51.Heritage Sites
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Historical Places
Heritage Sites
The Cave of Peking Man
500,000 years ago, ancient humans
inhabited the limestone caves near the present village of Zhoukoudian,
30 miles southwest of Beijing. The UNESCO world heritage site is a
popular tourist destination with many tours available from Beijing.
There are four cave sites, the largest being the cave at Site 1 (153
yards long and 44 yards high) which was the dwelling place for a whole
community. The remains of over 40 individuals have been discovered
there. Tourists can visit the caves inhabited by Peking Man and Hilltop
Caveman and tour the museum which has extensive exhibits of fossils,
tools and displays depicting the life of these early humans.
The Ming Tombs
2000 year old terracotta warriors.Near Xian in Shaanxi Province.
13 emperors from the Ming Dynasty (1368 –
1644) were interred in magnificent mausoleums at the imperial burial
site, 30 miles northwest of Beijing. The site, 15 square miles, on the
slopes of Mount Taishou was chosen by the Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) (1402 –
1424) who also ordered the creation of the Forbidden City. Two tombs
are open to the public: Changling (the oldest tomb on the site and
resting place of Emperor Zhu Di and his empresses) and Dingling (the
burial site of Emperor Wanli and his empresses, which is the most recent
tomb and the only one excavated). The entrance to the Ming Tombs is
along the 4 mile Spirit Way which is lined with the statues of guardian
animals and marked by the massive Dragon and Phoenix arched gate.
Marco Polo Bridge
The Lugou Qiao (Lugou Bridge) gained its
nickname the Marco Polo Bridge from its favorable mention in Polo’s
diary: “a bridge so fine, it has few equals in the world”. The
impressive eleven arch, granite bridge has 485 carved stone lions, with
no two exactly alike. It has spanned the swiftly flowing Lugou River for
800 years. The bridge commands a strategic position 9 miles southwest
of Beijing on the route south from the city and was the site of a famous
battle between the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China
and the Imperial Japanese Army which marked the beginning of the Second
Sino-Japanese War (1937 – 1945).
The Garden of Perfection and Light
Yuanming Yuan, the Garden of Perfection
and Light, is the site of the Old Summer Palace which is 550 yards from
the New Summer Palace. Originally designed in 1709 under the orders of
Emperor Qianlong, the 864 acre imperial gardens were a blend of
classical Chinese gardens and European palace architecture and at their
glory were known as the “Versailles of the East”. In 1860 British and
French troops destroyed and burned the buildings. Some were restored by
the imperial family but were again damaged in 1980. The beautiful ruins
are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Drum Tower and the Bell Tower
Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan).
During the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties a
bell was rung in the morning and a drum was beaten in the evening to
let the common people know the time. The drum tower and bell tower in
Dongcheng District were originally constructed in 1272 and twice rebuilt
after fires. Tourists can climb the towers to see the largest bell in
China at 63 tons, the huge drum and admire the city views. The drum is
beaten 108 times for good luck at New Year. Today the area around the
bell and drum towers is used for Chinese cultural events such as dragon
and lion dances.
Temple of Heaven
Tian Tan, the magnificent Temple of
Heaven where prayers were offered for good harvests, was designed during
the reign of Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) to be even larger than the
Forbidden City. As the “Son of Heaven” the emperor’s palace needed to be
smaller than the temple. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
the temple complex, located in Xuanwu District in southeastern Beijing,
was restored in time for the 2006 Olympic Summer Games. Popular tourist
destinations in the complex are the Vermillion Steps Bridge connecting
the buildings and the three Echo Stones and the Echo Wall which use
ingenious design to create remarkable effects with sound waves.
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