Over the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to travel around quite a number of places in East Asia and a few other places besides. Along the way I’ve recorded my adventures in both pictures and words including a few travel tips so for what it’s worth I decided to index them here in case it’s of any help to anyone else -
Throughout the world there have been countless instances where irreplaceable pieces of history have been flattened in the name of progress only for future generations to look back and wonder how their forbears could have been so short sighted as to destroy that which was their last connection to the past.
With China developing at an unprecedented rate nowhere is the mantra of “out with the old, in with the new” more visible, especially in Beijing where many of the dynastic treasures lie. Whilst the government may be going to great lengths to preserve and promote the tourist honey pots it’s the less obvious treasures of ‘old’ Beijing which are at risk of disappearing and with them an important part of China’s heritage.
The pictures above and below show the rapidly developing new face of Qianmen, just south of Tiananmen Square, almost entirely demolished under the “conservation” plan and its occupants removed to make way for an idealised version of it’s former self in what can only be described as Olympic vandalism of the most senseless form. Unique local merchants are being replaced with international designer brand names to create a disneyfied version of China (supposedly in the Ming-era style) with about as much character as a meeting of the communist party.
This urban renewal also takes it’s toll on the communities who have lived within the remaining enclaves for generations and are being uprooted to make way for a world which is as foreign as it is Chinese; herein lies the tragic irony, mirrored across this vast land of conflicting extremes. I was particularly dismayed to see some of the fascinating hutongs which I visited last year had been bulldozed and their former inhabitants now banished to the history books (or in all likelihood cheaply built tower blocks on the city outskirts).
Further along from Qianmen lies the Beijing Natural History Museum, famed in The Rough Guide To Beijing for its grotesque display of pickled human corpses. Whilst the appropriately named “Room of baddies” is still shown on the english language guide map the human remains are no more; as with everything in this city of change they too have fallen victim this latest round of cultural cleansing.
As Beijing says goodbye to the past you can’t but help wonder if it’s vision of the future is just the rebirth of Maoist reform wrapped up in a new veneer but contianing all the same mistakes of the past…
One of the best part of traveling is undoubtedly the food and trying new cuisines. Being such a large country China has a particularly rich array of options to choose from, with almost all regions being represented in Beijing and numerous local varients. On the evening after my day wandering through the north of the city I went for hot pot at Xiabu Xiabu (a popular restaurant chain) in Wangfujing.
Here you choose from a selection of vegetables, meats and seafood to cook in your own individual hot pot containing stock of varying degrees of spiciness. Once cooked you usually dip the food in sesame sauce before eating with a bowl of rice. It’s not the first time I’ve had hot pot, but this was a slightly different varient known as Shabu-shabu (hence the name of the place). Delicious!
Having walked along the central axis of Beijing for nearly 7 hours I reached what must be one if the most relaxing and tranquil places in the city; the Confucian Temple, devoted to the memory of Confucius and philosophers of Confucianism (nearby the Lama Temple). Away from the hordes of mindless American tourists this is like stepping into another world. All that can be heard is the general murmur of distant chatter and magpies singing in the trees. On a warm spring afternoon I can think of no nicer place to rest ones legs and while away a few hours which is exactly what I’m doing while typing this on my iPhone.
In an age when the world was still full of mystery (the temple was built in 1302) buildings like this were in some respects living fantasy, enhancing the religious/philosophical underpinnings of their existence. We might see a modern equivalent as the CG films of today which take thousands of man hours to construct fantasy realities which transport us out of their ordinary to the extraordinary. Even though we may consider ourselves to have evolved from this time places like this still hold an other-worldly feeling.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Confucian Temple are the 198 stone tablets found on each side of the first courtyard, containing 51,624 names of Jinshi scholars who passed the highest imperial examinations, who then went on to become civil servants.
On my first full day in Beijing I had planned to visit the embalmed Chairman Mao in his hideously ugly Mausoleum, which lies in the centre of Tiananmen Square, however that plan was thwarted by the National People’s Congress which was being held that week at the Great Hall of the People on the west side of the square. At other times of year you may see this notice:
“Not always open when the corpse of the Great Helmsman requires attention.”
…which I find rather hysterical for a dead guy more akin to hitler than God!
The general public was definitely being kept at arms length from the communist big-wigs with identical looking PLA soldiers stationed along the length and breadth of the surrounding roads. With this in mind I decided to take a stroll through one of my favourite places in Beijing: the Forbidden City. Since my previous visit restoration work had come on quite a long way but I found it slightly sad to see that the Chinese definition of restore seems to be “good as new” rather than preserving the original paint work etc.
Whilst wandering about the many magnificent buildings which lie within I was particularly put off to hear an American tourist proclaim in a self-important tone that there was “nothing much to see here” at the same time as complaining that her Blackberry wasn’t working! This seems to be a trend amongst some American tourists who I’ve noticed many times being impatient, disrespectful, rude and generally condescending towards local cultures. It all makes me wonder why you bother going on holiday if you’re just going to stay at the Marriott, complain that locals can’t understand your thick accent and eat at McDonalds???! BOCTAOE
With a skyline somewhat obscured by a thick blanket of pollution the view from the top of the hill in Jingshan Park was almost non-existent. The park, which sits opposite the northern entrance to the Forbidden City, was witness to the suicide of the last emperor of the Ming dynasty and a sign still marks the spot where he hanged himself from a locust tree. Today the park is popular with older generations playing games and the odd lost traveller!
After a short break to consult my torn and battered map it was time to continue my journey north…
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