2008 Olympics in Beijing, China

The Chinese Games should be a roaring success, but the buildings and museums of Tiananmen Square will always outshine events in the swimming pool.

The 2008 Olympics will be held in the Chinese capital, Beijing, and China is taking the opportunity to showcase the city and country while the world’s attention is focused upon it. There is little doubt that 2008 will have an extremely successful Olympic Games – the Chinese are determined not to leave much room for error – but people travelling to the Games in Beijing would be wrong to just turn up for the sport.

Beijing is one of the most incredible historic cities in the world, and despite some great spectacles being on offer in the Olympic swimming pool, athletics stadium, football pitch and basketball court, it would be criminal to visit the Chinese capital without seeing some of the sights.

These include Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum, the Great Hall of the People and the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Tiananmen Square. It is the world’s largest public square, and is also home to the Monument to the People’s Heroes, Museum of Chinese History and Museum of the Chinese Revolution.

Elsewhere in the city, visitors can see the Workers Cultural Palace, the Imperial Archives, the Ancient Observatory and the Imperial City Museum.

Take a walk past Zhongshan Park, though, and tourists get to the legendary Forbidden City, which is arguably Beijing’s finest attraction. For over 500 years, it was the home of the Ming and Qing dynasties and no-one apart from close to the Imperial family was allowed anywhere near this complex of ancient buildings.

So, while there may be some fabulous performances in the men’s 100m, the baseball final or the women’s archery, it’s unlikely that any of them will quite compete with the builders of ancient times.