《北京英文导游词 》

1、北京英文导游词ladies and gentlemen:welcome to the great wall. starting out in the east on the banks of the yale river in leaning province, the wall stretches westwards for 12,700 kilometers to jiayuguan in the gobi desert, thus known as the ten thousand li wall in china. the wall climbs up and down, twists

2、 and turns along the ridges of the yanshan and yinshan mountain chains through five provinces-liaoning, hebei, shanxi, shaanxi, and gansu and two autonomous regions-ningxia and inner mongolia, binding the northern china together.historical records trace the construction of the origin of the wall to

3、defensive fortification back to the year 656 b.c. during the reign of king cheng of the states of chu. its construction continued throughout the warring states period in the fifth century b.c. walls, then, was built separately by these ducal states to ward off such harassments. later in 221 b.c. the

4、 most extensive reinforcements and renovations were carried out in the ming dynasty 1368-1644 when altogether 18 lengthy stretches were reinforced with bricks and rocks. it is mostly the ming dynasty wall that visitors see today.the great wall is divided into two sections, the east and west, with sh

5、anxi province as the dividing line. the west part is a rammed earth construction, about 5.3 meters high on average. in the eastern part, the core of the wall is rammed earth as well, but the outer shell is reinforced with bricks and rocks. the most imposing and best preserved sections of the great w

6、all are at badaling and mutianyu, not far from beijing and both are open to visitors.the wall of those sections is 7.8 meters high and 6.5 meters wide at its base, narrowing to 5.8 meters on the ramparts, wide enough for five horses to gallop abreast. two-storied watch-towers are built at approximat

7、ely 400-meters internals. the top stories of the watch-tower were designed for observing enemy movements, while the first was used for storing grain, fodder, military equipment and gunpowder as well as for quartering garrison soldiers. the highest watch-tower at badaling standing on a hill-top, is r

8、eached only after a steep climb, like "climbing a ladder to heaven".there stand 14 major passes guan, in chinese at places of strategic importance along the great wall, the most important being shanghaiguan and jiayuguan. yet the most impressive one is juyongguan, about 50 kilometers north

9、west of beijing.known as "tian xia di yi guan" the first pass under heaven, shanghaiguan pass is situated between two sheer cliffs forming a neck connecting north china with the northeast. it had been, therefore, a key junction contested by all strategists and many famous battles were foug

10、ht here. it was the gate of shanghaiguan that the ming general wu sangui opened to the manchu army to suppress the peasant rebellion led by li zicheng and so surrendered the whole ming empire to the manchus, leading to the foundation of the qing dynasty. 1644-1911as a cultural heritage, the wall bel

11、ongs not only to china but to the world. the venice charter says: "historical and cultural architecture not only includes the individual architectural works, but also the urban or rural environment that witnessed certain civilizations, significant social developments or historical events."

12、 the great wall is the largest of such historical and cultural architecture, and that is why it continues to be so attractive to people all over the world. in 1987, the wall was listed by unesco as a world cultural heritage site.长城英文导游词the great wall, like the pyramids of egypt, the taj mahal1 in in

13、dia and the hanging garden of babylon2, is one of the great wonders of the world.starting out in the east on the banks of the yalu river in liaoning province, the wall stretches westwards for 12,700 kilometers to jiayuguan in the gobi desert, thus known as the ten thousand li wall in china. the wall

14、 climbs up and down, twists and turns along the ridges of the yanshan and yinshan mountain chains through five provinces-liaoning, hebei, shanxi, shaanxi, and gansu and two autonomous regions-ningxia and inner mongolia, binding the northern china together.historical records trace the construction of

15、 the origin of the wall to defensive fortification back to the year 656 b.c. during the reign of king cheng of the states of chu. its construction continued throughout the warring states period in the fifth century b.c. when ducal states yan, zhao, wei, and qin were frequently plundered by the nomad

16、ic peoples living north of the yinshan and yanshan mountain ranges. walls, then, were built separately by these ducal states to ward off such harassments. later in 221 b.c., when qin conquered the other states and unified china, emperor qinshihuang ordered the connection of these individual walls an

17、d further extensions to form the basis of the present great wall. as a matter of fact, a separate outer wall was constructed north of the yinshan range in the han dynasty206 bc-1644 bc., which went to ruin through years of neglect. in the many intervening centuries, succeeding dynasties rebuilt part

18、s of the wall. the most extensive reinforcements and renovations were carried out in the ming dynasty 1368-1644 when altogether 18 lengthy stretches were reinforced with bricks and rocks. it is mostly the ming dynasty wall that visitors see today.the great wall is divided into two sections, the east

19、 and west, with shanxi province as the dividing line. the west part is a rammed earth construction, about 5.3 meters high on average. in the eastern part, the core of the wall is rammed earth as well, but the outer shell is reinforced with bricks and rocks. the most imposing and best preserved secti

20、ons of the great wall are at badaling and mutianyu, not far from beijing and both are open to visitors.the wall of those sections is 7.8 meters high and 6.5 meters wide at its base, narrowing to 5.8 meters on the ramparts, wide enough for five horses to gallop abreast. there are ramparts, embrasures

21、, peep-holes and apertures for archers on the top, besides gutters with gargoyles to drain rain-water off the parapet walk. two-storied watch-towers are built at approximately 400-meters internals. the top stories of the watch-tower were designed for observing enemy movements, while the first was us

22、ed for storing grain, fodder, military equipment and gunpowder as well as for quartering garrison soldiers. the highest watch-tower at badaling standing on a hill-top, is reached only after a steep climb, like "climbing a ladder to heaven". the view from the top is rewarding, hoverer. the

23、wall follows the contour of mountains that rise one behind the other until they finally fade and merge with distant haze.a signal system formerly existed that served to communicate military information to the dynastic capital. this consisted of beacon towers on the wall itself and on mountain tops w

24、ithin sight of the wall. at the approach of enemy troops, smoke signals gave the alarm from the beacon towers in the daytime and bonfire did this at night. emergency signals could be relayed to the capital from distant places within a few hour long before the invention of anything like modern commun

25、ications.there stand 14 major passes guan, in chinese at places of strategic importance along the great wall, the most important being shanghaiguan and jiayuguan. yet the most impressive one is juyongguan, about 50 kilometers northwest of beijing.known as "tian xia di yi guan" the first pa

26、ss under heaven, shanghaiguan pass is situated between two sheer cliffs forming a neck connecting north china with the northeast. it had been, therefore, a key junction contested by all strategists and many famous battles were fought here. it was the gate of shanghaiguan that the ming general wu san

27、gui opened to the manchu army to suppress the peasant rebellion led by li zicheng and so surrendered the whole ming empire to the manchus, leading to the foundation of the qing dynasty. 1644-1911jiayuguan pass was not so much as the "strategic pass under the heaven" as an important communi

28、cation center in chinese history. cleft between the snow-capped qilian mountains and the rolling mazong mountains, it was on the ancient silk road. zhang qian, the first envoy of emperor wu di of the western han dynasty 206 b.c-24 a.d, crossed it on his journey to the western regions. later, silk fl

29、owed to the west through this pass too. the gate-tower of jiayuguan is an attractive building of excellent workmanship. it has an inner city and an outer city, the former square in shape and surrounded by a wall 11.7 meters high and 730 meters in circumference. it has two gates, an eastern one and a

30、 western one. on each gate sits a tower facing each other. the four corners of the wall are occupied by four watch towers, one for each.juyongguan, a gateway to ancient beijing from inner mongolia, was built in a 15-kilometer long ravine flanked by mountains. the cavalrymen of genghis khan swept thr

31、ough it in the 13th century. at the center of the pass is a white marble platform named the cloud terrace, which was called the crossing-street dagoba, since its narrow arch spanned the main street of the pass and on the top of the terrace there used to be three stone dagobas, built in the yuan dayn

32、asty1206-1368. at the bottom of the terrace is a half-octagonal arch gateway, interesting for its wealth of detail: it is decorated with splendid images of buddha and four celestial guardians carved on the walls. the vividness of their expressions is matched by the exquisite workmanship. such grandi

33、ose relics works, with several stones pieced together, are rarely seen in ancient chinese carving. the gate jambs bear a multi-lingual buddhist sutra, carved some 600 years ago in sanskrit3, tibetan, mongolian, uigur4, han chinese and the language of western xia. undoubtedly, they are valuable to th

34、e study of buddhism and ancient languages.as a cultural heritage, the wall belongs not only to china but to the world. the venice charter says: "historical and cultural architecture not only includes the individual architectural works, but also the urban or rural environment that witnessed cert

35、ain civilizations, significant social developments or historical events." the great wall is the largest of such historical and cultural architecture, and that is why it continues to be so attractive to people all over the world. in 1987, the wall was listed by unesco as a world cultural heritag

36、e site.北京天坛英文导游词inside the south gate of the temple of heavenladies and gentlemen:welcome to the temple of heaven. after self-introduction preserved cultural heritages of china. there are basically two kinds of visitors who come here: local pensioners who do exercises here in the morning and evening

37、 and sightseers both from home and abroad. all in all ,there are 12 million visitors very year. now we are going to go along the route that leads to the alter. it will take roughly one hour. mind you ,the emperor also walked along this route to pay tribute to the god of heaven.along the southern sac

38、red road leading to the circular mound altarthe largest group of architectures ever to be dedicated to heaven ,the temple of heaven served as an exclusive altar for chinese monarchs during the ming and qing dynasties. it was decreed that rulers of successive dynasties would place altars in their own

39、 capitals to worship heaven and pray for good harvest. but why ?the ancient chinese believed that heaven was the supreme ruler of the universe and the fate of mankind ,and thus worshiping rites dedicated to heaven came into being.the heaven the ancient chinese referred to was actually the universe,

40、or nature. in those days, there were specfic rites of worship. this was especially true during the ming and qing dynasties when elaborate ceremonies were held.the temple of heaven was built in 1420 during the reign of emperor youngle of the ming dynasty. situated in the southern part of the city ,th

41、is grand set of structures covers an area of * hectares. to better symbolize heaven and earth ,the northern part of the temple is circular while the southern part is square .the whole compound is enclosed by two walls, a square wall outside a round one. the outer area is characterized by suburban sc

42、enery, while the inner part is used for sacrifices. the inner enclosure consists of the hall of prayer for good harvest and the circular mound altar.along the imperial passage leading from the southern lattice star gate in front of the circular mound altarthe circular mound altar is enclosed by two

43、walls ,each containing four groups of southern lattice star gate, each in turn consisting of three doors, with 24 marble doors altogether. standing on the passage facing north, you will notice that with each pair of doors on is narrower than the other. this reflects the feudal hierarchy: the wider d

44、oor was reserved for monarchs, while the narrower one was used by courtiers.on the day of the ceremony ,the emperor would don his ritual costume and be ushered in by the official in charge of religious affairs. he ascended the three terraces in the forefront to pay tribute at the alter.atop the circ

45、ular mound alterwe are now on the top terrace of the altar, or the third terrace .each terrace has a flight of 9 steps. at the center of this terrace lies a round stone surrounded by 9 steps. at the center of this terrace lies a round stone surrounded by 9 concentric rings of stone. the number of st

46、ones in the first ring is 9, in the second ,18, up to 81 in the 9th ring. even the number of carved balustrades on these terraces is a multiplee of 9. but why?according to ancient chinese philosophy, yin and yang were two opposing factors. heaven and the odd numbers belonged to yang while the earth

47、and even numbers belonged to yin. nine was the largest heavenly number accessible to man . what is more, the ancient people also believed that heaven consisted of nine layers and that the emperor s abode was on the uppermost tier.once more look at the round stone in the center. the upper terrace is

48、nine zhang a chinese unit of length, one zhang equals 3.3 meters in circumference ,while the middle is 15 zhang, the lower, 21 zhang. classified as yang numbers, the sum of these numerals is 45 zhang which was meant to symbolized success. what is more, by applying the concept of odd numbers and stre

49、ngthening nine and its multiples, the concept of heaven was thus illustrated and realized . the concept of nine will also be mentioned when we visit some other buildings.now i will give you a brief account of what happened here annually on the inter solstice. the memorial tablet dedicated to heaven

50、would be set up on the north side of the terrace, while tablets dedicated to the emperor s ancestors would be enshrined on the flanks. the service would begin around 4 o clock in the morning. all of the lanterns would be lit .in the foreground, a sacrificial calf is being barbecued. on the square in

51、 front of the altar, the emperor, under heavy escort of nearly a thousand courtiers, princes of royal blood ,musicians, dancers and uniformed soldiers, would slowly ascend the altar to offer sacrifice and pray in honor of heaven. when the service drew to a close ,the sacrifice offered in front of th

52、e memorial tablets would be incinerated .all of participants would watch the thick smoke rise upward as if they were seeing god off .music and dancing would follow .in the end ,the emperor would return to the forbidden city secure in the belief that he would be blessed and protected by heaven until

53、the next winter solstice.it is interesting to note that ,the stone in the very middle of the altar was of major importance ,since it was where the emperor used to stand to say his prayer. the stone ,which is known as the gods heart stone, is peculiar in that it is characterized by a specific acousti

54、c phenomenon: it made the emperor s voice clearer and louder, thus adding to the mystic atmosphere of the service .you can try this out by yourself. proceed northward to pass through the lattice stargatein front of the gate of glazed tilesthis structure is known as heaven s storehouse. it is entered

55、 through the gate of glazed tiles. the roofing ,beams, and brackets are all made of glazed tiles or bricks. this is the only structure of its kind in china today .the heaven s storehouse was where memorial tablets dedicated to the gods were kept. douglas hurd, a former british foreigh secretary ,onc

56、e said , “god attends to his affairs on the cir4cular mound altar but stays here. now let s go in to to see it go through the left side doorin the courtyard of heaven s storehousethis is the imperial vault of heaven, the main structure of heaven s storehouse. it was built in 1530 and is 17 meters in

57、 height and 19 meters in diameter. the structure feature blue roofs topped by a gilded ball ,and carved wooden doors and windows. it is decorated with colored paintings. founded on a 3-meter-hign round marble terrace ,the building also features a gigantic carved marble ramp laid in the stone stairca

58、se leading up to the front entrance. the ramp is carved in “two dragons playing with a pearl design in relief. we will enter the main hall by going up the stone staircase on the eastern side.on the marble terrace of the main hallthe arch of the hall is buttressed by 16 giant pillars on two rings. on

59、 top of the pillars there are gilt brackets supporting a circular caisson ,or covered ceiling .the ceiling is characterized by a golden coiling dragon design. the 8 pillar of the inner ring are painted scarlet and decorated with golden lotuses.to the north of the hall there is a marble pedestal. atop it ,up a wooden flight of 9 steps, is where the major tablet dedicate to heaven was enshrin