Exploring Beijing Inside and Out

Since leaving the UK my weekdays have almost all been consumed with long hours at work interrupted only by food and sleep.  Weekends, on the other hand, have thankfully been very much mine to do with as I please.  Typically that means a lie in, chilling out and seeing the tourist sights.  So far I’ve seen some great attractions in India and am definitely going to make the most of my time in China too.

Getting around Beijing is a lot easier than it was in Delhi. Taxis are readily available and there is a good subway system that is rapidly expanding.  This is a city with a long, unique history and consequently there is a wealth of things to see and experience here.  Although I saw a lot of the main sights when I was here 8 years ago I am planning on revisiting many of them during the 5 weeks I am here.  On the agenda for this weekend was the Temple of Heaven and the Beijing Underground City.

Although it is easy to catch a taxi here, once you get inside it is a very different story in terms of communicating where you want to go!  Hardly any of the drivers can speak English making it a challenge to explain where you want to go.  Of course, the international language of pointing can always be employed in conjunction with a map or guidebook, but thanks to Chinese friends I have also been using my mobile phone.  I have been able to get people to SMS me the Chinese words for the places I want to go and then it is then simply a case of showing the appropriate message to the taxi driver.  Easy!

Catching a taxi to the nearest subway station and then getting a train to Qianmen brings you to an area that is close to a number of attractions including the Temple of Heaven.  This complex of buildings and monuments was first built in 1420 in the Ming dynasty.  Since then it has been used by the emperor to communicate his wishes to the gods above. 

Within the grounds are a multitude of buildings in the usual distinctive Chinese style.  Interestingly all of the main buildings are circular but rest upon square bases reflecting the ancient Chinese belief that the Earth was flat and heaven was round.  The key structures in the complex are the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Circular Mound Altar. 

All of the buildings have recently been restored to their original beauty ready for the hordes of Olympic tourists expected next year.  The vivid reds and blues of the intricate paintwork really stand out giving the structures a strangely fresh and new feel.  Most of the buildings here are adorned with brilliant blue roof tiles on the distinctive Chinese concave slope and sit within extensive grounds of lush green gardens.

Located on the centre line of gardens is the Circular Mound Alter which has three layered terraces of white marble. Sitting in the middle of top terrace is the central stone upon which the emperor would make his prayers to the gods.  Supposedly when standing upon this stone your voice resonates causing you to sound much louder.  Despite this slightly dubious science it seemed to be a star attraction with great hordes of people waiting to try it out.  Each to their own I suppose.

After a disgusting hot pot lunch the next item on our agenda was to find the Beijing Underground City.  Built as a response to the cold war this city is a huge complex of underground tunnels and shelters and is largely unknown to the residents of Beijing.  With only a brief description from a guide book it was very difficult to find the entrance to the complex.  Despite having a native Chinese speaker to ask for us none of the taxi drivers, officials or locals had ever heard of the place.  In fact one of the drivers pulled a face and said she very much doubted it even existed, although this didn’t stop her offering to drive us there! 

According to reports on the Internet the city has been kept a secret for a long time with suggestions that Beijing residents were refused entry until recently.  Potential explanations for this become more evident when learn the history of the place.  Intended as a defence against a nuclear strike it would have been totally useless because it was only built to a depth of 20m and has numerous surface shafts.  It would have been barely able to withstand a regular bomb let alone nukes raining down from the sky!  Built at huge cost to the tax payer using thousands of workers it was never put to use due to its ineffectiveness.  Just a tad embarrassing perhaps.

For those with determination the tourist entrance to the city is found down an alleyway within the Damochang Hutong in the Qianmen area.  The entrance descends a few flights of tiled stairs into a fairly large corridor.  The place is pretty much bare these days with the exception of a selection of Mao posters and tacky recreated exhibits.  Photography is banned in the complex, apparently due to government paranoia – the official line is that parts of it are still used by the military but I somewhat doubt we’d even be allowed near the place if that was true.  I suspect the embarrassment theory is probably more likely.  In any case, this didn’t stop David taking a few covert snaps with his phone before getting caught by our guide, who incidentally was dressed in military uniform.  Thankfully he wasn’t hauled away this time and instead the guide simply kept a close eye on us all for the rest of the tour.  I guess that’s another notch against David’s name – I wonder how many it takes before you get thrown in jail?

After following the guide along the multitude of corridors and through the basement of a shop (just slightly bizarre) we arrived back at the starting point and were politely encouraged to leave immediately.  For some reason when we left the guide followed us out onto the street before scuttling off down some side alley.  Perhaps she was off to report David as being a spy – guess we’ll find out soon enough

This entry was posted on 01/04/2007 at 08:24 pm and is filed under Sights and sounds of China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.