The Tank museum, reputedly the only such museum in Asia entire, is situated well away from the Central City in the Changping District, one of the 6 outer suburbs of the city of Beijing. Its location is best understood as being part of the Nankou Pass area, which historically was a section of the innermost layer of the defensive ring around the city of Beijing formed by the Great Wall of China. Although the Nankou pass Great Wall of China (the inner layer) is one of the least preserved of the Great Wall near Beijing and as such has virtually disappeared, in a much more modern version the defense arrangements around the city are still intact hence explaining the existence of the tank museum on a military base specifically in this part of the city province.
Tank Museum in Beijing - Directions - How to Get There
The Tank Museum is situated in Wangfang Town in the Changping District, which is one of the six outer suburbs of Beijing. Roughly speaking the Tank Museum lies in the vast area between the Summer Palace Park (Yiheyuan) and the Badaling Great Wall of China. That said, travel to this outlying region of the city is still a rather complicated affair, whether traveling by private car, or worse by means of public transport. Generally speaking any traveler seeking to visit the museum best plan in detail, study the maps and bring one along. Just to make sure one might even want to bring along the address, written in both your language and in Chinese. Nobody wants to get lost out on the outer fringes of the suburban city.
DRIVING TO BEIJING TANK MUSEUM:
The museum is situated at about 1.5 hours driving due north of Beijing. Pass out of the city via Andingmen (or alternatively Deshengmen) and follow the G110 Highway up to
History of the Tank Museum
The construction of the National Yank Museum.
Atrractions near the Tank Museum in Beijing
The most popular attractions found near Yangfang Town are the Great Wall of China at Badaling, the Ming Tombs Valley and the China National Aviation Museum which alike the Tank Museum is situated on a now mostly redundant base.
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Map overview of Beijing Northern outer suburbs and rural districts. Map includes locations of towns, villages, the Great Wall of China and major and minor landmarks and monuments of the area and wider region.
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Among things due to its remote location it is not a destination for regular mass tourism. Especially on weekdays the museum is usually quiet except for a few enthusiastic visitors.
The Tank Museum is part of a still active army base posted in the rural outer regions of the city Province and as -in a way- such represents a modern version of the Great Wall of China, since decades consisting of a ring of armored army units defending the Chinese Capital against an outer foe or, as seen in 1989, guarding it against mutiny, coup or another form of political take-over.
In the far past, the area where the tank museum is located was well known for its last and crucial inner defenses of the Imperial Capital at the Nankou Pass, the last mountain pass between Mongolia, the Mountains and the fertile North China plain. As such it saw considerable military actions in history.
More recently, in the 1960's after the much celebrated Sino-Soviet friendship turned increasingly sour the Nankou Pass, as with the Zhangjiakou (Kalgan or Heaven's Gate) Pass more to the north in Hebei Province, became crucial defenses against a possible mass invasion by armored Soviet (C.C.C.P.) troups stationed in the then only nominally independent (Peoples) Republic of Mongolia.
Although it has but a modest collection of some tanks of varying types, the tank museum itself is unusual in the Peoples Republic of China, and thus worth a visit especially when one is already destined to be in the Nankou Pass area of the Beijing Province.
