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June 26, 2006

The Haze of Beijing

I stared out the window for signs of the approaching city, but all that I could see was masked by haze. A sleepless night on the train had me up early, sipping tea by the window and hoping to catch glimpses of Beijing as we rumbled towards the station. In a country that can lay claim to sixteen of the twentieth most polluted cities in the world, it was a bit optimistic to expect a crisp clear day in this city of twenty million.

Army of the Terracotta Warriors

The overnight train journey brought us from Xi’an, the end of the eastern line for the caravans who once traveled the Silk Road. This route had opened up China to the rest of Central Asia, bringing in exotic goods, religious thought and individuals that influenced the political and cultural shape of Xi’an. Xi’an has grown to a population of over six million, but somehow still manages to seem small with an old-meets-new feel. In the Muslim quarter, markets and mosques spring up out of narrow alleyways making for peaceful exploration. By contrast, larger streets are lined with mobile phone stores staffed with a 4:1 employee to customer ratio, each trying to outdo each other with grandiose sales complete with salesmen dressed in ancient clothing. The flyers stuffed in our hands as we passed the stores served us much better as parasol replacements rather than as advertisements.

Of the thirty five thousand archeological sites within the Shaanxi province, the Army of the Terracotta Warriors has the biggest draw. In 1974 local farmers drilling for water stumbled upon an underground vault which would be excavated to produce thousands of life-sized terracotta warriors and their horses in battle formation. In 246 BC, emperor Qin Shi Huang had 700,000 sculptors begin construction of the soldiers, each one varying in height, uniform, hairstyle, and even given a unique face (reportedly modeled after the sculptors themselves). The project would ultimately serve as a tomb for the self indulgent emperor and the warriors guard over him and his treasures. As is often the case with visiting archeological sites, the idea and history is more fascinating than the actual site. It was impressive to see the sheer size and magnitude of the project, but being only able to stand on the viewing platform looking down over the warriors, it was hard to get a feeling for the detail that went into their construction. If only we could have walked amongst them. It was amusing to watch an endless stream of Chinese tour groups arrive, each being given a whirlwind tour by their flag toting guide who only allowed enough time to stop for a photo before moving on.

Flying a kite in Tiannanmen Square

Bejing is huge. Not just the size of the city, but the size of the buildings, the streets, and the city blocks. Getting around on foot is practically impossible, as short distances on the map take hours to cover – and possibly longer in the blistering heat. Those looking for a typical Chinatown should look elsewhere. Here construction cranes dot the horizon (if you could see the horizon through the haze) as older buildings and neighborhoods are being torn town and replaced by generic modern ones. Development has been significantly sped up with the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games.

Another temporary casualty of the 2008 games is every main tourist attraction in the city. Despite summer being the high season, many sites are shrouded in scaffolding as restoration work is done. This fact is usually omitted when paying full price for admission. Upon entering the Forbidden City, a vast complex that at one time was home to two dynasties of emperors and today contains some beautiful ancient buildings, we were surprised to see main buildings completely enclosed in scaffolding. In order to make tourists feel as though they were still getting full value, a life sized photograph of what the temple actually looks like is painted onto the scaffolding.

Posing with random people

Approaching Tiananmen Square in the evening, we were delighted to find it rather empty. As we passed earlier that day, it had been full of people either queuing to catch a glimpse of Mao’s corpse, or lingering in the square, trying to find the perfect angle for their obligatory photo under Mao’s gaze. Now it seemed that all the crowds had gathered under the oversized portrait of Mao to watch the flag lowering ceremony, leaving the main area of the square quiet. We were headed over to join them when a man approached us asking if we wanted to buy a kite. Brushing him off as just another vendor, I walked past, and then the thought suddenly occurred to me…wait, I actually do feel like flying a kite. We eagerly unwrapped the kite and held it up into the evening breeze ready to set sail, only to realize that, despite overpaying significantly, the kite included no string. Before we had time to chase after our kite supplier, another vendor appeared ready to supply the missing link. And the ten yellow and red faces of our kite were airborne. Children ran and played while others joined kites together in what appeared an attempt to outdo each other for the longest kite. The scene was so peaceful it was hard to imagine that we were in the same spot where in 1989 army tanks and soldiers forced pro-democracy demonstrators outside of the square, killing hundreds.

Quite often while traveling I feel self conscious about pulling out my camera and taking photos, especially when it comes to photographing people. It always feels strange to ask someone if I can take their photo, for fear of them saying no and me looking foolish. The tables were turned in China and we were on the receiving end for once. We felt a bit like celebrities as we walked around the sights frequently having people ask if they could have their photo taken with us. One couple jumped off their bikes at the chance to get their picture with us and a boy had made an English sign and followed us with it until we read it and agreed to the photo shoot. Most often young couples would whisper to each other while holding their camera and point nervously at us. A few minutes later the guy would usually approach us on the girlfriend’s behalf and we would then take turns posing with each of them. It was hard to imagine what they would then do with these photos, and how they would explain to people who we were.

The spectacular Great Wall

A trip to China wouldn’t be complete without seeing the Great Wall and like Machu Pichu, it completely exceeded our expectations. Instead of going to the more popular section of the wall that is packed with souvenir stalls and hoards of tour groups, we hiked for ten kilometer along the wall from the less visited section of Jinshanling to Simatai. Whichever way you turn is another incredible view of the famous wall that still crumbles over the green mountaintops into infinity. It seemed an impossible task to build as the wall appears to connect all the highest peaks visible along the horizon. This made for many steep climbs up and down the mostly eroded steps in the blazing heat but luckily along the way we could count on shade in the twenty four strategically placed towers. The peacefulness of the scenery was only broken by the vendors, who seemed to appear out of nowhere encouraging us with “You buy Coca-Cola??” Some of the more eager ones would attempt to follow us for the entire duration of the hike, repeating the same sales pitch and giving us terrible guilt trips when we refused to buy their heavily inflated goods.

After six days in Beijing, we were ready to move on. It contained enough historical sites to keep us busy, but the city itself lacks character and charm and the air quality was starting to have a noticeable effect on our lungs. It was time to begin our long awaited trip on the Trans-Mongolian.

Click Here to see the photos

Posted by brett at June 26, 2006 10:56 PM

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Posted by: Jude & marie Neylon at June 28, 2006 02:57 PM

Posted by: Sandy at July 5, 2006 08:25 AM

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