Beijing

I found myself in Beijing a couple of times a year, since I flew in and out of Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) from/to Amsterdam and (occasionally) from/to London. For the first few years in China, it was also useful for flights elsewhere. Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) didn’t open until after I left, probably for the last time, in 2018. See Airports in Beijing for a quick guide to same.

My first arrival (like most of the rest) was early in the morning, and I was met by the agent, who had helped organise my new job, and some teachers from my new place of employment, Ocean College of Hebei Agricultural University, in Qinhuangdao, to be driven to Qinhuangdao. There wasn’t time to take in much of the surroundings, as we just piled into a car and set off on the road, but I would be back – by car, by bus, and by train.

PEK is not the best airport for non-Chinese speaking travellers – although most signs are also in English, announcements often are not. It took me a couple of visits to become familiar enough with it to be able to help the lost! And to discover that the best (and cheapest) food and drink were a shuttle-bus ride away from the terminals, out to where the staff dormitories are located. OK, if you have plenty of time, but not much use, if you don’t.

These days, the best way into the city from PEK is by express train (frequent) and the subway (with which it connects) – unless you prefer to sit in slow-moving, often stationary traffic, in which case take a taxi.

From Qinhuangdao (QHD) to Beijing city I always travelled by train after almost missing a flight, because the direct bus from QHD to PEK was delayed in traffic for several hours. I didn’t have to be warned twice, and after the near-miss, I took the train-subway-express route. QHD trains connect to Beijing Railway Station, which is an experience all of its own. Not the most enjoyable, but not terrible either, despite the best (worst?) efforts of the station staff – be sure to smile at them, or you’ll get nowhere – not even out of the station.

Beijing Railway Station in 2008

Speaking of trains, there are several different kinds, and different tickets. Have a look at this link: Confused? You will be. However, it’s not really as bad as it looks – just pick your preferred arrival time and work back to the fastest (or cheapest) trainfare to get you there on time. First class on the D and G trains is pretty luxurious, with lots of legroom – there’s not a lot of that in standard class, though there’s still about the same as in the UK (possibly slightly more). The slower trains are more like trains used to be – in China – so well worth using for the experience, if you’re not in a hurry, or on a low budget.

There is a lot to see and do in Beijing, with many tourism sites and a good public transport system to help you get to them. Despite the frequency of my visits, I don’t claim to be an expert and I probably missed a lot, but I did visit most of the famous places.
I deliberately stayed away from the main Great Wall site at Badaling, because it is just too busy to be enjoyable, and there are plenty of better (or at least, far less crowded) sites on the Great Wall closer to Qinhuangdao.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is huge and usually very busy with visitors. These pictures are from my first visit in September 2007. The second set are from outside on a relatively quiet corner.

Jingshan Park

Jingshan Park looks over the Forbidden City. In 9/2007, the air was humid, misty, and badly polluted, so the view was pretty poor. You might notice the Insignia for the Beijing Olympics scheduled for the following year.

Beihai Park

Beihai Park is worth a visit, though it suffers from the usual Beijing problem of being very crowded most of the time. I went there with my sister, when she came to visit, and two of my students as guides.

It’s a bit of a climb up to the white pagoda (白塔, Báitǎ) in the park, but worth it for the views (even with Beijing’s pollution).

The Nine Dragon Wall is another major feature in the park.

Tiananmen Square

It has to be seen.

National Museum of China

On one side of Tiananmen Square, this is a huge museum. After four years of renovation, it reopened on March 17, 2011, with 28 new exhibition halls, more than triple the previous exhibition space, and state of the art exhibition and storage facilities. I visited in May 2012, a few months before Xi Jinping in November, when he articulated the Chinese Dream: “Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of the Chinese nation in modern times.” Allow a full day, or two half-days, if visiting.

The lighting was not ideal for photography, so I didn’t take many display-worthy pictures, but then, I’m not sure if photography was actually permitted!

Olympic Stadium and Park

On 2.10.2011, I visited the Beijing Olympic Stadium and Park (full of sculptures) together with a couple of my students.

Science and Technology Museum

The China Science and Technology Museum is next door to the Olympic Park (there’s a useful map on the Wikipedia page). We took shelter here, because it was too hot in the park.

China National Botanical Gardens

With some of my students again, we picked the wettest day for several years to go here. It was sunny when we set off from the centre of the city, but the rain started the moment we entered the park. There were floods in part of Beijing later that day. It’s probably very pleasant, when it’s dry. The best part of our visit was the dumpling restaurant where we were eventually able to shelter for a while.

The Summer Palace

The term “Summer Palace” can be a little confusing when talking about China. See also the Old Summer Palace, below, which was originally known as the Imperial Gardens, and sometimes, interestingly, as the Winter Palace.

Here is a list of other possibilities besides this Summer Palace in Beijing:
Shangdu (Xanadu) was an “Upper Capital” during Kublai Khan‘s reign in the 13th century.
In the Qing dynasty, Chengde Mountain Resort in Chengde was often used by emperors to perform their official functions during the summer months.
In the era of the Republic of China, core members of Nationalist Party of China often held meetings at Kuling, Jiujiang in summer to make important internal decisions. Foreign businessmen and missionaries also liked to spend summer time in Kuling during ROC government rule.
In the era of the People’s Republic of China, core members of the Chinese Communist Party often held (and sometimes still hold) meetings at Beidaihe District (click the link for Wikipedia, or click here for a link on this site) in the summer to make important internal decisions.

It’s worth looking at the Wikipedia article on the Beijing Summer Palace, not least because I don’t have anything noteworthy to add to it and can’t be bothered cutting and pasting details from it.

I visited the Summer Palace in June 2008 with my sister, who was visiting me in Qinhuangdao at the time, and a couple of my tourism students, who were of great help during her visit (with accommodation, transport, and finding affordable restaurants. One of them was even brave enough to take her shopping).

(Unfortunately, some of the photos below were rotated after uploading, with no input from me.)

Yuanmingyuan – Old Summer Palace

Only ruins are left of this, “arguably the greatest concentration of historic treasures in the world, dating and representing a full 5,000 years of an ancient civilization”, destroyed by British and French forces during the Second Opium War. Although it is still a major tourist attraction, accessed from Yuanmingyuan Park station on Line 4 of the Beijing Subway.

Wangfujing

Wangfujing is the best-known and busiest commercial street in Beijing. Despite the crowds, it is wide enough to be relatively low on stress, except for the Snack Street, where you can fill up on deep-fried scorpions, or starfish or sea-horses on a stick, if you feel the need. St. Joseph’s Church sits rether incongruously near one end, and the square in front of it is popular for morning exercises and wedding photography.

Hohai Park

This is a small, and relatively quiet park in the centre of Beijing. Just a boating lake really.

The Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is a complex of imperial buildings, formerly used for mostly religious ceremonies, and a park, which was opened to the public in 1918 and is now used a lot by locals for various recreation purposes. (Again, some pictures have been rotated by WordPress, with no input from me. It’s pretty obvious which ones.)

Tanzhesi

Also known in English as Tanzhe Temple, it is about 1,700 years old, and was built before Beijing city. It was extremely hot on the day of our visit, well over 40C. Note the spiral incence “sticks”; I don’t think I saw them anywhere else, though the stone fish is fairly common.

International Garden Expo – Opening day and five years later

Having participated in the Qinhuangdao International Walking Festival (IWF) a couple of years in a row, I was invited by the main organiser to join him for the opening day of the Beijing Garden Festival (aka International Garden Expo) on a brand new purpose-built site. This was a major event, which I knew nothing about before actually arriving in Beijing for it. I realised something unusual was happening when we arrived at our hotel the night before – it was a five-star luxury hotel, not at all what I’m used to, and actually kind of wasteful, because there was only time to sleep before spending the following day going to, being at, and heading home from the expo site, which was a long way from the hotel and the station.

There were many famous people present, politicians, singers, dance groups, and a lot of journalists and TV cameras. A lot of time was spent on speeches, which I didn’t understand at all, but eventually the opening ceremony ended with a parade and we had a tour of the facilities. I spent the tour either with the man from the IWF (which had a stall on the site) or with the former North Korean Ambassador to the UK (and his younger companion – or minder). It turned out he liked to play golf, and spent his happiest days doing exactly that in Scotland, rather than hiding behind the walls of the official residence in the London suburb of Ealing.