This morning we headed off by plane to the capital of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing. Our overall guide, Chen, had organized all 24 suitcases plus his so that they went to the airport before us and were put through the group check-in prior to our arrival. How lovely to walk into an airport unburdened by luggage, and quickly clear security, and arrive at the gate just about boarding time. THIS guide knows how to organize!
The short flight north to Beijing was smooth and efficient, and we landed in the renowned Beijing smog, which was so dense we could barely see across the tarmac!Beijing was cold. At 39 degrees N, it is pretty close to Ottawa's 45 degree latitude, so we shivered.
There has been settlement here since 400 BC, but it has been the capital since 1421, when one of the Ming Dynasty Emperors constructed the Forbidden City and relocated there from the former capital, Nanjing. Beijing has 12.5 million residents. It is large and dense – although only a paltry 900 people per km2 compared to Hong Kong’s 6,000! - and is strikingly manicured for at least the part that we toured. Furthermore, there is no laundry on the balconies, as promised.
Beautifying the city in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games truly transformed it, according to Chen, who resides here. Parks and green belts now abound, and everything is orderly and relatively clean… except for the amazing smog... and it is very heavy. You could barely see the sun. Chen told us it was the smoke from farmers burning their stubble, and that might have been part of it, but China’s industrial engine is still in overdrive after the Olympic break 3 months ago, in August, despite the oncoming global slowdown.
The city is full of highlights, especially after 10 years of preparation to host the Olympics. Over the course of 3 days, we journeyed out from our lovely Capital Hotel (2 blocks away from massive Tiananmen Square) to visit the Summer Palace of the Empress Dowager, to do some prospecting for deals at a Jade factory, a pearl factory, and a Cloisonné factory, to loiter in a cashmere market (oh my…), to check out the sad pandas captive at the nasty zoo, and to visit 3 more sites on the list of 100 Places to See before you Die: the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall of China (a second time for us, but in a different location: Yuyongguan Pass). 
There is so much here of which the Chinese can be proud.
Beautifying the city in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games truly transformed it, according to Chen, who resides here. Parks and green belts now abound, and everything is orderly and relatively clean… except for the amazing smog... and it is very heavy. You could barely see the sun. Chen told us it was the smoke from farmers burning their stubble, and that might have been part of it, but China’s industrial engine is still in overdrive after the Olympic break 3 months ago, in August, despite the oncoming global slowdown.
The city is full of highlights, especially after 10 years of preparation to host the Olympics. Over the course of 3 days, we journeyed out from our lovely Capital Hotel (2 blocks away from massive Tiananmen Square) to visit the Summer Palace of the Empress Dowager, to do some prospecting for deals at a Jade factory, a pearl factory, and a Cloisonné factory, to loiter in a cashmere market (oh my…), to check out the sad pandas captive at the nasty zoo, and to visit 3 more sites on the list of 100 Places to See before you Die: the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall of China (a second time for us, but in a different location: Yuyongguan Pass). 
There is so much here of which the Chinese can be proud.The Great Wall was even better this time although our visibility was not as good. Although still very smoggy, we clamoured up a few thousand steps to marvel at this feat of human engineering between 500 BC and 1600 AD.
The Forbidden City is a magnificent engineering creation, too. Constructed by an estimated 1 million workers between 1406 and 1420, this awe-inspiring colossus served as the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty - the "Last Emperor" - who abdicated in 1912. That is five centuries, and 24 Emperors, as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government. Today, it is a huge tourist draw, and part of it is home to the Palace Museum and its famous Ming collection - half of which was moved out during the Japanese invasion in WW2, and later evacuated to Taiwan in 1947 under orders by Chiang Kai-shek, whose Kuomintang was losing the Chinese Civil War. Mainland China is still aggravated about that, but since we were in Taiwan earlier on this voyage, we have seen the entire Palace collection!Now the Forbidden City… Wow.
It is the world's largest surviving palace complex, and “complex” it is. With increasingly nested (and sacred) inner sanctums, in a vast [3,000 x 2,500 ft] space of its own, preceded by the also vast Tiananmen Square, all of which dominates central Beijing, it has long inspired reverence and fear. No one was allowed in any of the layered courtyards or the 980 surviving buildings without the Emperor’s permission, and very few individuals got into the innermost core… except the many concubines, of course. Our group toured it to the point of exhaustion, in dense crowds at times, but staying near to one another “… like sticky rice” – Guide Chen’s favorite expression. (No, his second favorite; he would chuckle or grin as he talked about having “… greased the palms” to slide our group through congested situations, entrance points, hotels, and airports, etc).
The Temple of Heaven, another graceful complex several miles away but still in Beijing, was also constructed in 1420, and was the official site of Emperor-led annual ceremonies of prayers to Heaven for good harvest.
The Temple of Heaven, another graceful complex several miles away but still in Beijing, was also constructed in 1420, and was the official site of Emperor-led annual ceremonies of prayers to Heaven for good harvest.
On a less architectural note, when in China (just as in Thailand), you have to eat noodles - so we do that at one of the million noodle restaurants.And when in Beijing, specifically, you have to eat Peking Duck – and we do that as a group event one evening, too. Video below:
Beyond the tourist magnet sites above, Beijing is full of things to do. Among the recommended are:- watching seniors practice Tai Chi in the morning,
- taking a rickshaw ride through the old part of the city (known as the Hutons),
- fending off - or bargaining with - the ever-present hawkers, and
- listening to glass shatter (almost) at a screechy tourist-oriented production of Peking Opera..
All – except the last one – were entertaining and worthy of the recommendation. Apparently young Chinese are not interested in the Peking Opera, and we felt a bond with them!
We concluded Beijing with a drive-by of the Olympic facilities including the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. Impressive city and a showpiece for China’s emergence as a superpower.
No comments:
Post a Comment