Round City

Beijing


Just outside Beihai Park's southern entrance is this raised, circular platform crowned with the Hall of Divine Light (Chéngguāng Diàn). You can peek inside at a 1.5m-tall statue of Sakyamuni, made from white jade and originating in Burma. In front of the hall is the only surviving relic of Kublai Khan's palace, an enormous wine vessel of green jade dating from 1265.