About Beijing
Beijing, China’s massive capital, has history stretching back 3 millennia. Yet it’s known as much for its modern architecture as its ancient sites such as the grand Forbidden City complex, the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Nearby, the massive Tiananmen Square pedestrian plaza is site of Mao Zedong’s mausoleum and the National Museum of China, displaying a vast collection of cultural relics. Beijing has a rather dry, monsoon-influenced humid continental climate, characterized by hot, humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon, and generally cold, windy, dry winters. Air polution has been a problem but the Chinese government has tried to improve it especially whilst the Olympic Games were in Beijing in 2008, including a fleet of 3,800 natural-gas powered buses.