I tried to type this up as soon as possible after my Part 3 blog about Shanghai, which, if you haven’t read it, can be found here: Strolling Through Shanghai (Travel... Blog? Part 3)
Beijing (北京), meaning “Northern Capital” has been the longstanding, historically rich Capital of China for centuries, and continues to be the Capital to this very day. It is very rich in almost all factors, including cultural, political and historical. They say to not have visited Beijing is to not have visited China at all. I spent slightly longer than a week here (the two days will be in the nex, so brace yourselves for a blog LONGER THAN THE SHANGHAI POST, and here we go:
Day 1 (Monday).
As usual, didn’t do too much that day. Got off at the airport (Beijing Daxing International Airport) on a cloudy day from a flight from Shanghai. Took a taxi to my hotel. Yeah that’s it.
Day 2 (Tuesday).
Beijing has been the Capital for dynasties, and thus, emperors resided in this historical city. And on this day, I would visit The Summer Palace. Don’t let that name deceive you however, as it isn’t actually a palace. Rather, it is actually a massive garden that was specially designed for the emperor. The garden was next to a lake, so here are some photos I took for you to enjoy.
A boat made of marble, built to signal the longevity of the Qing Dynasty (which would collapse literally just a few years later):
A part of the Long Corridor (rough translation) stretching all the way around the garden. If you look closely, there are paintings on the top. More than 6000 of them, and each is unique:
The main entrance (The Eastern Gate. Originally the main entrance was the Northern Gate, but that was before British troops came and destroyed it. A bit disappointing for a main entrance though.):
Now, you must understand that there used be a lot more stuff at the Summer Palace (there is but slightly), as most of it was burnt down when Anglo-French Forces deliberately burnt it down in 1860. And then in 1892 it would be plundered and looted with its goods stolen by the Eight Nations Alliance (USA, UK, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Austria-Hungary. And Belgium), some of which can be still seen in museums of those countries today.
After visiting the Summer Palace, I visited something more modern: The Military Museum of the of the Chinese People’s Revolution
(The image is a bit pixilated somehow when I post it on the forums. IDK why.)
The Museum itself is inspired by Soviet infrastructure and is absolutely massive, and focuses on the People’s Liberation Army (China’s military), its history and many other aspects of the PLA. It’s so large, that it isn’t even finished yet, and only 2 out of the 7 levels are actually completed (about its history and present day. I might return in the future.), with the rest still in construction. (Both levels showcase present day PLA, but the second level more emphasizes its history)
(Translation: Left: A strong nation must have a strong military. Right: A strong military is essential for national security)
(Translation: A new system, new structure, new pattern, new appearance. Basically, the PLA is constantly on a path of reform and modernization.)
One of the longest and largest statues I’ve seen. Really has that communist theme of just a massive amount of people just charging at something. Also yes, it’s in the history part.
Even though you definitely do not have to agree with the operations conducted by China and it’s military, this museum is still very impressive, and gives you an insight of the PLA. (It has English as well. Mostly)
Day 3 (Wednesday).
Today we went to the Palace Museum. To put it in a very simplified way, the palace museum was a MASSIVE series of palaces (usually a gate, and behind that gate is another called a hall) in the Forbidden City where the Emperor would rest, spend time with others, take a stroll etc.
For example: this is the “Hall of Supreme Harmony” (Yes they have weird names such as, Gate of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Earthly Tranquillity and so forth). The Hall of Supreme Harmony is somewhat the main one, as it is in the “middle”. (The Palace Museum was so large, and is only a fraction of the forbidden city):
It was so large I spent a good amount of the day walking around (with an English audio tour guide in my ear which auto-plays based on location).
So afterwards I went to Tiananmen Square. The place where nothing happened on June 4th 1989. All jokes aside, I don’t know why we call it ‘Tiananmen’, because before the Communist takeover, it was actually a part of the area which we now call the Palace Museum. Tiananmen roughly translate to “Gate of Heavenly Peace” and is located in front of the now-entrance of the Palace Museum.
Here’s a pretty damn good photo with barely no one:
(The words on the left says “Long live the People’s Republic of China” and the right says “Long live the unity of the people”, to which I still don’t know what it means.)
With a ticket, you can actually go on the top, and see the Square. This is the view that the President (Currently Xi Jinping) sees when he stands here (The big road is where military parades you see is held, and there are buildings to which I haven’t visited):
I had the “honours” of watching the flag lowering ceremony that they do everyday at sunset, which you can watch here: Flag Lowering Ceremony at Tiananmen Square (Have a look if you wish)
Tiananmen also has an interior, which basically tells its history.
Day 4 (Thursday)
On this day I went to Universal Studios, Beijing.
Universal Studios Beijing was considerably worse than Disneyland, Shanghai (I know, I know, they are different industries). For starters, there was a lot less rides, less shows, less everything, basically. Another thing is, is that the Hogwarts Castle and the village (Hogsmeade, I think it was called, don’t hate on me, HP fans) was pathetically smaller than the ones in Universal Studios, California. Heck, the Hogwarts in Beijing wasn’t even finished, and there was so many Chinese HP fans that I didn’t even get to ride on whatever Harry Potter ride there was.
I would much rather go to Disneyland in Shanghai again (which, I did, the week after Beijing).
Day 5 (Friday)
How on Earth could I go to Beijing without going to the Great Wall? It’s impossible that I miss out. On this day, I took a shuttle bus to Mutianyu (慕田峪) Great Wall. You have to understand that it is called Mutianyu because that was the name of the part of the Great Wall that I visited (different parts had different names, and ran by different companies). Mutianyu was regarded as the one of the best parts of the Great Wall, better than the others.
The “park” is divided into two parts. The Northern section and the Southern Sections. The Northern section was the main part of the “park”. You could either walk up all the way, or take the cable car (which I took). However, something you should know, the cable car only delivered you around 2/3 (rough estimate) of the way to the final tower. You had to climb the rest. As I climbed, I walked through ancient watchtowers that soldiers stood in (There were 14 towers from where the cable car stopped). The path gradually became steeper and steeper, with the path to the final tower the steepest being 75-80 degrees steep. It was more like climbing a ladder than stairs. Wait no, scratch that, around the 9th tower I WAS PRACTICALLY SCALING THE STEPSTONES AT THIS POINT.
The view however, was absolutely worth the gruelling climb. The final tower (called Hero Tower, roughly translated) was the highest, and whilst the great wall obviously continued, it was no longer maintained by the company, and thus no tourists were allowed:
The Southern part was just a toboggan ride all the way down. It should have been fun if it wasn’t so god damn crowded with people. But overall, I felt like I was in heaven (or Cirrus Island, for you AO enthusiasts). Nothing beats actually being there, and the climb, whilst arduous, was probably one of the best climbs I’ve ever done.
Day 6 (Saturday)
On this day I went to visit Prince Kung’s Palace. To put it simply, it is the only palace built for people with Prince status that is still open for tourism. It’s not as grand or large as emperor status of course, but still somewhat sizable, and gave a good insight into how Chinese princes lived back then.
And for the evening I went to a really large (682,000 square meters, of which 389,000 is water) park that was nestled in the heart of Beijing. Well why was this park so significant? Well not only was it absolutely huge, but the emperors and imperial family of the five dynasties of Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing resided and attended governmental affairs here, as well as sacrificial ceremonies. According to it’s description, it is “the world’s oldest and best preserved Imperial garden”.
There’s something that you should know about Beijing, and it’s that the appearance of the city and nature matches with the season. If it’s spring, plants bloom, if it’s autumn, everything is orange, if it’s winter it looks wintering and so forth. And each season has its own beautiful paintings of scenery.
Day 7 (Sunday, New Years Eve)
I ended the year in a satisfactory way, but started 2024 somewhat depressingly.
I went to this place known as the Temple of Heaven. A place of prayer for the emperor. Again, it’s located in a large flat garden.
For the evening I went to Jingshan Park. Really it’s just a really tall hill with a tower on top in the middle of the entire Forbidden City, and it really gives you a sight to behold and shows just how large the Forbidden City really is. This is only one half.
I ended the year depressingly. I stayed in my hotel room, and due to Beijing’s very tight security, there wasn’t even fireworks to celebrate. All I did was count down on with the TV program on the TV. I did use a VPN to watch Sydney’s fireworks though.
Overall: Beijing most definitely is a city that most people should go because of its rich history, both ancient and modern. Unfortunately, Beijing has heavily ramped up its security presence, you can see groups of police officers (and military police at politically sensitive places) almost everywhere.
Increased police presence wasn’t the only thing they did to ramp up security. Everywhere you wanted to visit, whether that be Tiananmen Square, or even a garden HAD to be prebooked. Subway tickets required an ID card, or passports for foreigners. Heck, Beijing is the only city where I had to prebook taxis, other cities I could just hail with my hand.
If you read my post in the flag lowering topic, you’ll notice something. Beijing has become the only city in China that does not sell cooking knives, hammers, potato peelers or even pencil sharpers. Anything that can be used as a bladed or blunt weapon is no longer sold. The absence of fireworks celebrating the new year is also only in Beijing as well.
Beijing food is great, with Peking duck as its signature dish, but there has been a sudden increase of popularity of Szechuan food, of which I’m not too big of a fan of. The weather was also a bit bleak.
Please note that, this is topic does not have everything I did in Beijing. As I spent Monday and Tuesday of the following week there as well, which I will write in my next blog, but I will give a rating.
I give Beijing a solid 5.5/10. My lowest rating of the cities I have visited.
Beijing should have gotten a higher rating, unfortunately, due to the heavily ramped up security presence which results in foreigner unfriendliness (as in it’s not easy for tourists to travel and a bit annoying to do so, not discrimination or such), this has ruined its reputation slightly. Nevertheless, it is still a city that should be visited, as it has a very rich history (IDK how many times I said this) and its capital.
And as always, stayed tuned for my next blog, which finishes my visit to Beijing and starts my visit to the next city. And I shall see you ggguuuyyysss next tttiiimmme.
PS: I totally did not wait until today to post this blog about China’s capital after watching William Lai of the Democratic People’s Party of Taiwan, aka the current ruling, pro-independence party win Taiwan’s presidential election.
Is it because the emperor used to use it in the summer?
I miss this. Please eat my share for me while you’re there.
Til next time adrenalin. I’ll be keeping an eye on any blogs that come out :]