Architecture
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Embrasured Watchtower and Barbican Entrance
Standing opposite every city gate of old Beijing was an embrasured watchtower,an imposing and distinctive structure that added tremendously to the landscape of the city in old days.Today,only two of them are still there:the Zhengyang Gate and the De...
Latticed Windows
The latticed windows,as the name suggests,are opened for ventilation purposes.They are graced with artistically appealing patterns.According to historical data,latticed windows were widely used in palaces,gardens and dwellings during the Five Dynasti...
Yellow Tiles and Vermillion Walls
The imperial palaces in Beijing are graced with yellow-glazed tiles and vermilion walls because they looked pleasant and reflected the wealth,dignity and authority of the emperors. The tiles are generally glazed yellow,green,blue and black.Yellow-gl...
Grand Canal of China
The Grand Canal,which cuts a 2,700-kilometre-long course from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou in the south,is extolled as a great water conservancy project of ancient China.It is also one of the longest of its kind in the world.It took three major...
The Great Wall
The ancient and imposing Great Wall extends 6,350 kilometres through nine provinces,municipalities and autonomous regions.Passes have been built through this artificial barrier at a number of strategic posts.The Juyong Pass is one among them.Badalin...
Hutongs of Beijing
The alleyways in Beijing are known ashutong,the transliteration of a Mongolian word because most of the hutongs were a heritage of the Yuan Dynasty which established its capital city in Beijing in 1283.Thus hutongs are 800 years old.There are so man...
Aobao Mongolian Stone Heaps for Worship
Travellers to Inner Mongolia are impressed by pillbox-shaped heaps that stand singularly or in clusters on the grassland.The local people call themaobao,and they are built of stone in areas where stone abounds,and sand and earth and encircled with w...
Lingxing Gate
The Lingxing Gate,also known as Heavenly Gate or Gate of Dragon and Phoenix,was a kind of ancient structure built in different places with different meanings.More often than not they stood in front of mausoleums,altars and temples dedicated to emper...
Passes
Passes were defence fortifications in ancient China.Born of war,they were built at points of strategic importance. In the early days passes were built of rammed earth and masonry at places easily defended and hard to be conquered. Later,cities were...
Cave Dwellings
Many labouring people on the Loess Plateau in northwest China live in caves dug into the mountains.The caves are laid out in rows one atop the other,looking like building of multiple floors in the distance. These cave dwellings were either tunnelled...