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北京景點(diǎn)英文介紹
北京，簡(jiǎn)稱“京”，古稱燕京、北平，是中華人民共和國(guó)的首都、直轄市、國(guó)家中心城市、超大城市，國(guó)務(wù)院批復(fù)確定的中國(guó)政治中心、文化中心、國(guó)際交往中心、科技創(chuàng)新中心。
北京景點(diǎn)英文介紹 篇1
The Great Wall
The Great Wall,like the Pyramids of Egypt,the Taj Mahal(1) in India and the Hanging Garden of Babylon(2),is one of the great wonders of the world.
Starting out in the east on the banks of the Yalu River in Liaoning Province,the Wall stretches westwards for 12,700 kilometers to Jiayuguan in the Gobi desert,thus known as the Ten Thousand Li Wall in China. The Wall climbs up and down,twists and turns along the ridges of the Yanshan and Yinshan Mountain Chains through five provinces--Liaoning,Hebei,Shanxi,Shaanxi,and Gansu--and two autonomous regions--Ningxia and Inner Mongolia,binding the northern China together.
Historical records trace the construction of the origin of the Wall to defensive fortification back to the year 656 B.C. during the reign of King Cheng of the States of Chu. Its construction continued throughout the Warring States period in the fifth Century B.C. when ducal states Yan,Zhao,Wei,and Qin were frequently plundered by the nomadic peoples living north of the Yinshan and Yanshan mountain ranges. Walls,then,were built separately by these ducal states to ward off such harassments. Later in 221 B.C.,when Qin conquered the other states and unified China,Emperor Qinshihuang ordered the connection of these individual walls and further extensions to form the basis of the present great wall. As a matter of fact,a separate outer wall was constructed north of the Yinshan range in the Han Dynasty(206 BC--1644 BC.),which went to ruin through years of neglect. In the many intervening centuries,succeeding dynasties rebuilt parts of the Wall. The most extensive reinforcements and renovations were carried out in the Ming Dynasty (1368--1644) when altogether 18 lengthy stretches were reinforced with bricks and rocks. it is mostly the Ming Dynasty Wall that visitors see today.
The Great Wall is divided into two sections,the east and west,with Shanxi Province as the dividing line. The west part is a rammed earth construction,about 5.3 meters high on average. In the eastern part,the core of the Wall is rammed earth as well,but the outer shell is reinforced with bricks and rocks. The most imposing and best preserved sections of the Great Wall are at Badaling and Mutianyu,not far from Beijing and both are open to visitors.
The Wall of those sections is 7.8 meters high and 6.5 meters wide at its base,narrowing to 5.8 meters on the ramparts,wide enough for five horses to gallop abreast. There are ramparts,embrasures,peep-holes and apertures for archers on the top,besides gutters with gargoyles to drain rain-water off the parapet walk. Two-storied watch-towers are built at approximately 400-meters internals. The top stories of the watch-tower were designed for observing enemy movements,while the first was used for storing grain,fodder,military equipment and gunpowder as well as for quartering garrison soldiers. The highest watch-tower at Badaling standing on a hill-top,is reached only after a steep climb,like "climbing a ladder to heaven". The view from the top is rewarding,hoverer. The Wall follows the contour of mountains that rise one behind the other until they finally fade and merge with distant haze.
A signal system formerly existed that served to communicate military information to the dynastic capital. This consisted of beacon towers on the Wall itself and on mountain tops within sight of the Wall. At the approach of enemy troops,smoke signals gave the alarm from the beacon towers in the daytime and bonfire did this at night. Emergency signals could be relayed to the capital from distant places within a few hour long before the invention of anything like modern communications.
There stand 14 major passes (Guan,in Chinese) at places of strategic importance along the Great Wall,the most important being Shanghaiguan and Jiayuguan. Yet the most impressive one is Juyongguan,about 50 kilometers northwest of Beijing.
Known as "Tian Xia Di YI Guan" (The First Pass Under Heaven),Shanghaiguan Pass is situated between two sheer cliffs forming a neck connecting north China with the northeast. It had been,therefore,a key junction contested by all strategists and many famous battles were fought here. It was the gate of Shanghaiguan that the Ming general Wu Sangui opened to the Manchu army to suppress the peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng and so surrendered the whole Ming empire to the Manchus,leading to the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. (1644-1911)
Jiayuguan Pass was not so much as the "Strategic pass Under the Heaven" as an important communication center in Chinese history. Cleft between the snow-capped Qilian Mountains and the rolling Mazong Mountains,it was on the ancient Silk Road. Zhang Qian,the first envoy of Emperor Wu Di of the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C-24 A.D),crossed it on his journey to the western regions. Later,silk flowed to the west through this pass too. The gate-tower of Jiayuguan is an attractive building of excellent workmanship. It has an inner city and an outer city,the former square in shape and surrounded by a wall 11.7 meters high and 730 meters in circumference. It has two gates,an eastern one and a western one. On each gate sits a tower facing each other. the four corners of the wall are occupied by four watch towers,one for each.
Juyongguan,a gateway to ancient Beijing from Inner Mongolia,was built in a 15-kilometer long ravine flanked by mountains. The cavalrymen of Genghis Khan swept through it in the 13th century. At the center of the pass is a white marble platform named the Cloud terrace,which was called the Crossing-Street Dagoba,since its narrow arch spanned the main street of the pass and on the top of the terrace there used to be three stone dagobas,built in the Yuan Daynasty(1206-1368). At the bottom of the terrace is a half-octagonal arch gateway,interesting for its wealth of detail: it is decorated with splendid images of Buddha and four celestial guardians carved on the walls. The vividness of their expressions is matched by the exquisite workmanship. such grandiose relics works,with several stones pieced together,are rarely seen in ancient Chinese carving. The gate jambs bear a multi-lingual Buddhist sutra,carved some 600 years ago in Sanskrit(3),Tibetan,Mongolian,Uigur(4),Han Chinese and the language of Western Xia. Undoubtedly,they are valuable to the study of Buddhism and ancient languages.
As a cultural heritage,the Wall belongs not only to China but to the world. The Venice charter says: "Historical and cultural architecture not only includes the individual architectural works,but also the urban or rural environment that witnessed certain civilizations,significant social developments or historical events." The Great Wall is the largest of such historical and cultural architecture,and that is why it continues to be so attractive to people all over the world. In 1987,the Wall was listed by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site.
Notes:
1. the Taj Mahal in India印度的泰姬陵
2. the Hanging Garden of Babylon巴比倫的空中花園
3. Sanskrit梵語(yǔ)
4. Uigur維吾爾語(yǔ)
北京景點(diǎn)英文介紹 篇2
The Site of Peking Man in Zhoukoudian
Peking Man was discovered in Zhoukoudian village,on the Longgu Mountain,Fangshan district,Beijing,which was listed as a world cultural heritage site in 1987. In the 1920s archaeologists discovered a complete skull of an ape-man dating back 600,000 years which was later named as Peking Man. Stone tools and evidence of Peking Man''s use of fire were later found on the mountain. Studies have shown that Peking Man walked on his feet and lived 690,000 years ago. His society lived in groups in caves and survived by hunting. The group could make use of rough stone tools and knew how to use fire for heating and cooking.
The discovery included six complete skulls of Peking Man,12 skull fragments,15 mandibles(1),157 teeth and some sections of broken femur(2),shinbone(3),and upper arm bones belonging to more than 40 individuals of different ages and sexes. In addition 100,000 fragments of stone tools were found together with sites used for fire and burnt bones and stones.
Peking Man created a unique Old Stone Culture which had much influence to the Old Stone Culture of north China. Stone tools are the principal relics of this remote culture. Also discovered in Zhoukoudian are stone points,a new production tool then,and bone articles made and used by Peking Man. Found in the caves were such tools as the larger end of an antler that had been used as a hammer and the sharp end of an antler used as a digging tool.
The use of fire was a milestone of the development of civilization and the discovery of Peking Man has pushed back the time that man first used it by tens of thousands of years. The largest ash pile discovered in the caves is six meters thick. Fire allowed people to eat cooked food instead of raw food and promoted the development of the brain and improved health. With his rough tools and simple living conditions Peking man created a unique and very ancient culture.
Included in the UNESCO(4)world heritage list in 1987.
Notes:
1. mandible下鄂骨
2. femur大腿骨
3. shinbone 脛骨
4. UNESCO聯(lián)合國(guó)教科文組織（United Nationals Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization)
北京景點(diǎn)英文介紹 篇3
Dingling,the underground mausoleum of Emperor Wan Li,is one of the thirteen imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Emperor Wan Li (1573-1620) ordered the construction of his own tomb when he was 22 and it took six years to complete the construction which cost about two year''s land taxes of the entire empire. The Emperor gave a party in his own funeral chamber,so the chronicles say,to mark its completion,and thirty years later he was buried in it amid a splendid ceremony.
The tomb was excavated in 1958 and has since been open to the public as an underground museum.
Some fifty kilometers northwest of Beijing city center,the group of tombs (known as Ming Tombs) near Dingling are scattered around the southern slopes of the Heavenly Longevity Mountains(1),bounded by hills on three sides with a southern exposure to an open plain.
The approach to the Ming Tombs is a shaded 7-kilometer-long road known as the Sacred Way. Its beginning is marked with a marble archway standing 27 meters long and 15 meters high. The marble archway is similar to the triumphal arches of Europe (Paris,Rome,Berlin,etc.). This archway,one of the finest and best preserved in the country,was erected in 1540,at a time when Chinese architecture had reached its climax.
A stone table nearby proclaims that entrants must dismount at this point and proceed on foot,that admittance beyond the archway was forbidden to ordinary citizens,and that violating this law was punishable by death.
Further on,this road is lined with gigantic stone statues,24 of lions,camels,elephants,horses,and mythical animals and 12 of generals,civil mandarins,and courtiers(2).
Dingling consists of the underground palace and surface structures,most of which are now in ruin,leaving the magnificent soul Tower still standing in a spacious courtyard. Each corner of the Tower is a single block of stone. The rafters,beams and architraves are also carved out of stone and decorated with colorful motifs. The Tower houses a large stone tablet inscribed with Wan Li''s posthumous title.
Immediately behind the tower is the burial mound encircled by a 700-meter-long brick wall. The mound is called the Precious City and directly beneath it is a mammoth tomb-the Underground Palace,where the emperor and his two empresses were expected to live an eternal life in splendor and luxury.
The Underground Palace lies 27 metes below the surface. A flight of stone steps leads down to the main entrance,which is a richly carved gateway with a double-leaf marble door. Each leaf,4 tons in weight,hinges on an axis which is carved from the same piece of marble. The lower end of the axis rests in a hole on the stone doorstep and the upper end in a hole of the bronze lintel which weights ten tons. Each marble leaf,incredible,is thicker near the axis and tapers off toward the middle of the door. This allows one person to open and close the massive door easily. The door was ingeniously sealed on the burial scene by a stone bar,known as the "Self-acting stone." Once put in place from inside,this bolt would prevent the door from ever being opened again.
The Underground Palace consists of three aligned vaults: the Ante-Chamber,the Sacrificial Chamber and the Burial Chamber. Each chamber is provided with an entrance gate as massive as the main gate.
The Ante-Chamber is now bare. The Sacrificial Chamber,flanked with an annex chamber on each side,contains three white thrones. The central one,carved with dragons in high relief on its back and sides,was for the emperor,who was flanked in death by two empresses on thrones carved with phoenixes. In front of each throne is a set of five-altar pieces and a large blue-and -white porcelain jar still containing oil and wick in a bronze tube. This is called "everlasting lamp"(3) which was supposed to provide "everlasting light". Midway along the side walls are simple arched doorways leading into the annexes. Each annex contains a stone couch on which an empress''s coffin was to rest. In the center of each couch there is a square hole in which yellow earth was placed,presenting a secret connection between the coffin and the earth. At the end of each annex is a huge gate with a self-acting stone. Beyond the gate is a vaulted passage which is blocked. The passage was intended for the entombment of the empresses should they die after the emperor,as no one was supposed to disturb his corpse.
In the Burial Chamber,the largest part of the tomb,stand three red-lacquered coffins,side by side on a white marble platform. The one in the middle is the Emperor''s coffin,with the First Empress''s on the left and the Second Empress''s on the right. Inside each coffin there is another coffin,and thus,each imperial corpse is held in two coffins,one kept within the other. In the narrow spaces between the three sets of coffins are two pairs of vases and three boxes which originally contained a wooden imperial seal and wooden tablets recording the bestowal on the emperor of his posthumous title. There is also an iron helmet decorated with gold and jewels,a suit of mail,a sword,a bow,and iron-tipped arrows.
ON either side of the coffins are 26 wooden chests that contain wooden figurines,women''s head-dresses decorated with golden phoenixes and jewels,wooden seals with the posthumous titles of the empresses,jade belts,strings of jade pendants,robes,shoes and sets of gold chopsticks,spoons,cups,and wash-basins. Also on the platform were wooden models of sedan chairs,coaches,spears,bows,arrows,flagstaffs with silk banners and other objects used in imperial processions.
When the emperor''s coffin was opened,a silk shroud,jade cups and jade bowls with a gold cover were first exposed. The shroud was then carefully rolled back,revealing among other precious objects a royal crown which is the only royal crown excavated so far in China. Of Emperor Wan Li,only bones and hair remained. He wore a beard,and his long hair in a top knot was secured with long gold pins. The "dragon robe",in which he was buried is not so well preserved as a similar one buried with him. Rolls of silk,all in gorgeous patterns and many woven with gold thread,form his mattress and bedding. Both empresses'' coffins contained phoenix coronets and other headdresses,bronze mirrors and gold boxes for cosmetics and toilet articles. The coronets are of fine gold mesh with dragons and phoenixes,each adorned with more than a hundred germs and five thousand pearls.
Most of the relics (some three thousand pieces )are on display in the Dingling Museum Exhibition Hall,which has attracted millions of visitors from China and abroad since the museum opened in 1959.
Notes:
1. Heavenly Longevity Mountains天壽山
2. generals,civil mandarins,and courtiers 武臣、文臣和勛臣
3. everlasting lamp 長(zhǎng)明燈
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