Beijing's culture runs on two currents: a millennium of imperial craft held in the National Museum and Fayuan Temple, and the East German-built factory sheds of 798 where China's contemporary art scene was born in 1995. This guide follows both.
Bauhaus-style factory complex built 1954 by East German architects for Joint Factory 718. Artists moved into the vacant sawtooth-roofed halls from 1995. UCCA, Pace and 400+ galleries. Most open 10:00–18:00, closed Mondays. Maoist slogans still on the ceiling beams.
Grey-brick gallery village masterplanned by Ai Weiwei from 1999, 3km north of 798. Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (his 2007 design) holds China's first photography-dedicated museum with a spiral courtyard. Quieter and more serious than 798; galleries open 10:00–18:00, Tue–Sun.
Opened 1963 behind a yellow-glazed-tile roof modelled on Dunhuang grotto eaves — one of Beijing's Ten Great Buildings. Twenty-one halls of guohua ink painting, New Year woodblock prints and a 100,000-work collection. 09:00–17:00, last entry 16:00, closed Mondays.
Restored Qing-era waterway and courtyard quarter east of Qianmen, reopened 2018 after the Sanlihe stream was dug back out. Contemporary interventions by Chinese studios sit inside grey-brick siheyuan shells. Free to wander at dusk when the water lights come on.
The world's second-most-visited museum, on the east side of Tiananmen. Ancient China gallery in the basement runs from Yuanmou Man to the Qing: the Simuwu Ding bronze cauldron (832kg, c.1200 BC) and the Han jade burial suit. 09:00–17:00, closed Mondays.
Cramped Sichuanese canteen off Beiluoguxiang with a permanent queue of art students and Central Academy of Drama staff. Spicy chicken with cumin and the mala fish are the orders. Cash-light, WeChat Pay standard, around ¥50 a head.
Built 1807 as a Hunan-Hubei merchants' guild, with a rare surviving square wooden opera stage where Mei Lanfang performed. Small Peking Opera museum of costumes and headdresses; evening performances at 19:30 in the original galleried hall.
Paul Andreu's titanium-and-glass dome, opened 2007, floating in a 35,000 m² lake and entered through an underwater glass corridor. Three halls: opera, concert, theatre. Programme runs Chinese symphonic work alongside touring companies.
Beijing's oldest temple, founded 645 by Emperor Taizong for soldiers killed in Korea. Home to the Buddhist Academy of China and a library of Ming sutras; the reclining Buddha and a Tang stone lion sit under 400-year-old lilacs. 08:30–15:30, closed Wednesdays.
Slanting hutong in the old Qianmen commercial quarter, subject of the Dashilar Project regeneration since 2011. Design studios, an independent bookshop and Ubi Gallery share the lane with residents' bicycles and century-old shopfronts.
Quiet siheyuan off Huguosi Street where the Peking Opera master lived from 1951 until his death in 1961. Rooms left as he used them: stage costumes, his phonograph and photographs from the 1930 US tour that took Chinese opera to Broadway.
The Yuan-dynasty timekeeping pair that once governed the city's hours, with the 1420 Bell Tower's 63-tonne bronze bell still hanging. The paved square between them is where neighbourhood residents play jianzi and cards at dusk.