Beijing, the Heart of Communist China

31st July - 3rd August

Beijing is totally different from Shanghai. Where Shanghai feels modern, touristy and vibrant, Beijing feels oppressive  regimented and dull. Although the dullness may be something to do with the heavy downpour that lasted for two full days of our time there.

In Shanghai it is evident that China is moving away from its strict communist past. In fact, it's probably the most capitalist communist country in the world. In Beijing, however, there is still a strong communist sentiment. There's a heavy military presence in Tiananmen Square in the centre of Beijing (famous for the military action taken against protesters there in 1989.) You have to go through security checks just to get onto the square and the entire area is fenced off and guarded.

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square - grey grey grey

We went to the square the afternoon we arrived (in the torrential rain). In the vast empty space we headed towards the crowd of umbrellas at the far end, assuming something exciting was happening. They were however, from what I could gather, just waiting from the flag to be lowered. One Chinese spectator told me "it's so cool" - I'm not sure I agree.

The Forbidden City 

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is where numerous emperors of China resided for hundreds of years. It's a walled city surrounded by a moat and inside the walls there are around 800 buildings which look very much the same: ornate roof, gold and red. I don't think the Forbidden City is worth the 60 yuan entrance fee, it certainly isn't better than the Great Wall and it's more expensive. On the other hand, if you like being crammed into a confined space with a million Chinese tourists looking at 800 identical buildings it could be just your thing.

The entrance to the Forbidden City

Shopping in Beijing
We took the subway to the famous silk market. I was expecting a traditional market with quirky, unusual stalls and typical Chinese arts and crafts. Oh, and silk, I was expecting silk! The market was in fact a shopping mall with isle after isle of identical shops; each floor selling a different item. The sales approach of the shop workers there wasn't so much 'hard sell' as much as it was 'physically violent attack'. After showing a slight interest in a tennis racket a female shop assistant trapped Ric in the shop and started grabbing, pushing and hitting him when he tried to leave. Once he'd escaped the shop she followed him, shouting at him and trying to grab him. After that we were scared to look at anything. In every shop you had to barter. The sales women would start off obscenely high and only drop to a sensible amount once you'd walked away. I know that's common all over the world but honestly, it seems a pretty senseless way to do business; why start off asking for £400 if what you're selling is only worth £5? I suppose some people enjoy bartering but I didn't have the patience for it.

Speedy Trains

Left: bullet train; Right: sleeper train

There are 1000 miles between Shanghai and Beijing and amazingly, you can get from one to the other in just 5 hours! Going to Beijing we took the high speed bullet train: two stops, 300km/hour the whole way. Returning to Shanghai we took the slower sleeper train, it was very exciting for me as I'd never been on a sleeper train before. It was lush: 4 to a cabin, each bed with its own reading light and flat screen tv, table in the middle with a kettle - I slept like a baby!

To conclude, I did like Beijing despite my negative reviews. It's great as a base from which to visit the Great Wall but it's not a fun city to explore like Shanghai is. Maybe my experience was affected by the terrible weather we had while we were there; maybe it was the strain of the 2000mile round trip we did to get there, but I found the city no match for Shanghai.

The Forbidden City - view from outside of the walls