Beijing, China
November 05, 2013
After finally dragging myself into the land of the living and finding my coat I headed out and about to see the usual spots that you do in Beijing.
A quick Subway ride took me to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The Subway and all the transport here is so quick and very cheap as well. 20p gets you anywhere on the Subway no matter how many stops or line changes you make and the longest I’ve had to wait is about 3 minutes before another one turns up. What also massively hits you in Beijing is how evident Capitalism is. Obviously communism reigns supreme and everyone is made very well aware that what they do is crucial to contributing to the ‘Country’ however they are also encouraged to get as rich as they possibly can and it seems a lot of people have.
Advertising and consumerism is everywhere and people are constantly driven towards spending whatever disposable income they have. At night the City is awash with neon lights and advertising and also on the subway they have clever displays in the tunnels that follow the speed of the train and blast adverts onto the walls. Everyone is probably aware of the Great ‘Fire’wall of China hence my lack of Facebook access and they also have a massive block against Google as well. I am unable to download any apps to my phone or use the Google play store….why?…..because they have set up their own massive structure for Android apps. Why give Google money and peoples data when they can do it all in-house and make their country even bigger, stronger and more powerful than it already is as well as monitoring their people through their own apps. Don’t get me wrong I don’t endorse communism and what it stands for and the people have a definite lack of free speech here but certain things I wish we did better in the UK. I guess you can’t have it all.
So Tiananmen Square. I literally spent about two minutes looking at it from the opposite side of the road where I came out of the subway. There was a terrorist bomb went off there last week and the square is now filled with two massive wide TV displays pumping out adverts and horse racing for some reason?! At the end of the day, its a very big square but nothing more. The only good thing I ever remember about this Square is when that young plucky student chap played chicken against the tank. Other than that my memories are from the back end of the cold War when the Red Army paraded its Nuclear arsenal and military power around the square for all to see so I wasn’t particularly fussed about seeing it that much. Off into the Forbidden City it was then.
Forbidden City was the Imperial Palace that was constructed during the Ming Dynasty and it housed China’s emperors for over 500 years. It’s huge. It reminds me a lot of the Citadel I saw in Hue in Vietnam last year but on a much bigger scale. It takes a good few hours to walk from the entrance at the south all the way through to the exit at the North and back out onto the modern streets. It’s interesting though and houses a lot of old artifacts, in particular a lot of old ceramics starting from the Ming Dynasty era. The buildings themselves are very impressive, some on a massive scale and the palace gardens at the end were very beautiful and serene. Once out of the old city you can cross the road to Jingshan Park which is a big hill with three temples at the top one of which is where the last emperor from the old Dynasty’s hung himself.
It’s quite interesting as it’s a busy park where a lot of locals exercise. Doing Tai chi, gymnastics, jogging and various random exercises such as group clapping and jumping! The pollution in Beijing is horrific and once at the top of the hill and looking down at the forbidden city you can not see to the far end of the city as it disappears under a cloud of fumes.
After a bit food and a pint it was dark and I wanted to see the Birds Nest Stadium from the Olympics at night when it’s all lit up. They’ve really maintained it well since the Olympics and it’s now the National Stadium along with the Water Cube where the swimming events were held which is now the National Aquatics center. I love my architecture and have been to a lot of famous stadiums around the world but I have to say that this is easily the most impressive stadium I have ever seen. At night it is absolutely stunning when lit up. The construction is breathtaking with its criss cross weave of clad girders supporting the interior and it was well worth the late night trip out. The Aquatic center is also stunning with its blue glow sat just opposite the Birds nest, they are both very striking and I recommend it if your ever in this part of the world.
There is just enough time for a quick pint when I get back and then off to bed.
