Beijing seems very different to the many other cities that we have visited in China. Just driving to our hotel we had the impression of large amounts of space, big boulevards and a nice mix of old and new architecture. Tiananmen Square is really the heart of Beijing, being home to a number of key sites important to both past and present China. Whilst it claimed world notoriety with the student demonstrations in 1989 and the subsequent hardhanded put down by the authorities, resulting in a number of deaths, Tiananmen is really more of a pilgrimmage location for many Chinese. The largest building in the square is the Mao Zehdong Mausoleum. Mao has been dead for almost 30 years yet he is still revered by many people. All around Beijing the most common products available from street vendors are those with his face daubed upon them. After our chilling experience with Uncle Ho in Hanoi we decided not to visit Mao and instead spend our limited time here looking at China past and the lives of the Emperors that once ruled this nation. The south entrance to the square is protected by the front gate, which guarded the wall division between the ancient inner city and the outer suburban zone. The wall dates back to the 15th century and actually consists of 2 gates, both examples of traditional Chinese architecture. Now a road runs between them and without the walls that they used to protect they seem a little out of place. However these gates that loom some 130 feet above the sqaure are an impressive sight. The square is surrounded by some enormous and very impressive modern buildings, that thankfully the planners have made in keeping with the surrounding areas. The Great Hall of the People, billed as the seat of the democratic government, sits to one side of the square and is accessible when not in session. Facing it on the other side of the square is the National Museum of China, that houses many historic examples of art and handicrafts associated with the country, such as calligraphy and watercolours. In the entrance to the Museum is an enormous clock that is counting down the days, hours and minutes until the opening ceremony to the Beijing olympic games in 2008. It seemed to us that more people were interested in having their photo taken with the clock rather than the items of their heritage inside the building. The games are a big thing here. Chinese television is full of adverts about the preparation for the games and news programmes carry regular stories about the different angles to the games. Between these two large buildings is the Monument to the Peoples Heros - a 120 feet obelisk, made of Qingdao granite. It is carved with some very intricate bas-relief of key revolutionary events in Chinas history, including the destruction of opium in the 19th century. At the north end of the vast square is the Forbidden City (FC), the former home to the Emperors of China. The whole of the FC is surrounded by a huge moat that served a dual purpose - to keep out intruders and an impromptue fire extinguisher due to the numerous fires that would regularly break out amongst the wooden buildings. To enter the FC you must cross one of 5 bridges that lead from Tiananmen Square, across the moat and into the inner courtyards. The central bridge was reserved for the Emperor alone and the outer bridges were used by his immediate family and senior court officials. We climbed the entrance gate to the FC, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, to get a spectacular look over the whole of the square below. From this height Tiananmen square is an impressive site stretching some 250m from end to end. It was filled with tourists, 95% of which were Chinese, no doubt come to make their pilgrimmage to Mao. Whilst we were in the square we were asked to be in photographs with some of the locals 4 or 5 times. Whilst we agreed, we were also really tempted to charge each of them a dollar for the priveledge, considering our own experiences of taking photos of people - but we just didn't think they would get the joke! The FC consists of some 10 different buildings that are organised one behind the other in a vertical line heading north away from Tiananmen Square. The whole is splt into two parts, the outer and inner courtyards. Only the Emperor himself was allowed into the inner courtyard and anyone else, even his closest family, could only step across the bridge into the inner courtyard, by his express invitiation. To do so without his say so was an invitation to your own beheading. The outer courtyard included the living quarters for everyone else including his family and court harem. The whole complex was so large end to end that as well as the functional buildings they had smaller rest houses built between the main areas, so that the Emperor could rest whilst travelling between buildings - the only thing is that they never walked anywhere, they were always carried in a throne by some poor locals,so what they needed a rest for we dont know! One of the other key areas to visit in Beijing is the summer palace, on the outskirts of the city. Serving as the holiday location for the Emperors and their families to get away from the rigours of everyday life in the city. Covering an area of around 650 acres the largest part is given over to park land and an enormous lake. Whilst these are valuable as a key historic site of the former Dynasties little actually took place here. However, at every opportunity the descriptions of the buildings reminded us that all the buildings were raized to the ground in 1860 by the "aggression of the imperialist forces of the anglo-french armies" and had to be completley rebuilt and renovated by the Dowager Empress Cixi in the late 19th century. Much of teh site was left to ruin until 1949 when the Chinese decided to invest some money to renovate the site. Sadly they seem to have gone a stage too far in attracting the tourist and we certainly felt that it had a certain Disney quality to it - perhaps it was the numerous tat and trinkets you could by at every corner. However, one thing that the Chinese seem to do really well is their structured gardens. Both those at the Summer Palace and those in the Forbidden City were well maintained, interesting to look at and very peaceful - if lacking in colour for Chris. We have already mentioned that the Chinese food has been very good and much more varied than a number of the other asian countries can manage. When visiting Beijing the one type of food that you have to try is Beijing duck. The famous Quanjude restaurant serves the best Beijing duck so that's where we headed. Very similar to the crispy aromatic duck that you get at a chinese restaurant in the UK, chefs in Beijing have their own way of roasting the duck so that the skin is deliciously crispy and the meat tender and juicy. We watched them cooking the ducks in what looked like a version of a traditional pizza oven. They pump the inside full of boiling water and plug the end with bamboo so that the water can not escape - this way the inside is steamed, whilst the outside is roasted giving a wonderful flavour to the cooked duck. The bird was carved at our table by the chef and served with hoisin sauce, spring onions and pancakes. We devoured the whole bird though left the head which had been sliced in two to reveal the broiled brains - no doubt a delicacy in China. It was certainly a delicious alternative to some of the other dishes on the menu at the Quanjude restaurant, which has been specialising in duck since 1864 and has served 115 million ducks over this time. Broiled duck webs (feet), duck intestines stir fried with scorpions and duck blood soup were just a few of the delicacies on offer so we were glad to find a dish with just the meat on offer! Our last site on the whole trip will be for us to visit the Great Wall of China.