Běijīng/Belgium

I'm staying in Dongcheng, in the very heart of the city.

Běijīng (translated as Northern City), formerly and often still known as Peking, is a city of superlatives. It is the capital of one of the oldest civilisations. It has the oldest record of homo erectus, Peking man (780,000 years old) and has found tools dating 1.3 million years ago. It has the oldest trees, the third largest city square (Ti’ananmen, at 106 acres), one of the densest urban populations (20 million) and the busiest airport in the world. It has some of the worst air pollution caused by surrounding provinces and their unregulated emissions and is one of the most heavily censored countries on earth (I can’t even Google Ti’ananmen Square).  The Qin(pronounced Chin)dynasty, dating from around 200 BC and from which China took its name, were responsible for beginning the Great Wall of China – the biggest known structure of its kind on earth. With this in mind, I expected to find a big shiny metropolis. Instead I found a city that has its growth through the centuries visible as you move away from its heart. At the very centre is the Forbidden City and everything else radiates out in evolving rings to the inevitable tired looking concrete high-rises and nine lane roads.

The very centre is packed full of ancient hútòng that date from the Ming dynasty and were built as part of a regeneration of the city after Genghis Khan destroyed it. The tiny streets are packed with little shops, tea rooms, hole-in-the-wall food outlets (like the soup above which cost £1 and is bursting with lovely fresh spicy flavours) that sell everything from fruit kebabs to deep fried beasts and are also packed, shoulder to shoulder with family homes. Off the main drags, people go about their daily lives, the pace of which doesn't appear to have changed for hundreds of years.

 

 

 

People get around on bikes with an alarming array of rear attachments that carry anything from sky-high piles of cardboard to people wanting to get from A to B quickly and cheaply.

 

Běijīng is a very Chinese city. There is no mistaking it for anywhere else and by that I mean that some cities I have visited are so devoid of character, they could be anywhere on earth. I expected a big, shiny, steel and concrete city of mega proportions, but this town has little evidence of any overriding western influence but at the same time feels very familiar. Everyone I have encountered has that same chatty warmth that visitors attribute to the Welsh. There is a playfulness and a sense of humour everywhere you look, something that is sorely lacking in Russia.

I discovered just how big Běijīng is when attempting to walk to the Forbidden City from my hostel. After about two hours and a pulled muscle (I later learned about 'Běijīng Knee')I called a rickshaw to my rescue. I later discovered that Běijīng is roughly the same size as Belgium. Note to self: use the subway.

The subway is 2 yuan (20p) to ride anywhere. Considering the subway covers an area the size of Belgium, that’s cheap travel.

The colour red is everywhere.

 

 

 

Ti'ananmen Square obliterated by the pollution, apart from the communist flag...

Wine tasting session? Oh go on then…

 

The Art District.

The Forbidden City.

 

 

 

 

Maostalgia central. Posters of Mao were banned when Deng Xiaoping took over, so there are surprisingly few around. People consider the years of the cultural revolution as a dark interlude, best left in the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Redundant sundial. It stands at around 7 feet tall

Ancient fire extinguisher. These were kept full of water in the event of a fire. All of the gold leaf has been scraped away and stolen, mostly during the Communist Revolution.

 

 

 

 

Worse than double denim?!

The ubiquitous cuppa, that comes in hundreds of different varieties in any number of lovely tea houses, and costs around £1.50 a cup.

Běijīng is incredible. If this is what China holds in store, I am in for the biggest, oldest, tastiest, friendliest treat!

http://www.bbc.com/travel/video/on-the-road/20130222-beijing-china