Travel China Planner

National Palace Museum has total area of 720,000 square meters, the current non-open areas for nearly 400,000 square meters. National Palace Museum is not an open area is a vast area, many people until retirement, there is still no place visited.

Jianfu Palace Garden in West

Jianfu Palace Garden West Qianlong built five years (1740 AD), is located within the National Palace Museum, northwest inside Chonghua East Palace. Because the main building for the Jianfu Palace, so called for the Jianfu Palace Garden. Because of the imperial garden located on the west side, also known as the Western Garden, for the Empress leisure, entertainment venues.

Site of Former Jianfu Palace Garden

Jianfu Palace Garden ride south, from east to west 67 meters, 64 meters long from north to south, covers an area of 3850 square meters. Penthouse to the extension as the center, there are scattered around King wins fasting, Bilin Hall, Ninghui Church, such as construction. They vary in size, the level of scattered, which connects to Veranda and rocks with trees, actual situation properly, can be called into the Royal Jiangnan private gardens and garden art features in one of the excellent work. And its layout is very unique, unlike the Imperial Garden, Garden Cining about the pursuit of the National Palace Garden symmetrical balance, and therefore the ancient Chinese palace garden occupies a special status.

Jianfu Palace of the Qing Dynasty stone bench

Mysterious eunuch suspected arson fire

Jianfu Palace Garden, located inside the Forbidden City northwest direction started 5 years before Qianlong Dynasty (AD 1740). Qianlong after the death of Emperor Jiaqing has ordered the collection of treasures here plaything full archive. To the late Qing Dynasty, such as Jing-sheng zhai such construction, used for stacking treasures.

Not only that, but usually also a number of pavilions dedicated to a lot of gold Buddha, gold urn and a variety of instruments used and the Zhuang, as well as by the version of the Qing Dynasty Emperor’s portrait 9, fling map and celebrity pictures, antiques, etc., and even married Puyi When all the gifts are stored here.

The concept of non-open areas will exist for a long

Although Hall of Wuyin, Jianfu Palace Garden, such as building homes in the National Palace Museum built in 2005 of the 80th anniversary of the world in October raising the veil, but why are there still so many regions the National Palace Museum is not open?

Perhaps they never will be covered with dust in the Red Gate Road.

National Palace Museum, as a representative of the Oriental palaces, the world an example of palace architecture. In 1987, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will be included in the National Palace Museum, “the World Heritage List.”

National Palace Museum’s official name is “Palace Museum” (The Palace Museum), but in Europe and the United States travel brochures, the usually called “Forbidden City” (The Forbidden City), and annotated it is China that Qing dynasties resident royal dynasty.

Most of the world’s tourists want to look at the National Palace Museum, is that in Hollywood film “The Last Emperor” in shining mysterious giant Royal palaces, want to experience is the splendor of the Oriental monarchy with magnificent era, rather than only to visit the National Palace with the display of the national heritage.


National Palace Museum of the Royal Palace properties, which is far greater than the possession of it as a museum complex features. In the National Palace Museum is considered the subconscious, a portal set up in the Tai Wo big-screen television guide systems have been put forward the idea, in the experts argue, this plan ultimately failed to implement.

I arrived Beijing, much to my surprise to glorious sunny weather and crystal clear blue skies. I managed to a locate a hostel just south of Tiananmen Square and right in the middle of one of the cities historical ‘Hutongs’ which quite literally means ‘narrow alley’ They are a trademark feature of the city and a home to many of Beijing’s fifteen million inhabitants. The Hutongs are the best place to witness Beijingers up close.

The street I stayed on was awash with life, bustling restaurants, barbers, snack stands and souvenir shops all blended in with local housing. The houses are a fascinating sight, often just consisting of one storey and at times a ramshackle like appearance. However recent attempts to modernise Beijing in the run up to the Olympics have seen many of these historical neighbourhoods levelled and replaced by ultra modern skyscrapers perhaps in an attempt to make the city more pleasing on the eye.

Prior to arriving in Beijing I’d drawn up a tick list of things to do. Having already seen the Great Wall and the Forbidden City I decided to miss these out this time around. The list was as follows; Tiananmen, Hutongs, The Summer Palace and the Olympic Stadium. I headed out on the first day to see the largest square in the world, Tiananmen Square. It’s one of those places which is great just to wander around.

I was a little disappointed that the Mausoleum which houses the body of China’s most famous leader was closed. To get an idea for anyone who hasn’t been to the square before just how big it is, after Mao’s death in 1976 one million mourners poured into the square to pay their respects.

Jingshan Park is situated just north of the Forbidden City and the main reason for heading there are the great panoramic views you can get of the Forbidden City. Once again I couldn’t believe my luck with the weather and I did just begin to wonder whether the rumours I’d heard about the air being sprayed blue in preparation for the Olympics were actually true!

The park itself makes for a nice place to just simply meander around and, for anyone with a historical interest in all things Chinese you can actually find the tree where the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen hung himself from!

From Jingshan Park it’s possible to look across to another park, that of Beihai (Beihai Gongyuan) The park itself is more or less made up entirely of water and perhaps the most famous site in its grounds is that of the Jade Islet (pinyin: Qiongdao) on which stands a 36m high White Dagoda (pingyin: Baita)

I was up bright and early on the second day for a trip to the Summer Palace (pinyin: Yihe Yuan) The place is so vast that in all honesty you could probably spend a couple of days there taking in all the things to see. Unfortunately my timetable didn’t spread to two days and instead I spent the best part of five hours walking around. The Palace was built primarily as a summer retreat for the royalty who wanted to escape from the stifling summer heat of the Forbidden City. In a similar fashion to that of Behai Park much of the park consists of water, around three thirds to be exact, is taken up by Kunming Lake

The ticket I purchased enabled you go into all the extra parts of the park such as museums and temples. It soon became apparent to me though that the Summer Palace was also on the tick list of others. I suppose it’s one of the three major things that most people do when visiting Beijing.

After five hours of being on my feet and some extensive sightseeing I was beginning to fade and even though there were more parts of it to see I didn’t think I would be doing them justice by just going inside and taking a few pictures so I made my way back to the hostel. That evening was rounded of by some delicious local cuisine but not as you might expect some of the legendary Beijing Duck (AKA Peiking Duck.

By the third day in Beijing my mind was beginning to roam to thoughts of returning to Xi’an that very evening but there was still one more thing I needed to see before leaving. I doubt I will get the opportunity to go up to Beijing to see any of the events. So with this in mind I made my way to the newly built Olympic stadium. I love stadiums whatever shape or size they might be but this most definitely has to be one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen.

The “Birds Nest” as it’s commonly known is a bizarre yet incredible creation which, as the name suggest looks rather like a bird’s nest, albeit a steel one. In fact the stadium is made up of 36km of unwrapped steel. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to get right up close to it as construction work is still continuing on both the stadium and the surrounding area which includes the equally impressive National Aquatics Centre.

Once completed the stadium will hold 91,000 people although the capacity will be reduced to 80,000 after the Games. Having seen it I only wish I was going to be one of those lucky people there to witness some of the events.

I was planning on going to visit the Temple of Heaven but to be quite frank there really is only so much sightseeing a person can do in one day and with that in mind I headed back to the hostel to pack up my backpack. It was a little strange as I left the hostel and made my way to Beijing train station that I had reached the end of my journey.

Perhaps I will find the time to sum up my trip in the coming weeks but that really is all there is for now. As for now, well it’s back to Xi’an and preparing for my move to Shanghai. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my trip.

We visited specific sites like the Forbidden City (which until recently had a Starbucks in side it) and Tiananmen Square. One of my favorite parts was the Peking Duck, definitely an AMAZING meal!

Most parts of the Forbidden City is under construction because of all the renovation for the Olympics. However that did not really discredit the incredible vastness where the emperor used to live. In much of Chinese architecture there are high thresholds in doorways due to an ancient belief that ghosts could only move in straight lines. You can see the remainder but many of these thresholds were taken down because one emperor wanted to ride his bike through the city. The day we visited was REALLY cold.

Everything is being revamped including subways. The government is doing an overhaul to the city. This, however, is making it harder to get my hands on counterfeit products. But there are still a variety of markets selling factory backdoor prices including the Silk Market.

Early Sunday morning we went to the Temple of Heaven. On weekends many people come there to do dance, Tai’qi, sing, play cards and all sorts of random activities.

Another day we spent touring downtown Beijing. We visited the Hutong. The Hutong were the old wealthy homes before the communist revolution throughout the centuries. After the Cultural Revolution and resultant of the economic push and growth the Hutong are being destroyed. These are homes which

NOTHING like what most of us are used to. Additionally the correct way to drink tea even here is rarely followed, which is something we learned from the bell tower.

We are now sitting in Beijing’s major train station at a computer that costs 5 RMB per hour after two days of hard foot exercise.

Yesterday we tried to get into Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum and look at his corpse. Unfortunately it was closed so we went back to hotel to get our cameras. Back on the street again we decided to get some lunch before heading out to the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was very big…huge. The experience seems much better today when we’re warm and rested. There were so many palaces that we actually got tired of them. One of the things you really have to see if people come to Beijing. The major buildings in the Forbidden City were restoring.

Directly following the Forbidden City we went to The Temple of Heaven. The park around the Temple was as huge as the Forbidden City. The Temple of Heaven itself was cool but quite a bit smaller than expected.

Today we tried again to get into the Maosoleum but were once again disappointed. We caught a cab to the North Beijing Train Station looking for tickets to Xi’an. Unfortunately it was small and very worn down so we didn’t even try to find tickets. We ate lunch at KFC and then took a taxi to The Summer Palace. The park was a playground dream for any kid. No one would ever win if they played hide-and-seek around the hilly, stony garden palaces and temples. There were, in comparison to the Forbidden City, actually quite a few buildings with a genuine look.

After uselessly trying to find the right bus home, we took a taxi to the real Beijing Train station.