A Better Guide to Beijing

The Last Occupant of the Forbidden City

Imperial tutor Reginald Johnston, played unforgettably by Peter O’Toole in Bertolucci’s bowdlerized film The Last Emperor, was an Oxford-educated Scot turned Confucian, with fluent Mandarin and a deep love of China. He had worked in the British administration…

Islam in China

Conversion of Chinese peoples to Islam began in the 10th century and by the time of the Mongol invasion of the 13th century was widespread. The faith had originally arrived at China’s southern ports in the 8th century with Arab merchants, but also spread in what is now China’s northwest through land…

Zhōngshān Park 中山公园

西长安街

The park offers a pleasant alternative route from Tiān’ān Mén Square to the Forbidden City’s main entrance. It was the site of a Liáo dynasty temple, and then from 1421 the Altar of Land and Grain (社稷坛, Shèjì Tán), where the emperors made important sacrifices in…

Jiǎnkòu Great Wall 箭扣长城

Note that the character in the name is not the usual kǒu (口), meaning ‘pass’, but kòu (扣), meaning ‘nock’ (the notch at the end of an arrow for holding the string). Perhaps the Wall’s steep rise and drop here makes it resemble the string of a drawn bow. Lying between Mùtiányù and Huáng…