Forbidden City, Great Wall, and Peking duck — China's imperial capital
Beijing has been China's political heart for over 700 years — the city where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties ruled from the Forbidden City, where Mao proclaimed the People's Republic from Tiananmen Gate, and where the 2008 Olympics signalled China's return to the world stage. It is a city of extraordinary scale and contrasts: the hutong alleyways of Dongcheng thread between courtyard houses older than the United States, yet the second ring road encircles one of the world's most modern skylines.
Beijing has served as China's capital under Kublai Khan's Mongol dynasty (as Dadu), the Ming emperors (from 1420), and the Qing dynasty through to 1912. The Forbidden City — built by the Yongle Emperor with a million workers — was the world's largest palace complex and remained off-limits to ordinary Chinese for 500 years. After decades as the capital of the Republic of China, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic here on October 1, 1949.