Beijing is where imperial China is best preserved and modern China is most visibly displayed. The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square at the centre of the city, the Temple of Heaven to the south, and the Summer Palace to the northwest are the headline imperial sights — plan on a day for each. The Great Wall is a day trip from the city; Mutianyu is the most practical of the restored sections.
Outside the imperial circuit, the 798 Art District is the clearest window on contemporary Chinese art, and the hutongs — narrow grey-brick lanes of low courtyard houses — are still the best way to understand daily life in the old city, despite decades of demolition. Allow an evening for a Peking Opera performance or the justly famous Beijing acrobats.