How to approach it
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond

He expressed a particular enthusiasm with respect to visiting the wall of China. I catched it for the moment, and said I really believed I should go and see…

Dowager Empress Cíxǐ’s favourite escape from Běijīng
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond

Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond

This place is truly an Imperial residence; the park is said to be eighteen miles round, and laid out in all the taste, variety, and magnificence which distinguish the rural scenery of…

A little caution needed in Běijīng, but only a little
Part of A Better Guide to Beijing’s Practical A-Z

The Party’s 2012 budget for ‘stability maintenance’ — keeping public order, monitoring and suppressing criticism of itself —…

Part of the Background section of A Better Guide to Běijīng

Běijīng, a city whose name is now synonymous with Chinese power, is nevertheless an odd choice as the heartland of Chinese self-admiration and conservatism. Founded by foreigners more than 700…

The greatest achievement of Míng dynasty architecture
Part of A Better Guide to Beijing’s coverage of South of Qián Mén

Of all Peking’s enchanting sights, the beauty of the Altar of Heaven is the hardest to describe. Its sublime…

五四大街29号
Dusty monument was early 20th-century breeding ground for revolutionaries
Part of A Better Guide to Beijing’s coverage of the Imperial City

Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

A guide, like a fat yellow spider, lies in wait for visitors. He will show us everything and tell us everything for a dollar. We assure him we do not want his information, as we have been here a dozen times. He insists we shall lose our way…