Prince Gong's Mansion
Prince Gong was the brother of the Qing Dynasty emperor who reigned from 1851 to 1861. Gong's son became China's last emperor. Prince Gong's mansion is a walled piece of land in Beijing with 31 pavilions, halls and residence buildings; courtyards, ponds, islands and gardens. The mansion grounds represent the best, perhaps the only remaining example of how the upper class lived in pre-revolution China.

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