Have you ever heard of the amazing Beijing travel stories from your friends or others you know? Maybe you have, or maybe you haven't. But the truth is numerous travelers from around the world visit Beijing day and night. There must be some alluring reasons, which I don't specifically know yet. However, my personal experiences and views about the city have driven me to write down the following top reasons:
1.The Forbidden City
There are a number of magnificent imperial buildings well-preserved in the world, the Forbidden City must be the one on the top list. At least, it is the largest one of its kind ever constructed in the whole world, with its width being 753 meters and its length being 961 meters. The construction of the city began in 1406 and ended in 1420. It houses around 1,000 traditional Chinese rooms and large halls which you can visit today but you cannot carefully tour them all even in a whole day. It is located in the center of Beijing.
2.The Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is also named 10,000-Li (half a kilometer or so) Great Wall in China and stretches around 6,000 kilometers from the east to the west on the Chinese mainland. Visiting Beijing offers you an opportunity to walk the Great Wall, as long as you know how to. Currently there are approximately 80 sections of the Great Wall that can be found in the suburban districts of Beijing. The most renowned sections include Badaling, Mutianyu, Juyongguan, Shuguan and Jiankou. Badaling is the most famous one but seems to be too crowded, especially during China's national holidays. In comparison, Mutianyu Great Wall is much more welcoming but is not easy to visit by public transport.
3. History and Culture
Although today's Beijing has been dramatically transformed and looks even not like an ancient city in your mind if you view it from outside, its history and culture are deeply embedded in its well-protected buildings and traditional lifestyle. To seek the history, most visitors travel to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall; and to soak into the culture, many avoid visiting tall modern buildings and ride a bike to the short but traditional-looking houses named courtyards and hutongs. In fact, the history of Beijing can trace back to 3,000 years ago, when Beijing was named City of Ji. Also, its culture can be found in its food and snacks, as long as you arrive in Beijing.
4.Old Beijing Hutongs
Truth be told, the original old Beijing hutongs have already disappeared into the dust of Beijing history, but the layout has not changed yet. Now they have been renovated and decorated to become traditional and astounding for travelers. Touring the hutongs, you had better pay a visit an area called Shichahai, for zigzagging hutongs clutter around the three lakes named Front Sea, Back Sea and West Sea, which form the name Shichahai.
5.Delicious Chinese Food
The fact is no matter where you go in China, you can have a delicious trip. In Beijing, the feel will become stronger because it is the capital of China and all kinds of regional foods gather in different corners of Beijing including Old Beijing, Sichuan, Guangdong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other kinds of cuisines. It is a melting pot of food. By the way the street food here is quite popular here too, such as Jianbing and Shouzhuabing.
6.A center of Modern Art
Those who haven't been in Beijing may easily run into a routine way of thinking that Beijing is too political and historical to be arty. Yet, the truth is obviously the opposite. One of the best examples of modern art is an area located in Jiuxianqiao called 798 Art District, which poses as one of the most famous tourist attractions in Beijing. Large numbers of art companies or studios have already settled down in the district. In addition to this one, other art districts such as Caochangdi are also quite famous and are now welcoming tourists. More importantly, they are free of charge for visitors.
7.A Great Many Free But Entertaining Places to Visit
Beijing is among the first class cities in China like Shanghai and is truly not cheap, but it is not as expensive as Shanghai. Moreover, it offers numerous free places for travelers from around the world such as Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing Street, Shichahai, Qianmen Street, 798 Art District, the Silk Market, the National Museum of China, Panjiayuan Antique Market, wild Great Wall sections etc. They are indeed free and truly entertaining or meaningful.
8.Colorful Nightlife
Beijing is not old-fashioned because of its profound history, and instead it turns colorful as night falls. Indeed, Beijing is a city with mixed culture, which means it becomes historical when you want to explore its history and it turns wonderful when you hope to indulge yourself in its nightlife. The top two places for nightlife goers should be Sanlitun and Shichahai. If you are still energetic, you might as well travel to Wangjing to soak yourself into the stunning night activities.
9.Chinese Antiques
Chinese antiques are extremely welcomed by the whole world, and so some have crossed the seas and oceans to China to explore these old stuff. Beijing has never been a place lacking attractive old stuff, for you know Beijing has gone through about 3,000 years of history. The world famous place to visit for old stuff is named Panjiayuan, where you can visit the exquisitely polished antique city as well as the old stuff market. Indeed, the latter seems looks more attractive although one cannot easily find fine art products in this place.
10.Splendid Modern Buildings
The most splendid modern buildings in Beijing are nobody than the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube built for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Tourists visit the Olympic Park each and every day but they always tour the park to the night, for the two modern buildings decorated by special light effects under the dark night will look even more charismatic. Other modern buildings such as the oval National Grand Theatre, CCTV Tower and CCTV headquarters are also worth your visit.
11.Mountaineering
Beijing is surrounded by mountains on all of its sides, and so it is a place to explore mountains and do more exercise. Nearly all the Great Wall sections in Beijing are built on tops of the mountains. If you are font of mountain climbing, this can also be counted as one kind. The more famous mountain for outsiders is the Fragrant Hills, which offer you an ideal place to appreciate the red leaves of late autumn. For passionate climbers, the Fragrant Hills are too short, and so now they can pay a visit to the highest mountain in Beijing: Lingshan Mountain (over 2,000 meters high above sea level).
Martin Wynn
