The Best of Beijing

Editor’s Note: For those following me on Facebook or in personal chats, yes, I am now in Dubai, not China. However being the verbose guy I am and having been starved of quality internet during my last month in China, I have plenty of thoughts saved up to share about China yet. So for the next week or so, look for numerous posts to sum up my time in China which will come rapidly (I’m aiming for one per day).

During the National Holidays here (October 1-8), I got a chance to explore Beijing as many businesses, including those with which I wanted to arrange meetings, were closed. So in the spirit of relaxing and taking a break from work and the sustainability drive of my research after my last long post, here is a rundown of stories, photos, and highlights from my sightseeing adventures in the “North Capital” of China.

The Great Wall
You can’t visit China and not take a trip to the Great Wall—it is as iconic as the Statue of Liberty is for America or the Eiffel Tower is for France. So on a weekday morning two days after the rain when the skies were still clear, I roused myself as the sun was rising to head out to the Wall ahead of the tourist crowd. Though bleary-eyed, I was determined to beat the megaphones and flags of the tour groups and found myself on one of the first buses out to the Badaling section of the Wall. On the road you catch glimpses of older sections of it as they cross your path or peek over the hills on the side of the bus. These sections are unrestored and clearly have suffered from wear and weathering over time. But then you arrive at the Badaling section, and after a brief hike uphill from the parking lot, find yourself standing in the shadow of an impressively tall stone edifice. Barely visible over the ticket office and tourist shops, the wall continues on over the hills and out of sight, beckoning you to explore its slow undulations.

I mounted the stairs leading to the Wall, picked the less crowded direction, and set off. About halfway to the end of the walkable section, I found myself alone on the wall—an accomplishment considering this is the most frequently visited section of the Great Wall. Wandering along this stone behemoth with only the wind through the trees and the sounds of birds, I felt as though I was surrounded by history. I could see an ancient soldier silently patrolling, watching the grasses for any signs of movement, any signs of attack. I also felt for the first time as though I’d found nature in China. Here was perhaps as sustainable a structure as you will find—long-lasting, built from the mountains on which it stands, and surrounded by natural landscape. As the Wall snakes over hills and valleys, it almost appears to grow right out of the mountains, accentuating the natural surroundings in which it rests. Birds fear not its defensive appearance, and though I’m sure it separates habitats for larger animals, it still seems a perfect combination of the Chinese philosophy of man as a part of nature.

My musings were interrupted by the rapid tinkling of a chisel on stone, and after turning a corner I came upon the first of many relentless salesmen and craftsmen who encamp on the Wall, replacing the soldiers of old, out not to defend but to sell. Moving past, I continued my stroll, no longer alone, until I reached the end of the walkable portion of the Wall. Wishing I could get over the barrier and continue along the less frequented and ruinous sections, I instead chose not to break the rules, and turned around, snapped some photos, and headed back to tackle the other section.

Returning to where I started, I continued up the other side, now surrounded by hordes of tourists and tour groups. With the rising sun the buses had arrived in droves even though the light now was not as good for photography. With the sun high, it beat down on those hiking the tougher section of the Wall next to me so that we strained our eyes against its brightness to see the pinnacle ahead. For those who copped out and took the tram or chairlift, they missed out on the feeling of accomplishment of scaling the ancient manmade hill and realizing as you pant that what you just did was routine for soldiers of yore. Past this pinnacle, the Ninth Drum Tower, the number of tourists decreases exponentially to the point where I, determined to walk this section of the Wall end to end, once again reached a stage where I could count my fellow travelers on one hand. Again in silence on the wall, now in mid-afternoon with the birds mostly resting in the shade, I contemplated that which I had just walked. I cannot fathom traversing the entirety of this structure, though I’m sure people have, and moreover I cannot imagine hiking it in full war regalia. The hills get so steep at times that I cannot imagine how much effort it took to build, what the toll must have been, and how driven the emperors who commissioned it must have been. It truly is an amazing feat.

With the sun beginning to burn low and hot in the mid-afternoon, I decided it was time to head back and so retraced my steps yet again, climbing up and down as quickly as my tiring knees would allow until I found myself descending the steps and hill past more street vendors to the bus back to Beijing. I had conquered the Great Wall, and in the process discovered the beauty of the Chinese countryside and how massive an engineering feat the Wall truly is. In several places along my trek for the day I saw a quote: “He is not a man who has not climbed the Great Wall.” I’m not sure if this truly is a Chinese saying or just a gimmick to attract tourists, but there is a feeling of accomplishment and conquest from climbing the Wall, and I highly recommend it to any visiting China. And who knows, you might become a man in the process.

The Temple of Heaven
This massive park and temple complex is an absolute gem in the center of modern Beijing. Walking from my hostel, I passed through areas that seemed a bit unsavory (though still felt safe) and began to wonder what part of the city I was entering. Suddenly, I found myself face to face with a wall surrounding the massive park complex. The story goes that the ancient Chinese built the park so large so that their place of homage to the gods would be larger, as was proper, than the earthly palace now known as the Forbidden City. Working my way around the wall to the entrance, I still had a decent stroll through tree-lined avenues surrounded with grass until I got to the actual temple. Past the morning crowds of elderly doing tai chi and a pair of singers smiling and waiting for tourist donations, I glimpsed the smooth, round curves of the Temple, drawing me further to see it in all its glory.

Ascending to the plateau on which the Temple sits, I entered the plaza and was awed by the large, beautifully rounded structure rising so you had to tilt your head to see it. With its pitched roofs, and upturned eaves, despite its massive size, the Temple has a light, airy feeling as if it is ascending on its own to heaven above. On the crisp blue day when I visited, the royal blue of the sky accented the reds, yellows, and blues of the Temple, making it seem even more stately and regal.

The interior is just as beautiful as the outside, and appeals to my scientific nature as well. The arrangement of the columns was specifically designed to match the lunar calendar, with the concentric rings and sizes not just forming a solid foundation but also having a perfect mathematical relation to the sun and moon. No detail is spared in the ceiling and walls either, both in and out, as wooden joints, facades, and eaves are all painted and decorated exquisitely and gilt to create a space worthy of the gods.

I loved being at the Temple and looking at its every detail, thinking about how each year the Emperor came to this place to pray for good harvests for the coming season. For a while I stood, looking, until finally I tore myself away to explore the rest of the park. Following the ancient path of the emperors, I walked toward the supporting buildings and smaller temples. Though not as well kept or as impressive as the main Temple, these spaces were still nice to walk around and enjoy. However the stone on which the emperor stood to make proclamations was crowded with tourists snapping their photos standing on the plaque which denotes the location.

The Temple and grounds is a perfect example of classical Chinese architecture and philosophy of humans as part of the equation but not the dominant force—forests and manicured gardens comprise most of the space even though the monumental positions are occupied with manmade objects. The whole scene is gorgeous, and the Temple of Good Harvests (the main temple) is an absolute wonder. Be prepared to fight crowds to glimpse the inside, but my favorite was standing back and soaking it in as the crisp breeze ruffled my hair. The large, smooth round exterior walls and light, airy feeling of the upturned eaves lent both a solidarity or strength and a levity or easy feeling to the building which when combined, like yin and yang, created a perfect harmony and balance for the structure. I definitely recommend it to any visiting Beijing.

The Summer Palace
Perhaps the largest and most visited garden in Beijing, the Summer Palace is an example of the decadence of Imperial life toward the end of the emperors’ (and empresses’) reigns. Sprawling around a massive lake that seems to wind a stretch for miles beyond the city, the Palace itself, a collection of buildings distributed around the lake, seems miniature by comparison. After navigating tortuous paths through old architecture overgrown with lush trees and bushes, I emerged onto the main lake walkway facing a triumphal 17-arch bridge decked out with numerous statues of beasts and guardians. As I worked my way south around the lake, behind me emerged the main sight of the Palace—the temple site and outbuildings. This cluster is perched atop a hill, growing stoutly on a brick foundation out of the mountainside in perfect balance but not perfect symmetry. On either side of the main temple sit smaller rocky outcrops with pagodas flanked in turn by similarly sized but differently designed and decorated triple entry buildings.

Working your way around the lake affords changing views of this edifice as it is alternately hidden from view by the willows arching gracefully into the water and then revealed, perfectly framed by the same drooping leaves which moments before concealed it. This manipulation of views is typical of Chinese gardens and creates a dynamic quality that leads you further into the natural space—it draws you in whether you want to or not simply by piquing your curiosity at what is around the next bend. At the Summer Palace, it draws you over the bridge and onto the lake’s main island where you can lose the Temple opposite altogether until you climb up the rocky hill to the pavilion on the island and suddenly come upon the main buildings diametrically opposed from you across the lake.

This whole complex was a retreat for China’s powerful in the later imperial periods, and frankly it is a vacation spot worthy of a king. Empress Dowager Cixi especially took a liking to it, even transferring funds from the Navy to repair it following a fire in the late 1800s. Compared to some of Beijing’s other imperial buildings, it seems a small getaway villa even though it is by no means a small complex. Wandering around the lake takes at least an hour, and that’s if you take the shortcut causeway inspired by the Su Causeway at West Lake in Hangzhou (for more on that, read my previous post). And then there are all of the smaller gardens and buildings to explore—the whole of it takes a day, and as I said, that is small for an imperial palace! Yet it is worth every minute. The whole complex is gorgeous with spectacular views of classical Chinese architecture, natural scenery, and classical gardens.

The Forbidden City
The Forbidden City, or Palace Museum, is the old home of the emperor, empress, and a whole host of nobles, courtiers, and concubines which sprawls for miles in the heart of Beijing. From a sustainability and urban planning standpoint, the city was built up around the Palace as it was the center of life in the imperial period and the center of protection, but now it creates a void in the city which, along with the other historic areas, make walking difficult. Large spaces must be traversed to get around these historic monuments due to their sheer size. However if you are inside the encircling wall, it is a gorgeous walk to traverse the space. Passing into the City through Tian’anmen Square, you leave behind the Maoist world and are thrown back a couple hundred years to China’s imperial days. On the day I visited, a haze hung in the air (I didn’t ask if it was pollution or fog and frankly didn’t want to know) which cast an air of mystery over the Palace and seemed to make the history palpable (or maybe that was just my body rejecting the toxins in the air—who knows).

Wandering through the Palace, and likely getting lost at least once, means traversing vast courtyards surrounded by the same light, airy architecture rooted firmly in the ground that I described above a bit regarding the Temple of Heaven. It was really here that I realized how despite the stone pedestals on which the rooms and pagodas sit, the eaves of the architecture are pleasantly upturned. This simultaneously lends a sense of strength and solidity to the buildings and a light, airy quality as if to show that the emperor must balance force and strength with light and wisdom. It is a very Chinese design for Chinese philosophy, and one of my favorite parts about wandering the old buildings.

As I meandered through the sprawling mansion learning about concubines, nobles, and the function of each of the many rooms, I felt a certain reverence due to the haze settling over the city. The air of mystery was appropriate for wandering the old alleys where a turn through a doorway brought you into a different world, defined by a courtyard on all sides but with small, tortuous pathways to other courts. I believe that by obscuring the present buildings and sounds from outside the city, the mist helped me to visualize the history in the Palace. Perhaps it is just the fact that whenever you watch the History Channel and they have recreations from Chinese imperial times there is an inexplicable haze in the background that made me feel as though the haze I experienced made the City more “authentic.” But either way, it made for a nice stroll and exploration for me. Not being able to see to the end of a walkway when you began was fun because you knew not how far you were committed to walking until you reached halfway or the end. Perhaps for the typical tourist looking to see, snap a photo, and then leave for the next attraction this was a bad day to go—not enough clarity for a good photo—but for me it was an excellent and memorable experience.

What struck me most about the Palace was the incredible ostentation that it portrays. In one of my first days in China, I was lectured on Chinese customs, courtesy of a friend of a friend’s father, in which I was told that part of Chinese philosophy is to be humble and not display wealth and power. In fact, my sunglasses propped on my head during the conversation, were used as an example of how Westerners show off their material possessions. Well, for a country based on such Confucian values, the emperors, who were in name at least Confucian, failed to follow this tenet. There were numerous reception rooms for different occasions, and numerous changing and private rooms for the emperor, all of which featured intricately detailed desks, chairs, and wardrobes. These pieces were gilt and richly painted in fine designs and likely covered in the best silks available—this is the direct opposite of humble.

I guess my overall impression is that this Palace is pregnant with history. It doesn’t take too much imagination to stand in the wide squares and visualize dignitaries, processions, and courtiers bustling in and out on official business. I think it would have been a fascinating place to see during the heyday of the empires.

Jingshan Park
If you visit the Forbidden City, exit by the north and then continue across the road (look carefully first though so as not to get run over!), dig deep in your pockets for the whole 2 kuai to enter Jingshan Park (a whopping $0.30 USD), and see what I believe to be the best view in the city. But be sure to go on a clear day—it makes it that much better. Let me show you what I mean. I made it up to this peak twice, once as I just described, and once on a clear day when I was on a mission to see the view without the haze. The two photos are below for comparison. And for those who say Beijing’s air quality has cleaned up, I submit the first photo as proof to the contrary.

Though the attraction of the park is really the five temples that sit atop its ridge, for most visitors I believe it is the spectacular view that captivates them. Looking out over the whole Forbidden City provides a sense of scale to this megacity. You can trace the growth of Beijing from here, looking over the Palace walls, the ring of hutongs, and then further out the newer developments including the Central Business District and the district of five-star hotels. It is a staggering view, and fully worth waiting for a clear day. Walking around to the backside, viewers see the original linear plan of Beijing which cuts through the mountain on which you stand to continue north from the Palace.

Here also is visible the famous Beihai Park nearby. The 360^o panorama Jingshan Park affords is in my opinion the best value in Beijing and a must-see for visitors. After all, it’s not hard to reach after the Forbidden City, is still relatively peaceful when compared with the city’s other major sites, and puts China’s development and capital in perspective.

Olympic Green
Since 2008, I would argue that architectural or sports buffs cannot visit Beijing without taking the trip up the metro to the site of the 2008 Olympics and its landmark National Stadium and National Aquatics Centre, better known as the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube, respectively. Since I am both interested in architecture and sports, it was a must-see on my list, and well worth the half hour trip up the Metro. Arriving at night, I was met with a brilliantly lit plaza flanked on three sides by Olympic monuments—the two stadiums and a tower with the famous five-ring design flashing the Olympic colors in a repeated pattern. The stadiums are as architecturally stunning as they appeared on TV, and frankly excited the engineer in me greatly. To see the massive curving steel beams connected in seemingly random arrays by rivets and bolts as big as my arm was fascinating. And on my other side, the use of an innovative lightweight, durable plastic to create the light, bubbly feeling of the Water Cube was just as fascinating. I wanted to go up and touch or poke at the exterior, but nowhere can you get close enough to it for that. It was probably for the better—I wouldn’t want to violate any rules or laws unknowingly. I don’t have much to say on these buildings except that they are just as gorgeous as we all recall from two years ago and as I said, well worth the Metro trip north to take a look. Instead, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

One thing I will say is that it was on my walk back to the Metro where I discovered one of Beijing’s most vibrant city areas. In the middle of a 12 lane road—6 on the left and 6 on the right—sat a broad park with greenery separating public squares, each of which was filled with people listening to music, skating, sitting and chatting, or having a family game of badminton. In this car-dominated city often lacking in usable public space (most parks don’t allow you to walk on the grass even), to find this social oasis was great. And for the sustainability seeker in me, it was nice as well to see such a vibrant reuse of the Olympic grounds in the wake of the games. It gives me hope that China is doing things well at least on a very public level. Now if it would only integrate to all levels of planning and development, things would be much better.

Reconnecting with Friends, Old and New
The last topic in this post is one which unfortunately cannot be a part of everyone’s Beijing trip. In Beijing, I had a unique opportunity to reconnect with friends both that I had made on this trip and who I hadn’t really spent quality time with since high school back in Woodland Hills, CA. I will start first with my new friend. As some may recall from my post on gardens in Suzhou and Hangzhou, in Hangzhou I met a young teacher by the name of Caesar. After spending a lovely day together walking around West Lake, Caesar and I parted, he to return to work in Beijing and I to return to Shanghai. Well, since I was visiting Caesar’s home town, I figured I had to pay him a visit and so sent him an e-mail. He and I ended up meeting for a lovely dinner of Sichuan food. We caught up on events since we parted and then conversed for hours on topics related to politics, economics, future plans, and general life in China. Caesar is a great, smart guy and it was fun to grab dinner and chat for a while. Hopefully it won’t be the last time we meet.

It is strange that I have now come halfway around the world from California and yet have caught up with two old friends in this part of the world. Many will recall that I was given hospitality and delicious food by Elvin Chiang down in Hong Kong, and up in Beijing a similar courtesy was provided by Jamie Chu, another friend from my middle and high school days. Coincidentally, Jamie arrived in Beijing for a year-long language program about a month after I landed in China and so was able to take me around and direct me to the best sights and food in Beijing.

It is nice that Jamie was around to give me a familiar face and personality in Beijing, but also to spend quality time together which we never really did with the distractions of other friends and activities in the San Fernando Valley. It is funny that being together in a foreign city can bring two people closer together, but for Jamie and me that was definitely true. Though always tied by our involvement in band, Jamie and I moved in slightly different social circles in high school and thus never really hung out together. Each year our mutual friends the Cotler family would bring us together over latkes and songs for Hanukah, but again, we never really spent quality time together. (As a brief aside, in recognition of our mutual friends and gatherings, we found this sign and had to stop to take a picture.)

Yet in Beijing, with Jamie as my guide and friend, we talked at length about various topics, got to know one another much better, and came to develop a friendship that had never had a chance to flourish in the States. It was a great addition to my Beijing trip, and left me looking forward to seeing Jamie again in a couple of weeks when she and a few of her new friends from the language program headed down to Shanghai for the World Expo.

Food
For many traveling to China, I’m sure the food is one of the best parts of the trip, and I have to be grateful that my friends, Jamie and Elvin specifically, appreciate good cooking and are happy to share their knowledge of restaurants with me. I have to say though that one of my favorite parts of China, and especially Beijing, is the street food. Now before you recoil at thoughts of unsanitary food sold at high prices to unsuspecting tourists, I’m talking about places where the food is thoroughly baked, fried, and served up to locals for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or any meal in between. Not far from my hostel was a great food street featuring just these dishes where I could go to get all manner of local dishes ranging from a “Chinese hamburger” (beef or pork shredded and grilled inside a large piece of flat bread—perfectly spiced to stand alone without cheese, vegetables, or condiments of any sort and provide a great meal when accompanied by porridge with which it is served) to puffy buns baked fresh every 10 minutes topped with a slightly sweet honey glaze (they melt in your mouth when fresh—absolutely delicious!).

Some of my other favorite street cuisines included a good breakfast meal of an egg fried and mixed with pork fat, vegetables, and spices served up in a large, thin flat of batter. Salty and probably not too healthy, but delicious all the same. Then there were two were introduced to me by Jamie as sweet treats for after dinner or a quick street snack. The first, called Bing Tang, is a delectable skewer of seasonal fruits glazed over with caramelized sugar that makes you think you’re eating a little bit healthy even while the sugar melts in your mouth and puts a smile on your face. The other was a “Chocolate Fish” or essentially a piece of pancake or waffle batter deep fried in a fish-shaped holder inside of which a nugget of chocolate is placed. You bite into the fish and enjoying the sweet, flaky batter suddenly come upon a nugget of delicious chocolate inside—it is a wonderful little treat.

If you want a full meal instead, Beijing does not disappoint. With Jamie showing me around, I had a sampling of both local and non-traditional cuisines for my meals. Perhaps the strangest was a North Korean state-run restauarant we visited out of curiosity. On the menu were all manner of dishes, but the most famous were the noodle plates. So with a few of these salty concoctions drenched in soup and topped with meat and vegetables, we started our meal. An order of wonderfully sweet and sour kimchee was up next followed by the main courses—wonderfully steamed fish that fell apart as you picked at it, a good sign of its moisture, and dog. Yes, that’s right, we tried dog. Surprisingly, it was quite tender boiled in soup and spices, and really tasty. Just don’t think about what it is while you’re eating it.

Our next non-Chinese culinary adventure took place in the embassy district of Beijing where we tried supposedly the best burger joint in Beijing, “Let’s Burger.” Aside from a couple of McDonald’s indulgences when I felt a bit homesick, I had not had a burger since arriving in China, and certainly had not had a good one. So at this stop we went all out, ordering the special burgers topped with the works, and boy did they have a selection. You could try the Mexican, French, or Japanese burgers, or a number of other culinary creations. Though I still think I prefer Islands and Red Robin, I must say it was a good burger, and the fries with an array of dipping sauces were excellent and too few in number for a horde of hungry college students!

Okay, so after all of the non-Chinese dining, we had to settle down and have some real Chinese food. We did so in the form of dumplings first at a restaurant which has one of the most extensive dumpling menus in the city. Our plates that night ranged from the traditional egg and leeks to a bit more exotic selections such as mutton and donkey, but all were delicious and a wonderful taste of Chinese cuisine.

Though the dumplings were good, the crown jewel of Beijing cuisine is Peking Duck, and Jamie led me to Quan Ju De to sample this delight. The restaurant, one of the oldest in Beijing for the duck, was a bit pricey, but the perfectly roasted bird served with all the trimmings—corn and rice flat bread, sugar, soy sauce, and two types of vegetables—was absolutely delicious. It was an experience not to be missed in Beijing, and a nice way to cap my trip up North. After skimping on food quality a bit in Shanghai, to thus indulge was a wonderful experience, and Peking Duck really is a delicious treat! When cooked well, the skin gives a nice crunch and oozes oil while the meat below is tender, flavorful, and balances flavors nicely with the sauce, sugar, and vegetables when wrapped in the flat bread.

Conclusion
Beijing is a great city, especially if you are on the hunt for history. It is a must-see on any China traveler’s list and is ripe with fun for all. I had a great time there on my mini-vacation (though as I said in “My Living Laboratory” every day is an opportunity for learning, so even vacations are not truly escapes from the work!) and am left with the hope that I will return one day with friends or family to share this wonderful city with them too. (Any takers?)