21 days of travel through Asia – part IV

After a few days in Japan, you can quickly see the difference between both countries. All of a sudden the notion of similarities between Japanese and Chinese is gone. It would be offensive to consider them the same. While Japan is based upon simplicity, China takes pride in its ornamentation. In Japan, you’d queue to get onto a train, while in China you’ll just be a part of a faceless mass trying to get aboard.

After a short flight from Tokyo we arrived at Beijing and settled into the hostel before we went sightseeing. Our collegue decided to board the speed train traveling to Tanjin with 350km/h. The ride promised so fascinating it didn’t seem to matter he’ll be staying there for only a few hours, before catching the evening train back. My friend and I decided to rather stay in the capital and head down the streets of Beijing. At first we thought the weather is not really nice, but soon realized it’s smog, not bad weather we’re seeing. The sun simply has no chance to shine upon the city. The only hope for the city are the many parks, which help the city not to suffocate. But when you have too much of pollution, you go to a park in forget all the dirt for a few moments, while looking upon the green areas.

The city is to the north of the country and is the main gateway into China. It’s a political, economical, cultural and educational center with a leading role in international trade. It was the capital through the long history of China, that’s why it has so many riches luring tourists to see them. One of the most popular tourist destinations records some 140 million Chinese tourists and about 4 and a half million world wide tourists a year.

Beijing’s history is so vast and complex you need a lot of time to understand it. It was the capital of dynasties Liao (916-1125), Jin (1115-1234), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911). There were over 34 emperors who ruled in those 8 centuries of history, before First World War left its mark on the city. The city became a target and the era of dynasties has stopped. When the communist regime took command on October 1st 1949 Beijing was again a capital on its way to progress. At the time China was mostly a rural country with a high level of poverty, but after 1978 it started a quick rise towards a economical superpower. ZBut for more info, it’s better to go to a local library and read up on it’s rich history.

After a few minutes we discovered we won’t get far walking. You simply have to use the public transport. We took a cab, which proved to be a bad choice. They were ignoring us. We jumped in front of the next taxi and found out, he didn’t understand a word of what we said. The next cabbie also almost ran us over, but just said – “I’m not going that way”. We finally convinced the third taxi driver to take us to the Forbidden City, who dropped us about a kilometer away from it, so we had to pay and walk the rest of the way toward Tiananmen. 

Tiananmen Square is in the very center of the city, decorated by many important objects such as the Tiananmen Tower, Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and National Museum of China. It’s one of better visited places of the capital, with thousands of visitors daily. The square is 440. 000 square meters large and a great place for a walk or flying a kite. But one of the main attractions are the flags in the middle of the square and the ceremony to raise them, but you need to get their really early in order to have your place in the crowd.

To the north of the square is the Tiananmen Tower and the front part of the Forbidden City. The entrance was first built in 1417 in the time of Ming dynasty. It was used for official proclamations of the emperor and empress, who ceremoniously entered the Forbidden City through the main gate. Until 1911 only the royal family and high society had entry, after that the feudal era has ended. The entrance has five archways, the biggest one in the middle was for the emperor, the rest for ministers and nobility. In front of archways are seven white marble bridges, again the biggest one in the middle for the emperor. You really feel noble while crossing them, watching the crowd pass the two mighty dragons, sitting motionlessly, protecting the place from evil spirits, as dragons did in the past – so it’s obvious why they were placed there.

A few steps forward we came to the entrance to the imperial park Beihai, northwest of the Forbidden City in one of the biggest parks in China, with many historic buildings, palaces and temples. The park is about 70 football fields big and a great place for sports. Before the end of imperial era it was closed for the public and linked to the Forbidden City. We followed our noses and passed many trees, benches, flowers and bridges until we came to the locked door. We saw a beautiful temple through the gate, made of white stone. The gate obscured a beautiful view, for we were at the highest point. We got a naughty look and without words went to the other side of the gate. The view of the city was astounding and the yellow roofs of the Forbidden City invited us to walk on them like cats. While taking pictures, we heard an angry guard looking at us very displeased. He watched us crawling back over the wall outside of his reach. It was unpleasant, but fun and unforgettable.

The day leaned towards night and we were in a crowd of people having fun in the middle of the city. All was lively and joyful. On our left a man started offering us a strange round thing with feathers. We were surprised at it and he realized, we didn’t know what it was, so he showed at a group of people playing with it, bouncing it with their feet. It is obviously a real hit among people here, so we had to try it for ourselves.