China - Part 2: Beijing (北京)
Continuing the trip in China...
After leaving Guilin on September 17th, we went by plane back to Beijing. Greeted once again by the Beijing Capital International Airport. And, as we were flying with Air China, we were in Terminal 3. Beijing Airport was in 2008 the 8th busiest airport in the world, 21st in aircraft movements (also the only Asian airport in the top 30), and 8th in cargo. Terminal 3 is only second to Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 in size. It is also one of the most modern, the fastest airport terminal ever built, among other notable characteristics. To make it short, a very impressive airport.
From the airport, we went to the hotel. A guest building inside Fang's former university, the Beijing Foreign Studies University. This allowed me to watch glimpses of student life in China, which was great. There was even a small group (of staff, I guess) practicing Tai Chi in the mornings. But after arriving at the hotel, we left again to meet one of Fang's close friends who studied at the same university, Q., and her fiancee for some tea and small dinner.
On the next day, after a late start Fang decided to show me one of her favourite places in Beijing that I should see: the 798 Art Zone. It is an former industrial area that after deactivation gradually turned into an special art zone. Structures from the industral times remain, some with unique architectural style. Those merge well with the galleries, cafes, sculptures and other artistic manifestations of the district.
The place is far and large. So much that it became our only spot for the day, for we already had something scheduled for the night: meeting again Q. and fiancee to eat the famous Peking Duck. At this time, I realized something about Chinese people. Chinese may be loud, noisy, and even disrespectful (for our standards) at times. But earn their friendship and they'll go to great lenghts and do many things for you... warmly. Even because sharing the bill is not part of Chinese culture.
As Fang was also going to another city for her research, before the farewell another friend, Y., and her fiancee (is it just me who is seeing a pattern here?) also joined the group to chat at a department store. The three Humanities girls who haven't met for ages, and the three Technology boys struggling to get their points across (I don't speak Chinese, but I think we did a good job with English). Anyway, it was an excellent opportunity to interact with Chinese people in an environment which is not of "international exchange" or "tourism". All four are nice people that I hope I can meet again.
September 19th. Alone in a country I don't speak the language (even though I might have a local face because I got asked directions more than once), it was time to join an English tour to some famous touristic spots.
The first one was the Ming Tombs (明朝十三陵), more especifically the Changling Tomb. During the Ming Dynasty, 13 emperors built complexes of palatial buildings in the suburbs of Beijing. Those were later called the Ming Tombs. An interesting feature of the Changling Tomb is the division between Heaven and Earth. The tomb has two areas: a square one representing Earth and a circular one representing Heaven. A gate marks the division between the two.
After that, one stop at the Long Di Superior Jade Factory (couldn't find a good link). It was nice to see they carving some sculptures in jade, as well as hearing one curiosity of two (about the 2008 Olympic Medals and the symbolism of some sculptures). Still, the lack of Chinese customers tells me something about those places...
... Well, as a broke student, I wasn't going to buy jade stuff on the first place...
The group had lunch and then we went to the real highlight of the day: the Great Wall of China (万里长城). One of the great wonders of the world and a construction that can be seen from space, the Great Wall doesn't need further introductions. The tour went to Badaling section... they just forgot to tell (until the last second at least) that the cable car was not included on the tour fee.
... Typical.
The most annoying is that there was no alternative to the cable car. Or it was, but it meant climbing from a place very far away from there. Impossible given the tour schedule.
The Great Wall was nice. It's good to say I've been there. There were just a couple of problems:
1- It was foggy (what I later guessed that could be haze)
2- It was crowded (can't be avoided, but with problem number 1 made good shots almost impossible)
3- I started to feel bad. I first thought it was because we had just eaten (No, I've exercised after eating quite a number of times and it was never like that); then that it was the altitude (only 800 meters!? Oh, C'mon!); and my final guess was it was the pollution.
For those reasons, I returned a little after reaching the highest part of the Wall. Too bad...
From the Great Wall, the tour had a last stop: Beijing Dong Wu Silk Museum (couldn't find any link either...). Again, there were interesting explanations about silk, including a special Chinese type where two insects make their coocons together into a stronger one. And again I could see no Chinese customers...
Since the silk museum was close to the Olympic Green (北京奧林匹克公園), I decided to leave the tour (instead of getting a ride to the hotel) and go see it. As I wasn't exactly well, I just wandered a little around the Olympic Park looking the the main structures: the National Stadium (also called Bird's Nest), place for the Opening and Ending ceremonies; and the National Aquatics Center with its famous architecture. As a bonus, I also saw some other structures nearby, like the National Indoor Stadium. All of them from the outside only, though.
September 20th. The last day. I was feeling better and was finally able to see a bit of the blue sky (It is said Guilin weather is such that locals call "cloudy" weather "clear" weather... In Beijing it was cloudy most of the time, but there was also the haze).
Time to storm some places until my return flight.
Without finding a place to put my bags (one backpack with luggage and another to walk around), I went around carrying them. So imagine myself carrying two backpacks to the following places.
The first place was the controversial Tian'anmen Square (天安门广场). With the Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, among other features, it is the place that many people think about when Beijing comes to their minds. Of course, for many people it also brings the issue of the protests of 1989.
Talking about it, as October 1st 2009 is the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, the Government (and the citizens) are preparing a HUGE celebration. As one of the consequences, there were guards at every sensible point. Tian'anmen Square had even x-ray scanners, the Chinese SWAT, and soldiers questioning all large groups who didn't look like tours.
Nevertheless, there was a large crowd in Tian'anmen and in my next destination: the Forbidden City (故宮), now called Palace Museum. Occupying 720,000 square meters and with 9,999 rooms (because of Chinese numerology), it was the Chinese imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties and is divided in mainly two parts: the outer court, where the emperor had audiences and other activities related to his "function" as supreme ruler; and the inner court, where the emperor lived with his family. That lasted until the last emperor of China was driven out in 1924.
As I had little time, I just went straight through, without seeing other structures at the sides. At the other side of the Forbidden City, there's still Jingshan Park (景山). The main reason to check the park was that from the peak of a hill there it is possible to see the whole Forbidden City.
With still some time to spare, the next stop was Beihai Park (北海公园;), a former imperial garden. With some of its structures and scenes considered masterpieces of gardening technique, the park also hosts a white pagoda which body is made of white stone. Surprisingly, there were few foreign tourists there.
After the park, I realised I was late, so I rushed to take the Airport Express train back to PEK Airport, and from there back to Japan.
Just like it was the case with Korea, there were some points when I thought China is more similar to Brazil than Japan. Although I have the (common) impression Chinese are constantly irritated or angry, in part that's just the way the language sounds. I say in part because, unlike Japanese, they really show what they feel. So sometimes they may really be irritated (like when a taxi driver said we were taking to long to leave the taxi - he was waiting for the next customer) or angry.
Talking about people, that was the most strikingly characteristic of China in my opinion. It doesn't matter the time of the day or where you were. It was very hard to be alone. And often there was a crowd with you. People everywhere. Well, that's to be expected from a country that has about one fifth of the world's population I guess.
Traffic was a sort of organized chaos. Lots of car horns being heard, but the accident rate is relatively low. Don't expect pedestrian preference over vehicles, but as a Brazilian (not resident in Brasilia) I'm used to that.
It was again interesting noticing people's reaction after realizing I wasn't Asian, but Brazilian. After explaining, people always made references to the same thing: soccer. This time, though, I thought it was a good idea not mentioning to anyone that I was Japanese descendent and that I was studying in Japan. Some old people still don't like Japan because of WWII, and even some young Chinese, who mostly don't have these strong nationalistic problems, would like at least to hear an apology from Japan for its war atrocities. Especially because Japan apologized to the United States, but not to Asian countries, which actually suffered more than the US.
The "Great Firewall of China" and other forms of censorship were also interesting to see. Reading a Chinese newspaper in English, I could see no news saying bad things about the government. Quite unusual from the perspectives of any country I've been so far. There were also more good news than usual for a newspaper. Is that necessarily bad? Maybe some good news could cheer people up... Still, when the price is the control of information to the point of nothing bad about the government can be said, I don't think it's a worth trade.
Whoops, I just said something bad about Chinese politics! What will I do? Well, nothing. Many Google services, including blogspot, are blocked in China. That means that no mainland Chinese can read this blog through normal means (nothing that can't be solved, as some Chinese also know. It's troublesome nevertheless).
Ah, I have uploaded pictures as usual for people who want to see more. This time, though, as Picasa is also blocked in China and I would like some people there to see the pics, I uploaded them in a different place. It's here.
To end the post, two sentences I found most useful in China (my pronunciation is awful, so it wasn't much of a help actually):
我是巴西人 (wǒ shì Bāxīrén): "I am Brazilian." When people looked at me wondering what am I.
不用 (bù yòng): "Don't need." The golden words when someone tries to sell you something you're not interested in (and believe me when I say it WILL happen if you go near a touristic spot. Especially if you don't look Asian). Say two or three times in sequence with appropriate gestures for better effect.
But the big prize goes to my Beijing guide in Japanese. There were Chinese sentences for "Don't kill me!" or "I don't have money on me." Will tourists ever remember those sentences even if eventually a "proper" situation arises?
After leaving Guilin on September 17th, we went by plane back to Beijing. Greeted once again by the Beijing Capital International Airport. And, as we were flying with Air China, we were in Terminal 3. Beijing Airport was in 2008 the 8th busiest airport in the world, 21st in aircraft movements (also the only Asian airport in the top 30), and 8th in cargo. Terminal 3 is only second to Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 in size. It is also one of the most modern, the fastest airport terminal ever built, among other notable characteristics. To make it short, a very impressive airport.
From the airport, we went to the hotel. A guest building inside Fang's former university, the Beijing Foreign Studies University. This allowed me to watch glimpses of student life in China, which was great. There was even a small group (of staff, I guess) practicing Tai Chi in the mornings. But after arriving at the hotel, we left again to meet one of Fang's close friends who studied at the same university, Q., and her fiancee for some tea and small dinner.
On the next day, after a late start Fang decided to show me one of her favourite places in Beijing that I should see: the 798 Art Zone. It is an former industrial area that after deactivation gradually turned into an special art zone. Structures from the industral times remain, some with unique architectural style. Those merge well with the galleries, cafes, sculptures and other artistic manifestations of the district.
The place is far and large. So much that it became our only spot for the day, for we already had something scheduled for the night: meeting again Q. and fiancee to eat the famous Peking Duck. At this time, I realized something about Chinese people. Chinese may be loud, noisy, and even disrespectful (for our standards) at times. But earn their friendship and they'll go to great lenghts and do many things for you... warmly. Even because sharing the bill is not part of Chinese culture.
As Fang was also going to another city for her research, before the farewell another friend, Y., and her fiancee (is it just me who is seeing a pattern here?) also joined the group to chat at a department store. The three Humanities girls who haven't met for ages, and the three Technology boys struggling to get their points across (I don't speak Chinese, but I think we did a good job with English). Anyway, it was an excellent opportunity to interact with Chinese people in an environment which is not of "international exchange" or "tourism". All four are nice people that I hope I can meet again.
September 19th. Alone in a country I don't speak the language (even though I might have a local face because I got asked directions more than once), it was time to join an English tour to some famous touristic spots.
The first one was the Ming Tombs (明朝十三陵), more especifically the Changling Tomb. During the Ming Dynasty, 13 emperors built complexes of palatial buildings in the suburbs of Beijing. Those were later called the Ming Tombs. An interesting feature of the Changling Tomb is the division between Heaven and Earth. The tomb has two areas: a square one representing Earth and a circular one representing Heaven. A gate marks the division between the two.
After that, one stop at the Long Di Superior Jade Factory (couldn't find a good link). It was nice to see they carving some sculptures in jade, as well as hearing one curiosity of two (about the 2008 Olympic Medals and the symbolism of some sculptures). Still, the lack of Chinese customers tells me something about those places...
... Well, as a broke student, I wasn't going to buy jade stuff on the first place...
The group had lunch and then we went to the real highlight of the day: the Great Wall of China (万里长城). One of the great wonders of the world and a construction that can be seen from space, the Great Wall doesn't need further introductions. The tour went to Badaling section... they just forgot to tell (until the last second at least) that the cable car was not included on the tour fee.
... Typical.
The most annoying is that there was no alternative to the cable car. Or it was, but it meant climbing from a place very far away from there. Impossible given the tour schedule.
The Great Wall was nice. It's good to say I've been there. There were just a couple of problems:
1- It was foggy (what I later guessed that could be haze)
2- It was crowded (can't be avoided, but with problem number 1 made good shots almost impossible)
3- I started to feel bad. I first thought it was because we had just eaten (No, I've exercised after eating quite a number of times and it was never like that); then that it was the altitude (only 800 meters!? Oh, C'mon!); and my final guess was it was the pollution.
For those reasons, I returned a little after reaching the highest part of the Wall. Too bad...
From the Great Wall, the tour had a last stop: Beijing Dong Wu Silk Museum (couldn't find any link either...). Again, there were interesting explanations about silk, including a special Chinese type where two insects make their coocons together into a stronger one. And again I could see no Chinese customers...
Since the silk museum was close to the Olympic Green (北京奧林匹克公園), I decided to leave the tour (instead of getting a ride to the hotel) and go see it. As I wasn't exactly well, I just wandered a little around the Olympic Park looking the the main structures: the National Stadium (also called Bird's Nest), place for the Opening and Ending ceremonies; and the National Aquatics Center with its famous architecture. As a bonus, I also saw some other structures nearby, like the National Indoor Stadium. All of them from the outside only, though.
September 20th. The last day. I was feeling better and was finally able to see a bit of the blue sky (It is said Guilin weather is such that locals call "cloudy" weather "clear" weather... In Beijing it was cloudy most of the time, but there was also the haze).
Time to storm some places until my return flight.
Without finding a place to put my bags (one backpack with luggage and another to walk around), I went around carrying them. So imagine myself carrying two backpacks to the following places.
The first place was the controversial Tian'anmen Square (天安门广场). With the Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, among other features, it is the place that many people think about when Beijing comes to their minds. Of course, for many people it also brings the issue of the protests of 1989.
Talking about it, as October 1st 2009 is the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, the Government (and the citizens) are preparing a HUGE celebration. As one of the consequences, there were guards at every sensible point. Tian'anmen Square had even x-ray scanners, the Chinese SWAT, and soldiers questioning all large groups who didn't look like tours.
Nevertheless, there was a large crowd in Tian'anmen and in my next destination: the Forbidden City (故宮), now called Palace Museum. Occupying 720,000 square meters and with 9,999 rooms (because of Chinese numerology), it was the Chinese imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties and is divided in mainly two parts: the outer court, where the emperor had audiences and other activities related to his "function" as supreme ruler; and the inner court, where the emperor lived with his family. That lasted until the last emperor of China was driven out in 1924.
As I had little time, I just went straight through, without seeing other structures at the sides. At the other side of the Forbidden City, there's still Jingshan Park (景山). The main reason to check the park was that from the peak of a hill there it is possible to see the whole Forbidden City.
With still some time to spare, the next stop was Beihai Park (北海公园;), a former imperial garden. With some of its structures and scenes considered masterpieces of gardening technique, the park also hosts a white pagoda which body is made of white stone. Surprisingly, there were few foreign tourists there.
After the park, I realised I was late, so I rushed to take the Airport Express train back to PEK Airport, and from there back to Japan.
Just like it was the case with Korea, there were some points when I thought China is more similar to Brazil than Japan. Although I have the (common) impression Chinese are constantly irritated or angry, in part that's just the way the language sounds. I say in part because, unlike Japanese, they really show what they feel. So sometimes they may really be irritated (like when a taxi driver said we were taking to long to leave the taxi - he was waiting for the next customer) or angry.
Talking about people, that was the most strikingly characteristic of China in my opinion. It doesn't matter the time of the day or where you were. It was very hard to be alone. And often there was a crowd with you. People everywhere. Well, that's to be expected from a country that has about one fifth of the world's population I guess.
Traffic was a sort of organized chaos. Lots of car horns being heard, but the accident rate is relatively low. Don't expect pedestrian preference over vehicles, but as a Brazilian (not resident in Brasilia) I'm used to that.
It was again interesting noticing people's reaction after realizing I wasn't Asian, but Brazilian. After explaining, people always made references to the same thing: soccer. This time, though, I thought it was a good idea not mentioning to anyone that I was Japanese descendent and that I was studying in Japan. Some old people still don't like Japan because of WWII, and even some young Chinese, who mostly don't have these strong nationalistic problems, would like at least to hear an apology from Japan for its war atrocities. Especially because Japan apologized to the United States, but not to Asian countries, which actually suffered more than the US.
The "Great Firewall of China" and other forms of censorship were also interesting to see. Reading a Chinese newspaper in English, I could see no news saying bad things about the government. Quite unusual from the perspectives of any country I've been so far. There were also more good news than usual for a newspaper. Is that necessarily bad? Maybe some good news could cheer people up... Still, when the price is the control of information to the point of nothing bad about the government can be said, I don't think it's a worth trade.
Whoops, I just said something bad about Chinese politics! What will I do? Well, nothing. Many Google services, including blogspot, are blocked in China. That means that no mainland Chinese can read this blog through normal means (nothing that can't be solved, as some Chinese also know. It's troublesome nevertheless).
Ah, I have uploaded pictures as usual for people who want to see more. This time, though, as Picasa is also blocked in China and I would like some people there to see the pics, I uploaded them in a different place. It's here.
To end the post, two sentences I found most useful in China (my pronunciation is awful, so it wasn't much of a help actually):
我是巴西人 (wǒ shì Bāxīrén): "I am Brazilian." When people looked at me wondering what am I.
不用 (bù yòng): "Don't need." The golden words when someone tries to sell you something you're not interested in (and believe me when I say it WILL happen if you go near a touristic spot. Especially if you don't look Asian). Say two or three times in sequence with appropriate gestures for better effect.
But the big prize goes to my Beijing guide in Japanese. There were Chinese sentences for "Don't kill me!" or "I don't have money on me." Will tourists ever remember those sentences even if eventually a "proper" situation arises?
