Beijing, China

The Meridian Gate to the Forbidden City facing Tienanmen Square

Mao Zedong


Coming out of the subway, walking up the steps, emerging into bright daylight, and first seeing the iconic portrait of Mao hanging on the Gate to the Forbidden City is a thrill. You've seen it on TV a hundred times, and finally here you are. The center of the Chinese cosmos. Where emperors ruled for five hundred years, and where the People's Republic of China was born nearly sixty years ago.

Throngs of Chinese and a sprinkling of foreigners surround the gates taking photos of each other. Directly behind lies Tienanmen Square, the largest, and most infamous, public square in the world. I walked along the concrete blocks and thought about the thousand or so student protesters who were murdered by indiscriminate machine gunfire and squashed by tanks here twenty years ago. I thought of "Tank Man". The Chinese had to bus in troops from the outer provinces because local Beijing soldiers would not open fire on their friends and relatives.

June 5, 1989 "Tank Man" stops a line of tanks for several minutes before being arrested (and presumably executed)

I was a junior in high school when the incident occurred. At that time I knew all about war and murder and death, but I was shocked that a world power like China would kill its own citizens in full view of the global media. China still has thousands of public protests today, most about government corruption or environmental degradation. However, they will not tolerate any protests in Tienanmen Square ever again.

I have no allusions about China being a benign sleeping giant who just wants to make the cheap plastic crap that lines our shelves at Walmart. This is a country that fully expects to be THE world superpower. And why wouldn't they? China WAS the world's superpower in the 15th and 16th centuries. They had the largest naval fleet in history and a standing army of one million soldiers. Lucky for the rest of the world, it was an inward-focused China. A wall-building China. Had China sent its massive navy across the globe like the Spanish and Portuguese and British, our world would look very different today. 21st century China will not make the same mistake twice. This China is doing everything right. Lending money to the consumption oriented West so they can use it to buy Chinese products. Saving up the largest sovereign wealth fund in history. Locking in oil, and natural gas, and farm produce deals with third world countries. Stealing intellectual property and military technology rather than buying it. If you read the statistics of how fast China's economy is growing it is just staggering. With a workforce of 1.3 billion people, who actually WORK, it is only a matter of time before China surpasses America's economic might. Our best hope is to inundate them with McDonald's and PlayStation and Budweiser and NASCAR; and maybe they'll be overcome by obesity, ignorance, and apathy, before they crush the lazy westerners.

If you can't beat 'em join 'em. I bought a tiny Chinese flag for one yuan (14 cents) and asked people to take pictures of me in front of Mao's Mausoleum. The line was too long for me, I felt weird about waiting a couple hours to see a dead evil dictator. Seems both morbid and groupie-ish.
I do love good socialist-realist sculpture. Really. I think these "power to the common man" statues are awesome. They are getting harder and harder to find. Eastern Europe, China, Russia, I bet they have some great ones in North Korea. It makes me want to pick up a farm implement and follow along. I'm sure they are going somewhere cool, and the soldier in the lead clearly knows the way.
It started raining after I took this photo, and I rushed to the closest umbrella salesman along with about a hundred soggy Chinese. I thought "Oh boy am I going to get gouged, buying an umbrella, in the pouring rain, in the high rent district of Beijing." Nope. $2.20 got me a sweet red umbrella. China is really pretty cheap most of the time. Later in the day, I bought two pairs of prescription eyeglasses for $43 a piece. They would have cost $300 back home. An optometrist gave me an eye exam on the spot, and I picked up the finished glasses the next day. The younger brother of the optometrist was the only English speaker, so he acted as translator as I haggled the price, then I bought us beers while I waited for my eye exam. He said most Americans are rich and stupid and just pay the price listed on the frames. His brother was surprised I was bold enough to haggle 50% off the price. My glasses came out perfect, the best purchase of any of my trips.

Beijing has a massive presence of real live soldiers. I saw them marching all over near Tienanmen Square. Lots of police too. Most are real skinny young men. They try to look real intimidating, but they weren't armed and most had about a size 28 waist.

I took the subway over to the Temple of Heaven. It sits in a huge green park. Of all the horror stories I'd read about Beijing, none mentioned all the nice parks it has. This girl asked to take a picture with me. Foreigners are still an oddity in Beijing.

A fine example of a beautiful little greenbelt area running near the Forbidden City. Maybe all of these spots were built recently for the Olympics. Beijing's pollution is infamous. I've read it described as "apocalyptic". Indeed, on the day I arrived the pollution was so thick, visibility was limited to about two city blocks. It seemed like a fog, but it was all pollution. But even on this day I didn't smell it or feel it in my lungs or eyes. And then it got better and better. By the last day in Beijing it was clear blue sky. I guess it's the luck of the weather, but I found Beijing to be a very livable city.

Beijing has ample, clean, star-rated public toilets, a rarity in Asia. I once had the thrill of using a four star toilet. Never saw a five star. Maybe they are all in the Party offices.

Beijing is a great place to shop for knock-offs and fakes. I spent a couple hours at the Yashou Market near the Sanlitun area. It's a four story shopping mall filled with fake name brand goods. You better have a good idea of what things actually sell for before you go in, and be ready to bargain hard. For example, I bought a sweet knock off North Face shirt. It's all microfiber, with a collar and pockets, an indestructible travel shirt. In the USA, a real one would go for $60. So a fake in china, I figure $10 should be my goal. Her opening offer was 480 Yuan, or $70! I laughed and started to walk off. "Wait Wait! Her next offer was 360 Yuan, or $52. I keep walking. "Wait, Sir, special price for you. " She types 240 into her calculator. $35. I shake my head and type in 80. She types 200. I type 85. She describes the fine qualities of the material. I type 90. She types 180. I type 100. We tells me more about how incredible the shirt is and how much it would cost in the USA. I type 110. She types 160. I type 120, and announce that is my final offer. I start to walk away. She shouts 150. I keep walking, she grabs my arm and begs me to buy it for 140. I tell her I can keep looking, maybe I'll be back. She says 130. I start to turn the corner. She shouts "OK 120". I buy it. I was psyched to get the shirt, and I felt like I held my ground well, but in the end I paid about $17 for it and I know I could have got it for $12. One can only hope to get a "good price for foreigner". I'll never get the "Chinese price". Not even if I get a PhD in Mandarin.

After buying the shirt I found some sweet fake Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. Before we even got to the haggling stage, I wanted to see if they fit. I asked her for a size 42. She brings me a 41 and of course they are too small. I ask again for a 42. She brings me a 43. They're too big. I tell her I MUST have a 42, or I'm not buying. She goes off again to look and comes back with shoes. She tries to put them on my feet herself. I stop her so I can check the bottom and see if they are actually a 42. I turn them over and find a round gold sticker that reads 42. I think "No, she didn't just do what I think she did." I peel back the sticker, and sure enough, it's the same pair of 43's!!! I look at her with my mouth agape, and she just smiles and throws up her hands like "You got me."

I needed a rest after the high pressure haggle-shopping. I found a bar called VEIN that had Tsingtao in a bottle for 10 Yuan ($1.40) which is about as cheap as it gets here. They place looked brand new and was nice but completely empty. The twenty-something Chinese owner was playing Dixie Chicks and James Taylor on the sound system and singing along, while surfing pictures of vintage Ford Mustangs on his laptop. I stayed a while.

I think the above sign is Mandarin for "Alley of revolting cuisine on a stick"

The bugs on the far right were still wriggling. Blechhh.

Gruel! Its not just for orphans anymore!

The Forbidden City is massive. It would take several days to visit every room within its walls. Legend says there are 9,999 of them. I spent three hours there and still only hit half of the major buildings on the audio tour. I enjoyed it, but there are too many people inside. About 10,000 too many. I the central temples, you can't move and you have Chinese tour group guides shouting in your ear with their battery powered megaphones.

Blue sky breaking through in Beijing!


Okay, so once you get out of the North Gate of the Forbidden City, which is where most people exit, there is a huge man-made hill in a nice park. I hiked to the top for an excellent view of pancake-flat Beijing. They had a "Get your photo taken dressed up like an Emperor" booth going, and at 25 Yuan, I couldn't resist.

But as soon as I sat down my Empress plopped down next to me. I had to pay her 10 Yuan too.

You'd think a person whose only job is to sit and smile for the camera could smile. But no, I get the Dour Empress Sour Puss.

Me in front of my palace. Geez what was I thinking?



I finished my time in Beijing at the fantastic Houhai Lake. I walked here for a couple hours, grabbed a Frappucino and watched kids in pedal-boats and ducks on lily pads. Actual live wild animals in Beijing! They have security guards here at night, otherwise they'd surely be caught and eaten. This area has art shops, restaurants, lots of benches to sit on, pedi-cabs, and no car horns. I was impressed by Beijing, but after seeing this place, I would actually consider Beijing a livable city.