Architecture of China. Must see and must visit landmarks

» The Beijing Exhibition Center was built in 1954 by Soviet specialists to demonstrate the successes of the Soviet state in engineering and other industries.
»  Apparently, therefore, the main building of the exhibition complex recalls the style of the monumental Stalin period. The central entrance ends with a tower with a spire, at the top of which flashes a red star.
»  Besides the main building, the complex includes 12 exhibition halls, a museum, a restaurant, an amphitheater for 1000 seats. The area occupied by the center is 735,000 square meters.
»  After a long break in 2003, the exhibition complex was modernized.
»  Initially, when the exhibition was opened, a chic Moscow restaurant began to operate here. Interior and all the furniture, including the luxurious chandeliers, were taken from the Soviet Union.
»  This was the first foreign restaurant in Beijing. For many years the restaurant continued to work and even changed its name. In 2009, the restaurant restored the original interior, which was once made by the Soviet specialists.
»  The popularity of the restaurant "Moscow" does not decrease over time. Its daily visitors are not only guests of the capital, but also the local residents.

» The Beijing National Stadium is nicknamed the Bird's Nest for its distinctive appearance.
» A huge structure of unbelievable proportions creates the impression of airiness by interlacing metal branches, between which there is a lot of space.
» More than 325 million euros were spent to construct the stadium.
» Beijing Stadium is one of the largest buildings in the world. It accommodates 91,000 spectators.
» Supercup, Cup and the Olympic Games were held there.

» The West Railway Station or Beijing West was built in 1996. The architecture of the railway station has ancient Chinese features and resembles a hieroglyph.
»  It covers an area of 51 hectares. At that time it was the largest railway station in China.
»  After a short time, it was expanded and modernized to increase passenger traffic. Each day, 100 thousand passengers pass through it, and in moments of rush hours - 200 thousand.
»  The station looks very impressive. And it is not so easy to navigate here because of its extreme size.
»  Near the Beijing West there are two squares: North and South. It converges almost all the routes of urban transport, including the metro lines.
»  The West Railway Station is still the most important and used station in Beijing.

Location on the map:   Interesting facts: » The Beijing Sport Palace has been opened in 1968 in the center of Beijing.
»  It hosted competitions in table tennis, rhythmic gymnastics, hockey and figure skating, basketball and volleyball.
»  Its distinctive feature was that it provided for special provisions designed for wheelchair users.
»  In 2001, it was reconstructed for the World Universiade. Even more cardinal reconstruction was carried out prior to the Summer Olympics in 2008.
»  The Sport Palace can accommodate almost 18000 spectators. During the Olympics the palace hosted the volleyball competitions.
»  It is planned that at the Winter Olympic Games in 2022, the palace will host all hockey battles.
»  In 1971, China was first visited by the team of US table tennis athletes. The Chinese and US teams played here - at the Beijing Sport Palace.

Location on the map:   Interesting facts: » The Beijing TV Tower has been built in 1992. The height of the tower is 386 meters. It is part of the International Federation of Great Towers.
»  At an altitude of 238 meters there is an observation deck with a telescope that allows you to check the magnificent view on the city.
»  Below, at 221m there is a revolving restaurant. Within 1.5 hours, it makes one turn around the tower. This enables a great view of the city from all sides. You can get here on a high-speed elevator.
»  An attractive feature of the TV tower is the thing located under it. Under the ground, at a depth of 24 meters, an aquarium "Underwater World of the Pacific" is built. Here you can observe marine life while being inside an 80 m transparent tunnel.
»  An interesting initiative has taken a root here: every year, people run around the tower, and then climb to the observation tower, thereby breaking 1484 steps.

» The Centre for the Performing Arts is the modern opera house, which at first was conceived as the National Opera. In common, people call it The Egg for its appearance.
» In the auditorium of Asia there is the largest installed organ with 6,500 pipes.
» The building includes underground and underwater corridors, underground parking, an artificial lake and green spaces.
» Opera House is made of glass and titanium and is completely surrounded by an artificial lake.
» There are just three rooms under the roof: opera, theater and concert hall. Audience gets inside via the underwater gallery.

» China's National Pavilion "Crown of the East" was designed by the best Chinese architect He Jintang specifically for the Shanghai exhibition EXPO - 2010.
»  The main pavilion is in the shape of an inverted pyramid and has a bright red color. Nearby there are regional pavilions.
»  The architecture of the building is subordinate to the Chinese style and forms a single integrated block.
»  The area occupied by the palace is 70,000 sq.m.
»  The latest technology of energy saving and rainwater harvesting was used in the construction of the main pavilion: the building was covered by a special film that accumulates solar energy and rainwater. These are used in the everyday life of the building.
»  After the EXPO Exhibition, the pavilions continued to demonstrate the Chinese culture by hosting various exhibitions and events.

» The Forbidden City today is called the Former Palace; that's the main palace complex of the Chinese emperors.
» Only the emperor and his court had the right to be there, and for the rest this part of Beijing was closed. The palace was separated from the city by ditches and red walls.
» The Forbidden City is the largest palace complex. It's considered one of the five most important palaces in the world.
» The Palace Museum is a veritable storehouse of treasures of Chinese history and culture.
» The Forbidden City was built as a copy of the Purple Palace, the heavenly abode of God, and served as the palace of the Emperor deified in the earth. For the rest this divine place was closed, so the palace was called the Forbidden City.

» The Jin Mao Tower is the hallmark of Shanghai. This tower is one of the tallest skyscrapers in Asia.
» The height of a skyscraper with the antenna is 421 m. The roof of the building is located at an altitude of 370 m, and the upper floor is at a height of 366 m.
» The building has 88 floors and 61 elevator. Three floors of the building are underground housing a parking for 600 cars.
» Various offices occupy floors from 3rd to 50th, and 5-star Grand Hyatt Hotel of 555 rooms with a few restaurants is set on floors 53-85th.
» The observation deck with a capacity of 1,000 people, which offers amazing views of Shanghai, is at 88th floor of the skyscraper.

» The main objective of the National Museum of China is preservation and promotion of Chinese art and history.
» The museum is the four-storey building, whose facade is decorated with eleven columns.
» The venue combines two other museums.
» The National Museum of China contains more than half a million exhibits, the history of which covers more than 5,000-year period.
» One of the most famous exhibits is the Jade Prince made of thousands of pieces of jade faceted and interconnected with gold wire.

Location on the map:   Interesting facts: » In 1990, Chine has hosted the Asian Games. To this event, locals established the Olympic Sports Complex.
»  This Sports Complex was also included in the list of facilities participating in the 2008 Olympic Games.
»  Specifically for the Olympics the stadium was fully reconstructed. The total area has been increased and the number of seats has doubled.
»  The premises for VIP, journalists, security and other employees were modernized.
»  The complex hosted competitions in modern pentathlon and several kinds of horse riding.
»  The running lines were made of a special material from a red bricks.
»  Here also happened the finish of the Beijing Marathon.

» The Oriental Pearl Tower is the TV tower in Shanghai built in 1994.
» The height of this TV tower is 468 meters. This is the third highest in Asia and the fifth highest tower in the world.
» The tower consists of 11 spheres of different sizes. Two largest spheres are 50 m and 45 m in diameter, the diameter of the smallest and the highest spheres is 14 meters.
» Two of the large spheres are linked by three columns, each of which is 9m in diameter.
» The TV tower has a revolving restaurant at a height 267 meters, there is a dance floor, bar and 20 rooms with karaoke at an altitude of 271 meters; the penthouse with an observation platform, a conference room and a coffee shop are situated at an altitude of 350 meters.
» The tower has amazing illumination at night.

» There are two railway museums in Beijing. One is on the outskirts of the city in a huge hangar.
»  It has collected more than 50 locomotives of different periods of development of China's railway network. If you want, you can climb up to any of them and inspect the trains from the inside.
»  Several old steam locomotives have bas-reliefs of Mao Jie Dong and other famous people. These reliefs are stamped on the front panels of locomotives.
»  Another museum is in the building of the Eastern Railway Station. It is located on four floors and is dedicated to the history of the railway traffic in country.
»  The East Railway Station was built by the British in 1906 and became the largest in China. There are various relics related to the railway movement.
»  It contains an interesting exposition of ancient tickets. There are instances from the time of the reign of the imperial dynasty of Qing and Guo Min Dao. You will see a printing device for making tickets, which is still in working conditions.
»  There is also a modern exposition, where models of new high-speed trains are presented.

» The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is the popular, educational, entertainment and tourist facility.
» Exhibits of the museum are devoted to nature, man, science and technology.
» The museum is divided into seven exhibition areas: Secrets of Planet Earth, Living Beings and Phenomena of Nature, Light of Wisdom, Audio&Visual Entertainment Park, Cradle of Design, Children’s Rainbow Land and Museum of Nature.
»  The museum also houses a cinema with a big screen and a 3D dome theater, as well as gift shops, multi-purpose hall banks and other complex objects.
» Currently, 1,272 species of fish and 331 species of mammals are represented in the museum.