for those determined to get a bargain you may be able to get a room if you speak Chinese Many of the hostels are located in Dongcheng District and Xuanwu District Discounted rates beijing cheap hotels start around ¥30 for dorms and just below ¥200 for doubles in the cheapest hostels There are a large number of three and four star mid-range hotels throughout the city and in all districts The listed rates for these kind of hotels are often in the range of ¥500-1000 but you can often get a discount of around 50% Some 'expensive' hotels are in the city centre especially in Dongcheng District and on the eastern 3rd Ring Road in Chaoyang District however by Western standards these hotels are still relatively cheap In the outlying areas especially out by the Great Wall are some country club type resorts as well as some unique one-of-a-kind hotels For the most expensive hotels the listed rates start at around ¥4000 but are often discounted to a level around ¥1500 Beijing also known as Peking is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China Governed as a municipality under direct administration of the central government Beijing borders Hebei Province to the north west south and for a small section in the east and Tianjin Municipality to the southeast Beijing is beijing cheap hotels one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China Beijing is divided into 16 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties Beijing is a major transportation hub with dozens of railways roads and motorways passing through the city It is also the destination of many international flights arriving in China Beijing is recognized as the political educational and cultural center of the People's Republic of China while Shanghai and Hong Kong predominate in economic fields The city hosted the 2008 Olympic Games Few cities in the world besides Beijing have served as the political and cultural centre of an area as immense as China for so long The Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as "one of the world's great cities" and declares that the city has been an integral part of China’s history for beijing cheap hotels centuries; there is scarcely a major building of any age in Beijing that doesn't have at least some national historical significance Beijing is renowned for its opulent palaces temples and huge stone walls and gates Its art treasures and universities have long made the city a centre of culture and art in China At the heart of Beijing's historical centre lies the Forbidden City the enormous palace compound that was the home of the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties; the Forbidden City also hosts the Palace Museum which contains imperial collections of Chinese art Surrounding the Forbidden City are several former imperial gardens parks and scenic areas notably the Beihai Shichahai Zhongnanhai Jingshan and Zhongshan These places like the Beihai Park are described to be beijing cheap hotels masterpieces of Chinese gardening art and are popular tourist destinations with tremendous historical importance; Zhongnanhai during the modern era has also been the political heart of various Chinese governments and regimes and is now the headquarters of the Communist Party of China From Tiananmen Square which is located right across the Forbidden City there are several notable sites such as the Tiananmen Qianmen the Great Hall of the People National Museum of China Monument to the People's Heroes and Mausoleum of Mao Zedong The Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace both lie at the western part of the urban city of Beijing; the Summer Palace a UNESCO World Heritage Site displays a beijing cheap hotels comprehensive collection of imperial gardens and palaces that functioned as the summer retreat for the Qing Dynasty emperors Among the best known religious sites in the city is the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) located in southeastern Beijing also a UNESCO World Heritage Site where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties made visits for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest; located in the opposite direction of the Temple of Heaven at the northern part of the beijing cheap hotels city are the Temple of Earth (Ditan) and the Temple of the Sun (Ritan) and Temple of the Moon (Yuetan) both respectively located in the eastern and western parts of the urban area Other well-known temple sites located in Beijing include the Dongyue Temple Tanzhe Temple Miaoying Temple White Cloud Temple Yonghe Temple Fayuan Temple Wanshou Temple and the Big Bell Temple The city also has its own Confucius Temple and a Guozijian The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was built in 1605 and is the oldest Catholic church in Beijing The Niujie Mosque is also beijing cheap hotels the oldest mosque in Beijing with a history over a thousand years old Beijing contains several well-preserved pagodas and stone pagodas such as the towering Pagoda of Tianning Temple which was built beijing cheap hotels during the Liao Dynasty from 1100–1120 and the Pagoda of Cishou Temple which was built in 1576 during the Ming Dynasty Several historically important stone bridges are also located in Beijing including the 12th century Lugou Bridge the 17th century Baliqiao bridge and the 18th century Jade Belt Bridge The Beijing Ancient Observatory displays pretelescopic spheres dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties The Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) is a popular scenic public park that consists of natural landscape areas as well as beijing cheap hotels traditional and cultural relics The Beijing Botanical Garden exhibits over 6000 species of plants including a variety of trees bushes and flowers and an extensive peony garden The Taoranting Park Chaoyang Park Haidian Park and Zizhu Yuan are all popular recreational parks that consist of a variety of natural landscapes The Beijing Zoo is a center of zoological research that also contains rare animals from beijing cheap hotels various continents including the giant panda of China