China Guide
Beijing
Around Tian'anmen Square
The first stop for any visitor to Beijing is Tian'anmen Square. Physically at the city's centre, symbolically it's the heart of China, and the events it has witnessed have shaped the history of the People's Republic from its inception. Chairman Mao lies here in his marble memorial hall, with the Great Hall of the People to the west and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution to the east. Monumental architecture that's much, much older lies just to the north – China's Imperial Palace, the Forbidden City, now open to all. Paul Andreu's striking dome-shaped National Grand Opera House, just to the west, is a high-visibility example of the city planners' ambitions to create a modern, cosmopolitan world capital – and you can see the designs for plenty more such prestige projects at the Museum of Urban Planning, just south of the square.