Discover China

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.

At last another trip to China is very near. Over three weeks from the end of December we will visit China’s capital Beijing as well as Tianjin, located south of Beijing, Zhengzhou in central China, and possibly some other places too. Beijing has an abundance of historical and cultural attractions which we will explore over several days. As it is winter, impressive sites such as the Forbidden City and Summer Palace are likely to be framed in snow. From Beijing we’ll then take a 30-minute journey on one of China’s new high speed rail trains to the city of Tianjin, and then after that travel to Zhengzhou. I can hardly wait!

The story and photos from my trip to Shenzhen and Guangzhou in February 2010 are now available:

• Read the story.
• View the photos.

In my week in Shenzhen I visited the Splendid China and China Folk Culture Villages theme parks, the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government building, the Shenzhen Museum of History (where I took the photo at left), the Shenzhen Museum of Ancient Art, and Lychee Park. We also took a day trip to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, where we visited a few of the city’s major attractions – Yuexiu Park, Beijing Road, Ersha Island and the Pearl River.