Beijing in the 21st century does not lack historical sites worthy of an afternoon’s exploration. The current iteration of China’s capital dates back at least 600 years, or 700, depending on your opinion of Mongolian cultural and aesthetic contributions to urban planning. Since many of the most popular contemporary tourist attractions were those once exclusively controlled by the imperial court, despite their antiquity, it’s only been in the last century or so that ordinary people (never mind random foreigners) had access to the city’s historic parks and palaces.
