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Beijing

The Trip to China in 2001

TiananmenMore Photos

by Sakura

A July 2001 travel journal

Last Updated: October 3, 2001

Journal Usefulness Rating 3 out of 5
Journal Usefulness Rating
26
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82
Photos

Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. As I red about the wideness of the city in many guidebooks, I believe that I understood its scale already. But when I actually walk "Beijing is large" indeed. Unlike Shanghai, an active commercial city, it has many cultural heritages and has settled down atmosphere. The appearance of Beijing is modernizing quickly. Bicycles are replacing by cars. People's dress is increasing brightness. Does the view of people is changing as well as the city? I will look carefully which way this city will go in the 21st century. To me, Beijing is one of the most interesting cities to observe now.

Tiananmen
Whatever the merit of this hotel may call it, it is the location. It fronts on Wangfujing street. You can easily go anywhere. It is safe until late night with many people around the street. The buffet in the morning was very nice. Simple Chinese or Korean style foof were served other than usual western breakfast. So, you can enjoy the breakfast even if you stay here three days or more. The chef makes the omelet with your favorite ingredients on your request.

The hotel staff are very friendly and speak English. When the coffeemaker in my room was out of order, they fixed it immediately. Although the interior of the building is not luxurious, it is clean and sufficient. This hotel assures you a comfortable stay.

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My room
Whatever the hotel may call its merits, it is the location. It fronts on Wangfujing Street. You can easily go anywhere. It is safe until late night with many people around the street. The buffet in the morning was very nice. Simple Chinese and Korean style food were served other than usual western breakfast. So, you can enjoy the breakfast even if you stay there three days or more. The chef makes the omelet with your favorite ingredients on your request. The hotel staff is very friendly and speaks English. When the coffee maker in my room was out of order, they fixed it immediately. Although the interior of the building was not luxurious, it was clean and sufficient. This hotel assures you a comfortable stay.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Sakura on September 27, 2001

Crowne Plaza Beijing
48 WANGFUJING DAJIE Beijing, China
86-10-65133388

Lobby
At the moment of stepping in the hotel, I said "fantastic". The building has high ceilings with shinning marble floors. The sofa and cabinet are placed at the corner of it. I admired their refined sense. It is one of the most elegant interior designs I have ever seen. Not only the interior of the hotel, but the attitude of the hotel staff is wonderful. It is uncommon in China that the staff talk to their customers with smiles all the time.

The interior of the guestroom is also splendid. I especially liked the bathroom. Although it is not large, it has a graceful setting. The quality of the furniture in the standard room proves the height of the grade of this hotel. Their service is amazing. You can call the butler any time for a cup of coffee. Welcome fruit was beautifully set with knife and fork on the table. A telephone call comes from reception on the day of checkout to ask the time of departure, which is an agreeable service of the hotel, having many high-class businessmen as other guests.

In the evening, you can go to the club lounge and have some alcohol and snacks. It is regrettable the fitness center was under construction. The pool was not completed yet. As for as the details of the construction work concerns, it is a hotel in China, a little rough. But as far as the sense of interior design is concerned, it is certainly one of the finest five-star hotels I ever stayed in. I recommend this hotel for those who want to spend the time gracefully in Beijing.

  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 27, 2001

Lc The St Regis Beijing
21 JIANGUOMENWAI DAJIE Beijing, China
8610-6460-6688

chef
I went to this restaurant on my husband's birthday. It is very famous for its Beijing Duck. It has a fine building and has eating space on each floor. When we went to the 4th floor, two westerner groups and a Japanese couple were eating already. We ordered using some Japanese and English. I was disappointed they had only asparagus and broccoli as green vegetables. But we liked their Beijing duck very much for its crisp skin. The chef cut your duck in front of you as in the picture. It was fun to see the waitress pour Chinese tea by the pot whose nozzle is very long.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Sakura on September 27, 2001

Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant
32 Qianmen Avenue Beijing, China 100051
+86 (0)10 6511 2418

Sign of the restaurant
This restaurant is located in Dazhalan at Qianmen. You can eat good food for very reasonable prices. They have a wide range of a la carte menu items besides Beijing Duck. I saw many local people were enjoying their lunch. In my view, the duck is as good as the one served in the famous Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant. As for the duck soup, we preferred this restaurant. This is good place to eat. I strongly recommend this place for budget traveller. I don't know why but the restroom was very dark. I could not be comfortable in it. So, please stay away from their toilet.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on October 1, 2001

DA ZHA LAN DE YUAN KAO YADIAN
Dazhalan street Beijing, China

Liyuan Theatre

Activity

Dressing room entrance
We went to Liyuan Theatre at Jianguo Hotel to see the Beijing Opera. Their opera was easy to see for the foreigners. English sub-titles appears on the board. The contents of the opera consists of the famous part of the renowned opera, somersaults, scuffles, etc. You can enjoy it by your eyes even if you don't understand Chinese. An hour of the performance had passed very quickly. If you only want to experience the atmosphere of the Beijing Opera, this is the place you should go. If those who want to see a real one, you have to go the theater such as Changan Great Theater.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 27, 2001

Li Yuan Theater
Qian Men Hotel, 175 Yong An Road Beijing, China 100050
+86 (0)10 6301 6688

Tiananmen

Activity

Gate
Visiting Tiananmen is a must for everyone. The portrait of Mao Tse-Tung is displayed the front of the building. It is always crowded with tourists from all over the country. You will have a hard time taking pictures while avoiding other persons passing by. The security was strict. I found many guards standing around. We first bought a ticket for climbing the Tiananmen, then went to the specific place to deposit our bags with some charge (you can't carry a bottle of water, either). When I reached upwards, I could enjoy the magnificent view of Tiananmen Square. They issue the certificate of your visit at the price of 8 yuan. My husband bought one. They typed his name on the certificate, so it became a good souvenir. Moreover, you can get a small batch of communist party with it. I recollected President Jiang Zemin waved his hand to many publics from the place, when Beijing was determined as the venue of the Olympic Games in 2008 on the previous day.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 29, 2001

Tiananmen Square
Chang An Avenue Beijing, China 100006
${BCPhone}

Red star ceiling
We left the hotel at 8:30 a.m. We took the bus No.2 to Qianmen. The destination was The Great Hall of the People. If it says in Japan, it is the place like the Diet Building. I was very impressed with the high ceiling in the entrance hall. The building was made of marble, so it is cool inside. I felt my body was getting cooled little by little.

The building is very graceful and beautiful, so it is quite suitable to the Chinese government organization. I like it very much. There are many rooms, which have unique interiors peculiar to each race, except for the large conference room, which is familiar to everyone on TV. The peculiar gorgeous chandelier attracted the eye in every room.

  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 29, 2001

The Great Hall of the People
West side of Tiananmen Square Beijing, China

Around Qianmen

Activity

Zhongyang Gate
Since Great Hall of the People and Mao Zedong Mausoleum were closed on Sunday, we strolled around Qianmen. It is the best place to find cheap souvenirs. I found many Mao Tse-Tung goods were sold and red-covered Mao's analects were the most conspicuous among them. My husband bought a bamboo fan for 1.5 yuan in the stall. I liked yogurt put in white small porcelain pot. As they were cooled in a refrigerator, I could eat it without worry. It was very tasty. My husband bought some tealeaves shaped like a pine needle for 90 yuan (150g) at Tianfu Mingcha. They said they were good for high blood pressure. But we found it was too bitter to drink, when he tried to drink at home, so the tea is just kept in our kitchen at the moment. On our way back, we picked up the No.2 bus that would likely go near our hotel. Bingo! It reached only 5 or 6 minutes away from the hotel. It was handy. Getting the bus map at Beijing Station was a very good idea.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 29, 2001

Qian Men
Between Qian Men East and Qian Men West Avenues Beijing, China
${BCPhone}

Bronze Lion
Forbidden City is vast. All the colors of the buildings are fascinating. The fine curving under the roof shows workmanship and is painted in vivid color. You will have to take a several days if you want see all of the buildings in such a large site. So you have to plan the best route for you beforehand. There is a cozy tea room in the Imperial Garden. We drank litchi tea (15 yuan) and the most popular Chinese tea, whose name I forgot (20 yuan). They were very nice. As the waitress poured hot water any time, you can drink many cups of tea. We could take a good rest at the tea room with air-conditioner. On the other hand, the restaurants in Forbidden City were not good.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 29, 2001

Forbidden City
North of Tiananmen Square Beijing, China 100009
+86 (0)10 6512 2255

Jingshan Park

Activity

The view
We got out of the Forbidden City through the northern gate. We crossed the road, then reached the entrance of Jinshan Park soon. We started exploring the park from the east side and climbed up to the hill then down to the west side. You will get a magnificent view of the Forbidden City from the top of the hill. Tourists came up the hill one after another. Chinese parents looked so happy when they took pictures of their kids there. It was nice to see such happy Chinese families.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 30, 2001

Jing Shan Park
Jing Shan East Street, North of the Forbidden City Beijing, China
+86 (0)10 6404 4071

Beihai Park

Activity

White Dagoba
We got out of the western gate of Jingshan Park. As many people went to the direction of Beihai Park, we followed them up to the entrance of it. We went around the lake seeing White Dagoba far away. The cool wind blew on my face once in a while. It's comfortable. The best way you can spend the hot summer season in Beijing is to be at the waterfront.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Sakura on September 30, 2001

Bei Hai Park
1 Wen Jin Street Beijing, China 100034
+86 (0)10 6403 1102

Entrance
The Great Wall was crowed with Chinese tourist and foreign tourists. The entrance was divided into the course which goes to the south (right hand), and the course which goes to the north (left hand). Although we took the north course, it was a good walking course. You have to go up the steep slopes. It was tired but the higher you climb, the better scenery you can get. The view from the Great Wall was like a Chinese landscape painting. It was great. I was surprised to know I was up as high as the altitude of 800m soon after we started climbing. I admired such a huge construction made so many years ago. For the elder person, the north course might make them exhausted. As my husband is a tough guy, he challenged the south course as well. The way is milder. You can feel as if the Great Wall continued ahead forever.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 30, 2001

Great Wall
North of Beijing city Beijing, China
+86 (0)10 6912 1235

Dispersing Clouds Hall
The Summer Palace was crowded with Chinese and foreign tourists as was the Forbidden City. An artificial lake, ship and bridge are beautifully arranged in the large site and all exuded coolness. The famous long corridor along Kunming Lake was full of those who escaped from intense sunlight. The elegance of it decreased much, so I was a little disappointed. As a whole, the Summer Palace is like the place where the scale of Beihai Park seems much larger and more gorgeous.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 30, 2001

Summer Palace
West of the Ruins of the Old Summer Palace Beijing, China 100091
+86 (10) 6288 1144

Hall of Prayer
We went to Temple of Heaven, which was built for the emperor to pray for a good harvest. The blue (purple) color of the roof was so beautiful. I felt the form of the building was very unique. Everything was very well taken care of in the park. The toilet on the northern part of the park was just before completion, but it could be used. It was very modern and clean.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Sakura on September 30, 2001

Temple of Heaven
Tian Tan North Rd. Beijing, China 100050
+86 (0)10 6702 2242

Yayuan Temple

Activity

Entrance
This is one of the oldest temples in Beijing. Many Buddhist images are placed in the temple. I felt those images were very familiar to me. All of a sudden, a person talked to my husband. He asked him if he was Japanese and said that this temple was not well known even among locals, so he was curious about persons from Japan. According to him, he was a Chinese who came from "Mukden". My husband answered the temple had something to do with the ones in Nara or Kyoto in Japan, so he wanted to see it. The Chinese person speaks Japanese very well. I wondered where he learned it. After coming back to Japan, I realized "Mukden" is called Shenyang at the present and it used to be a city in old Manchuria (used to be a Japanese-dominated state). Then I understood the reason of his good Japanese. We found the stone monument on which "Heart Sutra" was described in its precincts. That is the most famous Sutra and the only Sutra we know. I certainly felt the religious sphere in China, Korea and Japan throughout the temple.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Sakura on October 1, 2001

Yayuan Temple
Beijing Beijing, China

Falum Hall
This is the most famous Tibetan Temple in Beijing. The style of building is as colorful as Han Manchuria, Mongolia, and Tibet. And they are arranged perfectly in the large site. They are gorgeous. I was very interested in the thing shaped like cylinder. If you turn it by the hand once, you can get the same effect when you read a sutra once.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Sakura on October 1, 2001

Lama Temple
12 Yong He Gong Avenue Beijing, China 100007
+86 (0)10 6404 4499;

Bell Tower

Activity

Iron Bell
We went through the old area up to Drum Tower and Bell Tower. It was regrettable we could not see Drum Tower, since it was under renovation. We only visited Bell Tower. We reached the large Iron Bell after climbing long steep steps. You can get the panoramic view of old housing areas from the tower if the weather is good on your visit day. I was sorry the sky was not very clear with slight mist, so I couldn't get very clear view on the day.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Sakura on October 1, 2001

Great Bell Temple
31A North Third Ring Road West Road Beijing, China
+86 (0)10 6255 0843

Ritan Park

Activity

A gate
Ritan Park was busy on Sunday morning. Many Chinese people were enjoying in each way, folk dance, tai chi, social dance, and practicing the rope skipping by more than 10 people. I was a little surprised, when 1 yuan was required to enter the park. I am sure local people have certain preferential treatment in it. It was clean and organized very well, which made it worth paying the money. This is a good place for a walk in the morning. From the healthy active Chinese people, I got much energy for life.
  • Member Rating 3 out of 5 by Sakura on October 1, 2001

Ri Tan Park
Ri Tan Road, Beijing, China 100020
+86 (0)10 6502 1743

Building
The greatest worry about the trip to China for women is the toilet situation. When I heard they have no doors, I felt scared to visit China. But I didn't encounter the toilet without a door in my trip. It was mostly because I was very careful to choose the place. The restroom in the main tourist attractions and Wangfujing in Beijing are modernized. The pictures shown here are located between the bus station of Badaling Great Wall and the entrance of Great Wall. When my husband visited China in 1994, he found holes on the ground with only a low screen between them without door. So, he was very surprised to find this clean modern toilet. Then he took the picture. I found the ones in the temple of Heaven and Summer place were also nice. China is making rapidly modern restrooms in major sightseeing places for the Olympic games in 2008. But toilets in the futongs (back lanes) and local restaurants are still terrible.
Pushcarts
We went to Dong'anmen night market after the break at the hotel. Most of the stalls sold local food and every stall was alike. Uniquely spiced beef stuck by a long skewer cost 5 yuan. It was good. The red-bean soup was for 8 yuan. That was not tasty. The place was quite different from the market in Hong Kong or Taiwan, where lots of stalls were open without space in the large site. It was only ten or more pretty pushcarts lined up along the street. I was disappointed to see it. I had no excitement in it.

Futongs

Experience

Futong
We walked around the old back lanes called Futong. Since each house has a wall at the entrance, we could not see the inner situation of the house. They are made of bricks and cement and looked very old. Most of them are decaying gradually, so they are replacing a new building in many areas. We came across a few traditional structures as in the picture here. They are used as a meeting place for the community at present.

Xiushui Silk Market

Experience

Open only daytime
In the evening, we went to Ziushui Silk Market. They sell mainly silk products, but many other types of clothing are available as well at a low price. It's a typical Chinese style market. You will negotiate the price of the goods you want to buy, since they have no price tags. Many stalls were lined up along the street. It was fun to look around. They finished their business after sunset, since they had no electricity or have some other reason. It was regrettable the market was closed less than an hour after our arrival.
Traditional Tea Store
We bought some Chinese tea at Zhangyiyuan Chazhuang at Dazhalan street in Qianmen, which is one of the oldest tea stores in Beijing. Jasmine tea seemed very popular among local people. Prices are shown on each kind of tea at the unit of 500g. But they also sell a tea canister (about 200g) at 35 yuan. So we wonder if they might sell 200g of tea as well. We wanted to ask someone, but we don't speak Chinese and no one helped us. We were at the loss without help in the store. There another teashop named Tianfu Mingcha in the other side of the road from Zhangyiyuan Chazhuang. This shop is very convenient for foreign tourists, since some staff speaks English. They also offer tastings of various kinds of tea they sell in the shop. Many tourists come and actually buy tea there. It seemed the difference between the new style of business and the old traditional one was seen. We bought some tea effective against high blood pressure in this shop. Still, we were eager to buy some at Zhangyiyuan Chazhuang, which has the dignity of the long-established tea store, so we returned to it.

We found the set of tea for a gift in the showcase, which contained three canisters of Jasmine tea. We decided to take it as souvenir, because it was very easy to buy. We spoke to a salesclerk nearby to order. In our very surprise, he replied in Japanese. We asked him many questions about Chinese tea since then and we finally bought 250g of oolong tea in a tea canister as well a gift set of Jasmine. He looked very young and worried he was forgetting his Japanese, working in this shop where he hardly had an opportunity to speak it. But his Japanese helped us very much. We appreciated him and wished him a good luck in his future. He made a beautiful smile when we left the shop. In my view, the price of Zhangyiyuan Chazhuang is a little less expensive than Tianfu Mingcha.

Jianguomen
It was the last night in Beijing. So we decided to walk on our return way to the hotel. We strolled along the Oriental Plaza from Wangfujing to Dongdan then went on to our hotel through Jianguomen. Although there was not much traffic on the street around 10:00 p.m., we didn't feel any danger. The main street was large, clean and safe. We enjoyed seeing Beijing Station light up beautifully. I imagined how gorgeous the Forbidden City and Tiananmen were at night. In a moment, our night walk in China was over. We reached the hotel too soon. It was somewhat regrettable. At the elegant lounge of St. Regis, we celebrated the last night, drinking a glass of Chingtao beer. Our trip was ending. We recollected many good memories we had from this trip. A toast was given to them.

Wangfujing Street

Experience

Very modern street
Our hotel was in front of Wangfujing Street - the most prosperous shopping quarter. The street was full of foreign and Chinese tourists. From the middle, it became a pedestrian paradise, so you could go back and forth very easily. It must be fun to step in the drug store, which is located diagonally across the road from Crown Plaza Hotel. They have wide range of Chinese medicines. As they have a system like a supermarket, it is very easy to buy something. I found several medicines familiar to me. At the southern end of the Wangfujing street, there is Oriental Plaza - the biggest and most modern shopping complex. It is sure you will forget that you are in China when you, among many fashionable young people, walk along it.

About the Writer

Sakura
Sakura
Kobe

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