2015 China

8 April, Qufu to Beijing
Shindom Inn 199CNY

We nearly missed our train to Beijing. The first, minor, delay was caused by our hostess who asked to have her photograph taken with us in her courtyard garden in front of a large poster of bright peonies, one-time national flower of China. Then, the sun being out for the first time in days, we dawdled in our search for a taxi, taking photos of Qufu’s city wall. When we got into the taxi, I checked our train tickets for the exact departure time – 10:34 – and it was then Charl noted it was already 10:10 and that it had taken 20 minutes for him to get to the station yesterday. Eeek! We showed our taxi driver our tickets and he put his foot to the metal and got us to the station at 10:21 where we pushed our way to the front of the ticket and baggage check queue and ran all the way to Platform 2. Passengers are allowed access to the high-speed train platforms around fifteen minutes or so prior to departure, just enough time to find their coach number marked on the platform and queue there in preparation for boarding. Fast trains wait for no man. The stops at most stations are brief, the boarding process hurried along by station officials. The fact that the train floor is parallel to the platform makes boarding quick and easy; none of those pesky and awkward stairs found on older trains. We made it to the back of the queue for coach 12 with literally one minute to spare before the train pulled in. An adrenaline rush for breakfast! And a quick run into the capital, cruising speed a tad over 300kph.  

Two stops on subway Line 4 and two on Line 7 brought us to within easy reach of our hotel, which is located in one of Beijing’s hutong (alleyways) within walking distance of the Forbidden City (now the Palace Museum) and Tiananmen Square.

At a whopping 440,000 square metres, Tiananmen Square is the fourth largest city square in the world (the top three being in China, Indonesia and Brazil). It lies between two ancient and impressive gates: the Gate of Heavenly Peace to the north and the Zhengyang Gate to the south. The flatness of the square is broken by the 38-metre high Monument to the People’s Heroes and the pretentious and bulky Chairman Mao Memorial Hall where Mao’s mummified corpse lies in a crystal cabinet. Access to all this open space is carefully controlled with limited access points and security checks at each; video cameras are fitted to the lampposts and uniformed and plain clothes police monitor the site.

En route the square this afternoon, we discovered that charming pedestrian streets, Dhazalan and Qianmen, lie to the south and west of the square. These were completely renovated in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The buildings are pretty and we were particularly taken with the life-size bronze statues depicting outside a store the product sold within it.

We braved the cold to watch the lowering of the flag ceremony at 18:45, sunset. A troop of People’s Liberation Army soldiers march from the Gate of Heavenly Peace at precisely 108 paces per minute, covering 75cm per pace, cross the road to the square (all traffic is halted), lower the flag and return to the gate.

Then out for a delicious meal of lamb and eggplant, then home, tired but happy.