Beijing is an elegant and graceful city, bustling with life and rich in tradition. The Chinese capital offers visitors some of the world's best-known and most breathtaking historical sites, such as The Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China, but at the same time, it caters to international tastes in dining, entertainment and shopping. The thriving city of Beijing is truly a study in contrasts. With its wide avenues and spacious parks, Beijing can appear vast and grandiose; but take a stroll around a marketplace or down one of the city's backstreets, and a world of ancient customs, sights and smells is revealed - stalls of mysterious herbal remedies and aromatic teas, woks sizzling with exotic food, and warm people who will welcome you into their lives. A modern metropolis that is steeped in history, it's not hard to discover why this imperial city is one of the world's most fascinating destinations.