Key areas
Tiananmen The centre of Beijing and, for centuries, the centre of the Chinese cosmos. Immediately north of Tiananmen Square is the Forbidden City. Mao lies immediately south. The current ‘forbidden city’, where China’s leaders live, is called Zhongnanhai and is situated directly west of the ancient one.
Wangfujing Located just east of the Forbidden City, this area is home to the most fashionable hotels and clothing stores, but is dead after midnight. It’s a good place if you want to get an idea of China’s emerging middle class. Just join the crowds and visit one of the many high-end shopping malls.
Qianmen Beijing’s best Peking duck restaurants are found in this area, just south of Tiananmen Square. A thriving centre for shopping of all kinds, large parts of this area have (so far) escaped demolition and retain some of the traditional Beijing way of life. Look out for Western-style architecture in this old legation district.
Dongcheng An unspoiled part of inner Beijing, this area, like Qianmen, is a place to experience the hutongs—narrow streets lined with single-storey houses. Houhai Located north-east of the Forbidden City, this is the new, hip and upcoming bar area. But it’s also good for a tranquil stroll around the lakes. Chaoyang business district Chaoyang is large, but the part you’re most likely to experience lies between the second and third ring roads, east of the Forbidden City. Jianguomen The eastern side of the Chaoyang business district and home to many of the city’s foreign embassies. Guomao The district around China’s World Trade Centre is a thriving area for business and is rapidly developing an impressive skyline, with a fair share of luxury apartments.
Sanlitun Beijing’s classic but not classy bar area. Previously divided into two streets, North Bar Street recently lost its southern brother to the wrecking ball as part of Beijing’s ongoing ‘development’, leaving South Bar Street reminiscent of a war zone. North Bar Street (North Sanlitun) continues on north to create one of the two diplomatic areas. Zhongguancun Located in the Haidian district, some 10kms north-west of the city centre, this area is home to many of Beijing’s universities. In the last few years, by offering tax breaks and cheap mortgages, the city administration has successfully transformed it into Beijing’s Silicon Valley. Glass and steel abound.
Getting around
By far the most effective means of transportation is the taxi. Cabs charge by the kilometre and start off with a €1 fee. Forget about bargaining—just go by the meter. Trips within the third ring road will usually run up no more than €4. Rides are quick and only the rush hour will delay you. Beijing cab drivers are surprisingly honest, which might have something to do with the heavy fines they get for cheating. If you suspect someone is taking you for a ride, note down the driver’s licence number posted on the dashboard and ask him for a discount. Look out for Mao memorabilia on the dashboard.
The Beijing metro is underdeveloped, unspectacular and slower than a taxi —even with the usual traffic jams.
And when you get to your destination, you’ll probably need to take a taxi anyway. However, at the time of going to press, several new metro lines were under construction.
There are plenty of buses, but they are frightfully slow and, unless you know where you’re going, you’re likely to get lost. Routes are listed in Chinese only. Young professional Beijingers take taxis. The bicycle is only for those with some form of adrenaline-seeking death wish who like bouncing over crater-sized pot holes and sliding over car bonnets. Romantic bike rides should be restricted to the Hou Hai lake area.
Shopping
There are dozens of glitzy, generic malls made of glass, steel and marble, but don’t bother buying Western goods (clothes, electronic goods, etc.) here—you’ll just be wondering whether or not they’re the real thing.
Wangfujing, which is close to some of the most expensive hotels, has a variety of malls and smaller shops with interesting goods. If you want European designer clothes, buy them in the upmarket hotels. Qianmen, the area just south of Tiananmen Square, is bustling with hawkers and small shops brimming with cheap products.
Dazhalan is the main shopping area, south-west of the gate. Something of a tourist trap, you’ll be amazed at the quality (and possibly the price) of silk and tea in particular. Quite a few of the shop assistants speak English. Further west, you’ll find Liulichang, a street brimming with art shops. An old literary quarter, the street is usually full of tourists and Chinese shoppers alike.
In Jianguomen, you’ll find the Silk Market on Xiushui East Street, on Yonganli, between Jianguomen and Guo Mao. A tourist trap without silk, this is a handy place if you want to buy good-quality fakes, or if you’ve brought clothes that don’t match the weather. If you can push your way through the DVD hawkers outside the market, there are bargains to be had inside. Consider the products fake and pay accordingly, even when the hawkers tell you otherwise. Ties should cost [00a3]1 and handbags should start at [00a3]8. Beware of pickpockets and hold on to your wallet.
Good bargaining skills are essential, but when should you haggle? The golden rule is: if there’s no set price, haggle. In fact, the only places where you shouldn’t bargain are restaurants, supermarkets, museums, concert halls and the like. If you buy things on the street, ask for a price and make your counter-offer at one-fifth of what they ask.
Gifts to buy
The best places to buy silk are the stores on Wangfujing and Dazhalan, but ironically not the Silk Market. Tea is sold at many different places in the city, but you can try the stores at Dazhalan. Try to go for the more exotic (and expensive) varieties, which are rarely found outside China, and bargain. It’s difficult to fully appreciate calligraphy and traditional paintings without being literary and Chinese at the same time, but calligraphy posters are nonetheless very decorative. Check out some of the stores on Liulichang. Panjiayuan is also a good place for cultural relics.
Things to do
Even if you think you have no spare time, carve at least a couple of hours out of your schedule to visit the Forbidden City. Covering 78 acres, the City is finally undergoing restoration, having been left to decay for decades. Hire a tour guide at the entrance if you wish, but it’s often better to just take it all in at your own pace. If you want to stroll around by yourself, seriously consider spending a few quid to rent a pre-recorded tour of the city, beautifully read by Roger Moore. North of the Forbidden City and just south of the north second ring road, you’ll find the Lama Temple, a magnificent Tibetan Buddhist temple built in 1694.
In spite of present-day tensions between the Tibetans and the Chinese, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Tibetan Buddhism and the temple was traditionally home to an heir to the throne. Buddhist monks still live there, and many of the visitors go there to practise their religion.
A tour of the old, narrow hutongs will show you what all of Beijing looked like less than 60 years ago. Some of the single-storey houses date back to the early Ming dynasty. They’re now being torn down by property developers, usually with the blessing of the city authorities, to make space for high-rises and apartment blocks. The most charming areas are found directly north and south of the Forbidden City. There are plenty of smaller lakes and parks in the areas surrounding the hutongs, notably Beihai Park to the north.
The New Summer Palace (yihe’yuan) is Beijing’s most beautiful park, on the shores of Kunming Lake, located 12kms north-east of the city. It’s worth visiting on a sunny day, summer or winter. The park was created after the French and the English burned down what is now called the Old Summer Palace, and features the Dowager Empress’s marble boat, built with money earmarked for the navy.
Excursions
If you’re short of time but want to see the Great Wall, go to Badaling. It’s a rebuilt and touristy part of the wall, but it’s still very impressive. Try to go early in the morning and preferably on a day with clear skies. An expressway takes you there in about an hour.
The Great Wall at Simatai is rather steeper and more dramatic, and it’s much less overrun by foreign and Chinese tourists. You can get there by bus, but it’s a bit of a hassle. Better to hire a taxi for the day, which should cost you around [00a3]35. Pay the driver once you’re back at your hotel. The journey takes up to three hours each way. Tickets to the wall are purchased at Simatai.
If you have time on the way back from Badaling, stop by the Ming Tombs, where 13 of the 16 emperors of the Ming dynasty are buried. Don’t expect Buddhist extravaganza—Confucian tombs are tranquil but historically interesting.
What the Ming Tombs might lack in colour, the Pool and Cudrania Temple will more than make up for. Located a one and a half hour drive west of Beijing, this is the biggest and the oldest of Beijing’s temples. It dates back 1,600 years, although most buildings are from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It’s off the beaten tourist track, but worth seeing if you have half a day to spare.
Tourist traps
The Wangfujing night market is quite amusing to wander around in and watch, but it’s not a good idea to eat the barbecued grasshoppers, silk worms, scorpions, millipedes or anything else they sell from the stalls. The smell alone should deter you from venturing close enough to buy anything.
The Friendship Store is a communist relic half a mile east of the Silk Market. More or less the only place to find Western goods in the years before capitalism gripped China, the government-owned Friendship Store has somehow managed to survive the transition to a market economy. The prices, however, are completely out of synch with the rest of the market and the products are no better.
Convention centres
Most four-star hotels have ballrooms and conference centres. Of these, the Kerry Centre, Shangri-La, China World Hotel, Sheraton, and Kempinski offer the best conference facilities.
However, for conventions on a massive scale, the following are worth noting. Beijing International Convention Centre, No.8 Beichendong Road, Chaoyang District, Tel: 6491 0248. Located to the north of the city in the Asian Games Village, this convention centre covers a floor space of 77,000 square metres.
It consists of 50 conference halls with an ability to cater for 10 to 2,500 people, as well as indoor exhibition halls accommodating as many as 300 international-standard exhibition stalls as well as offices. The closest hotel is the Shangri-La in Zhongguancun.
National Agricultural Exhibition Centre, 16 Dongsanhuan north Road, Chaoyang District, Tel: 6501 8877. Conveniently located between the China World Trade Centre, Lufthansa Centre and the diplomatic area, the Agricultural Exhibition Centre has seven showrooms with a total floor space of 30,000 square metres, 18,000 square metres indoor display space, 40,000 square metres outdoor display space, and 4,000 square metres storage space. There are many hotels in this area.
China International Exhibition Centre, 6 Beisanhuan East Road, Chaoyang District, Tel: 8460 0000 / 8460 0024.
This exhibition centre has a total indoor exhibiting space of 60,000 square metres, an outdoor space of 7,000 square metres, a container ground of 10,000 square metres and storage of 3,000 square metres. For convenience, the Radisson SAS Hotel is right next door.