The Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) — 2.73-square-kilometre Ming imperial ritual complex in Beijing with the circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (1420, rebuilt 1889) and the Circular Mound Altar where winter solstice sacrifices were performed for 494 years, inscribed 1998 — links to the Forbidden City 5 km north, the Summer Palace 15 km northwest, and the Grand Canal terminus at Tongzhou 30 km east.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial lies 16 km from Itsukushima Shrine, the Meiji Industrial sites 76 km and Iwami Ginzan 88 km, with how the shrine and its O-torii gate stand in the tide.
The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) — Qing imperial garden complex centred on the 2.2-square-kilometre Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill, built from 1750 and rebuilt by Empress Dowager Cixi after 1860, inscribed 1998 in Haidian District northwest Beijing — links to the Forbidden City 15 km southeast, Old Summer Palace ruins 5 km, Chengde Mountain Resort 230 km northeast, and the Great Wall at Badaling 75 km northwest.
The Classical Gardens of Suzhou — nine Ming-Qing scholar-official garden complexes in Jiangsu Province including the Humble Administrator’s Garden (1509) and the Master of Nets Garden (1140/1765), inscribed 1997 and extended 2000 — link west to West Lake Hangzhou 100 km, northwest to the Grand Canal 120 km, and southwest to Huangshan 250 km via HSR from Suzhou Station.
The Ancient City of Pingyao — a complete Ming-Qing dynasty walled city (1370 wall) in Shanxi Province and the historic centre of China’s first national banking network, inscribed 1997 — links north to Yungang Grottoes 280 km, northeast to Mount Wutai 150 km, and east to the Forbidden City and Great Wall 550 km via the Datong-Xi’an HSR.
The Old Town of Lijiang — the 12th-century Naxi trading hub in northwestern Yunnan without a city wall, set below Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (inscribed 1997) — links north to the Three Parallel Rivers gorges 100 km away, northwest to Shangri-La 200 km, and south to the Chengjiang Cambrian fossils 400 km via Kunming HSR.
Lushan National Park — Mount Lu’s 1,474-metre summit in Jiangxi Province above Poyang Lake (inscribed 1996), the cultural mountain of Su Dongpo’s poem, Zhu Xi’s White Deer Grotto Academy, and the 1959 CCP Lushan Conference — links to Mount Wuyi 150 km south, Huangshan 250 km northeast, and Wudang Mountains 300 km northwest via HSR.
The Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains — 33 Daoist architectural groups built from Tang to Qing on Hubei’s sacred mountain, climaxing with the Yongle Emperor’s 1413–1416 Golden Summit bronze hall (inscribed 1994) — links east to the Three Gorges 200 km, southeast to Wulingyuan 350 km, and north to Longmen Grottoes 450 km via Wuhan HSR.
The Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and Kong Family Mansion at Qufu — 2,500 years of continuous Confucian heritage in Shandong Province (inscribed 1994) — links north to Mount Taishan 80 km away, southwest to the Longmen Grottoes 300 km by HSR, and north to the Forbidden City 700 km via Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail.
The Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples at Chengde — the Qing dynasty’s 564-hectare diplomatic summer compound with its Potala replica temple (inscribed 1994), 250 km northeast of Beijing — links to the Great Wall at Jinshanling 60 km south, the Forbidden City 250 km southwest, and the Shenyang Qing Palace 500 km northeast.
