Beijing - A Winning Offer

The Olympics have paradoxically both increased one’s interest in China’s great capital and reduced tariffs for a visit in the near future. The increase in air and hotel capacity to cope with the anticipated demand has led to a significant drop in prices when this demand has not materialised – to such an extent that we have even been able to negotiate a special arrangement for the ‘high season’ periods of May, September and October. Early in the 15th century the Ming Dynasty moved their capital from Nanjing to the newly named ‘Northern Capital’ of Beijing, gracing it with elegant temples, palaces and parks. The Summer Palace was built in the 1880s for the Empress Dowager Cixi, a former concubine and ‘power behind the throne’ for more than 40 years. Cinema-goers who remember the 1978 Bertolucci film ‘The Last Emperor’ will find the Forbidden City familiar.