Main sights of Beijing

The Great Wall of China is One of the most famous sights of Beijing is about an hour bus or car ride away.  This mammoth construction was started in the 7th Century BC and finished 500 years later.
A major renovation started in the 14th Century and took over 200 years. Today a number of sections have been very well preserved or restored, of which two of the most popular can be visited from Beijing. The nearest (and most popular) is at Badaling but a more original section can be visited at Simatai about 100km from Beijing.

The Temple of Heaven is often used as the symbol of Beijing. Built in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty. The most magnificent buildings are The Circular Mound Altar (Yuanqiutan - pictured), Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu) and Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian). The Temple of Heaven was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped heaven and prayed for good harvests.
The emperors visited the temple three times a year: on the 8th day of the first lunar month to pray for a good harvest; during the Summer Solstice to pray for rain; and during Winter Solstice to give thanks for a good harvest. During each ceremony, the emperors worshipped heaven and prayed for a good harvest. In addition, the emperors also worshipped their ancestors and other natural phenomena such as the Cloud God, Rain God and Wind God.

The Summer Palace is construction started in 1750 and took 15 years to complete. The Summer Palace is the largest imperial garden in the world.
The plundering of foreign troops in 1860 destroyed most of the buildings, but they were renovated in 1888 by Empress Dowager Cixi, who was said to have embezzled the funds of the Imperial Navy to build the garden.

Tiananmen Square is the largest square in the world, covering an area of 14 hectares. The Mao Zedong Memorial Hall is at the south side of the Square. This Hall is divided into three halls and Chairman Mao's body lies in a crystal coffin in one of the halls surrounded by fresh bouquets of flowers. The Monument to the People's Heroes towers over the centre of the square. Tiananmen Square gets its name from the huge gate that stands on the north side of the square. The Chinese word for "gate" is "men", so the name Tiananmen can be translated into English as the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

Tiananmen Gate at the north end of the Square it was Initially built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D.--1644 A.D.), the Square was the front door of the Forbidden City.
The most important use of it in the past was to declare in a big ceremony to the common people who was to become the emperor and the empress. Until 1911 when the last feudal kingdom finished, no one could enter the Tower except for the royal family and aristocrats.

The Forbidden City is called Gu Gong, in Chinese was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six metre deep moat and a ten metre high wall are 9,999 buildings.
Construction of the palace complex began in 1407, the 5th year of the Yongle reign of the third emperor of the Ming dynasty. It was completed fourteen years later in 1420. It is said that a million workers including one hundred thousand artisans were used to build it.