Beijing because of its size and populace is significant to be a province in its own right. It is an independently administered district and its area is about 16, 800 sq km, there are ten urban regions and eight largely rural counties.
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Beijing's urban districts include four crowded cities and six residential communities, these residential areas are growing quickly as new industry, institutes and neighbourhoods have new buildings erected, thus converting the agricultural areas to urban use. The rural areas of Beijing still provide the city with vegetables, fruit and grain as well as other resources.
There are many things for the visitor to Beijing to do and see so many places to visit that you would need to spend all your holiday in this province. The attractions to Beijing Province vary from those in the actual city itself to those further out, but well within the actual province.
The Great Wall has been a symbol of China and its civilisation for more than 2,000 years. The wall was build as protection from nomadic tribes and was build in stages, it stretches from the east to the west and meanders along the back of mountains, deserts and valleys for over 6.350km. It is one of two man made things to be seen by the naked eye from outer space. The section of the Great Wall called the Badaling Great Wall is one part of the wall that attracts most of the visitors as it has guard rails and cable cars, which make it easy to walk and enjoy this amazing site.
The Ancient Observatory established by Kublai Khan sometime in the 15th century is another interesting place to go to. There are some incredible astronomical instruments to view from the Ming and Qing dynasty, which were designed by Jesuits.
To the northwest of Beijing are the Tianshou Mountains where the 1st of the 13 Ming imperial tombs were found. The place is called the Dingling Underground Palace.
There are many museums to visit such as the Natural History Museum, Xu Beihong Memorial Museum, the History Museum & the Museum of Revolution amongst others.
The Beijing Zoo is home to over 7.000 animals with over 600 species. Most people who visit the zoo go to see the giant Pandas but there is definitely more to see at the zoo, golden monkeys, Manchurian tigers, yaks and more. The zoo is also a research centre where they collect and breed rare birds and animals from various continents.
