If you ever get a chance to go to Beijing…don’t.
That’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of this place. Yet, in the immediate, haggard breaths after that thought I take it back. Kinda. To explain these feelings and thoughts, it’s best to break it down. Here then, is Beijing in ten words, maybe eleven.
Smog. So thick you can taste it. See….
Litter. When the grandmother squatting on the sidewalk in that typical Asian resting pose—something that looks more like a yoga position or a one-step guide to blowing out my ACL—when that lady is done with her paper cup of noodles, you can bet she is just going to toss it in the street. And the chopsticks. And the water bottle. And the napkin. And the wrapper that the napkin came in. So is everyone else. It’s a wonder the litter isn’t ankle deep…actually in some places it is.
Garbage. Different from litter. Litter I consider to be almost inert, or basically inorganic, with little to offer creatures and bacteria and mold. For me garbage is the stuff that creates those smells that punch you in the face, especially when it is 99 degrees fahrenheit and the air quality index is already in the ‘high-risk, shutter-yourself-indoors’ category. A city of 20 million people creates lots of garbage, and you can see it easily, piled on every corner and stacked up in every alleyway.
Spit. Bunch of camels around here. Everyone. Literally, every single human in Beijing spits. Rich or poor, blue collar or white, men, women, old ladies, pretty girls, ugly boys, they all spit. At work, in the home, it don’t matter… Haccch, haacch, haaaaaach….ptoey.
Assless chaps. Not sure if this counts as one or two words. Either way, it’s real. They don’t do diapers in China. Nope. Instead they have elected to cloth their infants and toddlers in assless chaps. You really haven’t lived until you are sitting in a restaurant and a young mother rushes past you holding her baby at arms length, legs pulled up, dashing for a potted plant outside to…water. Or fertilize.
These five are real. They are un-ignoreable. The first four dominate the senses, seeing and tasting that yellow sour metal in the air, catching that whiff that almost floors you, hearing that deep, throat-clearing precursor to a real thick and juicy loogey. It’s all around. And the last, those assless chaps, I think we can all agree those speak for themselves.
BUT!
After you don your little surgeon’s mask to filter out all the lung-tearing micro-particles that are in the air, after you learn to be a mouth breather underneath that mask so you don’t have to use your nose for smelling, it is easy to see that Beijing is more than just a hazard to your health. Much much more. It is the center of the Chinese universe.
Power. Beijing is the capital city, has been for some time now, and it is easy to feel that. Mao is alive. No, not for real, although his body is stuffed and mounted in his mausoleum in the dead center of Tiananmen Square. He is an icon, an idol, a deity. His image is everywhere, on buildings, in sidewalks, on t-shirts, and on almost every denomination of the currency. He is the face of communism and his spectre is as palpable as the smog around you.
Universities. The best schools in China, from primary school all the way up to university level, they are all in Beijing. This is the intellectual center. Some families in the country, if they are able, pick their best and brightest kid and send them off to Beijing at an early age. Want to get ahead? You must take schooling in Beijing.
Art. For many areas in China, art seems undervalued. It is frivolous and postmodern, for those only wealthy enough to not need a degree or trade or skill-set that can actually put food on the table. When a nice sized chunk of the population live on less than $1 per day, pursuing the arts seems a little much. But, the arts do continue and they do so in Beijing. The National Art Museum of China is an impressive structure and people come from all over to get there.
Language. I don’t know a lot about the Chinese language. My head spun like a top when I dropped in to this place, saw only characters and heard this insane collection of tones that I wanted desperately to decipher. But I have been told that while there are many regional dialects of Mandarin, the ‘official’, baseline Mandarin exists around Beijing. Want the real deal? Beijing.
The Great Wall. Although there are 5000 miles of Great Wall stretching all across this great country, Beijing is a great place to see this. A 2 hour bus ride took us to the Mutianyu Section of the wall which, is a great entry-point for people of all shapes, sizes and fitness level. The Great Wall is truly, truly, impressive. Near Beijing, it is perched on a ridgeline of mountains in a range so expansive, it boggled my mind as to why anyone would need actually need said wall. It seems to me, if you are motivated enough to go up and down all those mountains to invade my country or steal a flock of sheep, you come on. You deserve that flock of sheep.
History and Culture. Yes, I know this is #11 for those that have been counting, but it is a good summarizer. All things historical and all things cultural? They can be found, gazed upon and learned in Beijing. Because of this, it is an absolute must see on any trip, be it tourism or business.
My advice? Go and spend two or three days there. See all of the things. Wade through the litter and garbage. See the Great Wall and Forbidden Palace and Mao’s body. Taste the Peking Duck and the Baozi.
Then get the hell out of there before the air kills you.