Beijing is located in the northeastern corner of China. Its city limits extend some 80km (50mi), including the urban and the suburban areas and the nine counties under its administration - in other words, it's huge. Though it may not appear so in the shambles of arrival, Beijing is a place of very orderly design. Long, straight boulevards and avenues are crisscrossed by a network of lanes. Places of interest are either very easy to find if they're on the avenues, or impossible to find if they're buried down the hutongs (narrow alleys).