MINI INTRO
yes, beijing is the capital of china. actually over its immense history china had about a dozen capitals, yet since 1153 it has been, at least most of the time, beijing. had also other names in the past, such as dadu, ji, jingshi, jinyang, shuntian, zhongdu.
beijing is the absolutely dominating city, in political and economic and science and cultural terms. it is also the headquarter of the governing communist party of china. with 19 mio residents it is china's second-largest city, only shanghai at china's east coast is larger. the harbour city tianjin is essential for beijing.
a lot of people visit beijing. no building is more a 'must' than the "temple of heaven", a terrific one indeed. here it is.
and this image shows the design of the building.
beijing is crowded with sightseeing locations, above all outstanding architecture. this map presents the main targets.
these, as well as some plain local districts within the inner city, will be the focus of the two following picture galleries.
