[Photo from visitbeijing.com.cn]

[Photo from visitbeijing.com.cn]

The Beihai (North Sea) Park is located in downtown Beijing, about 500 meters northwest of the Forbidden City and Jingshan Hill, which is one of the earliest and best-preserved imperial gardens in the country.

The park was initially built in the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) and was repaired and rebuilt in the following dynasties including Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing (1115-1911). Large-scale rebuilding in the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) established the present scale and pattern of Beihai Park. In 1925, the park was first opened to the public, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every year.

The park is vast in its water surface, which accounts for a half of the park's total area of 0.71 sq km (about 0.27 sq miles). In the Ming Dynasty, Beihai (North Sea), Zhonghai (Central Sea) and Nanhai (South Sea) were named as Three Seas or Taiye Lake, which was the forbidden garden. At the beginning of the Republic of China, Zhonghai and Nanhai were merged into an integral whole called, Zhongnanhai (Central and South Sea). Behai was separately built as a park.

In the middle of the lake and on the central axis of the whole park lies the Jade Flowery Islet, topped by the imposing White Dagoba, which is a landmark. Besides the Jade Flowery Islet, the park has four main scenic areas: the Eastern Shore Area, Northern Shore Area, Botanical Garden and Circular City near the north gate. There are many famous and beautiful places you should not miss when touring the park.