Attraction
1. Forbidden City (Palace Museum)
The walled palace of the Ming and Qing emperors, now the Palace Museum, with almost a thousand surviving buildings and a vast collection of art and treasures.
View details — Forbidden City (Palace Museum)Attraction
2. The Bund
Shanghai's colonial-era waterfront, a 1.6-kilometre line of 52 banks, hotels and trading houses facing the Lujiazui skyline across the Huangpu River.
View details — The BundAttraction
3. Temple of Heaven
The Ming and Qing emperors' altar complex for prayers for good harvests, set in a large park where Beijing residents gather each morning to exercise and sing.
View details — Temple of HeavenAttraction
4. Yu Garden
A Ming-dynasty private garden of rockeries, ponds and halls in Shanghai's Old City, begun in 1559 and set beside the Huxinting Teahouse and Yuyuan Bazaar.
View details — Yu GardenAttraction
5. Shanghai Museum (People’s Square)
A museum of ancient Chinese art with more than 120,000 objects, housed in a ding-shaped building on People's Square with galleries of bronzes, ceramics, painting and jade.
View details — Shanghai Museum (People’s Square)Attraction
6. Summer Palace
The Qing dynasty imperial garden on Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill, with the Long Corridor, the Marble Boat and the Tower of Buddhist Incense.
View details — Summer PalaceAttraction
7. Shanghai Tower
A 632-metre supertall tower in Lujiazui with a twisting glass facade and an observation deck on the 118th floor, reached by high-speed lifts in under a minute.
View details — Shanghai TowerAttraction
8. Tiananmen Square
The vast square at the heart of Beijing, framed by the Tiananmen gate, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum and the Qianmen gate tower.
View details — Tiananmen SquareAttraction
9. Lama Temple (Yonghe Temple)
A working Tibetan Buddhist temple in a former princely residence, best known for an 18-metre Maitreya Buddha carved from a single piece of white sandalwood.
View details — Lama Temple (Yonghe Temple)Attraction
10. Oriental Pearl Tower
The 468-metre television tower of stacked spheres that opened in Lujiazui in 1995, with glass-floored decks, a revolving restaurant and several viewing levels.
View details — Oriental Pearl TowerAttraction
11. Jade Buddha Temple
A working Buddhist temple in Putuo, founded in 1882 to house two white jade Buddhas brought from Burma, a seated figure and a reclining one.
View details — Jade Buddha TempleAttraction
12. National Museum of China
China's national museum on the east side of Tiananmen Square, with free permanent galleries covering ancient China from prehistoric times to the Qing dynasty.
View details — National Museum of ChinaAttraction
13. Jing’an Temple
A Buddhist temple on West Nanjing Road, founded in the third century and rebuilt since 1983, with a 15-tonne silver Buddha and a Ming-dynasty bell.
View details — Jing’an TempleAttraction
14. Jingshan Park
A Ming-era artificial hill directly north of the Forbidden City, topped by five pavilions with the best view over the palace roofs.
View details — Jingshan ParkAttraction
15. Beihai Park
A former imperial garden around a lake west of the Forbidden City, crowned by the White Dagoba on Jade Flower Island and home to the Nine-Dragon Wall.
View details — Beihai ParkAttraction
16. Shanghai Museum East
The Shanghai Museum's newer branch on Century Avenue in Pudong, with 20 galleries of bronzes, ceramics, jade, painting and the culture of Shanghai and Jiangnan.
View details — Shanghai Museum EastAttraction
17. Longhua Temple
A working temple in Xuhui whose origins go back to 242 AD, with a 40-metre brick pagoda from 977, a 14th-century bell and a New Year's Eve bell-ringing.
View details — Longhua TempleAttraction
18. Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan)
The ruins of the vast Qing imperial gardens destroyed in 1860, including the carved stone remains of the European-style palaces designed by Jesuit missionaries.
View details — Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan)Attraction
19. Confucius Temple and Imperial College
Beijing's Yuan dynasty Confucius Temple and the adjoining Imperial College, where 198 stone steles record the names of more than 51,000 successful imperial exam candidates.
View details — Confucius Temple and Imperial CollegeAttraction
20. Power Station of Art
China's first state-run museum of contemporary art, set in a former riverside power station and home to the Shanghai Biennale since 2012.
View details — Power Station of Art