LEFT: Temple of Heaven
RIGHT: Shangri-La Beijing
BELOW: Great Wall of China
mark the time, all the way
from the 15th to the early 20th century. It’s like an onion, with layer after layer of walls and gated courtyards containing ever more elaborate pagodas. Clients should not only book tickets in advance (passport ID is needed and bookings can be made online), but it’s also advisable to go with a guide to illuminate the palace history and pick out the highlights – seeing everything would take days, if not weeks. Near the palace complex is Tiananmen Square – one of
the largest city squares in the world and most famous outside China as the focal point for the pro-democracy protests of 1989. Visitors will find numerous monuments, the National Museum of China, and the Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, where visitors can file past the former leader’s mummified body. Smaller than the Forbidden
Palace but just as perfectly formed is the Temple of Heaven. At its heart is a triple-gabled circular hall of prayer built entirely of wood with no nails. The brightly coloured structures are beautiful, but it’s just as interesting to see the current use of the
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travelweekly.co.uk 18 February 2016
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