Tiananmen Square in Beijing

5 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  5 minutes

National Museum of China © flickr.com - Nagyman/cc-by-2.0

National Museum of China © flickr.com – Nagyman/cc-by-2.0

Tiananmen Square or Tian’anmen Square is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananmen (“Gate of Heavenly Peace”) located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in the square on 1 October 1949; the anniversary of this event is still observed there. The size of Tiananmen Square is 765 x 282 meters (215,730 m² or 53.31 acres). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.   read more…

Grand Canal of China

18 October 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Grand Canal tour boats in Suzhou © Peter K Burian/cc-by-sa-4.0

Grand Canal tour boats in Suzhou © Peter K Burian/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Grand Canal, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal (Capital–Hangzhou Grand Canal, or more commonly, as the Grand Canal), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting in Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou, linking the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC, but the various sections were first connected during the Sui dynasty (581–618 AD). Dynasties in 1271–1633 significantly restored and rebuilt the canal and altered its route to supply their capital.   read more…

Beijing Daxing International Airport

1 August 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  10 minutes

Model of Beijing Daxing International Airport at the Five-Year Achievements Exhibition © N509FZ/cc-by-sa-4.0

Model of Beijing Daxing International Airport at the Five-Year Achievements Exhibition © N509FZ/cc-by-sa-4.0

Beijing Daxing International Airport, located on the border of Beijing and Langfang, Hebei Province, is Beijing’s second international airport. The name of the airport was announced on September 14, 2018. It has been nicknamed “starfish“. The terminal building is one of the largest single-structure airport terminals in the world, with an area of more than 700,000 m² (7,500,000 sq ft). It was completed on June 30, 2019. The opening ceremony for the airport was held on September 25, 2019, and the airport opened to the public on September 26, 2019. The first commercial flight, China United Airlines KN5302 from Ordos, landed at Beijing Daxing at 10:12 (UTC+8), September 26, 2019.   read more…

Beijing in China

11 September 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  28 minutes

Central Business District © 郭友柏/cc-by-sa-4.0

Central Business District © 郭友柏/cc-by-sa-4.0

Beijing (“Northern Capital”) is the capital of the People’s Republic of China, the world’s third most populous city proper, and most populous capital city. The city, located in northern China, is governed as a municipality under the direct administration of central government with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast; together the three divisions form the Jingjinji metropolitan region and the national capital region of China.   read more…

One Belt and One Road Initiative, the new Silk Road

31 July 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  19 minutes

President of China Xi Jinping © The Russian Presidential Press and Information Office

President of China Xi Jinping © The Russian Presidential Press and Information Office

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a development strategy adopted by the Chinese government involving infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organizations in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Africa. “Belt” refers to the overland routes for road and rail transportation, called “the Silk Road Economic Belt“; whereas “road” refers to the sea routes, or the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It was known as the One Belt One Road (OBOR) and the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road until 2016 when the Chinese government considered the emphasis on the word “one” was prone to misinterpretation. The Chinese government calls the initiative “a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future”. Some observers see it as a push for Chinese dominance in global affairs with a China-centered trading network. The project has a targeted completion date of 2049, which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.   read more…

Forbidden City in China

9 July 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

The Forbidden City - View from Jingshan Hill © Pixelflake/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Forbidden City – View from Jingshan Hill © Pixelflake/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Forbidden City is a palace complex in central Beijing in China. The former Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty—the years 1420 to 1912, it now houses the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years. Constructed from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 72 hectares (over 180 acres). The palace exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.   read more…

The National Library of China in Beijing

6 May 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  5 minutes

© flickr.com - Shanghai.Dennis/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Shanghai.Dennis/cc-by-sa-2.0

The National Library of China or NLC in Beijing is the national library of the People’s Republic of China. With a collection of over 33,78 million items, it is one of the largest libraries in Asia and one of the largest in the world. It holds the largest collections of Chinese literature and historical documents in the world.   read more…

Zhongnanhai in Beijing

29 January 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

Xinhua Gate, Gate of New China © PENG, Yanan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Xinhua Gate, Gate of New China © PENG, Yanan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Zhongnanhai is an imperial garden in central Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City; it serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council (Central government) of the People’s Republic of China. The term Zhongnanhai is closely linked with the central government and senior Communist Party officials. It is often used as a metonym for the Chinese leadership at large. The state leaders, including Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, and other top CPC and PRC leadership figures carry out many of their day-to-day administrative activities inside the compound, such as meetings with foreign dignitaries. China Central Television frequently shows footage of meetings inside the compound, but limits its coverage largely to views of the interior of buildings.   read more…

The four-masted steel barque Pommern

21 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Museums, Exhibitions, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

Museum ship Pommern © Mark A. Wilson

Museum ship Pommern © Mark A. Wilson

The Pommern, formerly the Mneme (1903–1908), is a windjammer. She is a four-masted barque that was built in 1903 in Glasgow at the J. Reid & Co shipyard.   read more…

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