Olympics Opening Ceremony Illuminated Sphere

Performers dance on the surface of an Illuminated Sphere in the middle of National Stadium Friday August 8, 2008 during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. White House photo by Eric Draper.

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Tiananmen Square (Gate of Heavenly Peace) Beijing, China

Portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong at the Tiananmen Gate (Tiananmen literally, Gate of Heavenly Peace), Forbidden City, Beijing, China. DF-21 IRBM TEL's at National Day Parade in Beijing. 1 October 1999. Image Credit: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence

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The Tiananmen Gate was first built in the 1420s in the Ming Dynasty. During the demise of the Ming Dynasty, heavy fighting between Li Zicheng and the early Qing emperors damaged (or perhaps destroyed) the gate. The Tiananmen square was originally designed and built in Beijing in 1651. It was enlarged to its present size (four times its original size) and cemented over in 1958.

British and French troops who invaded Beijing in 1860 pitched camp near the gate and briefly considered burning the gate and the entire Forbidden City down. They decided ultimately to preserve the palace and to burn instead the emperor's Summer Palace. The Qing emperor eventually agreed to let the foreign powers establish headquarters in the area. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 the siege badly damaged the office complexes and several ministries were burnt down. In the conflict's denouement, the area became a space for foreign troops to assemble their armies and horses. It was cleared in due course to produce the beginning of what is now known as the Tiananmen Square. The Square, however, was not officially made until the PRC took power in 1949.

Near the centre of today's square, close to the site of the Mao Zedong Mausoleum, once stood one of the most important gates of Beijing. This gate was known as the "Great Ming Gate" during the Ming Dynasty, "Great Qing Gate" during the Qing Dynasty, and "Gate of China" during the Republic of China era. Unlike the other gates in Beijing, such as the Tiananmen and the Qianmen, this was a purely ceremonial gateway, with three arches but no ramparts, similar in style to the ceremonial gateways found in the Ming Dynasty Tombs.

This gate had a special status as the "Gate of the Nation", as can be seen from its successive names. It normally remained closed, except when the Emperor passed through. Commoner traffic was diverted to two side gates at the northern and eastern ends of today's square, respectively. Because of this diversion in traffic, a busy marketplace, called Chessgrid Streets developed in the big, fenced square to the south of this gate. In the early 1950s, the Gate of China (as it was then known) was demolished along with the Chessgrid Streets to the south, completing the expansion of Tiananmen Square to (approximately) its current size.

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Forbidden City Imperial Guardian Lion Beijing, China

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Forbidden City Imperial Guardian Lion Beijing, China, clipart stock photo - Restrictions for Using NOAA Images, Most NOAA photos and slides are in the public domain (THIS IMAGE) and CANNOT be copyrighted.

Summer Palace at Beijing. Image ID: mvey0551, NOAA's Small World Collection. Location: People's Republic of China. Photo Date: 1979 Fall, Photographer: George Saxton, NESDIS, NOAA.

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Chinese guardian lions, also called a Fu Lions, lions of Buddha, or sometimes stone lions in Chinese art, is a common representation of the lion in pre-modern China, which is believed to have powerful mythic protective powers that has traditionally stood in front of Chinese Imperial palaces, temples, emperors' tombs, government offices, and the homes of government officials and the wealthy from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), until the end of the empire in 1911.

Lions of Fo are often created in pairs, with the male playing with a ball and the female with a cub. They occur in many types of Chinese pottery and in Western imitations.

Pairs of Chinese guardian lions, also called Chinese stone lions are still common decorative and symbolic elements at the entrances to restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and other structures, with one sitting on each side of the entrance, in China and in other places around the world where the Chinese people have immigrated and settled specially in local Chinatowns.

In Tibet, the guardian lion is known as a Snow Lion and similar to Japanese shishi. In Myanmar they are called Chinthe and gave their name to the World War II Chindit soldiers.

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Gilded bronze guard lion Forbidden City, Beijing.China

The Forbidden City at Beijing. Image ID: mvey0529, NOAA's Small World Collection. Location: People's Republic of China. Photo Date: 1979 Fall. Photographer: George Saxton, NESDIS, NOAA. Gilded bronze guard lion outside of the Gate of Celestial Purity (Qianqingmen), entrance to the Inner Court, Forbidden City, Beijing.China.

The imperial palace complex Beijing, China. Was commissioned in 1406 by the Yongle emperor of the Ming dynasty, it was first occupied in 1420. It is known as "The Forbidden City" because access was denied to most subjects.

Lions in the Forbidden City occur in pairs, the female with cub symbolizing fertility of the royal family. The male with orb, representing the imperial power.

Bronze lions in front of a residence identify the occupant as an official. First rank officials have lions with 13 bumps on their heads. These decrease with the official's rank, eight being the least number of bumps on the head. Officials of rank seven and below were not allowed lions at their gates.

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The Summer Palace Beijing, China

The Summer Palace at Beijing, China. Image ID: mvey0520, NOAA's Small World Collection. Location: People's Republic of China. Photo Date: 1979 Fall. Photographer: George Saxton, NESDIS, NOAA

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The Summer Palace or Yi he yuan is a palace in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. The central Kunming Lake covering 2.2 square kilometers was entirely man made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill. In its compact 70,000 square meters of building space, one finds a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures.

The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples (traditional Chinese: 清漪園; simplified Chinese: 清漪园; pinyin: Qīngyī Yuán) in 1750 (Reign Year 15 of Emperor Qianlong). Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. Kunming Lake was created by extending an existing body of water to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou. The palace complex suffered two major attacks--during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 (with the Old Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time), and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.

In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value." It is a popular tourist destination but also serves as a recreational park.

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