Biking Beijing

Since it is not a particularly flattering story, I am going to skip over—and in turn, try to forget—writing about the process of getting to Beijing. The short version is that due to the typhoon and my failed attempt to fly standby out of Hong Kong, I was stuck at the airport for about seven hours yesterday trying to get back to Shanghai. I eventually did, early this morning, and then I took the train (which I was really excited I figured out how to navigate on my own) to Beijing. My first impression of Beijing was that it is really cool looking, but really freaking hot. Both of these ideas were confirmed when I got lost for about 90 minutes in a little alley-like maze while looking for my hostel. It would have been really cool, except for the fact it was 110* out and I was carrying everything I currently own in a backpack. I seriously though I was stroking out at one point I was so hot. But with the help of a random collection of people—including one Arab guy, and two Australian girls—I made to my hostel, checked in, and literally passed out in my room.
When I came to, I spent the rest of the night drinking water, finding dinner—which I did at a little noodle house—and figuring out how to spend time in Beijing. I talked to the concierge about tours offered through the hostel, but they all seemed a little iffy to me. Online, I found a place to rent a bike and decided that’s where I would start. I could explore Beijing, and then figure out where everything is, while hopefully not succumbing to life threatening dehydration.

When I got to the bike rental place today, they informed me that there was a tour starting. If I joined the couple that was reserved, they would drop the price for all 3 of us. It was still a little steep but as I thought about it, I realized I have not been super successful at navigating these past few days. I came too far to not get to see Beijing because I keep getting lost in the heat…so I decided to join the tour.

It turned out to be awesome. I finally feel like I am understanding Chinese history.

In terms of Beijing, there are 3 dynastys that have been based out of it. The first dyanasty was the Yuan dynasty. These were the descendents of Genghis Khan that rule China after the Mongols invaded. They chose Beijing as a strategic capital because it was north (close to Mongolia) and very, very flat—which also makes it great for bike riding. The name Beijing—and I’m really proud I put this together from my mandarin lessons, even before our guide spelled it out—means “north capital.”

The Yuan dynasty was eventually over thrown and the Ming dynasty began. The Mings moved the capital to Nanjing (which means “Southern Capital”.) Their rule was smooth until a very powerful general attempted to usurp power from his nephew that had recently become emporer. Having defeated his nephew and stolen the thrown, the general moved the capital back to Beijing and began construction of the Forbidden City. From this point on, the Ming Dynasty can pretty much be credited with all the famous “Chinese stuff” including building the Great Wall and becoming the longest continual governing body in human history.

But this too did not last (although it made it a heck of long time…the Mings ruled from 1368-1644). Eventually the Manchurians invaded and established the Qing Dynasty, which lasted from 1644 until the end of WWII. The name “China” actually came from the Qing Dynasty. Chinese people do not call China, “China.” The Chinese name is “Zhong Guo,” which if literally translated means “Middle Kingdom.” China has long believed that the rest of the world is barbaric and China is the most developed civilization on Earth (a view that pretty much still permeates a lot of Chinese society.) If you buy a map made in China of China for sale in China….China is in the middle of the map.

The fall of Qing rule was basically plagued by the Opium Wars with Britain. Since their economy was crippled following the wars, the common people were basically left in poverty. Eventually, the revolted and, demanding democracy, established the Republic of China in the early 1900’s. Following War World II—after America helped return much of China to China from Japanese possession, including Nanjing—The People’s Republic of China was established and basically exists in the same form it has since then.

Originally in the design of Beijing, there was an inner wall and outer city wall. With sort of a “no man’s land” in between. This kept commoners from even thinking about entering the city. There was also a wall around Beijing (China has a thing for walls.) The inner wall still surrounds the Forbidden City, but the other two walls were torn down in riots following the Opium Wars. Only one segement of the middle wall (which formed the outer boundary of the “no-mans” land is left) and that was our first stop on the tour.

Next we rode into one of the Hutongs. I’d been reading a lot about this concept so I kind of understood what they were (I am actually staying in one.) Basically, the first problem the Mongolians had to face when they arrived, was how to get water. Since Beijing is built in the middle of a desert, there was no access to water, except to dig down. Once they dug into the wells, they created little canals to get the water around town. Homes were built around the canals and the word “hutong” was used to describe the space between the homes that the water flowed through.

But the design of these homes was elaborate. A hutong would have several parts to it. The entry to the home was a large ornate gate. The gate told people passing by about the family that lived there. There would be an even number of pillars (between 2 and 12) over the entry way of the gate. The more pillars, the higher you were in society. Marriages were arranged and always between a boy and girl of the same ranking family (occasionally the daughter would have less, as a son could be married down but not up.) Boys were often married to multiple wives, the first served as the “wife” in the sense of being a companion and mate, while the other wives were for the purpose of having children. Therefore with in the Hutong, there was housing for the parents, the sons, and their wives, often all living in separate courters. The gate would also tell about your role in society. If there was a drum carved into your gate, it meant you were in the military. If there were books, it meant you were well studied.

Hutongs were built long before the concept of plumbing was created. Since it was too costly to put plumbing in every home, centrally located bathrooms were built. They often did not have doors, so the people would sing while in the bathroom to let people know it was occupied. This—and I am being 100% serious—is actually the origin of Kareoke in China. I didn’t catch what my guide said the original name was but it translated to “Happy room.”

These gates are beautiful, and covered in all different colors of mosaicad tiles (which also have symbolic meaning.) In modern day, each of the dwellings inside the hutong serves as a separate house for a separate family. Some have also been converted to buildings, like the hostel I am staying in.

Our next stop was the bell and drum towers, which are under renovation this month. Basically, these towers were used to tell time before the clock came to China (it was eventually brought over by the British.) Both towers were also built by the Mongolians and are several stories high. The Bell Tower is red and round, while the Drum tower looks carved of sandstone. The Bell was rung in the morning when it was time for farmers to go out into the fields. Farmers fields were several miles outside of the city wall, so they would go there to work in the day, and then come back to Beijing at night. The Drum was beat to notify the farmers that the city wall was closing and that they needed to hurry back. In modern day, they are used to celebrate the Chinese new year.

We rode through a hutong, until our guide came to a sudden stop. He pointed to a building to our right that really didn’t look like much in structure but was brightly colored. It was the first Buddhist temple in Beijing, and also home to all Buddhist doctrine used in China. The only person who could pray there was the emperor, and to this day it is closed to non-government officials.

At this end of this street was Beihai park. “Beihai” means “north sea.” This name was also given by the mongols. Having lived in landlocked cities, the Mongolians had never seen the ocean when they arrived in Beijing. They had heard about a great body of water, but they had no reference for what it looked like. When they arrived at this lake, they believed it was the ocean, so they called it North Sea. If you ever see it, you’ll be struck by the irony of this, because the average person could definitely throw a baseball across most of the lake.

During the Ming Dynasty, a lot of odd sexual laws came to be. I’ll get into more of that later, but the relevant one to Beihai park deals with the princes of the Emperor. It was determined when a prince turned 15, it was too risky to let him continue to live with his mother. Therefore, the emperor would build a house for each of his sons in Beihai park and move them there after their 15^th birthdays. When the British arrived in China, they also enjoyed the lake and built lots of pubs around the waterfront. Many of the prince’s homes are gone, but a lot of the pubs still remain. Some have been converted to music shops, while others are still bars with live entertainment from locals.