Whilst Shanghai is all Get Up And Go, Beijing is considered a bit of a slacker. Not that nothing is happening - quite to the contrary. It’s just not as fast as Shanghai... Lots of new buildings being put up (not quite as many as in Shanghai), but the suburbs are actually pretty drab (some would say ugly) - a bit like Moscow, really. Whereas Shanghai is considered to be the place to do business in, Beijing is said to offer more in terms of all-round quality of life (that is, if you discount the poisonous air).

The Forbidden City! Shades of the Last Emperor… Quite an extraordinary collection of palaces. If you've seen the film, you would have had a better view of the palace than us, because - once again, there were masses of people! - but I think you would have guessed that.

The palace was apparently unchanged between the 15th century, when it was built, until the 1970s, when the Party built some Government buildings smack in the middle of the park. Didn't want to be too close to the People , I guess… At least, they kept the new buildings in the same style as the old ones (whereas in the Kremlin they plunked in some modern buildings which do not fit the old style in the least). In Europe, we're used to different generations adding bits and pieces to their palaces and castles as they went along - not here. The court seems to have been so formalised and society so rigid that any change was frowned upon. It took until 1911 for the Emperor to be overthrown, the state having decayed from within.

For centuries no building in Beijing was allowed to be higher than the Imperial Palace. Even if for the wrong reasons (“Mine’s bigger than yours”) the effect was a good one.

The Forbidden City also includes some small but exquisite gardens.

Tiananmen Square turns out to be quite different than on TV (funny, I thought whatever they show on TV is true). The square is called the largest in the world, but it doesn't show since much of the square is taken up by the Mao Mausoleum and an ancient city gate. The free space one sees on TV (the bit with the Mao portrait) is much smaller, and flanked by two very Stalinist monster buildings. Red Square in Moscow is much more attractive. No shade, yet lots of families having their picture taken. All in all, a bit of a letdown. No mention also of the 1989 massacre - but somehow I didn't really expect that. Somebody did ask the guide if he knew about the casualties; the guide grinned, said "You probably know that, I don't. Funny, isn't it?" and changed the subject.

As an aside: it's not actually possible for foreigners to simply pick up a hire car and do the trip by yourself. You need at least a 3-month residence permit, plus a driving permit. Of course, it wouldn't do to introduce European driving discipline in Beijing. They combine the worst of the lot, drive on any which lane, dodging bicycles which also do their own thing. But you can't go fast - there's far too much traffic . Seen any Chinese Formula 1 drivers lately? 13 m people, as yet only 1.3m cars, fewer bicycles than expected. VW, Audi, Honda are all locally produced. But they all seem to be driving at the same time, precisely where you happen to be at the time! When it comes to traffic, Beijing can compete with the worst of them.

Apparently Beijing is one of the most expensive cities world-wide. In Asia, only Tokyo is more expensive. A car like the VW Passat costs c. $ 40.000 - a huge amount by local standards (to get things in proper relation, the top 10% of urban households earn some $6000 p.a.). Massive traffic problems, plus plenty of road works - the city will host the Olympics in 2008. Government subsidies on housing and such are being phased out. One thing that was noticeable was that we didn't see any peasants or other "illegals" in the city as we did in other places. Police presence is heavy, and the city seems pretty "sanitised". There's even a security guard patrolling the breakfast lounge! Strange, having your toast under the stern eye of the powers that be…

I've seen a fair bit of Beijing so far, and truth be told, it's fairly disappointing. It's hot and humid (but Sydney can be the same), it's ugly for the most part, it's crowded, it's expensive.

The Great Wall of China. What can I say? It's HUGE. We know that, of course, but still, to actually stand on it… It looks like in the pictures, and then again it doesn't. There are several places one can drive to, to see the Wall (which seems to be in disrepair in many areas), and the spot from which we saw it, it was very hilly. Still, we climbed a fair bit (shades of Mexican pyramids) and had a grandiose view. Of course, it being hilly, one doesn't see miles and miles stretching into the distance but rather the Wall disappearing behind the next mountaintop. Also, the pictures don't show the bus depots, and they certainly don't show the hordes of people trying to sell you some kitsch. I suppose this is a drawback of the free economy now in place. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to break off a bit of wall, to put next to my bit of the Berlin wall. The locals did not approve.

The Wall was a bit of a futile exercise, like the Maginot line. The one threat which really mattered, Ghengis Khan, would not be stopped by it. To be precise, the Wall as we know it today didn't exist yet; rather, it was a series of earthen modifications which were much less effective than the later Wall. The Mongols were the last invaders until the Japanese in the 1930s (if you discount the European "holdings" of the 19th century). Historically, not bad going.

The wall is actually some 60kms away from Beijing. Once you drove that, you still have to negotiate the city proper – which is huge! Plus, it's HOT! The place is stifling…
 

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