Beijing Museums

Forbidden City Beijing, also called Imperial Palace Museum, is located in the very heart of Beijing. It remained the residence of the emperors for nearly five hundred years, from the 15th century to the early 20th century, and was the actual and symbolic seat of imperial power. Popularly known as the Forbidden City, it was built in the Ming Dynasty between the 4th and the 18th years of the Yongle period (1406 - 1420 AD). Many of the buildings of the Palace have been repaired and rebuilt, but their ...

Covering an area of 44,000 square meters at the center of Beijing city, the Tian'anmen Square is the largest urban square in the world, with a capacity of 1 million people. In the north of the square is Tian'an Gate, the Gate of the Heavenly Peace, which used as the front gate of the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The original name of it is the Gate of Heavenly Succession (Chengtianmen), which means shouldering the duty from the Heaven. The inauguration ceremony of the People's ...

Covering 40 square kilometers in the Changping District, the 13 Ming Tombs are the cemeteries of the 13 Ming emperors, 23 empresses, and many imperial concubines, crown princes and princesses after the Ming Dynasty moved its capital city to Beijing. Among these tombs, the largest one is Changling Tomb, which was built in 1413 and is the burial place of Zhu Di, the third Ming emperor. At the Dingling Tomb, the burial place of the 13th Ming emperor, an underground palace was excavated. Visitors are ...

The Capital Museum was first prepared in 1953 and formally opened in 1981. As a major cultural construction project in Beijing, the new Capital Museum commenced its construction in December 2001, and after four years of hard work, the museum finally makes its debut along the western extension of Chang’an Street, the First Street of China. The construction of the Capital Museum itself is an architectural artwork integrating both classical and modern beauty. It is of distinct national characteristics ...

The Beijing Museum of Natural History is located at 126, Tian Qiao Nan Street, Chong Wen District, Beijing.   It grew out of the preparation department of National Central Museum of Natural History founded in 1951, and the name was formally changed to Beijing Museum of Natural History in 1962. Being the first large-scale natural history museum founded on our own strength after new China was established, the museum supports three main functions: the specimen collection, academic research and ...

The National Art Museum of China is located on Wu Si Street. It is focused on displaying, collecting and researching the works of contemporary Chinese artists. The museum was named by Chairman Mao Zedong.   The National Art Museum of China covers an area of 30,000 square meters with a construction area of 17,051 square meters and exhibition halls are 6,000 square meters. Construction began in 1958 and was completed in 1962. It was one of the Ten Great Constructions celebrating the 10th ...

Zhoukoudian is a small village situated about 50 km southwest of Beijing. Surround by a chain of mountains from the northwest and rolling hills from the northeast, the village opens to the vast Huabei plains. One half kilometer north, one finds a narrow pass leading to a bowl. Baerhe stream wriggles out of the pass and flows down south. Then it passes to the west of Zhoukoudian and finally drains into Liulihe about 10 km south of the village. The Peking Man Site is just on the west side of Zhoukoudian ...

The Beijing Dabaotai Western Han Tombs Museum is China's first museum devoted to Western Han (206BC-8AD) tombs. Built in November 1979 and opened to the public on December 1, 1983, the museum is located in Dabaotai Village in Fengtai District, Beijing.   Archaeologists excavated the site in 1974 and 1975, and the museum is built around the No.1 Tomb -- the tomb of Liu Jian (73-45BC), the prince of Guangyang of the Western Han Dynasty. The huge tomb is comprised of burial chamber, antechamber ...

The China Science and Technology Museum is a major science museum established in 1988 in Beijing. It is located at 1 Beisanhuan Zhonglu (Beisanhuan at Anhua Qiao – look for the geodesic dome), Xicheng District.   The museum contains two separate buildings, Hall I & II.   Hall I was completed in 1988, and the museum exhibits ancient Chinese technology such as astronomy devices, the compass, gunpowder, bronze smelting and casting and paper production. Its main structure is ...

Address: 25 North Xinghua Road, Huangcun Village, Daxing District, Beijing, China Opening time: 8:30 – 16:30 (Closed on Mondays).   The China Printing Museum, which is open to the public since June 1, 1996, is located in Huangcun Town in Daxing District Beijing. This museum is the biggest printing museum in the world with an exhibition area of 4,600 square meters (1.14 acres). It is divided into four exhibition halls and some specialized exhibition areas.   In this museum, visitors ...