Pingyao and Beijing

We took advantage of the long Ching Ming/Easter/Passover break and travelled to China.  As we were flying over the East China Sea towards Beijing, it dawned on me that this was our 6th trip to China (including Taiwan) in the past year!  But, as we've discovered, no two places are alike in the People's Republic.
We transferred in Beijing and flew on to Taiyuan, one hour southwest of Beijing in Shanxi province.  Never heard of Taiyuan?  It's one of those obscure cities in China with a population over four million!  Bigger than any city in Canada.  Taiyuan is an industrial city and a coal mining centre.  Not on the "jeffanddale list of places to visit in Asia", but the closest airport to our first destination, Pingyao (recommended by Arlene and John).

Our guide, Yoyo, and our driver met us at the airport and off we went, along dusty secondary roads through small, poor-looking towns with strip malls.  There was nothing of interest to ogle at, so we napped until we reached the Qiao Family Mansion about halfway to Pingyao.

The Qiao complex was built in 1756 during the Qing Dynasty, and was originally the home of a wealthy tycoon who made his fortune in tofu and tea.  The claim to fame of this estate is that it was the setting for the classic 1991 film "Raise the Red Lantern".  There are 313 rooms, all laid out in linked courtyards.  This was the first of many "courtyard architecture" establishments that we would be visiting during our trip.



After touring the Qiao mansion, we continued driving for another hour towards Pingyao.  We ran into the worst traffic jam I've ever seen.  Our excellent driver crossed the 4-lane boulevard, through the oncoming traffic, and headed the wrong way on the opposite shoulder.  Yes, you read that correctly!  When that led to another roadblock, he went through a field to get to an open road.  I didn't know whether to applaud or weep.  We reached Pingyao safely.  What a sight to behold: a Ming Dynasty (14th century) town surrounded by 12-metre high walls.  The closest thing to Medieval Europe that we've seen in Asia.  Vestiges of Pingyao's former wealth as a banking centre lie in its well-preserved stone courtyard-style houses and temples, as well as its original financial institutions (which are currently museums).  Pingyao has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997.

A wonderful treat awaited us at the Yide Hotel in the centre of the walled city.  Our room in this charming ancient residence was furnished with a large Chinese platform bed complete with a tea tray in the middle (it was more comfortable than it looks!).  The dining room was cosy, and served some of the best (and most colourful) meals we've ever had (thanks to Yoyo who ensured that our food would be spicy - not watered-down for Western taste buds).

Pingyao is in northern China, where wheat, not rice, is the main food staple.  We tried several kinds of pasta dishes during our stay including cat's ears (photo on the left).  Smoked beef is another delicacy, and the local fruit are apples.

The sun was shining the next morning as we began our walk around the the ramparts.  We only covered about 1.5 km of the 6 km wall.  All of the towers and gates are beautifully intact, and from the 12-metre height we were able to see most of the town.  Yoyo told us that 40,000 people live inside the walls.  It all looked quite primitive to us.  There is constant restoration work being done, and the dust was flying.  Pingyao is in a very dry part of China, a big change from humid HK.

I decided to try some of the yummy street food, but our guide advised against eating anything that looked like meat.  I didn't ask any more questions ...  so I settled for Pingyao's answer to matzoh (given that this was the day before Passover!).  Quite tasteless.

All of the major buildings in Pingyao have the same courtyard-style layout.  After a while, we couldn't differentiate the old banking centre from the Taoist temple from the Government Office!  Speaking of the Government Office, we watched a very funny (Yoyo translated) mock trial, staged for the tourists.  All of the actors were in period clothing, and Yoyo told us that in the dialogue the reigning official made references to modern technology, such as cellphones and computers.

Pingyao is famous for its vinegar, which is sold in enormous ceramic containers.  I don't think I could use that much vinegar in two lifetimes!  This town is also a centre for traditional papercuts.  We visited Mme. Wen's shop and watched her calloused hands carefully cut one.  Jeff and I were both born in the year of the ox, so we bought a circular ox papercut from Mme. Wen - as usual, framing is twice the price of the art!

We noticed the chalkboard sign on the left on a main street in the town.  We were surprised to learn that it is a list of municipal expenses.  The sign on the right was one of the more humorous food advertisements that we noticed.  I'm so used to them that I rarely take photos, but this one made us laugh out loud.

... and so did this one!  Cappuchino (sic) with french fries?
Yoyo encouraged us to try the Chinese set breakfast on our second morning in Pingyao.  Not quite our taste!  Much more comforting for us to start the day with toast and tea than congee.
After breakfast, it was back to Taiyuan, and China Eastern Airlines to Beijing.





Sam Lee, our new guide, and our driver, Mr. Fong, met us at the Beijing's Capital International Airport, which was designed by Sir Norman Foster and built for the 2008 Olympic Games.  Foster also designed the HK airport and Jeff's favourite HK building, the HSBC headquarters, which looks like a transformer.  The Beijing airport lacks the shops and brightness of its HK equivalent.  The new wing is only for international flights, while domestic flights use the old terminals (15 minutes away by shuttle bus).

Beijing is enormous.  It spreads forever - I suppose it has to in order to accommodate 22 million people (2/3 population of Canada).  Buildings are grand - high and wide.  A statement on the power of China and its government.  Because it was early spring, we noticed no flowers at all, and only very early buds on the trees.

First stop: Tiananmen Square!  Passport controlled.  In front of us Mao's mausoleum.  Behind us the Forbidden City (aka Beijing Palace Museum).  In the middle of the square is the Monument to the People's Heroes.  Various important government buildings line the streets around the square.  Lots of military here, but not so prevalent elsewhere in Beijing.

We toured the Forbidden City for hours.  One huge courtyard complex leading to the next, larger courtyard.  Overwhelming for sure, but after a while there was a sameness to each section.  I wanted to see treasures, but most of the emperors' collections are now housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

I was surprised by the lack of gardens and flowers.  There was only one formal garden, and it was filled with large rocks symbolizing spiritual matters.

Our next activity was the Chabad Passover Seder at the Renaissance Hotel.  We asked the concierge to write out the directions for the taxi driver.  She informed us that there are three Renaissance Hotels in Beijing!  After a few phone calls, she finally tracked down the right location, and off we went.  We walked into a huge, modern ballroom with 350 other guests.  We sat with some young Israelis and their Chinese partners, and another young Israeli architect who was visiting Beijing with his mother and aunt.  The table was nicely set, but we laughed at the small yellow tablecloth in the centre which depicted the ten plagues.  I wonder how they managed to connect "macat ha'bchorot (death of the firstborn)" with the gingerbread man!  There were also little party favours on the table - plastic frogs that we wound up and watched as they clicked all around the table.  One of the best parts of the Seder was a rendition of the Four Questions in fluent Mandarin.

The next morning, we set out for the Ming emperors' tombs and then the Great Wall.  We visited the Dingling Tomb, the only tomb that has been excavated.  Having just read the Wikipedia article about this tomb, I realize that our guide, Sam, misinformed us as to why this tomb was the only one chosen to be excavated.  In fact, most of the tall tales he related were nothing but the official Party line.  Sam is a true believer.  Chairman Mao is his hero, and no matter how directly or indirectly I asked questions, the official Party answers emanated from Sam.  (Several of our other China guides have taken a more open-minded view of their country's history)

Oh, I got sidetracked!

Back to the tomb.  It's impressive, to say the least.  There's a giant dragon-headed tortoise guarding the entrance.  Way down inside the chambers are the tombs of Emperor Wanli and his two empresses.  Wanli's rule of 48 years (1572-1620) was the longest of the Ming emperors, but it witnessed the steady decline of the Dynasty.  The tomb was excavated in the 1950s, but during the Cultural Revolution, fervent Red Guards stormed Dingling, dragged the remains of poor Wanli and his wives in front of the tomb, denounced them, and burned them.  In the museum on the site there are beautiful Ming ceramics, and also some jewelled headpieces like the one in the photo.

We've all seen photos of the Great Wall of China, but nothing compares with actually visiting even a small part of it at Mutianyu.  It snakes gracefully from east to west along the tops of mountains of China for 6,000 miles.  Breathtaking and overwhelming.  By far my favourite site in China (along with Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan). We now know why the Great Wall is on the list of "places to see before you die".

We had an hour to kill before going to the acrobatics show, so we wandered through the 798 Art Zone.  This funky collection of art galleries and installation art is housed in decommissioned military factory buildings.
The acrobatics show was excellent!  The finale was a daredevil display of gyrating motorcycles inside a sphere.  We held our breath!  Jeff's opinion is that all of these amazing gymnasts were the losers in the Olympic qualifying tournaments.  We were happy that our travel agent included the acrobatics show rather than Chinese opera.

Sam and Mr. Fong picked us up early the next morning (Sunday).  Our destination was the Mao Mausoleum.  We lined up for an hour with thousands of Mainlanders to view the Chairman.  (Jeff thinks we are now on a CSIS list of suspicious persons.)  Near the entrance there are kiosks where you can buy lilies to lay at the feet of Mao's enormous statue inside the first room.  There are workers inside who scoop up the lilies, and, it appears, bring them outside where they are resold.  Our guide woefully explained that Chairman Mao used to be a very tall man, but he's been shrinking inside his glass-covered tomb since 1976.  I've been more impressed with Mme. Tussaud's wax works than with CM's tomb.  Like our friend, Ed, I think it's all a fake, but can 1.4 billion Chinese be mistaken?

Next to the Great Wall, we thought that the Summer Palace was a not-to-be-missed attraction.  The lakes and gardens and general serenity of the place were so lovely to visit, in spite of the throngs of tourists.  Empress Dowager Cixi sure knew how to live well, even though the funds she used to spruce up her "cottage" had been diverted from military sources (just before the First Sino-Japanese War which China lost).

After lunch we walked through some of the hutongs, the alleys formed by rows of traditional courtyard houses.  In the 1920s, the hutongs were subdivided into small dwellings, so most of these structures are overcrowded slums.  Many of these hutong neighbourhoods have been demolished, but others are becoming gentrified.

Downtime.  Our hotel was close to Wangfujing, a pedestrian shopping street.  As we walked towards Starbucks (me) and Haagen-Dazs (Jeff), two young Chinese art students befriended us.  We followed them to their small gallery, where their teacher drew a happy birthday scroll for Jeff.  Of course we ended up buying two scrolls - a large, traditional landscape and a small scroll with pink flowers.
Since the weather was fine, we decided to "dine" outside on Wangfujing.  We're probably the only tourists who have not eaten Peking duck in Beijing!  (We eat it regularly at the American Restaurant in Hong Kong)

Before leaving Beijing the next day, we spent some time at the Temple of Heaven.  This incredibly ornate religious complex was only used by the Emperors once a year - prayers to Heaven for a good harvest.  The Temple was built by the Yongle Emperor, who moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing.  During his reign, the Forbidden City was built, and the various sections of the Great Wall were united.

Most amusing signs in Beijing.

Fashionistas.