Why this ride
353 km from Beijing to Beijing, about 5 h 36 of riding. It goes by way of Summer Palace, Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian, Ming Tombs and back through Summer Palace. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial and Ming Tombs
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 353 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 36
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial → Summer Palace
The ride follows Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial → Summer Palace for 36 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 36 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial
The Temple of Heaven was where the emperor of China, as Son of Heaven, performed the annual ceremonies of prayer for a good harvest. It was built in the early fifteenth century under the Yongle emperor, the same ruler who raised the Forbidden City, and its layout expresses a view of the cosmos: the altar is round, for heaven, set within a square park, for earth. The great Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with its triple blue-tiled roof and wooden pillars, rests on a marble terrace and was built without nails.
Read the complete Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial is where the day begins. Next is Summer Palace.
2. Summer Palace
The Empress Dowager Cixi is said to have spent money meant for the Chinese navy on rebuilding the Summer Palace, and the story is captured in stone: a marble boat moored permanently at the edge of Kunming Lake, a ship that will never sail. Whether the tale is entirely fair to her is debated, but the palace itself is beyond argument, a vast imperial garden of lakes, hills, halls, pavilions, bridges and covered walkways on the north-western edge of Beijing, laid out in the eighteenth century under the Qianlong Emperor, burned by British and French troops in 1860, rebuilt and burned again in 1900, and restored once more. It was listed by UNESCO in 1998 as a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Summer Palace comes up 45 km in. Next is Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian.
3. Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian
In the 1920s and 1930s, excavations in the limestone caves of Dragon Bone Hill at Zhoukoudian, south-west of Beijing, uncovered the remains of early humans who lived here hundreds of thousands of years ago. They became known as Peking Man, a population of Homo erectus, and in 1929 the Chinese archaeologist Pei Wenzhong found a nearly complete skull. The fossils caused a sensation, offering evidence of early humans in Asia and their use of fire. Then, in 1941, during the Japanese occupation, the original bones were packed for shipment to the United States and vanished; their fate remains one of the great mysteries of archaeology. The site is listed by UNESCO, and a museum displays casts and later finds.
Read the complete Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
90 km in you reach Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian.
4. Summer Palace
The Summer Palace is the Qing court's idea of escaping the city, and even with the modern capital spread out around it, the idea still works. The core is Kunming Lake, a large artificial basin, with Longevity Hill rising from its northern shore and covered in halls, pavilions and the tall Tower of Buddhist Incense. The Qianlong Emperor shaped the garden in the mid eighteenth century, reportedly to celebrate his mother's birthday, and modelled parts of it on the scenery around West Lake in Hangzhou. British and French troops burned it during the Second Opium War in 1860, and the Empress Dowager Cixi rebuilt it later in the century, which is where the famous story comes from that she paid for it with money meant for the navy. The marble boat moored at the lakeshore, which cannot sail, has become the punchline of that tale.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Summer Palace, about halfway. Next is Ming Tombs.
5. Ming Tombs
North of Beijing, where the plain meets the first ridges of the Jundu mountains, thirteen emperors of the Ming dynasty lie buried in a broad valley chosen for its perfect feng shui: mountains behind, a gentle slope, water in front. The first to be buried here was the Yongle emperor, the ruler who moved the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City in the early fifteenth century; his tomb, Changling, is the largest and best preserved, with a magnificent hall supported by enormous columns of nanmu wood. UNESCO lists them with the other imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Read the complete Ming Tombs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ming Tombs sits at 180 km, about halfway. Next is back through Summer Palace.
6. back through Summer Palace
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Summer Palace comes up 225 km in. Next is back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian.
7. back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
270 km in you reach back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian.
8. back through Summer Palace
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Summer Palace, late in the day. Next is Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial.
9. Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 353 km.
Leg by leg
Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial to Summer Palace
Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial → Summer Palace is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Summer Palace to Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian
Summer Palace → Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian to Summer Palace
Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian → Summer Palace is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Summer Palace to Ming Tombs
Summer Palace → Ming Tombs is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ming Tombs to back through Summer Palace
Ming Tombs → back through Summer Palace is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Summer Palace to back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian
back through Summer Palace → back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian to back through Summer Palace
back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian → back through Summer Palace is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Summer Palace to Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial
back through Summer Palace → Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.