1.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
2.
Chaoyang District, Beijing
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Chaoyang District is a district of the city proper of Beijing, China. Chaoyang is home to the majority of Beijings many foreign embassies, the Olympic Green, built for the 2008 Summer Olympics, is also in Chaoyang. Chaoyang extends west to Chaoyangmen on the eastern 2nd Ring Road, within the urban area of Beijing, it occupies 475 square kilometres, making it the largest district, with Haidian second. As of 2005, Chaoyang had a population of 3,642,000. The district has jurisdiction over 22 subdistrict offices and 20 area offices, Chaoyang is also home to Silk Street, and many other market areas, shopping malls, and restaurant strips. Chaoyang is divided into 24 subdistricts, and 19 townships of which carry the label, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs. China National Aviation Holdings Company, SOHO China, CITIC Group, Sinopec, Qihoo 360, renren Inc. has its headquarters on the 23rd floor of the Jing An Center in Chaoyang District, and subsidiary 56. com is headquartered on the 5th floor of the same building. Wanda Group has its headquarters in the Wanda Plaza, Wanda Cinemas is headquartered in the same complex. China Resources Beverage, the distributor of Cestbon water, has its north China regional office in the district, some of these are, ABB Group, Air France, All Nippon Airways, Halliburton, IBM, KBR, Kerr-McGee China Petroleum Ltd. Lummus Technology, a subsidiary of CB&I, Lufthansa, Asiana Airlines, Standard & Poors, Swire Group, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, the Hong Kong-based company Swire Properties has two locations in Chaoyang. Beijing Hyundai Motor Company, a 50-50 joint venture of the Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. at one time China Xinhua Airlines had its headquarters in Chaoyang. Chaoyang serves as Beijings diplomatic district, All foreign embassies to China are located in the district except for those of Russia and Luxembourg, which are both in Dongcheng. Chaoyang has three areas in the Sanlitun, Chaoyangmenwai, and Liangmahe neighborhoods. Chaoyang District is one of the fastest growing districts in the Beijing Metropolitan Area, there are several subway lines running through the district. The Beijing Capital Airport, although surrounded by the Shunyi District, is an exclave of Chaoyang District
3.
Tiananmen Square
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Tiananmen Square is a city square in the centre of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen located to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. The square contains the Monument to the Peoples Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in the square on October 1,1949, Tiananmen Square is within the top ten largest city squares in the world. It has great significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history. Outside China, the square is best known for the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Tiananmen, a gate in the wall of the Imperial City, was built in 1415 during the Ming dynasty. In the 17th century, fighting between Li Zichengs rebel forces and the forces of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty caused heavy damage to, or even destroyed, Tiananmen Square was designed and built in 1651, and has since been enlarged by four times its original size in the 1950s. Near the centre of the square stood the Great Ming Gate, the gate to the Imperial City, renamed Great Qing Gate during the Qing dynasty. This gate had a status as the Gate of the Nation. It normally remained closed, except when the Emperor passed through, commoner traffic was diverted to side gates at the western and eastern ends of the square, respectively. Because of this diversion in traffic, a marketplace, called Chess Grid Streets, was developed in the big. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, when British and French troops invaded Beijing, they pitched camp near the gate and briefly considered burning down the gate and they decided ultimately to spare the Forbidden City and instead burn down the Old Summer Palace. When the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance besieged Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, they damaged the office complexes. After the Boxer Rebellion ended, the became a space for the foreign powers to assemble their military forces. In 1954, the Gate of China was demolished, allowing for the enlargement of the square, in November 1958, a major expansion of Tiananmen Square started, which was completed after only 11 months, in August 1959. This followed the vision of Mao Zedong to make the square the largest and most spectacular in the world, in that process, a large number of residential buildings and other structures have been demolished. On its southern edge, the Monument to the Peoples Heroes has been erected, the year after Maos death in 1976, a mausoleum was built near the site of the former Gate of China, on the main north-south axis of the square. In connection with this project, the square was further increased in size to become fully rectangular, the urban context of the square was altered in the 1990s with the construction of National Grand Theatre in its vicinity and the expansion of the National Museum. Used as a meeting place since its creation, its flatness is contrasted by the 38-metre high Monument to the Peoples Heroes
4.
Beijing Subway
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The Beijing Subway is a rapid transit rail network that serves the urban and suburban districts of Beijing municipality. The network has 19 lines,345 stations and 574 km of track in operation, and is the second longest subway system in the world after the Shanghai Metro. The subway is the worlds busiest in annual ridership, with 3.66 billion trips delivered in 2016, averaging 9.998 million per day, the Beijing Subway opened in 1969 and is the oldest metro system in mainland China. The subway has undergone rapid expansion since 2002, as two lines were in service before then. The existing network still cannot adequately meet the mass transit needs. Beijing Subways extensive expansion plans call for 999 km of lines serving a projected 18.5 million trips everyday by 2020. The most recent expansion came into effect on December 31,2016 with the opening of the section of Line 16 from Xiyuan to Beianhe, as well as Chaoyang Park and Wangjing East stations. Beijing is currently constructing six new fully automated lines totaling 300 km in length using domestically developed communications-based train control systems and this will potentially create the longest fully automated subway network in the world. The Beijing Subway is owned by the city of Beijing and has two operators, the main operator is the wholly state-owned Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Corp. which operates 15 lines. The second operator is the Beijing MTR Corp, the Beijing Subway switched from a fixed-fare to a distance-based fare schedule for all lines except the Airport Express on December 28,2014. For example, a 40 km trip would cost ¥7, the Airport Express costs ¥25 per ride. Children below 1.3 metres in height ride for free when accompanied by a paying adult, riders can look up fares by checking fare schedules posted in stations, calling the subway hotline 96165, going to the Beijing Subway website, or using the subways smartphone app. Riders must insert the ticket or tap the card at the gate both before entering and exiting the station, the subways fare collection gates accept single-ride tickets and the Yikatong fare card. Riders can purchase tickets and add credit to Yikatong card at ticket counters or vending machines in every station. The Yikatong, also known as the One Card Through Card, is an integrated circuit card that stores credit for the subway, urban and suburban buses, the Yikatong card itself must be purchased at the ticket counter. To enter a station, the Yikatong card must have a balance of ¥3.00. To prevent fraud, riders are required to complete their journeys within four hours upon entering the subway, if the four-hour limit is exceeded, a surcharge of ¥3 is imposed. Each Yikatong card is allowed to be overdrawn once, the overdrawn amount is deducted when credits are added to the card
5.
China Railway High-speed
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China Railway High-speed is the high-speed rail service operated by China Railway. Hexie Hao is the designation for rolling stock operated for this service, All trains had been marked CRH, before being changed shortly afterwards to the Chinese characters 和谐号 on the centre of the head vehicles and the side of the walls of other vehicles. The introduction of CRH was a part of the sixth national railway speedup. All high-speed trains in use in China are named CRH. CRH1/2A/2B/2E/5 are expected to have a speed of 250 km/h. The new trainsets CRH380A have a maximum test speed of 416.6 km/h, the fastest trainset, CRH380BL, attained a maximum test speed of 487.3 km/h 302.8 mph). High-speed rail services were first introduced in 2007 operating with CRH rolling stock and those run on existing lines that have been upgraded to speeds of up to 250 km/h and on newer dedicated high-speed track rated up to 350 km/h. China Railway High-speed runs different electric multiple unit trainsets, the designs for which are imported from other nations and designated CRH-1 through CRH-5 and CRH380A, CRH380B, CRH trainsets are intended to provide fast and convenient travel between cities. Some of the trainsets are manufactured locally through technology transfer, a key requirement for China, the signalling, track and support structures, control software, and station design are developed domestically with foreign elements as well, so the system as a whole is predominantly Chinese. China currently holds many new patents related to the components of these trains. However, these patents are valid within China, and as such hold no international power. An order for 60 8-car sets had been placed in 2004, with the first few built in Japan and it is designed to have two versions, one with a top operating speed of 220 km/h, the other with a top operating speed of 160 km/h. They will be used on 200 km/h or 250 km/h Inter-city High Speed Rail lines, planned to service by 2011 CRH380A. CRH3C and CRH2C designs have an MOR of 300 km/h, and can reach up to 350 km/h, however, in practical terms, issues such as maintenance costs, comfort, and safety make the maximum speed of more than 380 km/h impractical and remain limiting factors. Based on data published by Sinolink Securities, some changes were made according to the most recent news. ^1 All CRH380B and CRH380C units to be delivered before 2012, ^2 All CRH380D units to be delivered before 2014. Before the introduction of technology, China conducted independent attempts to domestically develop high-speed rail technology. Some notable results included the China Star, but domestic Chinese companies lacked the technology and expertise of foreign companies, if using only their own resources and expertise, the country might need a decade or longer to catch up with developed nations
6.
China Railways CRH3
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In November 2005 the Ministry of Railways ordered 60 Velaro trains for use on the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail line. On 27 July 2006, the joint project office was opened at Tangshan, the first three trains were built in Germany by Siemens, and these imported trains were labelled CRH3A. These trains are based on the German Deutsche Bahns ICE3 high-speed trains and were given designations of CRH3A. Of these German trains, the first one was shipped from Bremerhaven on 19 December 2007, on 30 November 2012, the CNR announced new design of CRH3A, with three styles that can operate at top speed of 160 km/h,200 km/h and 250 km/h. The first train was rolled out on June 3,2013, after December 2008, the three imported CRH3A were repainted and renamed to CRH3C. The rest of the trains are now being built by Tangshan Railway Vehicle with some components from Germany, the first Chinese-built CRH3 was unveiled on 11 April 2008. Each train sets consists of four cars and four trailer cars. The bogies are improved versions of the SF500 bogie, innovations include the body bolster, vibration damper, spring parameters, transmission ratio, widening the carbody and increasing the speed of the trainsets. The trains are designed for running at 350 km/h, on 24 June 2008, CRH3-001C reached a top speed of 394.3 km/h during a test on the Beijing to Tianjin high speed line. On 9 December 2009, a pair of CRH3 EMUs reached a top speed of 394.2 km/h during a test on the Zhengzhou to Xian high speed line, on 28 September 2009, an additional 20 CRH3C sets was ordered by the Chinese MOR. In March 2009, a new contract was signed with China Northern Railways to supply 100 16-car trainsets for 39. 2B RMB with delivery from October 2010 onwards. This order for a total of 1600 railway cars is greater than the production of all Velaro. It is planned that the trains will be produced by CNR subsidiaries, Tangshan Railway Vehicles and Changchun Railway Vehicles, in this contract, Siemens acts as a component supplier, with 85% of the content actually made by the company. An additional order for 40 16-car sets and 40 8-car sets was made on 28 September 2009 for 25. 32B RMB, top travel speed for this variant is 380 km/h, though it is capable of attaining even higher speeds. These trains have been designated as CRH380B and CRH380BL in September 2010, the first CRH380BL set with series number CRH380B-6401L rolled off the production line and was unveiled to the public in September 2010. It was manufactured by Tangshan Railway Vehicle, on October 2010, the 16-car train was sent to Beijing loop line for test. On November 2010, the train was sent to Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway for trial run, the trainset reached the maximum speed of 457 km/h on 5 December 2010. More recently, during a subsequent test on 10 January 2011, since 13 January 2011, the CRH380BL enter regular service at the Shanghai–Hangzhou High-Speed Railway and Shanghai–Nanjing High-Speed Railway
7.
Beijing Ancient Observatory
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The Beijing Ancient Observatory is a pretelescopic observatory located in Beijing, China. The observatory was built in 1442 during the Ming dynasty, and it received major reorganization and many new, more accurate instruments from Europeans in 1644. As one of the oldest observatories in the world, the Beijing Ancient Observatory grounds cover an area of 10,000 square meters. The observatory itself is located on a 40 by 40 wide meter on a 15 meter tall brick tower, several of the bronze astronomical instruments are on the platform, and other armillary spheres, sundials, and other instruments are located nearby at ground level. It is operated as a museum in affiliation with the Beijing Planetarium and it was said that in 1227, the Jin dynasty transferred the ancient astronomical instruments from Kaifeng to the first observatory in Beijing. In 1279, the succeeding Mongols under Kublai Khan built a new observatory just north of the current observatory. Kublai Khan made his chief adviser of hydraulics, mathematics and astronomy, Guo Shoujing, director of the observatory in 1283 after the death of Guos friend, after the Mongols, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding Ming Emperor, transferred the instruments from Beijing to Nanjing. When the Yongle Emperor came to power, he had craftsmen make copies of the instruments in Nanjing, the current observatory was completed in 1442. It assisted the Ming and Qing astronomers in their reports for the Emperor. As he was considered the Son of Heaven, the movements of the bodies were an important affair. Another function was to assist sea navigation, with Muslim scholars recruited for their expertise in the area, in the mid-17th century, after winning an astronomy contest, the Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest was awarded complete charge of the astronomy observatory by the emperor. In 1673, he supervised the rebuilding of some of the instruments and he and other Jesuits helped to further develop the observations of the stars and the planets. During the later stages of the Qing dynasty, members of the Eight-Nation Alliance stole some of the instruments, however, as World War I drew to a close, the instruments were returned to China by the French and German governments. An early seismograph of Zhang Hengs design used to be housed at the observatory, some of the instruments from the Ming era are now at Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing. The Beijing Railway Station and the Ming City Wall Relics Park are a short walk to the south
8.
Beijing Museum of Natural History
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The Beijing Museum of Natural History is located at 126 Tian Qiao Nan Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing,100050, and is the most popular natural history museum in China. It was founded in 1951 as the National Central Museum of Natural History, the BMNH is the first large scale natural history museum created in China. The BMNH has total floor space of 24,000 square meters, of which 8,000 square meters are available for display, the major display area is the Tian Jiabing Building. The collections include paleontology, ornithology, mammals and invertebrates, and include a collection of dinosaur fossils. The BMNH also engages in significant scientific research in these areas, List of museums in China List of natural history museums Official website
9.
Chinese Aviation Museum
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The Chinese Aviation Museum, sometimes referred to as the China Aviation Museum and the Datangshan Aviation Museum, is an aviation museum close to Beijing in China. The museum was first opened to the public on 11 November 1989, the museum is located 40 km north of Beijing city. Part of the museum is located inside a cave in the side of Datangshan Mountain, the cavern was originally part of the tunnels and underground bunker system of Shahezhen Airbase, and is 586 metres long by 11 metres high by 40 metres wide. The road leading to the museum is also used as a taxiway between the base and bunker system. The entrance fee is RMB ¥50 for the displays, and some smaller exhibits inside the museum, such as the Orbis flying hospital airplane or Maos airplane. However, the displays are free to enter. There are more than 200 aircraft on display, with an emphasis on the Korean War, the collection includes many unique machines, including a 1903 Wright Flyer replica
10.
Geological Museum of China
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The Geological Museum of China, built in 1916, is a geological museum, boasting 200 thousand specimens. This museum is located in the Xisi area of Beijing and opened on October 1,1959 and it is the earliest geological scientific museum of China. At present, the Geological Museum of China has more than 100,000 geological specimens, list of museums in China China Geological Survey Bureau China University of Geosciences Geological Museum of China information in English Geological Museum of China home page
11.
Guanfu Museum
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Guanfu Museum is an art museum in Beijing, China. It was founded by Ma Weidu in 18th 1997, and it was among the first private museums in the Peoples Republic of China, the Guanfu Museum is a non-profit organization and it has a qualification of Independent Legal Entity. The museum was moved to Nanxiaojie Street and again to Dashanzi in 2004. The Ceramics Hall exhibits are masterpieces of antique Chinese ceramics that span more than 1,000 years, within this exhibition, the categories include celadon, monochrome glaze and polychrome glaze, tri-colored pottery, under glaze cobalt-blue and under glaze copper red, famille-rose. China has a history of furniture-making. Furniture from the Ming and Qing periods in many ways represent the culmination of Chinese furniture-making skills, Ming furniture features simple, smooth, and flowing lines, and plain and elegant ornamentation, fully bringing out the special qualities of frame-structure furniture. Because of the level of development of Chinese furniture in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Furniture gallery in Guanfu Museum contains 6 smaller exhibiting halls, on the second floor there is an exhibition of finely carved doors and window frames. There is also new addition of a collection of oil paintings, a adult ticket to this museum costs 50 RMB. Half-price ticket,25 RMB per person includes seniors, students, teachers, soldiers, the disabled and the staff in museum and heritage institution. Free admission for children under 1. 2m in height, group tour and English tour are available everyday. Making reservation is recommended at least one day in advance, with prior appointment, the museum offers authentication with a price on objects such as ceramics and wood furniture. With extra fees, certificate can be provided on objects authenticated, the museum does not offer financial appraisal or evaluation. The Guanfu Museum now has branches in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Xiamen, with branches planned in Haerbin, List of museums in China List of museums in Beijing
