Beijing

We have just got back from a two-week trip to Beijing.

My first time in Beijing was in 2006, and since then we have holidayed up there for a few weeks most years.  I think, on balance, I prefer Beijing to Guangzhou, though I still doubt I would want to live there permanently, with the (literally) killer smog.  (While Guangzhou pollution has visually decreased in the several years I have been here, Beijing seems to just get worse and worse.)

I especially like that Beijing is a more international city than Guangzhou, with all the diversity and pluralistic acceptance that that brings.  I like that I don’t feel quite so noticed, there.

One obvious visual difference is that there are more foreigners around.  In a (typically) packed subway carriage, we might see one or two other non-Asian faces every time, unlike in Guangzhou where we may go several journeys without seeing another foreigner.  We also see far more diversity amongst the Chinese faces, with a far greater display of Chinese ethnicities.

At one modern outdoor café-spot that we stopped at with friends, I took the girls to play in the nearby public space, where there were several other children playing around.  At one point, a Scandinavian mother asked a Chinese boy if her children could please play with his toys.  She spoke to him very slowly and clearly in English, first asking if he understood her.  Her English was fluently excellent, but obviously not native, as she spoke to her children in another language.  He replied to her with a strong, native-level, American accent!  Pretty much all the children in the area were chattering to each other in standard American English.

Another sign of the international feel is that in my two weeks there I even saw, separately, a dozen or more adults on foot-powered, adult-sized scooters.  I like to zip around my local area here in Guangzhou on my scooter, but in my years of living here I have only ever seen a couple of other adults doing the same thing, and when I go scooting by I always get plenty of curious stares.  Apparently not so in Beijing, where adults on scooters is more normalised.

On two separate occasions, too, I saw small groups of cosplayers socialising in the public spaces.  I have never seen that in Guangzhou.

There are also plenty of adults out running in the evenings in lycra outfits.  Even the local Beijing men don’t seem to have a problem with wearing their tight, buttock-hugging, lycra leggings in public.  Here in Guangzhou, I am almost too shy to wear my lycra leggings outside, for all the staring it causes from the locals.

I also prefer the Beijing weather to that of Guangzhou.  Or, at least I have preferred the weather during the times I have been there.  I have yet to experience a Beijing winter, though that is definitely on my future to-do list.  (I find it so intriguing to read on the signs by lakes “no swimming, fishing or ice skating”.  Wow, frozen lakes and outdoor ice-skating—that is so outside my experiences!)

Local Beijing food is much better, too!

But closely following the smog problem, the next killer issue with Beijing is the cars.  Each time we go there, it is worse, in my opinion.  I remember when I visited Kaohsiung in Taiwan many years ago being surprised to see that motor scooters used the footpaths like car parks.  They would ride up onto the footpath and park, side-by-side, by the dozen, along every street.  In Beijing, it is the cars that use the footpaths as car parks.  If the footpaths are wide enough, they drive along them like roads to find their preferred spot.  If the footpaths are narrower, then they just turn in and mount the curb, covering the entire width of the footpath.  This time in Beijing, we felt that this has all become too much.

Why were we up in Beijing?

Mostly, it was for the oldies.

Firstly, it was for Mama and the girls to say goodbye to Laolao (Mama’s mum).  With us soon in New Zealand and her in China, we won’t see much of her for a while.  Mama and the girls stayed at Laolao’s place for the entire time we were there.

Secondly, it was for Nainai and Yeye (my mum and dad).  They have just returned to New Zealand after a month here in China.  They spent half their time here in Guangzhou, then they took the fast train up north for a bit of stereotypical China-sightseeing.  They stopped off in Xi’an for a few days, visiting the terracotta warriors in their pits.  Then they had a week in Beijing.  I was their tour guide to the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven.  I had a day off when one of Yeye’s old students took them to the Summer Palace.

For the week that my parents were in Beijing, I stayed with them in a two-bedroom apartment about 30 minutes’ walk from Laolao’s home.  I visited Mama and the girls each day, but it is still the most I have been separated from the girls in their lives.  After Nainai and Yeye flew back to New Zealand, I moved back into Laolao’s crowded home with them.

But truth be told, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Beijing, too, and it wasn’t just a duty trip for the oldies.  These iconic Beijing locations are still breathtaking to experience, even though it was my third time on the Wall and to the Temple of Heaven, and second in the Forbidden City (and about my dozen-th time in the big T-Square—where the security gets tighter with every visit).

I think my most enjoyable times were spent in the Olympic Forest Park.  Laolao lives within walking distance of the 2008 Beijing Olympic centre, and I went three times to the park—once with the girls and twice on my own.  Each of those three days were clear, blue-sky days, and the autumn weather was very mild and pleasant.

It was a great feeling, of course, to walk past the “Bird’s Nest” stadium and “Water Cube” swimming centre.  (Though in my opinion, the area is now, six years after the event, starting to look a little rundown, with rust, weeds and broken bits.)  But the best bit by far is the little slice of heaven of foresty-park in the middle of the city.  It really is quite remarkable.

The park itself is huge, and one can walk for many hours along the paths, beside the lake and through the trees.  (I wouldn’t quite call it a forest, as the trees are planted a little too regularly and with big gaps between them.)  The park can get pretty crowded, but often I was still able to find secluded spots out of the way to lie down and read in peace and quiet.  One time I saw a chipmunk scurry past me as I sat quietly on a rock.  (At the Temple of Heaven, my parents and I watched a squirrel for several minutes as it darted around up and down trees.)

In the Olympic Forest Park, I finally understood why the sports shops in China sell tents.  I have always wondered, because I have never known Chinese to be big campers.  But the big grassy fields in the park were an eye-opener.  In the weekends and public holidays, hundreds of locals set up their tents for the day, side-by-side like a camping ground, where they relax, picnic and play games.  I have never seen this happen in Guangzhou.

In our two weeks in Beijing, we experienced the change of season, from mid-high 20s autumn temperature, to slightly more icy hint-of-winter weather.  While we were on the Great Wall the temperature dropped to 14 degrees, and the mist closed in around us.  In our final few days there, I swapped my shorts for longs, and I even appreciated the sweatshirt I brought with me.

Back here in Guangzhou, we are back to summer again.  It will be nice to have two Chinese autumns this year.