More than 100 attractions
are the 'treasure' of Beijing

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BEIJING: IN ADDITION TO THE 8 MAJOR ATTRACTIONS
THEY ARE EMERGING NEW TOURIST DESTINATIONS

The main excursions in Beijing and surroundings are the Temple of Heaven, the Badaling’s Great Wall of China, the Ming Tombs. But in the last years are emerging the four ancient villages of Ming Dynasty : Huanglingxi, Shuangshitou, Cuandinxia and Baiyucun Village



Tourist Excursions in Beijing and surroundings
Most tourists want to visit attractions super famous as the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven, the Hutongs, or want to engage in excursions in the vicinity, such as Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Great Wall (Badaling above all). There are also other attractions not to miss, like the Chinese Opera, or restaurants where you can eat the famous Peking Duck, or the eccentric National Stadium (the famous Bird's Nest, built for the Olympics in Beijing in 2008). The tourist, however, must also know that the interesting attractions (in Beijing and surroundings) are more than 100 and some of them are emerging rightly in recent years. For example, among the new attractions most appreciated by the public there are the four ancient villages Ming (of which I speak a little under).

The Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven is a vast complex of about 2.7 sq km composed by park and by three main groups of Taoist buildings. But what the tourists know as the 'Temple of Heaven' is a beautiful circular building where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties prayed Heaven to grant a good harvest. It was built in 1420 AD during the Ming Dynasty. The Temple of Heaven is closed with a long wall, which symbolizes the northern part of the sky (the highest), while the south symbolizes the earth (the lowest). To end, this reflects that the sky is round and earth is square.

The Badaling’s Great Wall of China
The Great Wall is one of the Eight Wonders in the World and enlisted in UNESCO in 1988 and considered as the symbol of Chinese civilization. The Great Wall is about 8850 km. It was begun by 220 BC by the first emperor of China, most of the traits that exist today were built during the Ming Dynasty. Located about 70 km north-east of Beijing, Badaling is the area where it is one of the most visited (and best preserved) traits of the Great Wall of China. Badaling is well served by many buses in Beijing but also by the railway 'Badaling Expressway' (which was recently completed).

Ming Dynasty Tombs
The Ming Dynasty Tombs were started in 1420 by the Yongle Emperor that selected this site to create his mausoleum. In this area there are the tombs of 13 emperors, that is, all the emperors after Yongle until the end of Ming Dynasty, happen in 1644 with the death of emperor Chongzhen. Among the tombs of the emperors, only 2 are open to the public, the tombs of Changling and Dingling. Changling is the head of the graves and is the largest and most well preserved completely.

Summer Palace
The Summer Palace, located northwest of Beijing, consists in 2.9 sq km of park, lake and ancient typical Chinese buildings. It is the most famous and the most visited imperial garden in China. His area is occuped by Kunming Lake and by Longevity Hill (about 60 meters high) that contains many buildings disposed in sequence along the slope. The Summer Palace was built from the Qianlong Emperor (of the Qing Dynasty). It was completed and delivered in 1752 at the 60 birthday of the Emperor's mother. Skilled craftsmen reproduced the garden style of important buildings in China, the Kunming Lake was created by trying to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou. It is resulted a set of extraordinary beauty, which attracts million of visitors.

The four ancient villages of Ming Dynasty :
Huanglingxi, Shuangshitou, Cuandinxia and Baiyucun Village
Huanglingxi, the scheme of this village is like a Chinese character "Ren" that means man. The men who live in this village surrounded by green hills are very polite and hardworking.
Shuangshitou, also called a double Stone Village. Overlooking the hills, this seems to look like a phoenix spreads its wings.
Cuandinxia, is located between ShuanshitouVillage and Baiyu Village, a village of about 400 years old built in Ming and Qing Dynasty with an area of 5.3 square km.
Lastly, Baiyucun Village, which was a military town, where every family had at least one member who serves in the army. The name means Baiyucun "Bai" cypress, "Yu" means elms.

2012-01-14