When you arrive in the vast, ever-changing urban landscape of Beijing, you can feel you’re in the cultural and economic heart of modern Asia. While the name Middle Kingdom (or Zhongyuan in Chinese) has fallen out of favour, there’s a lingering credibility to it as China’s influence stretches across oceans. Yet, beneath China’s long history and boundless ambition sits a capital city of over 22 million people that routinely steals visitors’ hearts—not with grand architecture or monuments, but with its character.
Our first day in Beijing comes after a midnight arrival and an awkward exchange with our cab driver. I’d thought myself prepared for China’s reluctance to accept western credit cards, brandishing my freshly downloaded Alipay app—the preferred method of payment in many stores in China—only to be greeted by a cryptic error message. Fortunately, cash is still king. So, tired and mildly humbled, we get some sleep in preparation for a full day exploring the other side of Beijing.
Exploring Beijing’s Spiritual Hub
That day starts at Lama Temple, ever-busy not just because it’s a popular Beijing tourist attraction, but because it’s a Buddhist spiritual hub for locals as well. We’ve just come from a week in predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka, but China’s school of Buddhism is somewhat different, emphasizing forging a connection with the Buddha in life over notions of reincarnation.
Our local expert, Ms. Li, takes us through the series of altars housed within the temple. Incense sticks in hand, we’re instructed in how to pray at each one, as well as what they represent. While paying respect to the gods across the board is good, it’s just as important to direct your prayer to the right deity. From education to prosperity to family, each has a different focus, so it’s no surprise that Lama draws such a diverse crowd. While many Chinese don’t consider themselves religious, there is an undeniable spirituality that imbues daily life, like smoke from the incense sticks throughout the temple, each carrying the prayer of the person who lit it.
A Time-Honoured Local Lifestyle in Beijing’s Hutongs
In a city where wide boulevards connect cavernous museums, administrative buildings and commercial towers of glass and steel, the traditional homes of those families that served the former emperor and royal family remain remarkably humble. Their descendants still live in the Hutongs, picturesque neighbourhoods of traditional one and two-storey houses separated by brick walls, circular gateways, and other traditional Chinese architectural staples. While the Hutongs attract plenty of tourists to the cafes and souvenir shops that dot them today, a pedicab tour takes us through the back streets, offering a glimpse of their more local side before lunch awaits at a family home.
Lunch is understating it a bit. After a fun crash course in making Chinese dumplings reveals our need to go easier on the filling, we enjoy the fruits of our amateur labour alongside a multi-course, home-cooked banquet that spoils us for all other meals during our eight days in China. The real treat, however, comes when we have a chance to talk with our multi-talented host, whose family has preserved a highly specialized talent since imperial times. We watch, trying not to go slack-jawed as the woman who not thirty minutes ago served us our fantastic feast delicately paints the inside of a tiny snuff bottle using a fine hook-shaped brush. On the table in front of her lie dozens of finished bottles, each painted with scenes evoking nature or Chinese culture, and each dazzling with its intricacy, particularly now that we’ve seen the skill at work in their creation. While our host has officially retired from the art, her niece has kept the tradition alive, including painting commemorative pieces for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Beijing’s Splendid Summer Palace
While the Hutongs housed the Forbidden City’s innumerable staff, the Royal Family themselves preferred to escape the capital’s hot summers at the opulent Summer Palace, their serene home some 20 km (13 mi) to the northwest. Admittedly, serene is not a word that comes to mind as busloads of curious tourists descend on the palace today, but Ms. Li expertly leads us through the crowd, giving a rundown of the palace’s history, along with explaining some of its symbology, and the story behind the many buildings and temples that dot the palace grounds. Many of these, particularly the Tibetan-style temples on the far side of the hill, are closed to the public today, but allowed the palace to serve as a spiritual home as well as a summer retreat for royalty in its heyday.
Rebuilt after fires during the Opium Wars, the Summer Palace is today one of Beijing’s most impressive wonders. Exploring it is absolutely worth braving the crowd, but its most impressive view comes on a short boat ride across Kunming Lake to Nanhu Island, where we catch our breath with a panoramic view of the temples dotting the palace grounds.
Practical Tips for Exploring Beijing
Beijing is an enormous city with neighbourhoods well-connected by metro and bus. Cabs and rideshare are also widespread and affordable, and while not particularly walkable, Beijing is a very safe city to explore on foot. Once you’ve seen the big-ticket attractions like the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, you’ll want time to explore it on your own, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
Use apps to pay.
Instead of credit cards, most transactions in China are done via an app such as Alipay or WeChat, but as we learned on our arrival night, carry some yuan with you as well, just in case the app has any difficulty. Your credit card will still do the trick in most hotels, upmarket restaurants, some larger stores, and many tourist attractions. In addition, if your Alipay or WeChat fails the first time, try it again for a smaller purchase such as street food. Watching for queues of locals on Quianmen Street, Alipay in hand, we cobbled together a delicious street food dinner on our last night in Beijing—no match for our Hutong lunch, but satisfying all the same.
Keep your passport on you at all times.
You’ll need to show it in order to buy tickets for most attractions in Beijing, including the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, and Lama Temple. If you’re visiting with a guide, they’ll need to show it on your behalf.
Consider alternatives to the bus.
Finally, while Beijing’s public transit is excellent, buses in particular are often crowded and uncomfortable during peak times. The ever-expanding metro system is a bit more forgiving if you can’t wait for the crowds to pass.
Discover Beijing on your own tailor-made vacation to China.
Christian’s first globetrotting adventure saw him get lost exploring the streets of Saigon. Following his nose to Asia’s best coffee, two lifelong addictions were born. A freelance writer and novelist, Christian’s travels have since taken him around his native Australia, Asia, Europe, and much of North America. His favourite trips have been through Japan, Spain, and Brazil, though with a love of off-beat, artsy cities, he’ll seize any opportunity to return to Paris, New York, or Berlin.
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