Beijing

Geographic Information and Population

Beijing is the capital of China, which is the center of National politics, culture, transport, tourism and international exchanges. It is located on the northern edge of the North China Plain and with the population of more than 17 million. Beijing is 90 miles inland from the Bohai Sea and covers an area of about 16,410 square kilometers. Beijing is a city with four distinct seasons, and autumn is a great time to visit it, as the spring is temperate and short, the summer tends to get rainy and the winter is cold and snowy.

History and Historic sites

Beijing is famous for its history and culture, the city was built more than 3,000 years ago and was regarded as the ancient oriental capital for over 850 years, it was the capital city for Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. So few cities in the world besides Beijing have served as the political and cultural centre of an area as immense as China for so long. Since 1949, Beijing has been the capital of the People's Republic of China. There are many great historic sites in Beijing, for example the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and the Ming Tomb, which were listed on the world cultural heritages by United Nation.

Climate

 With the Yanshan mountains on the northwest and the North China Plain and ocean adjacent on the southeast, Beijing has a warm temperate semi-humid monsoon climate with four distinct seasons: dry and windy spring, hot and rainy summer, clear and crisp autumn, cold winter with little snow. Beijing has short springs (two months) and autumns (one and a half months) and long summers (three months) and winters (over five months).

 Temperatures rise rapidly with large variance between day and night in spring when it rarely rains or snows but is frequented by dry weathers and strong winds accompanied by floating dust, flying sand or sandstorms. Scarce precipitation has earned Beijing a fame of "10 years 9 droughts". In the hot summer heat it rains often. Though July is the warmest month, most extreme high temperatures occur in June. About 70 percent of the yearly precipitation comes in summer, often in heavy downpours and causing mountain torrents and plain waterlogging. Autumn is the best season of the year: always clear and crisp, neither too cold or too hot, and endowed with adequate sunshine, pleasant weather and the best air quality. From December to February in the cold and dry winter, the monthly mean temperatures fall below 0℃; and the precipitation is only two percent of the year, often with record high zero precipitations for over a month.

Beijing Opera

Beijing opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. Peking opera is a synthesis of stylized action, singing, dialogue and mime, acrobatic fighting and dancing to represent a story or depict different characters and their feelings of gladness, anger, sorrow, happiness, surprise, fear and sadness.The types of facial make-ups in Peking opera are rich and various, depicting different characters and remarkable images, therefore they are highly appreciated. Moreover there are numerous fixed editions of facial make-up.The repertoire of Beijing opera includes over 1,400 works, which are based on Chinese history, folklore, and, increasingly, contemporary life.

Tour

Badaling Great Wall
The Badaling Great Wall resound in the whole world, It is the earliest part of the Great Wall open to the public. The Badaling Great Wall is the soul of the whole Great Wall, and it is welcoming the tourists all over the world. If you has visited the Great Wall, you will understand the meaning of a famous Chinese proverb "You are not a hero unless you climb on the Great Wall."

Beihai Park
Beihai Park is a tourist attraction and a key historic site. The park used to be an imperial palace serving for the emperors of five dynasties (Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing) to handle political affairs, or offer sacrifices. At the age of 800, it is the earliest and best preserved imperial garden in the world.

Summer Palace
The Summer Palace, originally named Qingyi Yuan or the Garden of Clear Ripples, was first constructed in 1750. The whole landscape, dominated mainly by Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake, covers an area of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is under water. Its 70,000 square meters of building space is featured in the variety of palaces, gardens and other classical orient-style architectural structures. Well known for its large and priceless collection of cultural relics, it was one of the first group of historical and cultural heritage sites in China.

Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven was the place where the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties prayed for crops harvest. The Temple of Heaven is a grand and magnificent masterpiece of ancient architecture with a formal and solemn environment. A masterpiece of the Ming and Qing architectural art and a precious example of China's ancient architecture, the Temple of Heaven is the largest architectural group for worshipping Heaven in the world.