Beijing/Fangshan

Fangshan District (房山区; Fángshānqū) is in the south-west of Beijing.

• 39.6892115.92391 Peking Man Site (周口店北京人遗址) (50 km south-west of the city centre; take bus 917 from Tianqiao Bus Terminus, then a local bus to Zhoukoudian town). A UNESCO World Heritage Site and a landmark of paleoanthropology. The site takes in the excavated caves themselves and a nearby museum holding plaster casts of the recovered skulls, jawbones, facial bones, limb bones and teeth. "Peking Man" is a collection of fossils from around 40 individuals of the species Homo erectus, dated to between roughly 770,000 and 230,000 years ago. The original fossils, which were stored in Beijing, disappeared in 1941 during the Second Sino-Japanese War and have never been found.  
• 39.6643115.81692 Mt. Shangfang National Forest Park (上方山国家森林公园; Shàngfāngshān Guójiā Sēnlín Gōngyuán). 08:00-20:00. Covering more than 300 hectares, this is said to be the largest national forest park in northern China, with nine caves, twelve peaks and dozens of temples scattered across it. The best known peak is Tianzhu Peak (天柱峰; Tiānzhùfēng).  
  • 39.6739115.81013 Cloud and Water Cave (云水洞; Yúnshuǐdòng). A karst cave some 600 m long, inside Mt. Shangfang park. Its main draw is a stalagmite about 37 m tall. ¥40.  
• Yunju Temple (云居寺; Yúnjūsì).  
• Pofengling (坡峰岭), Zhoukoudian. One of the best spots near Beijing for autumn colour, when the hillside turns almost entirely red. The display is brief — usually around the first week of November, and often over within a week. ¥50. (updated Nov 2019)
• 39.7947115.94074 Shihuadong Cave (石花洞; Shíhuādòng). A large limestone cave system, also promoted as the Fangshan Geological Park.  
• 39.801115.89015 Yinhu Cave (银狐洞; Yínhúdòng) (served by a number of local Fangshan bus routes). A second show cave, about 5 km west of Shihuadong.  (updated Mar 2020)

Archaeological sites

These are ruins rather than restored monuments, and are of more interest to specialists than to general visitors.

• 39.6153116.056 Liulihe Site (琉璃河遗址, Museum of the Western Zhou Yan Capital). The seat of the early state of Yan, and effectively Beijing's first capital, abandoned around the 7th century BC.  (updated Feb 2020)
• 39.6407116.04467 Doudian Site (窦店遗址, also called the Lucun Site). A later Yan capital, walled before 279 BC and in use into the Han dynasty. Protected at municipal level. Little to see.  (updated Feb 2020)
• 39.7472115.91288 Jin dynasty imperial tombs (金陵遗址). The burial ground of the Jurchen Jin emperors, who ruled from Beijing in the 12th and 13th centuries.  (updated Feb 2020)
• 39.7431115.90179 Cross Temple (十字寺遗址, Nestorian monastery site). The remains of what is generally described as the earliest Christian foundation in the Beijing area, associated with the Church of the East.  (updated Feb 2020)
• 39.6367116.059210 Doudian Mosque (窦店清真寺). Said to be the largest mosque in Beijing. Founded in 1713 in Chinese temple style, it was rebuilt in 2002 and again in 2011 in an Arabic style.  (updated Feb 2020)

• 39.636115.58441 Shidu (十渡; Shídù) (in the Juma River valley in the far south-west of the district). A limestone gorge on the Juma River, marketed as a "little Guilin". Worth a day trip if you have never seen the karst scenery of Guilin, Ha Long Bay or Vang Vieng, though it is a smaller-scale version of them. The name means "tenth crossing": before the valley road existed, travellers going upstream had to ford the river again and again, and the villages are still known by the number of their ford. Signage, bus stops and ticket offices all use these numbers, so it helps to know roughly where along the valley you are. The scenic spots below are listed in order going upstream. Free to drive or walk through the valley; each scenic spot charges its own admission.  
  • 39.6365115.622411 Gushanzhai (孤山寨; sixth crossing (六渡)). ¥75.  (updated Mar 2020)
  • 39.6417115.607712 Huaguoshan (花果山; seventh crossing (七渡)). ¥40.  (updated Mar 2020)
  • 39.6362115.589613 Juma Leyuan (拒马乐园; ninth crossing (九渡)). An activity park rather than a scenic walk, with a cable car, a bungee jump and bamboo rafts for hire. The prices recorded here date from 2013 and are almost certainly out of date: cable car ¥60 return, bungee ¥200, raft ¥60 per hour for three people. Free to enter; activities charged separately.  (updated Mar 2020)
  • 39.6241115.55214 Tianchishan (天池山; eleventh crossing (十一渡)) (at Qiantougang village).  (updated Mar 2020)
  • 39.6661115.517415 Donghugang (东湖港; fifteenth crossing (十五渡)). ¥95.  (updated Mar 2020)
  • 39.6647115.488116 Xihugang (西湖港; Qitan Gorge, beyond the fifteenth crossing). The furthest of the Shidu scenic spots, at the top of the valley. ¥50.  (updated Mar 2020)