All Yo Need To know About Beijing china capital Before You Visit

Beijing Is The Capital Of China, Before I Leave My Country All My Mind Is Already In China Capital,I Feel Like I Should Be In China Capital Less Than 3 Minutes Also I Think China Capital Is Hong Kong. When We Arrive At China Capital, Here Are Some Details I Got From China Capital And This Could Help Alot Of People Who Want To Visit China Capital.

Beijing, which means "Northern Capital" (from the Chinese characters 北 for north and 京 for capital), is the capital of the People’s Republic of China and one of the most heavily populated cities in the world.

Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by urban population after Shanghai -the 2010 census revealed that the official total population in Beijing was 19,612,368- and is the nation's political, cultural, and educational centre of China. The Beijing Capital International Airport is the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic.

The city's history dates back to three millennia. As the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political centre of the country for much of the past eight centuries.

The city is illustrious for its opulent palaces, temples, gardens, tombs, walls and gates and its art treasures and universities have made it the heart of culture and art in China. Few cities in the world have been the political and cultural core of an area as immense for so long.

Beijing is unique among most big cities of China since it shows at the same time the characteristics of old and new China. The first facet is seeable not only in the very numerous historic monuments of the city, but also in its typical old town districts “Hutong” still very vast.

The fast moving modern metropolis come into sight during a walk in Guomao area in Chaoyang District, the central business district of Beijing and along Dongdaqiao Road or Jianguo Avenue.

Administrative division

Beijing Municipality currently comprises 16 administrative county-level subdivisions including 14 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties or xian.

Geography

The metropolis is located in northern China and the municipality of Beijing extends over a surface of 16 800 km2. Mountains to the north, northwest and west shield the city which is close to the Great Wall of China.

Beijing has a rather dry, monsoon-influenced humid continental climate  characterized by hot, humid summers and usually cold, windy, dry winters. The monthly daily average temperature in January is −3.7 °C (25.3 °F), while in July it is 26.2 °C (79.2 °F).

The most pleasant months for tourism are: May, with an average temperature of 26,4 °C and  September with 25,8°C. July and August are the months of the year when it is most raining with an average of 10 rainy days during the month.

History

The earliest traces of human habitation in the Beijing municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near Zhoukoudian village in Fangshan District, where Peking man lived.

It is in 1153 that the city became for the first time the capital of the country as the Jurchen Jin dynasty  moved their capital to Nanjing (also known as Yanjing—the city which is now Beijing) renaming it Zhongdu, the "Central Capital". However it loses of its notoriety as the city was besieged by Genghis Khan's invading Mongolian army in 1213.

Two generations later, Kublai Khan ordered the creation of Dadu, a new capital for his Yuan dynasty to be located adjacent to the Jin ruins. The construction took from 1264 to 1293.

In 1368, the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang sent an army to Khanbaliq and burnt it to the ground and a new town was established to supply the military garrisons in the area. This was called Beiping. Yingtian (Nanjing) situated some hundred kilometres north became the Ming capital.

The city of Beiping turned into Shuntian– now Beijing- in 1403. The construction of the new imperial residence, the Forbidden City, took from 1406 to 1420; this period was also accountable for several other of the modern city's major attractions, such as the Temple of Heaven and Tian'anmen (although the square facing it was not cleared until 1651).

When everything was finished in 1421, Beijing became the empire's primary capital (Jingshi) and Yingtian – now called Nanjing – lost much of its importance.

By the 15th century, Beijing had essentially taken its current shape. It is generally believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world for most of the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

Beijing has also been the location of many significant events in recent Chinese history, principally the 2008 Summer Olympics. The city was awarded to host the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.

Transportation

Beijing is endowed with 6 airports. Beijing's primary airport is the Beijing Capital International Airport  about 20 kilometres northeast of the city centre. Other airports in the city include Liangxiang, Nanyuan, Xijiao, Shahe and Badaling.

These airports are primarily for military use and are less well known to the public. Nanyuan serves as the hub for only one passenger airline. A second international airport, to be called Beijing Daxing International Airport is currently being built in Daxing District, and is expected to be open by 2017

Beijing serves as a large rail focal point in China's railway network. The city's main railway stations are the Beijing Railway Station, the Beijing West Railway Station and the Beijing South Railway Station.

The Beijing Subway is the second longest subway system in the world and  there are nearly 1,000 public bus and trolleybus lines in the city including four bus rapid transit lines. In addition, numerous taxis circulate in the city all day and night long.

Beijing has long been well known for the number of bicycles on its streets. Although due to the rise of motor traffic bicycle use has declined, bicycles are still an important form of local transportation. Large numbers of cyclists can be seen on most roads in the city, and most of the main roads have dedicated bicycle lanes.

Places of interests

At the historical heart of Beijing lies the Forbidden City, the enormous palace compound that was the home of the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties; the Forbidden City hosts the Palace Museum.

Surrounding the Forbidden City are several former imperial gardens, parks and scenic areas, particularly Beihai, Shichahai, Zhongnanhai, Jingshan and Zhongshan. These places, especially Beihai Park, are described as masterpieces of Chinese gardening art and are popular tourist destinations with remarkable historical importance.

From Tiananmen Square, right across from the Forbidden City, there are several notable sites, such as the Tiananmen, Qianmen, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. The Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace both lie at the western part of the city. Among the best known religious sites in the city is the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan), located in south-eastern Beijing, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties made visits for annual ceremonies of prayers to Heaven for good harvest.

In the north of the city is the Temple of Earth (Ditan), while the Temple of the Sun (Ritan) and the Temple of the Moon (Yuetan) lie in the eastern and western urban areas respectively.

Other well-known temple sites include the Dongyue Temple, Tanzhe Temple, Miaoying Temple, White Cloud Temple, Yonghe Temple, Fayuan Temple, Wanshou Temple and Big Bell Temple. The city also has its own Confucius Temple, and a Guozijian or Imperial Academy.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built in 1605, is the oldest Catholic Church in Beijing. The Niujie Mosque is the oldest mosque in Beijing, with a history stretching back over a thousand years.

Beijing contains several well-preserved pagodas and stone pagodas, such as the towering Pagoda of Tianning Temple, and the Pagoda of Cishou Temple. Historically noteworthy stone bridges include the 12th-century Lugou Bridge, the 17th-century Baliqiao  bridge, and the 18th-century Jade Belt Bridge. The Beijing Ancient Observatory displays pre-telescopic spheres dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) is a popular scenic public park that consists of natural landscaped areas as well as traditional and cultural relics. The Beijing Botanical Garden exhibits over 6,000 species of plants. The Taoranting, Longtan, Chaoyang, Haidian, Milu Yuan and Zizhu Yuan parks are some of the notable recreational parks in the city. The Beijing Zoo is a centre of zoological research that also contains rare animals from various continents, including the Chinese giant panda.

There are over one hundred museums in Beijing. In addition to the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City and the National Museum of China, other major museums include the National Art Museum of China, the Capital Museum, the Beijing Art Museum, the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, the Geological Museum of China, the Beijing Museum of Natural History and the Paleozoological Museum of China.

Located at the outskirts of urban Beijing, but within its municipality are the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty, the sumptuous burial sites of thirteen Ming emperors, which have been designated as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The archaeological Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian is another World Heritage Site within the municipality containing a wealth of discoveries, among them one of the first specimens of Homo erectus and an assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris.

There are moreover several sections of the UNESCO World Heritage Great Wall of China Site most particularly Badaling, Jinshanling, Simatai and Mutianyu.

Wangfujing Dajie situated East Tiananmen door; Wangfujing Street dates back to 500 years and is a very animated commercial artery.

Qianmen is the oldest shopping street of Beijing existing since the beginning of Ming dynasty and is gifted by hundred stores offering a big variety of goods. Xidan is located West Tiananmen door; this district consists by Xuanwumennei Dajie and Xidan Beidajie streets.

Liulichang Street stretches on 750m; its traditional Chinese architecture shops sell mainly old books, antiques, prints, calligraphy, paintings, art and craft articles, etc. Xiushui Jie Market can be found in a narrow street of Ritan Embassy Quarter and includes 400 clothes and art and craft stalls.

A Quick Guide to China Currency

Travelers to China Currency are often confused by how to refer to Chinese money. In English, some people call it the Chinese "dollar." In Chinese, there are three common names and two symbols in regular use.

The official name for China currency is Renminbi, which literally translates to People's Currency and is abbreviated to RMB. The most widespread international usage is yuan, which is abbreviated to CNY. You can write either CNY 1,000 or RMB 1,000.

The official symbol for the Chinese yuan is ¥. However, in most stores and restaurants in China, the symbol is represented by the Chinese character 元 instead, which is pronounced "yuan." While traveling in China, you will also hear people say "kuai," pronounced “kwai”, which is a local word for yuan.

To further confuse you, there are two names for 1/10th of a Chinese yuan. This can be called one "mao" or one "jiao." Both refer to the same thing: 1/10 of a yuan.

The Chinese yuan or RMB is only used in Mainland China. Hong Kong's currency is the Hong Kong Dollar and Macau's currency is called the Pataca.

21 Things to know before you visit Beijing china capital

If you’re planning your first trip to Beijing china capital cand aren’t quite

 sure what to expect, here are my top tips for the things you really should know

 before you go!

1. Be prepared when it comes to getting around 

in Beijing china capital

Unless you can speak and/or write Mandarin, you’re going to need to have 

the name of your hotel and its address printed out in Chinese characters.

 Your hotel booking should come with this, it did for us and we booked

 through Agoda. I also really strongly recommend you get Google maps

 screenshots of where the hotel is and also the route from the airport to 

your hotel if you plan on catching a taxi. Get a good understanding of where 

you’re going too, we were able to give our driver instructions thanks to 

Matt’s awesome map reading skills. Beijing is HUGE and there are

 thousands of hotels, so it’s not unreasonable for taxi drivers not to know

 the name of your hotel.

2. It’s hard to get lost in Beijing china capital

We walked around a lot, venturing down tiny alleyways and streets with a 

vague idea of where we were going. It was pretty hard to get lost, seeing

 as the streets are all laid out in a big grid. Even in the backstreets, 

we felt safe and nobody took much notice of us. Even if you do get lost, 

you’ll find a subway station eventually and be able to find your way home.

3. Don’t underestimate walking distances in Beijing china capital

Just because something looks close on the map, doesn’t mean it is. Never

 underestimate walking distance, things are always further away than

 you think they are.

4. Spitting and slurping aren’t as bad as you imagine they may be

I thought there would be a lot of spitting and slurping going on, but it wasn’t

 as full-on as I expected. There’s still a fair amount of it, but it’s part of the

 culture and you just deal with it and move on.

5. Pollution isn’t as bad as you imagine in Beijing china capital

I also thought the pollution in Beijing would be really, really bad, but it wasn’t.

 We’ve been told we were really lucky with the weather, so I can’t say for sure

 that the pollution levels are always fine. I used antihistamine tablets and my

 Ventolin while we were there, though I think that had more to do with 

cigarette smoke than anything else.

6. It’s very laid back in Beijing china capital

There’s a very chilled-out, Zen-like vibe to Beijing and everything just works in

 harmony. This includes the traffic and subway systems. Don’t fight it, just 

keep moving with the flow and everything will be okay.

7. Everyone’s really friendly in Beijing china capital

The people are really friendly and if you say hello and smile, they’ll give you a

 smile and a hello right back. I didn’t have a moment where I felt unsafe, 

even in the back streets.

8. People may stare at you in Beijing china capital

I suddenly have a better understanding of Britney Spears 2007 meltdown

. Because of my bright blonde hair and how tall I am, I really stood out and 

had a lot of people stare at me constantly. It’s harmless, but there were a

 few occasions where it really got too much for me and I freaked out a bit.

 Particularly when it was big groups of men staring and talking about me.

9. Close-standing is normal in Beijing china capital

If you’re in a queue for anything, the person behind you will stand so close 

to you that they may even be pressing up against you. It’s not what I’m

 used to so it felt really weird and uncomfortable, but it’s just the done thing,

 so you gotta deal with it.

10. Don’t wait for all your food to arrive in Beijing china capital

Just because you order an entree, doesn’t mean it’s coming out first. Dishes 

you order will come out when they’re ready and you may not get all your

 plates of food at the same time. So, when one plate arrives, just start eating it.

 It could be a while before the next one shows up.

11. You should screenshot key phrases in Beijing china capital

I would suggest screen-shotting and saving key phrases and saving them on 

your phone. Make sure you have the English word, Chinese characters and 

pinyin (Chinese words spelt out using English letters). This is particularly

 handy if, like me, you need to communicate at a restaurant that you’re 

vegetarian or need soy milk etc. It’s also a really great way to start to be

 able to practice your language skills and try out words in conversation 

with people. I always get a big smile when I ask for something in Mandarin.

12. Hutongs are the place to stay in Beijing china capital

You could stay at a big hotel in the middle of touristy areas with the swarms 

of other tourists (boring) or you could get yourself out to the Hutongs. 

We stayed in a great hotel to the north of all the tourist areas and had a real 

locals experience. It was so chilled out, welcoming and such a fun place to be.

 I really recommend staying away from the tourist traps, if you can.

13. Peak hour on the subway is crazy in Beijing china capital

Avoid catching the subway during peak hour. There are a lot of people 

squeezing onto trains to get to work and it is not the time for a tourist to

 be caught up in all of it. Trust me.

14. The subway is easy to navigate and very cheap in

 Beijing china capital

It’s really easy to get around on the subway and so affordable too, 

so don’t feel scared about wandering down there to give it a go.

15. Security is tight in Beijing china capital

They take security very seriously in Beijing and your bags will be scanned 

at every train station and large tourist spots too. At the airport, you will be

 frisked and everything thoroughly scanned and checked. We had our

 luggage cracked open too, just before it got on the plane.

16. The parks are amazing in Beijing china capital

I had been hanging out to see Beijing’s big tourist attractions, like the

 Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen. But the things that took my breath

 away were the incredibly beautiful parks, places like Jingshan Park and the

 Temple of Heaven. I’d recommend spending more time in places like these 

than visiting the really over-crowded tourist spots. To me, they weren’t

 representative of what Beijing really is.

17. Google Maps isn’t gospel in Beijing china capital

Beijing is a BIG place with LOTS of little streets and Hutongs running every

 which way. Google maps have done their absolute best, I’m sure, but there 

may be times when you go to exactly where Google maps says something is, 

only to find it isn’t there. That’s okay, it’s probably nearby, don’t panic. 

Just keep in mind that things may not be where Google maps say they are.

 Just ask a local or carry a paper map for cross-reference.

18. Cabs can be tough to get in Beijing china capital

If you’re walking around and have sore feet and decide to hop a cab back to

 your hotel, you may find it hard to get someone to take you. Cab drivers can

 and will say no to you if they don’t want to take you. You’re better off just 

catching the subway, amigos.

19. Warm water is served at restaurants 

and cafes in Beijing china capital

If you ask for a glass of water it will be served to you warm, don’t freak out. 

This is done for a few reasons, I believe. Firstly, it’s boiled so you know it’s 

hygienic and secondly, because it’s better for your tummy and helps you 

digest your meal.

20. Look for restaurants packed with locals in Beijing china capital

This isn’t exactly a revolutionary travel tip, but it netted us some great food 

in Beijing. The restaurants packed with locals are usually packed out for a 

reason…. if possible, stop in and give it a try.

21. Visiting the great wall by public

 transport is hard in Beijing china capital

I’ll be writing a full blog post about this soon, so stay tuned. But, basically,

 catching the train or bus to visit the Great Wall may seem like a great, 

money-saving idea but the truth is, it’s harder to do than you think and 

getting a private tour or driver is far easier.

Useful travel resources for your trip to Beijing china capital

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