Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal and Ming Tombs

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal

   For centuries, Beijing depended on grain shipped from the south along the Grand Canal, the longest artificial waterway in the world, and Tongzhou was where the boats arrived. The Tonghui canal connected Tongzhou with the capital, carrying grain, timber and goods to the city's markets and granaries. The Grand Canal, built and rebuilt over more than two thousand years, was listed by UNESCO in 2014, and the Tongzhou section is its northernmost part. Today, the waterfront has been landscaped into parks, with walkways, bridges and the old Ranteng pagoda rising above the water.

   Read the complete Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal is where the day begins. Next is Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial.

2. 2. 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 comes up 32 km in. Next is Summer Palace.

3. 3. 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

   64 km in you reach Summer Palace. Next is Ming Tombs.

4. 4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Summer Palace.

5. 5. 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 sits at 128 km, about halfway. Next is back through Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial.

6. 6. back through 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

   back through Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial comes up 160 km in. Next is Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal.

7. 7. Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal closes the day.