Parks

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

The walls of Yuán dynasty Khanbalik, or Dàdū (Great Capital), were built between 1267 and 1276. The Míng dynasty, which founded the first…

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

五环路亦庄桥向南，沿路标指示方向前行即可
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond

Now more formally renamed the Nán Háizi Mílù Bówùguǎn.

西五环路八大处出口下
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond

There are several military camps in the area, which was entirely off-limits to foreigners not very long ago, so you may share the bus out with military personnel.

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

The parkland here, an imperial playground since 1168 during the Jīn dynasty, was also renovated by the Yuán, Míng, and Qīng, and in 1745 the Qiánlóng emperor made further improvements…

香山卧佛寺路
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond

The large, slightly scruffy 72-hectare site was begun in 1956 and claims to be home to 2000 species of trees and shrubs, 200 species of…

紫竹院路
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Northwest Beyond the Zoo

This park is worth mentioning mainly because it’s a pleasant way to walk to or from the Wànshòu Sì, although otherwise it’s little different from many other…

蓝靛厂南路
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of West of the Imperial City

崇文门大街
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of North and East of the Imperial City

This last remaining stretch of city wall immediately south of Běijīng Station was until recently hidden behind relatively modern…

Běijīng Summer Palace site used as nationalist propaganda
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng

In a letter dated 25 November 1861 (of which there’s a copy in the ‘Old’ Summer Palace museum) Victor Hugo compared the Summer Palace en…