Discover China

On 2 January we took a day trip to the city of Tianjin, famous for its great food and European colonial architecture. The 130km journey from Beijing to Tianjin took only 30 minutes on the new high speed rail service which reached a speed of 325 km/h. China has 17,000 km of high speed rail lines under construction across the country, and metro rail networks are being built in many cities.

Beijing’s beautiful Beihai Park was our destination on 3 January. Located in the centre of Beijing, Beihai Park is one of the oldest, largest and best preserved ancient imperial gardens in China with a history of about 1,000 years.

A major landmark in Beihai Park is the majestic White Dagoba which is situated on the peak of Qionghua Islet.

In Beijing we are staying at Chongwenmen, which means “Chongwen gate”.

Chongwen gate was one of the gates in Beijing’s ancient city wall, and construction of the gate commenced in 1436 in the Ming Dynasty. Chongwen gate no longer stands, however leading east from Chongwenmen a 1.5 km section of the ancient city wall has been protected in the Ming City Wall Site Park.

About 1.5 km west of Chongwenmen another of the gates, Zhenyangmen (Zhenyang gate) still stands at the southern end of Tian’anmen Square. Zhenyangmen is commonly known as Qianmen (front door) and is the highest and most magnificent city gate in Beijing.

Chongwenmen now features major department stores and numerous restaurants as well as a subway station accessing two lines of Beijing’s extensive, efficient and expanding subway network.

Tian’anmen Square and the Imperial Palace (also known as the Forbidden City) were the first of Beijing’s numerous significant attractions that I visited after arriving in China’s capital on 27 December.

Tian’anmen Square takes its name from the Tian’anmen gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) to the Imperial Palace at the north of the square. Under clear blue skies I joined the many people who were in the square visiting the Monument to the People’s Heroes and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, and then commenced an exploration of the Imperial Palace. I had seen photographs of the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City), but pictures can’t convey the extraordinary scale and grandeur of this vast complex.

We have since visited Beijing’s ancient Drum and Bell Towers and Prince Gong Mansion, toured historic Hutongs, and of course enjoyed Beijing’s outstanding food.

Huangshan mountain in east China’s Anhui Province is listed among the country’s top 10 most popular tour sites. This year marks the 20th anniversary of its UNESCO listing as a world heritage site, prompting a series of celebrations. Find out more in the CNTV news item Preserving natural beauty of Huangshan Mountain. We visited spectacular Huangshan mountain in 2009 as part of a trip to Henan, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces – see the pictures or read the story.