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Near a forest of skyscrapers in downtown Beijing, four dragons have combined their strength to lift a replica of the solar system. In Chinese culture, no image is more auspicious than the dragon, which symbolises power, wealth and fortune. It is fitting, then, that those mythical creatures are depicted by this steel statue as trying to come to grips with the universe. Because this is just what the Chinese
have been attempting to do for thousands of years.
This metallic model, called an armillary sphere, is one of many historic scientific instruments scattered through the grounds of the 579-year-old Beijing Ancient Observatory. An offbeat tourist attraction,