The brash modernity of BEIJING (meaning Northern Capital) comes as a surprise to most visitors. Traversed by freeways (it's the proud owner of more than a hundred flyovers) and spiked with high-rises, this vivid metropolis is China at its most dynamic.
For the last thousand years, the drama of China's imperial history was played out here, with the emperor sitting enthroned at the centre of the Chinese universe, and though today the city is a very different one, it remains spiritually and politically the heart of the country. Between the swathes of concrete and glass, you'll find some of the lushest temples, and certainly the grandest remnants of the Imperial Age. Unexpectedly, some of the country's most pleasant scenic spots lie within the scope of a day-trip, and, just to the north of the city, is one of China's most famous sights, the old boundary line between civilizations, the Great Wall .
First impressions of Beijing are of an almost inhuman vastness, conveyed by the sprawl of identical apartment buildings in which most of the city's population of twelve million are housed, and the eight-lane freeways that slice it up. It's an impression that's reinforced on closer acquaintance, from the magnificent Forbidden City , with its stunning wealth of treasures, the concrete desert of Tian'anmen Square and the gargantuan buildings of the modern executive around it, to the rank after rank of office complexes that line its mammoth roads. Outside the centre, the scale becomes more manageable, with parks, narrow alleyways and ancient sites such as the Yonghe Gong , Observatory and, most magnificent of all, the Temple of Heaven , offering respite from the city's oppressive orderliness. In the suburbs beyond, the two Summer Palaces and the Western Hills have been favoured retreats since imperial times.
Food and Drink
Nowhere on the Chinese mainland has the culinary wealth of Beijing, with every style of Chinese food available, just about any Asian, and a smattering of world cuisines. Amongst all this abundance it's sometimes easy to forget that Beijing has its own culinary tradition - specialities well worth trying are Beijing duck ( Beijing kaoya) and Mongolian hotpot . Beijing duck appears in Chinese restaurants worldwide and consists of small pieces of meat which you dip in plum sauce, then wrap with chopped onions in a pancake. It's very rich and packs a massive cholesterol count. Mongolian hotpot is healthier, a poor man's fondue, involving a large pot of boiling stock, usually heated from underneath the table, into which you dip strips of mutton, cabbage and noodles, then if you're really committed, drink the rest as soup.
There's ample opportunity to eat Western food in Beijing, though it generally costs a little more than Chinese. French food is currently fashionable with the nouveaux riches, though it's pretty mediocre and expensive. An exception is the excellent DeliFrance chain, which has brought great French baking to Beijing at a fraction of what it costs in the West - and no praise is high enough for their coffee, about the only decent stuff in the whole country. German food is better, though again expensive, with a number of outlets in the more exclusive parts of town. If you really want the comforts of the familiar, try international places such as the Hard Rock Café - everything just like at home, including the prices. Japanese and Korean cuisine is mainly available from restaurants in upmarket hotels, though it's possible to eat both without breaking your budget, and they're well worth trying.
Nightlife
Beijing's nightlife and entertainment scene has now recovered from the moral clampdown following the Communist takeover, when the restrictive definitions of the state meant that "bourgeois" bars and tea houses disappeared and were replaced by an artificial emphasis on traditional Chinese culture, especially opera and formal theatre, often worthy to the point of tedium, and at its worst when dealing with revolutionary subject matter. Nowadays nobody is much interested in this sort of stuff, and modern Beijingers, who suddenly find themselves with a disposable income, living through comparatively liberal times, just want to have fun.
Beijing these days also offers much more than the karaoke and bland hotel bars you'll find in many other Chinese cities. A trend for huge discos swept the city in the late 1980s, and they are still popular, packed every night with young, affluent Chinese. For foreigners, the interest probably lies in observing as much as participating, as the experience offered is an odd amalgam of Western and Chinese culture, from the music, Chinese pop with a techno back beat, to the style of dancing, a kind of regimented disco, where everyone follows the lead of a dancer on stage. The formula is always the same: a few hours of gentle dance music, followed by the slushy half-hour, when a singer comes on stage and dancers pair off, followed by a more raucous last hour or two when only the serious clubbers are left and the mood becomes much less restrained. There's usually a raffle, too. Recently, a couple of more sophisticated, Western-style discos have opened, which feature the latest DJs flown in from the West or Japan.
Shopping
Beijing has a good reputation for shopping , with the widest choice of anywhere in China. Clothes are particularly inexpensive, and are one reason for the city's high number of Russians, as smuggling them across the northern border is a lucrative trade. There's also a wide choice of antiques and handicrafts , but don't expect to find any bargains or particularly unusual items as the markets are well picked over. Be aware that much that is passed off as antique is fake. Good souvenir buys are art materials , particularly brushes and blocks of ink, chops carved with a name, small jade items and handicraft items such as kites , painted snuff bottles and papercuts.
There are five main shopping districts : Wangfujing, popular but overrated; Xidan, whose giant department stores are of limited interest to visitors; Dongdan, which mainly sells brand-name clothes; and Qianmen, perhaps the area that most rewards idle browsing, with a few oddities among the cheap shoes and clothes stores. In addition, and especially aimed at visitors, Liulichang is a good place to get a lot of souvenir buying done quickly, or head to Jianguomenwai Dajie if it's clothes you're after. In the markets , you have much less guarantee of quality, but you can (and should) barter, so prices are cheaper. For general goods check the department stores , which sell a little of everything, and provide a good index of current Chinese taste. The Beijing Department Store, on Wangfujing, and the Xidan Department Store on Xidan Dajie are prime examples, or check out the newer Landao Store, on Chaoyangmenwai Dajie. The Parkson Building, west of Xidan on Chang'an Jie, is the plushest. Rising living standards for some are reflected in the new giant malls , where everything costs as much as it does in the West. Try the Sun Dong'an Plaza, on Wangfujing, the Sea-Sky Plaza, on Chaoyangmenwai Dajie, or the SCITECH, COFCO or World Trade Centre plazas on Jianguomen if you don't get enough of this at home.
Transport
The scale of the city militates against taking bus number 11 - Chinese slang for walking - almost anywhere, and most of the main streets are so straight that going by foot soon gets tedious. The public transport system is extensive but somewhat over-subscribed; most visitors tire of the heaving buses pretty quickly and take rather more taxis than they'd planned. The metro is speedy but not extensive. Cycling is a good alternative, though, with plenty of rental outlets in the city.
The brash modernity of BEIJING (meaning Northern Capital) comes as a surprise to most visitors. Traversed by freeways (it's the proud owner of more than a hundred flyovers) and spiked with high-rises, this vivid metropolis is China at its most dynamic.
For the last thousand years, the drama of China's imperial history was played out here, with the emperor sitting enthroned at the centre of the Chinese universe, and though today the city is a very different one, it remains spiritually and politically the heart of the country. Between the swathes of concrete and glass, you'll find some of the lushest temples, and certainly the grandest remnants of the Imperial Age. Unexpectedly, some of the country's most pleasant scenic spots lie within the scope of a day-trip, and, just to the north of the city, is one of China's most famous sights, the old boundary line between civilizations, the Great Wall .
First impressions of Beijing are of an almost inhuman vastness, conveyed by the sprawl of identical apartment buildings in which most of the city's population of twelve million are housed, and the eight-lane freeways that slice it up. It's an impression that's reinforced on closer acquaintance, from the magnificent Forbidden City , with its stunning wealth of treasures, the concrete desert of Tian'anmen Square and the gargantuan buildings of the modern executive around it, to the rank after rank of office complexes that line its mammoth roads. Outside the centre, the scale becomes more manageable, with parks, narrow alleyways and ancient sites such as the Yonghe Gong , Observatory and, most magnificent of all, the Temple of Heaven , offering respite from the city's oppressive orderliness. In the suburbs beyond, the two Summer Palaces and the Western Hills have been favoured retreats since imperial times.
Food and Drink
Nowhere on the Chinese mainland has the culinary wealth of Beijing, with every style of Chinese food available, just about any Asian, and a smattering of world cuisines. Amongst all this abundance it's sometimes easy to forget that Beijing has its own culinary tradition - specialities well worth trying are Beijing duck ( Beijing kaoya) and Mongolian hotpot . Beijing duck appears in Chinese restaurants worldwide and consists of small pieces of meat which you dip in plum sauce, then wrap with chopped onions in a pancake. It's very rich and packs a massive cholesterol count. Mongolian hotpot is healthier, a poor man's fondue, involving a large pot of boiling stock, usually heated from underneath the table, into which you dip strips of mutton, cabbage and noodles, then if you're really committed, drink the rest as soup.
There's ample opportunity to eat Western food in Beijing, though it generally costs a little more than Chinese. French food is currently fashionable with the nouveaux riches, though it's pretty mediocre and expensive. An exception is the excellent DeliFrance chain, which has brought great French baking to Beijing at a fraction of what it costs in the West - and no praise is high enough for their coffee, about the only decent stuff in the whole country. German food is better, though again expensive, with a number of outlets in the more exclusive parts of town. If you really want the comforts of the familiar, try international places such as the Hard Rock Café - everything just like at home, including the prices. Japanese and Korean cuisine is mainly available from restaurants in upmarket hotels, though it's possible to eat both without breaking your budget, and they're well worth trying.
Nightlife
Beijing's nightlife and entertainment scene has now recovered from the moral clampdown following the Communist takeover, when the restrictive definitions of the state meant that "bourgeois" bars and tea houses disappeared and were replaced by an artificial emphasis on traditional Chinese culture, especially opera and formal theatre, often worthy to the point of tedium, and at its worst when dealing with revolutionary subject matter. Nowadays nobody is much interested in this sort of stuff, and modern Beijingers, who suddenly find themselves with a disposable income, living through comparatively liberal times, just want to have fun.
Beijing these days also offers much more than the karaoke and bland hotel bars you'll find in many other Chinese cities. A trend for huge discos swept the city in the late 1980s, and they are still popular, packed every night with young, affluent Chinese. For foreigners, the interest probably lies in observing as much as participating, as the experience offered is an odd amalgam of Western and Chinese culture, from the music, Chinese pop with a techno back beat, to the style of dancing, a kind of regimented disco, where everyone follows the lead of a dancer on stage. The formula is always the same: a few hours of gentle dance music, followed by the slushy half-hour, when a singer comes on stage and dancers pair off, followed by a more raucous last hour or two when only the serious clubbers are left and the mood becomes much less restrained. There's usually a raffle, too. Recently, a couple of more sophisticated, Western-style discos have opened, which feature the latest DJs flown in from the West or Japan.
