Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE CBD
What to see
The absolute centre of China since the Ming dynasty, the wonderful
ForbiddenCity
remains
Beijing's most popular sight - and rightly so. Immediately to its south is
Tian'anmen
Square
, a bald expanse with a hairy history; sights on and around the square include the co-
lossal National Museum and three grand city gates, as well as the corpse of Chairman Mao,
lying pickled in his sombre mausoleum.
The wide area spreading north of the Forbidden City is one of the city's most pleasant quar-
ters. First comes
Beihai Park
, the old imperial pleasure grounds, centred on a large lake.
North again are two further lakes,
Qianhai
and
Houhai
, surrounded by one of the city's most
appealing
hutong
areas - though, as elsewhere in the city, one that's living on borrowed time.
The
hutongs
are tricky to navigate, but getting lost is part of the fun - nowhere else in Beijing
is aimless rambling so amply rewarded. Many sights west of the lakes are remnants of the
imperial past, when the area was home to princes, dukes and eunuchs. For a more contem-
porary side of Beijing head east instead to the charming street of
Nanluogu Xiang
, one of
Beijing's most fashionable areas - youngsters from all over the city come here to stroll and
sup coffee, tourists (both foreign and domestic) go trinket mad, while expats tend to make a
beeline for the craft breweries.
Further to the east is the
YongheGong
, a spectacular Lamaist temple, which lies across the
road from the wonderful
Confucius Temple
- less showy but just as worthy of your time.
The areas to the east and south are some of the most important pieces of Beijing's modern
jigsaw -
Sanlitun
, still the city's prime nightlife spot after all these years; the
CBD
, boasting
