Renowned for being a financial, cultural, historical and tourism center, it is a world class city being one of the most significant and important cities in the world. It is also a major idustrial and commercial metropolis. The city itself has a population of 7.5 million. The predominant language here is Catonese.

Beijing features many tourist attractions. These attractions are also of cultural and historical significance. The Forbidden City once housed the Imperial family which ruled China for centuries. The Tienamen Gate is the southern entrance to the Imperial Palace. This opens to the large Tienamen Square. This square is surrounded by important buildings inluding museums, memorials and government functions. It is the location of the infamous demonstrations in 1989 that led to a large crackdown by the Communist government, repressing and ending the demonsration and killing many of the demonstrators. The Tian Tan Park features the Temple of Heaven.

Beijing has a diverse economy. Manufacturing Plants are scattered throughout the outlying suburbs. This includes many heavy industry plants as steel mills, a locomotive plant and motor vehicle plant. Cotton, textiles, electronics and many other plants exist. There are also smaller bazaars and stores. Beijing has the largest airport in the country.

The city has records going back to 1027 B.C, when it was a frontier outpost. In the year 1215, the Mongol conqueror Ghengis Khan captured the city. By 1264, his grandson, Kublai Khan made it the capital of the vast Mongol Empire. Beijing currently consists of two major parts; an old, formely walled city and a new residential and industrial sections, mostly built since 1949. The old central city was actually built as two cities, the Inner or Tatar City and the Outer City or Chinese city. The Inner city was constructed between 1409-1420. This housed the imperial family and government facilities. This includes the 1 square mile Forbidden City, containing the Imperial Palaces. The Outer City was built between 1553-1556. Large growth occurred after World War II in 1949, building up the residential and industrial areas.

Temperature average highs and lows in January are 34 and 14F and in July are 88 and 71F. Rainfall averages 25"/year.

All pictures on this page are from Beijing. Most of them are from Tienamen Square. Subsequent pages are found directly below. A total of 3 pages makes up this Beijing site. Other pages have pictures from the Great Wall.

• 2nd page of Beijing pictures from the Forbidden City are found by clicking here.
• 3rd page of Beijing pictures is found by clicking here. This features pictures from the Ming Tombs, located in the north west suburbs.
• 4th page of pictures of the nearby Great Wall of China is found by clicking here.

Visit numerous other Parks and Cities by World from the Web.

The picture of Mao in Tienamen Square. The building shown is just outside the Forbidden City.
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A close up showing Mao.
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Viewing the length of Tienamen Square on a cold winter day.
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A monument in Tienamen Square extolling the Peoples Revolution.
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A second monument in Tienamen Square.
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Beautiful Chinese architecture, just outside Tienamen Square.
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The view of Beijing from the World Trade Center.
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Further information can be found at the Beijing Lonely Planet Page
and Beijing Travel China Guide.