Beijing - Beyond City Center

This observatory was built between 1437 and 1446. It lies in the east of the city near the station quarter, and was continuously in use until 1929. Among the existing instruments is a celestial globe (1669-73) and an armillary globe (1754) both of which are noteworthy. Most of the instruments on the terrace were designed by the Jesuit missionary Ferdinand Verbiest.

The zoo lies in the northwest of Beijing. It has about 7000 animals of 400 species, including the Manchurian tiger and the snub-nosed monkey. The panda house is well worth a visit.
The Beijing Zoo has animals from Africa, the Americas, India and Europe, along with the giant panda, red-crowned crane and Pere David's deer - all unique to China.

In the former eastern suburb, in the direction of the rising sun, in Ritan Park is a square altar terrace dating back to 1530. Here the emperors brought sacrifices for the Sun during the spring equinox.

The Bell Tower looms north of the Golou tower. This bell tower also dates back to 1420 and its chimes informed the city's residents of the hour.

The Drum Tower which is situated about 2km/3.2mi north of the Imperial Palace dates from the year 1420. At night, drums were beaten here to announce the changing shifts of the night guards.

China's military history of the last 3000 years is portrayed with paintings, models, historical photographs and battle plans in the monumental sino-stalinist building (northwest of the Temple of the White Clouds) - pre-modern times on the second upper floor of the left west wing, the wars of the 20th C in the entire east wing. Opposite the entrance is the large hall of armaments where weapons of the present day, including tanks and airplanes, are exhibited.

Already in Yuan times (1271-1368), three lakes were dug out here and water was taken from them down the Changhe Canal to Beijing. In 1577 the Wanshou Si temple estate was laid out in the northwest of the park. Today it accommodates a small art museum (Beijin Yishu Bowuguan).

The Southern Cathedral is situated in the Xuannei Dajie. The present building was reconstructed in 1904 in the style of the church which was erected in 1650 (with financial support from the emperor) by the German Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell. It stands on the site of the residences of the missionary Matteo Ricci. Regular church services, which many foreigners attend, are held here.

The Temple of Universal Brotherly Love (not accessible) lies in the Fuchengmennei Dajie. The original building dates back to the 12th C and was completed in 1457. In the 1930s it was destroyed by fire, and was gradually rebuilt.

On the other side of the Nanchang River, north of the zoo, the main building of the Zhenjue Si temple dating back to the 15th C remained standing. It is a diamond throne stone pagoda adorned with numerous bas-reliefs constructed in the Indian style. On its high base five smaller pagodas were built after which the temple is now named. The Beijing Museum of Stone Inscriptions can now be found here which holds numerous Latin-Chinese tomb stones of Jesuits who worked in Beijing during the 18th and 19th C.

In the Temple of the Great Bell, which lies to the north of the third circular road is a collection of 160 old bells, including one of the largest in world. This bell is 6.75m/22ft tall, has a diameter of about 3.5m/11ft, and weighs 46.5 tonnes. It was molded from bronze during the rule of Emperor Yongle (1402-24). The body of the bell has been engraved with Sutra texts amounting to 220,000 characters.

To the west of the Temple of Universal Brotherly Love stands this temple with its 50m/164ft high white pagoda. It dates from the end of the 11th C, and was restored between 1270 and 1271 by Kublai Khan (advised by a Nepalese architect). It burned down several years later, however, and was not rebuilt until 1457. During its restoration in 1978 numerous religious artifacts and scrolls were found in the tip of the pagoda and these are now on display in the temple.

The painter Xu Beihong (died 1953) is famous mainly for his traditional ink drawings of horses which have been imitated many times since. Xu studied in Paris and also used different western painting techniques. The museum was completed in 1983. It is situated south of the underground station Jishuitan and holds 1200 of the artist's paintings and more than 10,000 paintings by other artists which he had collected.

The Yuanton Baodian Hall is very noteworthy. Dedicated to Guanjin, the temple is now the headquarters of the Chinese Buddhist Society.