Three alternative sights in Beijing

By MO Magazine

3月 14, 2023

For a fresh perspective on China’s glittering capital, don’t miss these three essential sights

It can be hard to know where to start in this multifaceted metropolis. The good news? Checking in to Mandarin Oriental Wangfujing, Beijing, you’ve picked a first-rate base, perfectly positioned for taking in the remarkable Forbidden City. Once you’ve wandered the palaces, gardens and courtyards hidden behind its high walls, here’s where to head next.

the exterior of the National Museum of China at night.

Time-travel at the National Museum of China

Be prepared for a museum on a truly massive scale, tracing China’s history from Palaeolithic times to the present day. Set just off Tiananmen Square, close to Mandarin Oriental Wangfujing, Beijing, it houses over a million objects in its galleries. Its collections run from bronzes and lacquerware to textiles, jade and weapons, showing how society evolved under different dynasties. Its highlights are many and varied, running from a rhino-shaped wine vessel, inlaid with swirls of gold and silver, to an incredible jade and gold-thread burial suit, dating back to the Han Dynasty.

inside the modern architecture of the UCCA in Beijing.

Explore the city’s Art Zone

See a different side of the city in the 798 Art Zone complex. Artists and architects have transformed its abandoned, East German-designed factories, now reinvented as galleries, studios and creative spaces. They’re interspersed with hip cafés like Voyage Coffee and Flatwhite, along with atmospheric relics like the old cranes and gasworks. The most prominent gallery is the UCCA Center For Contemporary Art, whose superb exhibitions span both Chinese and international art-world superstars. If art-lovers flock to this neighbourhood, so do influencers, keen to stage selfies by the galleries and parked-up vintage steam train. Come here for the art scene, then stay for the people-watching, lingering over lunch or drinks in the many bars and cafés.

a close up view of a pavilion in Jingshan Park Beijing.

Stroll Jingshan Park

Immediately north of the Forbidden City, and a stone’s throw from Mandarin Oriental Wangfujing, Beijing, Jingshan Park was once a private Imperial garden. These days it bustles with visitors from dawn to dusk, including practitioners of qi gong and tai chi and the exuberant ‘dancing aunties’ of Beijing. Its hilltop pagodas are the best place to get a sense of Beijing’s geography and scale, with views spanning the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and beyond. Worth visiting at any time of the year, the park is most magical in spring, when the ground is carpeted with peonies.

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