36 hours in Beijing

After my week of five flights and four different locations, I packed my backpack again and headed to Beijing Thursday night. All fifteen of us from my program went to Beijing, and we certainly squeezed a lot into our two days in the city. Beijing is an easy 2 ½ hour flight from Shanghai, but we took the overnight train, which turned out to be a great, much cheaper alternative. After hanging out for a few hours in the dining car and cabin, you go to bed and wake up in Beijing at 7 AM. In our two days we saw all of the city’s main tourist spots. I listed the sites we visited below in chronological order with a few thoughts about each one.

Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

We went straight from the train station to Tiananmen Square. It was surreal to be standing in this cultural landmark that has come to symbolize the modern struggles of this nation. At 8 AM there were hundreds of tour groups of poor, elderly Chinese patiently lined up to view the crystal coffin of Mao in his Mausoleum. In Shanghai, many— especially the youth—despise Mao and his policies that isolated this nation for so long. These feelings, however, are definitely the minority throughout the country. Even our tour guide, a 25 year-old Beijing native who was educated in Toronto, explained how these people were waiting to “pay respect to the man who freed China.” This is a very different perspective than I am used to in the West, and even in Shanghai, that really shocked me.

Government buildings and museums make up three sides of Tiananmen Square, and on the fourth side lays the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is definitely a must see for any tourist to China, but it was certainly not my favorite site in Beijing. The buildings are incredible, especially since so many have been newly restored for the Olympics; however, it’s always very crowded and after seeing a few buildings/courtyards/squares, everything begins to look the same.

Olympic Park

The Spirit of the Olympics is still alive and well throughout Beijing. You cannot go two minutes without seeing “One World; One Dream” or “Beijing 2008″ plastered on a billboard, displayed in a window, or hiding a construction site. After watching coverage of the games in the States, I was eager to see the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube; they looked pretty incredible on television and are even more impressive to experience in person. From the number of buildings and their size to the surrounding grounds, the entire complex blew me away

When we went on Friday afternoon, the park had just reopened for the first time since Golden Week. Approximately seven million people visited the nine-square mile site during the holiday week. Located in the northern part of the city, the government kept the land open for over 25 years with hopes of using it as the Olympic Park. Hosting the Olympics is a huge honor for Beijing and China, and it is clear from the Olympic Park and the entire city of Beijing how seriously they took this historical event. I’m glad I got to visit the city and share in the excitement so close to the games.

Summer Palace

The last stop of my first day in Beijing was Summer Palace. With a long, colorful history, the Summer Palace, modeled after the city of Hangzhou, is my favorite historical site I visited. While the Forbidden City was built around a serious of small squares/large courtyards, the heart of the Summer Palace is its manmade lake. I loved the dynamics between the water, hills, and the palace’s buildings. It certainly helps that we visited on one of the clearest days Beijing has had in many years; looking out from the lake, you could see a distant temple and surrounding buildings. It’s a magical place.

Great Wall

Day two began early, with an hour and a half bus ride to a less busy destination along the Great Wall. Everyone has seen photos of the Great Wall, but none do it justice. Standing on it, surrounded by mountains, tired from my ride up via cable car, I could not even imagine how it was constructed. I mentioned in a previous post how impressed I was with the easy accessibility of tourist destinations throughout China. The Great Wall, probably the most famous Chinese destinations, was not friendly to tourists at all. Walking along it was a workout in itself with very steep stairs that were difficult and dangerous to climb. Besides the obvious sublimity of the Great Wall, my favorite part of it was how we got down from it: by a toboggan!

Temple of Heaven

We finished up the trip at the Temple of Heaven, which, like other historical sites was large, beautiful, and very crowded. The Temple of Heaven is actually the largest park in the city of Beijing and a much needed escape from the city’s chaos. There are a number of buildings throughout the park, each with its unique purpose and meaning for worship. However, after visiting five other sites in the previous 36 hours, I didn’t fully appreciate it and would like to visit it next time I’m in Beijing.

Overall, I really enjoyed what I saw of Beijing. It has a completely different personality than Shanghai. People often make the analogy of New York is to Shanghai as Washington DC is to Beijing; having been to both now, I think it is a pretty accurate analogy. They are both impressive, but in completely different ways. It has been a fun few weeks of traveling, but I am certainly enjoying getting back into my routine in Shanghai.