Museums In Beijing

Ancient Observatory (Guguan Xiang Tai)
The Imperial Observatory has been here, atop the Jianguomen gate in the city wall, since 1442, even if it is now surrounded by expressways, skyscrapers, and the city's busiest avenue. Inside is a collection of some of the world's rarest astronomical instruments, most them originally fashioned by Jesuit missionaries who took up residence in Beijing in the 17th century and charmed the emperor with their scientific knowledge of the heavens. The observatory has a wonderful gold foil map of the stars as they were plotted in the Ming Dynasty and fine copies (for the most part) of the old instruments used to plot the heavens. On the roof, which offers superb views of the Forbidden City, are copies of the Jesuit-designed armillary sphere, bronze gnomons, and other large ornate bronze devices that the Son of Heaven depended on 3 centuries ago.

Beijing Art Museum (Zhongguo Meishuguan)
Beijing's newest art museum occupies the grounds of the Wanshou Temple (Temple of Longevity), a small Buddhist complex of Ming Dynasty halls and pavilions dating from 1577. The meditation hall (50 feet wide by 75 feet deep) in the center of the grounds serves as a gallery of modern oil paintings, with prices in the $2,000 range. The halls on the west side have displays of paintings, scrolls, textiles, ceramics, furniture, and artifacts from the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as Japanese artworks created during the occupation of Manchuria in the 1930s and 1940s.

Big Bell Temple and Museum (Da Zhong Si)
The temple, built in 1733, got its present name in 1743 when an enormous bronze bell, the largest in China, was brought here on ice sleds. It's thought that this Big Bell was cast in 1420 when Yongle, builder of the Forbidden City, was emperor. Weighing in at 46 tons and standing 23 feet high, it is displayed in its own tower in a rear courtyard. Emperor Qianlong lit incense and prayed for rain before it. For fun and good fortune, you can climb the spiral stairs to the top of tower and, like Buddhist pilgrims of old, cast coins into the bell's opening, which makes a pleasing sound. This ritual was once the major source of income for the temple monks. Before the temple reopened as the bell museum in 1985, it served as the Beijing No. 2 Food Factory.
Other halls in the former Juesheng (Awakening) Temple house 4,000 years of Chinese bells, including a set of stone chimes from the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) that visitors are invited to ring (for a small fee). Among the 700 or so relics are friendship bells from New Zealand and Italy and newly cast Chinese bells used to mark great occasions (such as the resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997).

Natural History Museum (Ziran Bowuguan)
This spacious gallery contains some fine specimens of primitive man and of dinosaur skeletons and eggs excavated in China.

Prince Gong's Mansion (Gong Wang Fu)
Prince Gong's estate is Beijing's best-preserved example of how the upper class lived during the Qing Dynasty. It consists of 31 pavilions, halls, and residential buildings; nine courtyards; several arched bridges; large ponds with islands and swans; one immense rock garden in the classic style; and even its own private pagoda for gazing at the moon. Prince Gong's brother was China's emperor from 1851 to 1861, and Gong served as regent for the next emperor, along with Cixi, who would become the Empress Dowager. Gong's son, Puyi, became China's last emperor. Prince Gong moved into this palace estate in 1852, but its design originated more than a century earlier. The mansion has its own stage for outdoor performances of Peking Opera, as well as a teahouse open to hutong tour groups.