The Temple of Heaven is a worthwhile visiting place in Beijing. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 2,700,000 square meters. The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves ‘The Son of Heaven’ ,they dared not to build their own dwelling,’Forbidden City’ bigger than a dwelling for Heaven.

The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of ‘The heaven is round and the earth is square’.

The Temple is divided by two enclosed walls into inner part and outer part. The main buildings of the Temple lie at the south and north ends of the middle axis line of the inner part. The most magnificent buildings are The Circular Mound Altar (Yuanqiutan), Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu) and Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian) from south to north. Also, there are some additional buildings like Three Echo Stones and Echo Wall.Almost all of the buildings are connected by a wide bridge called Vermilion Steps Bridge (Danbiqiao) or called Sacred Way.

The Circular Altar has three _layer_ed terraces with white marble. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 A.D. – 1911 A.D.), the emperors would offer sacrifice to Heaven on the day of the Winter Solstice every year. This ceremony was to thank Heaven and hope everything would be good in the future. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is a big palace with round roof and three _layer_s of eaves. Inside the Hall are 28 huge posts. The four posts along the inner circle represent four seasons-spring, summer, autumn and winter; the 12 posts along the middle circle represent the 12 months; and 12 posts along the outer circle represent 12 Shichen (Shichen is a means of counting time in ancient China. One Shichen in the past equaled two hours and a whole day was divided into 12 Shichens). The roof is covered with black, yellow and green colored glaze representing the heavens, the earth and everything on earth. The Hall has a base named Altar for Grain Prayers which is made of three layers of white marble and has a height of six meters.

Another important building in Temple of Heaven is Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you look at it from far away, you will find that the Vault is like a blue umbrella with gold head. The structure of it is like that of Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, but smaller in size. The structure was made of bricks and timber. The Vault was used to place memorial tablets of Gods. White marble railings surround the vault.

The Vermilion Steps Bridge connects the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The south end of the Bridge is lower than its north end. The emperors in the past believed that they could go to heaven through this Bridge, which is why this bridge is also called Sacred Way. A Yu Route and a Wang Route are on two sides of the Sacred Way. The former one is only for the emperors to walk on and the later one is for the princes and the high officials to pass.

Three Echo Stones is outside of the gate of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you speak facing the Vault while standing on the first stone, you will hear one echo; standing on the second and then the third stone, you will hear two and three echoes respectively.

Another interesting and famous place for you to visit is called Echo Wall owning special feature. The wall encloses the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Its perimeter is 193 meters.

If you and your friend stand at the east and the west roots of the wall respectively and you whisper a word, then your friend will hear clearly what you say. Isn’t it interesting? The phenomenon utilizes the theory of sound wave.

Besides carefully designed buildings, there are also some other scenes that you can enjoy like Nine-Dragon Cypress. It got its name from branches which look like nine dragons wind with each other. It was said that the cypress was planted more than 500 years ago. Really, a grandfather tree!

Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now known as the Palace Museum, 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 meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 buildings. The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside. The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The southern section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses numerous rare treasures and curiosities. Listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions world-wide.

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 was said that a million workers including one hundred thousand artisans were driven into the long-term hard labor. Stone needed was quarried from Fangshan, a suburb of Beijing. It was said a well was dug every fifty meters along the road in order to pour water onto the road in winter to slide huge stones on ice into the city. Huge amounts of timber and other materials were freighted from faraway provinces. Ancient Chinese people displayed their very considerable skills in building the Forbidden City. Take the grand red city wall for example. It has an 8.6 meters to 6.66 meters wide at the top. The angular shape of the wall totally frustrates attempts to climb it. The bricks were made from white lime and glutinous rice while the cement is made from glutinous rice and egg whites. These incredible materials make the wall extraordinarily strong.

Since yellow is the symbol of the royal family, it is the dominant color in the Forbidden City. Roofs are built with yellow glazed tiles; decorations in the palace are painted yellow; even the bricks on the ground are made yellow by a special process. However, there is one exception. Wenyuange, the royal library, has a black roof. The reason is that it was believed black represented water then and could extinguish fire.

Nowadays, the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum is open to tourists from home and abroad. Splendid painted decoration on these royal architectural wonders, the grand and deluxe halls, with their surprisingly magnificent treasures will certainly satisfy ‘modern civilians’.

Located to the east of Beihai Park and north of the Imperial Palace, Jingshan Park is another beautiful spot to visit. Now covered in fruit trees, pines and cypress trees, the hill was originally made with the earth from the moat surrounding the Forbidden City. From the top there are wonderful views of Beijing, especially over the Forbidden City, hence its name, which means “Scenic Hill.” The park was an imperial garden during the Yuan (1271 – 1368), Ming (1368 – 1644) and Qing (1644 – 1911) dynasties.

The main sites of interest in the park include the Hope Tower “xiwanglou,” where people still worship at a memorial tablet for Confucius, which is in the Keeping Benevolence Hall (yong’endian). The Visiting Virtue Hall (guandedian), to the north of the hill, is where the coffins of the Qing emperors and empresses lie. The 43-metre-high Million Spring Pavilion (Wanchunting) sits atop the hill. From here it is possible to appreciate a spectacular 360 degree vista of the city of Beijing. Directly to the north is Di’anmen Street, running straight as an arrow up to the Drum and Bell Towers (zhonggulou); to the east is the Yonghegong Lamasery, the Imperial College, and the Confucian Temple; to the west is Beihai Park, where the White Pagoda rises above a blue lake full of boats; and to the south is the Imperial Palace.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the park has been renovated several times. It is now famous for its peony flowers.

Apart from its flowers and views, the park is also remembered for a Chinese scholar tree that used to grow on the eastern slope of the hill. It was from this tree that the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen, hung himself. The Emperor Chongzhen took shelter in the park in 1644, when Lizicheng took Beijing for the Manchus who were to found the Qing Dynasty. Having shamed his ancestors by his defeat, Chongzhen committed suicide by hanging himself on the Chinese scholar tree. The tree no longer survives as it was destroyed in subsequent upheavels.

Beihai Park is said to be built according to a traditional Chinese legend. The story is that once upon a time there were three magic mountains called ‘Penglai’, ‘Yingzhou’ and ‘Fangzhang’ located to the east of Bohai Bay (to the east of China). Gods in those mountains had a kind of herbal medicine which would help humans gain immortality.

Consequently, many emperors in the feudal age of China constantly sought those mountains. For example, Emperor Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221 – 206 B.C.), wanted to live an eternal life and had sent people to look for the magic mountains but they failed. Then at his palace, he dug a large pool and piled up three earth hills in it to imitate the circumstances described in the legend. Emperor Wudi, the fifth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (202 B.C. – 8 A.D.) did similar things.

It was believed that different mountain-water combinations in ancient Chinese architecture led to totally different effects. So from then on, almost every emperor during the succeeding dynasties would build a royal garden with one-pool-with-three-hills’ layout as a fairyland near his palace. Beihai Park was surely built after this: the water of Beihai (North Sea) with Zhong Nan Hai (Central and South Seas) is the Taiye Pool; the Jade Flowery (Qionghua) Islet, the island of the Circular City and the Xishantai Island represent the three magic mountains.

Actually, Beihai Park was initially built in the Liao Dynasty (916 – 1125) and was repaired and rebuilt in the following dynasties including Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing (1115 – 1911). The large-scale rebuilding in the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911) generally established the present scale and pattern of Beihai Park. In 1925, the park was first opened to the public, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every year.

People say that the real culture of Beijing is “the culture of hutong” and “the culture of courtyard”. How true that is. Often, it is Beijing’s winding hutongs that attract tourists from home and abroad rather than the high-rise buildings and large mansions.

Hutong is a typical lane or small street in Beijing that originated during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). “Hutong” is a Mongolian word, meaning “water well”. During that time, water well is the settlement around which people lived. There are tens of thousands of hutongs surrounding the Forbidden City. In the past, Beijing was composed of countless courtyards. Hutongs were formed when people left a passageway between two courtyards to make entering them more convenient.

As the symbol of Beijing City, a hutong has its own layout and structure, which makes it a wonder in the world. When taking a bird’s eye view of Beijing, you will find the combination of hutongs and courtyards just like an orderly chessboard with delicate gardens, fine rockeries, and ancient ruins. Hutongs have witnessed the development of Beijing. Where there is a hutong, there is a story.

Among the numerous hutongs in Beijing, Beixinqiao Hutong has the most turns. There are more than 20 in which you can easily get lost. The narrowest is Qian Shi Hutong (Money Market Hutong), measuring about 30 to 40 meters (32 to 44 yards), located in Zhubao Shi Street outside the Front Gate. The narrowest part is merely 40 centimeters (16 inches) wide, so when two people meet, they must turn sideways to pass each other. The longest one is Dong Jiaomin Hutong, with a total length of 6.5 kilometers (4 miles), lying between Chang’an Avenue and East Street and West Street of the Front Gate. The shortest one is Guantong Hutong measuring about 30 meters (33 yards).

The Summer Palace in northwest suburban Beijing is the largest and most complete imperial garden existing in China. It was first built in the 12th century as an imperial palace. Renovation and extension in the following several hundred years till the end of the 19th century led it into the scale we see today, and was officially named Summer Palace.

Occupying an area of 304 hectares, the Summer Palace features hilly and water scenery. The Kunming Lake makes up four-fifths of this royal park. The Long Corridor running east-west along the lake as well as the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha, the Sea of Wisdom, and the Hall of Dispelling the Clouds and Suzhou Street standing south to north on the Longevity Hill are the major scenic spots. The Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha, 41 meters high, is decorated with glazed tiles. Its walls were carved with 1,008 niches and images of Buddha. The Marble Boat at the western end of the Long Corridor is a noted structure on water. Built in 1755, the boat, having a length of 36 meters, was made completely out of marble. There is a mirror on each of its two decks to reflect lake water. Sitting before the mirror gives a feeling of sitting on the ripples of water.

The Summer Palace was added to the world cultural heritage list in 1998.

Western Desserts 西式甜品

xī shì tián pǐn – Western Desserts 西 式 甜 品

xuě gāo – Ice cream 雪 糕

shèng dài – Sundae 圣 代

zhī shì dàngāo – Cheese cake 芝 士 蛋糕

shuǐguǒ dàngāo – Fruit cake 水果 蛋糕

qiǎokèlì dàngāo – Chocolate cake 巧克力 蛋糕

guǒ dòng – Jello 果 冻

dàn nǎi sū – Souffle 蛋 奶 酥

píngguǒ pài – Apple pie 苹果 派

qǔ qí bǐng – Cookies 曲 奇 饼

báo jiān bǐng – Pancakes 薄 煎饼

nán guā pài – Pumpkin pie 南瓜 派

Yì dà lì zhī shì bǐng – Tiramisu 意大利 芝 士 饼

Měi zhōu shān hé tao pài – Pecan pie 美洲 山 核桃派

sū pí ping guǒ diǎn xīn – Apple crumble 酥 皮 苹果 点心

cuì pí lán cǎo méi xiàn bǐng – Blueberry cobbler 脆 皮 蓝 草莓 馅 饼

dàn bái yē zi bǐng – Coconut macaroons 蛋白 椰子 饼

cǎo méi pài – Strawberry pie 草莓 派

Chinese Dim Sum 中式点心

xiā jiǎo – Shrimp dumplings 虾 饺

yúchì guàn tāng jiǎo – Shark-fin dumpling in soup 鱼翅 灌 汤 饺

zhá mán tou – Fried sweet bun 炸 馒头

dòu shā guō bǐng – Red bean mash puff 豆 沙锅 饼

zhēng mán tou – Steamed sweet bun 蒸 馒头

xiāng má jiān duī qiú – Sesame seed ball 香 麻 煎 堆 球

bǎi huā niàng xiān gū – Shrimp stuffed fresh mushroom 百 花 酿 鲜 菇

shāo mài – Pork dumplings (Shiu Mai) 烧 卖

cài ròu zhēng jiǎo – Steamed pork and veggi dumplings 菜 肉 蒸 饺

nǎi huáng bāo – Custard bun 奶 黄 包

xiān zhú juǎn – Bean curd skin roll 鲜 竹 卷

cháo zhōu fěn guǒ – Zhiu zhou dumpling 潮 州 粉 果

Běi jing zhēng jiǎo – Steamed peking dumplings 北京 蒸 饺

shēng jiān bāo – Pan fried pork bun 生 煎 包

fēng cháo xiāng yú jiǎo – Bee‘s nest taro puff 蜂 巢 香 竽 角

xiān xiā fǔ pí juǎn – Pan fried bean curd skin 鲜 虾 腐 皮 卷

nuò mǐ jī – Sticky rice in lotus leaf 糯米 鸡

lèi shā tāng yuán – Black sesame soft ball 擂 沙 汤 圆

luó bo gāo – Turnip pudding 萝卜 糕

zhá chūn juǎn – Fried spring roll 炸 春卷

niú ròu cháng fěn – Beef rice noodle roll 牛肉 肠 粉[/size]

Tián yuán shā là – Garden salad 田园 沙拉

shǔ zǐ shā là – Potato salad 薯 仔 沙拉

xī zé shā là – Caesar salad 西 泽 沙拉

liáng bàn shēng cài sī – Cole slaw 凉 拌 生菜 丝

jī dàn shā là – Egg salad 鸡蛋 沙拉

qīng cài shā là – Green salad 青菜 沙拉

chú shī shā là – Chef salad 厨师 沙拉

shuǐ guǒ shā là – Fruit salad 水果 沙拉

tōng xīn fěn shā là – Macaroni salad 通 心 粉 沙拉

qiān dǎo shā là jiàng – Thousand island dressing 千 岛 沙拉 酱

yóu lí shā là – Avocado salad 油 梨 沙拉

bō luó shā là – Pineapple salad 菠萝 沙拉

bō cài shā là – Spinach salad 菠菜 沙拉

jī ròu shā là – Chicken Salad 鸡 肉 沙拉

fǎ guó shā là jiàng – French dressing 法国 沙拉 酱

shí cài shā là – Vegetable salad 什 菜 沙拉

xiā shā là – Shrimp salad 虾 沙拉

Western Fast Food and Salad 西式快餐和沙拉

xī shì kuàicān- Western Fast Food 西 式 快餐
shǔ tiáo – French fries 薯 条

Hànbǎo bǎo – Hamburger 汉堡 饱

zhī shì Hànbǎo bǎo – Cheeseburger 芝 士 汉堡 饱

zhà shǔ bǐng – Hash brown 炸 薯 饼

yù mǐ bàngzi – Corn on the cob (corn-cob) 玉米 棒子

rè gǒu – Hot dog 热狗

zhá jī – Fried chicken 炸 鸡

quān zhuàng yìng miàn bǎo – Bagel 圈 状 硬 面 饱

sōng bǐng – Muffins 松 饼

yángcōng quān – Onion rings 洋葱 圈

jiāo yán cuì bǐng gān – Pretzels 椒 盐 脆 饼干

jī pài – Chicken pot pie 鸡 派