Beijing Sightseeing
 National Flag-Raising Brigade |
 Tiananmen Square Flag-Raising Ceremony |
It’s four o’clock on a freezing autumn morning in Beijing. An eerie silence hangs over the city Predawn Beijing is nothing if not surreal. No cars, no people, no crowds. Beijing without its teeming millions is hard to imagine, yet at this time of day it’s a reality. That is, of course, unless you venture into the heart of this city, <a title=”Tiananmen Square” href=”http://www.visitbeijingchina.com/tiananmen-square” target=”_blank”><span style=”color: #02509b;”>Tiananmen Square</span></a>. Here, in the auroral light, an even more surreal event is about to shatter the morning silence. Among the crowded silhouettes of thousands of shivering souls from across this nation, anticipation hangs in the air. Stretching and yawning, they have made their way to this early-morning scene to watch dawn break and to witness the daily reenactment of the birth of the Chinese nation. On the recently repaved granite surface of the square, crack troops from the sixty-strong National Flag-Raising Brigade of the People’s Armed Police begin their daily ritual. As they raise the flag to the rousing sound of the national anthem, the heart of every Chinese present begins to pound.
Day in, day out, thousands of Chinese tourists from across country come here to participate in this event and, in so doing, to reaffirm their own sense of national belonging. Perversely, it is tourism that has revived this once-forgotten ceremony. These days, the ceremony is the must-see item on any Chinese Beijing Sightseeing Tours’ itinerary of the capital. All Chinese tours begin here, and joining these throngs, viewing this ceremony and the people’s responses to it, makes it easier to appreciate the power of nation in the contemporary Chinese imagination and also the central role of Beijing and Tiananmen Square in that re-imagining of nationhood.
 Simatai Great Wall |
 Forbidden City - Corner Tower |
In Tiananmen Square we are surrounded by potent symbols of nationhood. As the awe-inspiring sounds of the national anthem slice through the pronounced silence of predawn Tiananmen, all are moved. After the ceremony, the tourists board their buses and  begin their <a title=”Beijing Tours” href=”http://www.visitbeijingchina.com” target=”_blank”><span style=”color: #02509b;”>Beijing Tours</span></a>. Generally, they will be transported to the outskirts of the city, where they visit powerful symbols of Beijing’s ancient greatness as well as other <a title=”Beijing Attractions” href=”http://www.visitbeijingchina.com/beijing-attractions” target=”_blank”><span style=”color: #02509b;”>Beijing Attractions</span></a>. At the Great Wall they gaze with wonder at a relic of the genius of their forebears, before moving on to the Ming Tombs to pay homage to the ancestral founders of Beijing.
This is a city haunted by memories of greatness, extending from dynastic times, through the creation of New China in 1949, to the status as a postmodern global hub that is central to its identity today. Architecturally and spatially, Beijing incorporates many different layers and times, acknowledged and unacknowledged. While it continues to grow and to experience spectacular refashioning today, Beijing is also a museum, capturing centuries of Chinese nationhood.
| Beijing Sightseeing Tours | |
| Beijing Day Tour to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Jingshan Park & Summer Palace | |
 |
Tour Code: BJPDT1001 Highlights: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Jingshan Park & Summer Palace |
| Beijing Day Tour to Great Wall, Sacred Path & Ding Tomb | |
 |
Tour Code: BJPDT1003 Highlights: Great Wall, Sacred Path & Ding Tomb |
| Beijing Day Tour to Great Wall & Beijing Olympic Heritages | |
 |
Tour Code: BJPDT1011 Highlights: Beijing Great Wall & Beijing Olympic Heritages |
| Beijing Day Tour to Badaling Great Wall & Summer Palace | |
 |
Tour Code: BJPDT1012 Highlights: Badaling Great Wall & Summer Palace |
| Beijing Xian Day Tour | |
 |
Tour Code: BJPDT1017 Highlights: Beijing – Xian |
| Beijing Day Tour to Beijing Hutong, Beijing Zoo & Lama Temple | |
 |
Tour Code: BJPDT1021 Highlights: Beijing Hutong, Beijing Zoo & Lama Temple |
