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Published: February 4th 2010
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I was tangibly excited as the plane sped towards Beijing - the most populated city on earth and also one of the richest for history, culture and political understanding. Most importantly for me I was going to tick off one my ‘do before I die’ list - to stand on the Great Wall. As the train got closer more and more thoughts about China, what I’d seen, read and experienced so far all crowded my head - and here I am now unravelling them!
Quickly settled at the hostel I met up again with a lovely Vietnamesse Australian medical student who I’d met in Xi’an and we headed out for the day. The hostel was only minutes off Tiananmen square and I was barely able to prepare myself for standing in the square where the general western public back in 1989 probably formed their opinions of Chinas views on democracy.
What I’m referring to is the June 4th incident, as it’s called here; there have been too many incidents in the square for our western title to differentiate it sufficiently. The estimates on the number of students that died when the tanks swept in to clear the square vary
enormously but circulate around the 2000 mark. More were killed in other cities. The events themselves came against a background of
glasnost in Mikhail Gorbachevs Soviet nation leading to greater political freedom there, students in China hungry for that freedom and a previously unseen freedom of press in China in reporting the events that unfolded. In my mind clearly demonstrating the power of ‘social networking’ (no wonder facebook is blocked here!)
Against this background the former Secretary General of China - Hu Yaobang died. In his time in office he had been anti corruption and also in favour of rapid reform and became a focal point for the students grief and protests. Protests and sit ins ensued all around the country and an increasing number of ’pro liberalisation’ people gathered in Tiananmen square. Hunger strikes ’uped’ the stakes further, martial law was declared but it was not till June 6th that the famous photo of ‘tank man’ would be taken - ironically on the street whose English translation is
avenue of eternal peace.
Tiananmen square today stands much more peacefully. The Chinese flag flies and provides a frame for a photograph of Chairman Mao with the Forbidden City
itself serving as a backdrop. At the other end of the square is the Mausoleum for Mao Zedong and between the two ends lies the Monument to the Peoples Hero’s. The other sides of the square are flanked by other important buildings and it’s hard not to feel in awe stood there. Security is tight on every side and it is impossible to enter the square without being checked.
Passing through a further security check and on producing our passports as ID we were allowed in to see Chairman Mao. It's impossible to say much about Mao Zedong without courting controversy. He is simultaneously credited with enormous literacy programmes and economic success of the country at the same time as nationwide famine and restriction. One thing though is for certain whatever 'cult of personality' he created lives on.
It is no secret that a wax work was also made when attempts were made to preserve the leaders body and that the two lie together each evening when his body is lowered back down to be chilled. Understandably that has led to many people believing they see the wax work when they pass through the mausoleum itself. My experience
was that it was pretty hard to see anything at the speed you get herded (and physically so!) through! Mao lies under an orange glowing light which only serves to make him appear more false and before you know it you’re out of his resting room and into the gift shop! (what capitalism??)
The rest of the day was filled with a visit to the Forbidden City, so named because in its heyday unauthorised entrance would see you immediately executed. It is around 600 years old and dates from the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is without doubt impressive in its scale and buildings but sadly in my opinion was like much of Chinas history, renovated to near Disneyland status of perfect finish. With hundreds of other people also sharing this freezing experience it felt anything but forbidden and sadly another of Chinas ‘must see’s’ had failed to hit the spot for me and my companions.
This was not to be the case the following day! The instructions we (an Aussie couple, my VietAussie friend and I) had been given to get to the Great Wall at Jinshanling, from where we would walk to Simitai, were hilarious.
Catch the tube to so and so stop and from there the 980 bus. You will be told to get off in a town and that that’s the end of the line but it’s not, insist on staying on until you get to a bus station. At the bus station there’s this freaky taxi driver who will follow you around until you agree to go with him. There is a bus that will take you to the wall but the taxi driver obviously has some monopoly because no one will talk to you while he’s around. Split up and maybe you can find the bus or if not negotiate him down to about 50 yuan. Getting back from Simitai should be easier!
These instructions probably wouldn’t have been as funny had they not been absolutely accurate! As we got off the bus at the bus station we could be in no doubt we had found the right taxi driver as the Aussie guy sacrificed himself to doing laps of the car park with the taxi driver in tow! We all scampered off to try and find the bus but sure enough no one would talk to us! Eventually we got
him down to 50 yuan and were on our way!
After outrunning a few pretty determined hawkers we were there, walking up the steps to the wall. I could barely contain my excitement and despite having quite a few years on my companions regressed far beyond them. The air was crisp and cold, the ground peppered with icy snow and the sky clear blue. In short everything was perfect as I moved up the steps pinching myself that this was a dream of mine, whilst, at some practical level trying to tell myself that this still may be an anti climax.
It wasn’t of course. The wall between Jinshanling and Simitai is a combination of both the restored and unrestored providing awesome contrast, and a few nervy moments for those of us not as comfortable of treacherous looking bits of rock!
The views were unspoilt for miles around, there wasn’t another person in view. It was perfect and in memory of my friends and time in Vietnam I had a bloody good run to some great music along one flat section of the wall - stopping to catch my breath and enjoy the silence while my companions caught
up.
At the end of the hike is a foot bridge and an opportunity of doing a zip line back to the car park. It looked like it’d never had a sniff of health and safety despite a worn plaque to the contrary so I knew I’d have to do it! My friend and I were clipped on together, no safety, no back up and hurled ourselves out over the water. It wasn’t terribly fast but was an exhilarating end to a dream of a day.
I was ready to leave after such a perfect day - completed with a nice restaurant and some Peking duck but I had one more day to go before I was off to the big freeze of Harbin so my friend and I headed off with some others to the Summer Palace. This was for me far more enjoyable than the Forbidden City and the lake was entirely frozen causing a nice spot of rebellion regarding standing on the ice! There were plenty of old guys flying kites from the Seventeen Arch Bridge and the relaxed day flew by enjoyably.
Having had my dreams come true in Beijing it was time
to buy extra gloves and wear every layer I had and hit the train to Harbin ... more walls to see there - this time of ice!
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Hoo, Beijing
I also went to Beijing in October last year. And these pictures are very familiar to me. I still can not imagine how the people created this beautiful buildings so many years ago.