Day 1: Train ride, Peking Duck
We left Shanghai at 6:30 in the morning for the train station to head to Beijing. After 6 hours on the train and 2 other hours commuting to and from the train station itself, we finally arrived in Beijing at 2 pm. The train was comfortable, fun, and offered a beautiful view of the countryside between Beijing and Shanghai. The train station was bustling and chock full of both Asian chains (e.g. Yoshinoya, Mr. Lee) and Western chains – as much as I rag on the transnational capitalism that has resulted in Western corporations staking their claim in the Asia, I have to admit, it was pretty comforting to know that, if I wanted to, I could easily satisfy my craving for KFC, McDonald’s or Starbucks. Which is why even though I liked Beijing more than Shanghai (an anomalous attitude in the group) for its cultural richness and (what I perceived to be) greater historical preservation, I would rather live/work in Shanghai. Perhaps I’m too attached to what is comfortable – being around other expats, being able to rely on English if needed, knowing Starbucks is just a block away from wherever I am. I’m also not sure how much my feelings have to do with the incredible pollution in Beijing. I caved and got a mask because I could feel the smog in my throat.
Jeh and I in our masks. The pollution was real.
The moment I stepped out of the train station, I felt like I was in Queens. Throughout most of the trip actually I hadn’t felt like I’d visited another country. If Shanghai was a blend of Chinatown (NYC) and Times Square, Beijing felt like a combination of Queens, Houston, and DC. Architecture- and landscape-wise, I felt very much like I was in Rego Park, Flushing, Forest Hills, or some other relatively popular, commercialized area of Queens – milling with people, bustling with commercial activity, but still relatively quiet and calm. Buildings hovered around 11 stories high (in contrast with Shanghai’s typical 40-story building). It was like Houston in that it was sprawling — remarkably difficult to navigate; public transportation is lacking and forget trying to hail a cab. It was like DC in the strong nationalist presence felt, though that may have had to do with the fact that the NPC was congregating at the same time we were visiting.
I joined the group for dinner at DaDong for Peking Duck; we had a private dining room with its own bathroom. The duck was not mindblowing, but definitely excellent. I feel that it was on par with some of the best Peking Duck I have had in the U.S.
Peking duck in the city of its namesake!
Day 2: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Imperial Garden, vegetarian dinner at Buddhist restaurant
Tiananmen Square was surreal. Within the square are the National People’s Congress building and Mao’s Mausoleum (has anyone called it the Maosoleum? If not, that name should be invented), among other buildings. It was a sprawling square, much larger than I ever fathomed. Though the tourists at the square were there for its political and cultural significance (it’s probably akin to the National Monuments in DC), I kept reminding myself that I was standing at the site of a massacre and it humbled me. I was under the impression that no one in China knew of Tiananmen, that 6/4 meant nothing to the Chinese. But the speaker at the next day’s dinner, a minority woman named Jin Lu, said that many people knew of what happened. They just don’t consider it as big a deal as Americans make it out to be, which was interesting to me. In the same way that mass shootings or riots-turned-massacres become just another day in U.S. history, the 1989 massacre is also viewed in the same context as just one incident in China’s long history, which spans thousands of years. This made sense to me, and though I was surprised that people actually knew about Tiananmen, it seemed like Jin, like my father, believes American media has overhyped and sensationalized the significance of Tiananmen. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but it nevertheless was an interesting, humbling and eye-opening perspective to hear. I’m going to have to ask my international Chinese friends more about it.
I was astounded by the Forbidden City. I’ve never been in the presence of such magnificent, sprawling and intricate architecture. I was amazed to think that my ancestors built such a beautiful and exquisite structure. It was unlike anything I had seen in my life and again I was humbled by the weight of history. The Imperial Garden, too, was beautiful. The emperors and empresses truly lived extravagantly.
We then had an insanely good vegetarian dinner at a Buddhist restaurant named Gong De Lin; Buddhist monks had apparently developed ways to make vegetarian dishes taste like meat, and taste like meat they did.
Day 3: Temple of Heavenly Peace, HouHai for lunch, Bell and Drum Tower, Nanluoguxiang, Dinner w/ Jin Lu
The Temple of Heavenly Peace and the surrounding park were beautiful. So many people, young and old alike, were getting their fitness on in dance classes, shuttlecock hacky sack games, badminton, tai chi, and kungfu. The fitness culture in China is amazing and definitely needs to be more of a thing in America. I joined in on a hacky sack game; I oscillated between being good at it and horrendously awful at it. Ultimately I bought one because Lanie, Anya, Josh and I want to make it a thing at Rice.
We then went to HouHai for lunch, a beautiful, quaint commercialized area by the lake. We then got to see an incredible view of Beijing, complete with the traditional hutong compounds, from the top of the Bell and Drum Tower.
View from the Bell & Drum Tower!
Afterward, we walked down Nanluoguxiang, a popular street market lined with stores, food vendors, bars and restaurants. Packed with tourists, it was nevertheless a fun experience. At dinner with Jin Lu, I had Shandong cuisine for the first time. I’ve never had Chinese food quite like Shandong cuisine before—dishes included sweet potato with caramelized sugar and sea cucumber. Apparently it is a foundational Chinese cuisine that doesn’t really exist in America, since most immigrants in America are from southern China (my father included).
Nanluoguxiang
Churros and vanilla ice cream drizzled in chocolate off Nanluoguxiang
Day 4: Great Wall, Summer Palace
I got to check off “Climb the Great Wall” from my bucket list. Finally! We had a wonderful tour guide and her driver took us out to the Mutianyu section. When faced with the options of taking the chairlift up or climbing over 1,000 steps to scale the cliff to the Great Wall, I decided to climb the steps. Boy, did I have no idea what I was in for. It was probably the most exercise I had gotten done all year. BUT I made it up and did not regret it because now I can say that I climbed 1,000 steps to get to the Great Wall. The wall itself and the hazy mountainous views around it were breathtaking. It was easily the most remarkable thing I had seen in my life thus far (to be fair, I haven’t explored much beyond the US).
We had lunch at a supposedly “local” village restaurant that oddly was large and had very nice facilities. The food was pretty good. Afterward we drove out to the Summer Palace, where the imperial family would go during the summer when the Forbidden City got too warm. Our tour guide told us about Empress Dowager Cixi, who loved staying at the palace as her summer resort and had a marble boat built to signify the stability of the Chinese government. The stories were entertaining and reminded me I need to brush up on my Chinese history as the stories are as riveting as fiction or a drama. Irrespective of historical accounts of Empress Dowager Cixi, she is undeniably a character. Our guide mentioned that Western powers had destroyed the Palace twice – first in 1860, at the end of the Second Opium War, and then in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, in which 8 allied powers, including France and the UK, burned all of the garden (again) and stole its artifacts, divvying up the goods amongst themselves. The palace is still in restoration. I was reminded of the incredible influence and damage the West has wrought on China. Our guide told us that though Cixi absolutely hated Westerners, she loved their goods – their cars, etc. – a hilarious fun fact that oddly is quite representative of the attitude China in general has (righteously so) taken to the West.
The Summer Palace was beautiful and Empress Dowager Cixi is nothing short of a character!
Bridge in the Summer Palace
Overall, Beijing was astounding in its beauty (putting aside the pollution) and its cultural significance. Though Beijing too has a history of Western imperialism and is a popular tourist destination, I felt the weight of history, culture, and heritage there in a way that I did not feel in Shanghai.