Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Other entertainment options include Show Max Multiplex Cinema, in Soshow shopping
center, and Glory Mall Broadway Cinema just up the street. Both play Chinese and foreign
films, and occasionally Chinese movies with English subtitles.
For more mentally engaging places, head to the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall, just
southeast of Tian'anmen Square. It's well worth making a trip here when you first move
to Beijing to orientate yourself to the city. It features a highly detailed 302-square-meter
model of the entire city and shows how the city looked in the past as well as how it might
evolve into the year 2020. Legation Quarter (also known as Ch'ien Men 23), at one time
the site of the American Legation, is a place for fine dining and occasional jazz events.
Venues have come and gone from inside this handsome complex, but the highly awarded
French restaurant Maison Boulud by Daniel Boulud and the Italian Ristaurante Sadler by
chef Claudio Sadler have become Beijing classics, and provide you with impressive places
to treat your guests. Complete the night with a show over at the Paul Andreu-designed Na-
tional Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), which sits on the western side of Tian'anmen
Square (although this is technically in Xicheng district). Red Gate Gallery, by the Dong-
bianmen Watchtower on Chongwenmen Dongdajie, is a leading local art gallery and well
worth regular visits.
the restored Qianmen Jie, with Qianmen Gate in the background
