China June 19-July 28, 2023
China has a population exceeding 1.4 billion. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, tied with Russia as having the most of any country in the world. With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometres (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the world’s third-largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and largest financial center is Shanghai.
Modern China traces its origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The mythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors marks the beginning of a shared identity. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a political system to serve hereditary monarchies. Written script was developed and inscription of Bronze and engraving of Oracle bone became common. Classic literature and the Hundred Schools of Thought emerged during this period and influenced the region and beyond for centuries to come.
In the third century BCE, the Qin Dynasty ended the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period when Qin Shi Huangdi assumed the self-invented title of Huangdi (Emperor of China). Fractured by the uprising peasants, the Qin was replaced by Liu Bang’s Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Together they laid the foundation for a political tradition of nearly two millennia in which the Chinese empire was one of the world’s foremost economic powers. The empire expanded, fractured, and reunified; absorbed foreign religions and ideas; and made world-leading scientific advances, such as the Four Great Inventions: gunpowder, paper, the compass, and printing.
After centuries of disunity following the fall of the Han, the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties reunified the empire. The Tang welcomed foreign trade and culture over the Silk Road and adapted Buddhism to their needs. The early modern Song dynasty (960–1279) became urban and commercial while the civilian scholar-officials or literati adopted the examination system and the doctrines of Neo-Confucianism to replace the military aristocrats of earlier dynasties. The Mongols established the Yuan dynasty in 1279 before the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) re-established Han Chinese control. The Manchu-led Qing dynasty affirmed its control further and established the basis for the modern Chinese nation, although subsequently suffered significant losses to European imperialism in the 19th century.
The Chinese monarchy collapsed in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution, when the ruler of Qing abdicated and handed over power to the Republic of China (ROC). In its early years, the new republic witnessed warlords fighting against each other before centralizing in 1928 under the Nationalist government. A civil war between the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) broke out in 1927, though the war was halted when Japan invaded China in 1937. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, China’s civil war renewed. A division was caused in 1949 when the CCP established the People’s Republic of China on the mainland while the KMT-led government of the ROC retreated to the islands in the South and East China Sea. Both claiming to be the sole legitimate government, the United Nations has recognized the PRC of that status since 1971. From 1959 to 1961, the Great Leap Forward resulted in a sharp economic decline and massive famine. From 1966 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution led to greater political instability, and economic and educational decline. With a change in the leadership, a series of political and economic reforms begun in 1978 has improved the economy and standards of living.
China is a unitary one-party socialist republic led by the CCP. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and a founding member of several multilateral and regional organizations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the RCEP. It is also a member of the BRICS, the G8+5, the G20, the APEC, and the East Asia Summit. China ranks poorly in measures of democracy, transparency, press freedom, religious freedom, and ethnic equality. The Chinese authorities are often criticized for human rights abuses. Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, China is the world’s largest economy by GDP at purchasing power parity, the second-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the second-wealthiest country. The country is one of the fastest-growing major economies and is the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter, as well as the second-largest importer. China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world’s largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defence budget.
Capital. Beijing 39°55′N 116°23′E
The largest city by population. Shanghai
Official languages. Standard Chinese. Recognized regional languages. Mongolian, Uyghur, Tibetan, Zhuang, Others
Ethnic groups. 91.1% Han Chinese, 8.9% others
Religions. 74.5% no religion/folk, 18.3% Buddhism, 5.2% Christianity, 1.6% Islam, 0.4% others
Area. 9,596,961 km2 (3,705,407 sq mi) (3rd / 4th), Water 2.8%
Population. 1,411,750,000 (2nd). Density 145/km2 (375.5/sq mi) (83rd)
GDP (PPP).
GDP (Nominal). $19.374 trillion (2nd). Per capita. $13,721[9] (64th)
Gini. 38.2 medium
HDI. 0.768 high · 79th
Currency. Renminbi (元/¥) (CNY)
Driving side. right (mainland), left (Hong Kong and Macau)
Calling code. +86 (mainland), +852 (Hong Kong), +853 (Macau)
Visa. I have a 10-year visa for China expiring on July 27, 2023, in a cancelled passport that expires in August 2024.
“Exit/Entry Health Declaration Form” and present a QR code before departure. It took several tries to fill out the form. Need a contact in China with a phone number and address. Formatting was difficult with many corrections needed but finally successful.
https://htdecl.chinaport.gov.cn/htdeclweb/home/pages/index/index.html
Passengers entering or transiting through China (People’s Rep.) must have a negative COVID-19 rapid antigen test (including a home testing kit) taken at most 48 hours before departure from the first embarkation point. Airlines are not required to check the test result. Of note my first embarkation point (Comoros), I leave 51 hours before. I said that I had a negative test and they didn’t ask.
Money. Chinese Yuan Renminbi (CNY). 1US$ = 7.16 CNY; 1 € = 7.76 CNY, 1 CA$ = 5.37 CNY. Withdraw from ICBC at no charge. The use of paper money is rare by the Chinese. They almost always use Alipay or WeChat. For Alipay, it is important to download the Tour version as that is the only way to transfer money into the app. I didn’t do it and can only get money transferred by someone else. It took a Scottish woman over an hour to get the app and figure all this out, and the system could not be navigated. She put 1000 RMB on my app but then refused to take the cash as she said she would just lose it. So I returned it to her. She was very sweet. I will see how I can navigate the country using only cash.
Observations about China
1. English ability. Since I was last in China about 5 years ago, English ability has deteriorated to zero. But they all use translation apps which work well. Need a VPN to use Google Translate.
2. Navigating the Firewall. This is a challenge and must be done with VPNs. I have three and LetsVPN works the best. Make sure to download outside China (or use a VPN to place you outside the country) as it is impossible to navigate and pay in the Chinese version. With both Express VPN and LetsVPN, I am able to navigate all the blocked accounts including Google Maps which has all my Nomad Mania destinations.
3. Chinese people. Chinese are generally not well-liked by other tourists. But I would like to change your mind and will give my insights into Chinese culture that I have gleaned in my 6 trips. In 1949, at the end of the civil war, the Nationalists left for Taiwan. They were the intelligentsia. The Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward resulted in about 30 million deaths, many of them also the educated. When 1990 rolled around, China was a country of peasants (this is a generalization). Since China has progressed like no other country with 500 million getting out of poverty. Education is highly valued and possible with the small family size. Chinese are not socially outgoing like many Westerners. They are hard to have a conversation with. They have some bad habits like horking (they think we don’t swallow our saliva either but spit it out in private), and spitting, I have rarely heard people horking on this trip when it was constant before. They still eat loudly with their mouth open. They lean over their plate or bring bowls to their mouth and basically shovel food in. I watched an obese teenager eat – with the plate on the table, he put his mouth on the edge of the plate and shoved food in – it was astonishing.
But virtually every time I have needed help, people have gone out of their way. You have to profile those you ask – young men and most women are great. When I couldn’t navigate WeChat to pay for things, three times people paid for me and refused renumeration in cash. When I had difficulty finding a place to stay in Hohhot, a woman offered her house to stay in. If one were to characterize helpful people, maybe they would be one of the best in the world, certainly better than anyone from England or Spain, easily the least nice people in the world.
The women are generally very stylish in dress and makeup but the men are uniformly a disaster with bad hair and clothes. Most smoke. T-shirts are very common and in a country where English is rare, virtually every shirt has English on it. Men often lift up their t-shirts to expose their belly.
4. Subway. Beijing’s is easily one of the best in the world as it is so easy to navigate and very cheap (less the $1/ride). Just sorting out the various colours of the lines can be a little challenging. Signage in each change is excellent. Above all doors is an excellent digital map with each station and interchange. Every 14 seats have “Courtesy seats” for the old, pregnant, disabled etc. Don’t expect anyone to offer you a seat.
5. Accommodation. Many lower-priced hotels don’t accept foreign guests and treat the rule strictly as it is illegal for them. However, when you book on Booking.com, there is no mention of this. When you arrive, it becomes complicated to find a hotel especially as the ones that allow tourists are all expensive. Maybe it might be best to stick to chains like Best Western.
6. Trains. Probably the most extensive system in the world, it is astonishing how many trains are available. From Beijing to Tianjin, there was one every 15 minutes and mine was 8 cars of 90 people each. I didn’t book ahead, arrived at 8 am and got the next seat at 17:30 (although the three days were a national holiday – the Dragon Boat Festival). The train from Tianjin to Shenyang was 16 cars long but less frequent. They travel at about 200km/hour and are extremely quiet and comfortable even in second class.
Old and slow train stations still exist in most cities but are separate and in the centre of the city whereas the high-speed trains are on the outskirts. Big Cities will have 2 or even 3 high-speed stations. They are amazing and easy to navigate. Buy or get tickets online only from live agents (there is no English in the machines) at ticket booths usually downstairs and outside security (but not always). Enter security to the stations with up to 20 gates. There is usually a wide selection of food and always a McDonalds.
7. Apps. Both Alipay (make sure to get the Tour version as that is the only one that allows transfers from foreign banks) and WeChat are very helpful, although one can manage with cash and credit cards. Didi, the Uber of China, many bicycle rentals and electric scooter rentals only operate through WeChat. I downloaded the app, had difficulty registering and then forgot about it for a week, the account became blocked because of inactivity and all sorts of problems resulted. After hours and with help from Anna, registration was possible using my Skype number but one has to enter bank card details to finish the verification process. WeChat would not accept any of my 3 cards – so I never could use it.
8. Translate. Google Translate worked great for all kinds of translation – text (offline), voice, and camera. Download Chinese simplified for offline use. Chinese are not intuitive users of translation apps. For my taxi driver in Yinchuan, I had to explain each of these at least five times 1. wait till I switch languages 2. speak immediately into the phone and 3. speak clearly and slowly. They can be impossible and always want to revert to their apps that aren’t nearly as good.
9. Museums. China must have the best museums in the world. All the ones, I’ve seen are in fantastic buildings – modern architecture and beautiful interiors. The displays are first class. But often there is no English and labels often don’t tell what the object is but only give dates. Amazingly most regional museums are free and the rest offer reduced prices for seniors over 65 – no national identity card is necessary.
10. Food. Unlike in Canada where we have food from all over the world, in China, except for some Western fast food (McDonalds and KFC), the food is only Chinese, and little appeals to me. The meat has a lot of bones. The spicing does not appeal to my taste. I have never seen an ethnic restaurant.
Going to a supermarket is a food desert for me – there are 90 kinds of soy sauce but only one of coffee and it is a two-in-one packet. There is an incredible range of snack food, drinks and add-hot-water noodles but little choice of yogurt. Supermarkets seem rare.
11. Shopping. Throughout Africa, there are “China” stores, incredibly messy, crowded stores full of cheap products. In Canada, we have “Dollar Stores”, big places with a great range of small things. But oddly, these places don’t exist in China. I have been wanting to buy a notebook, small scissors, nail polish remover and razors but can’t find any of them. They need “China” stores – so funny.
CHINA – BEIJING MUNICIPALITY
This is my sixth trip to China and third to Beijing.
Flight: Moroni – Beijing 51’20”. June 17. Kenya Air HAH-NBO@2pm-4:10 2’10”. KQ265. 12’15” layover. Nairobi Airport was very good with great endless free wifi. Slept near and ate at Art Caffe. Woke up at 4 am for the 4:25 flight, shoved everything into my pack but made the flight. Repacked on the plane. Sun June 18 NBO-JNB@04:25-07:40 4’15”. 6′ layover. KQ766. Jo’berg Airport has dysfunctional wifi. Difficult to fill out the China Health Declaration but finally navigated the form – there are many format requirements (no country code on the phone numbers, dates YYYY-MM-DD with hyphens), need a contact name, phone number and address in China (need province, district and city found via drop-downs that are difficult if don’t know all the info), last countries in 2 weeks.
Emirates. JNB-DXB@13:40-23:59 8’19”. 10’45” layover. Slept in the airport. EK762. 19/06 DBX-PEK@10:40-22:40. 7’40”. EK308. US$1,088 (CA$1,503).
Now have three VPNs – my usual PIA, Express VPN and one Anna suggested LetsVPN which works very fast and has a 3-month plan. Will get Alipay, Gaode Maps, and WeChat.
I did a Covid self-test (obtained from the pharmacy in Dubai Duty Free – $11). It was negative but wasn’t asked for.
BEIJING (pop 21 million) is the capital of the People’s Republic of China. With over 21 million residents, Beijing is the world’s most populous national capital city as well as China’s second largest city after Shanghai. Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighbouring Tianjin to the southeast; together, the three divisions form the Jingjinji megalopolis and the national capital region of China.
It is home to the headquarters of most of China’s largest state-owned companies and houses the largest number of Fortune Global 500 companies in the world, as well as the world’s four biggest financial institutions by total assets. The Beijing Capital International Airport has been the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic (Asia’s busiest) since 2010, and, as of 2016, the city’s subway network is the busiest and longest in the world. The Beijing Daxing International Airport, a second international airport in Beijing, is the largest single-structure airport terminal in the world.
Combining both modern and traditional style architectures, Beijing is one of the oldest cities in the world, with a rich history dating back over three millennia. As the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political center of the country for most of the past eight centuries and was the largest city in the world by population for much of the second millennium CE. With mountains surrounding the inland city on three sides, in addition to the old inner and outer city walls, Beijing was strategically poised and developed to be the residence of the emperor and thus was the perfect location for the imperial capital. The city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls and gates. Beijing is one of the most important tourist destinations of the world. In 2018, Beijing was the second highest-earning tourist city in the world after Shanghai. Beijing is home to many national monuments and museums and has seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites—the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Zhoukoudian, and parts of the Great Wall and the Grand Canal—all of which are popular tourist locations. Siheyuans, the city’s traditional housing style, and hutongs, the narrow alleys between siheyuans, are major tourist attractions and are common in urban Beijing.
Beijing CBD is a center for Beijing’s economic expansion, with the ongoing or recently completed construction of multiple skyscrapers. Beijing’s Zhongguancun area is a world-leading center of scientific and technological innovation as well as entrepreneurship. Beijing has been ranked the city with the largest scientific research output by the Nature Index since 2016. The city has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most notable being the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Paralympics Games. In 2022, Beijing became the first city ever to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics
Day 1 Mon June 19. The flight arrived at the airport at 22:30 but immigration was slow. I was very happy that they accepted my visa. Outside in Arrivals, the Metro had stopped running and there were no phone stores to get a SIM so I was at the mercy of a normal taxi. I guy hustled me for the 28km drive to my hostel. The location on Google Maps was wrong but the driver was able to find the hostel from the address. It was 2 am by the time I finally got to sleep.
ON Peking Youth Hostel. Expensive for a dorm at 36€. Comfortable beds. No English-speaking staff.
Day 2 Tue June 20
I started my usual walkabout by trying to get a SIM. I asked many people on the street where there was a China Mobile but everywhere suggested didn’t exist. Someone finally directed me to the main office on 62 Dongai South St, the only place where a SIM could be purchased. 30 GB for one month for 128 RMB. Almost 3 hours later, I finally had the SIM.
Distances to walk were large and complicated by all the streets being blocked around Tiamen Square with reservations made one day in advance necessary.
St. Joseph’s Church. Appeared to be an orthodox church – three towers. But like all Christian churches, is it ever open?
Donghuamen Night Market. Fairly close to the hostel, I went down at night – typically busy, lots of food stalls.
Beijing Hotel, Block B. This more modern-looking hotel appeared to be closed. 8-stories.
Laijinyuxuan Restaurant. In Zhongshan Park, it was a test to get to as I had to walk a long way around to bypass Tiamen Square. Mostly tea and cakes.
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Behind a big wall and solid metal gates, I rang the buzzer but no response. It is a great grey stone church.
China Numismatic Museum. All sorts of ancient coinage.
Quanjude Qianmen Restaurant. Open since 1864, 5 stories with four of private guest rooms. High end.
Makai Restaurant. The original Peking Duck restaurant. 2 stories.
China Railway Museum
Shangyuan Art Museum. This appeared closed for a long time as there were no signs.
I then walked along Donghuamen Street and turned north along a wide pedestrian street with many brand-name stores looking for a supermarket to buy coffee and milk. All the small stores have a lot of alcohol, candy, snacks and pop. I found both at Family Mart, 7-11, Wu Mart and apparently CSF food markets.
ON Peking Youth Hostel
Day 3 Wed June 21
I had a decision to make, either rent a scooter and see more of Beijing or go to Tianjen. I didn’t think I could rent a scooter and needed Alipay to rent one of the thousands of bicycles all over the city. I needed to wash clothes and sort out other business so stayed another day. I had a nap and relaxed.
Day 4 Thur June 22
I was up early and took the metro to Beijing South train station to catch the 30-minute ride to Tianjin. However, all trains were full until 17:30!!! I never would have figured this as there are trains every 15 minutes!!!! Apparently, this is a national holiday. So I decided to go to Zhoukoudian, The Peking Man WHS.
PEKING MAN SITE at ZHOUKOUDIAN WHS 42 km south-west of Beijing it has the remains of Sinanthropus pekinensis, who lived in the Middle Pleistocene, along with various objects, and remains of Homo sapiens sapiens dating as far back as 18,000–11,000 B.C. The site is not only an exceptional reminder of the prehistorical human societies of the Asian continent but also illustrates the process of evolution.
Adequate water supplies and natural limestone caves in this area provided an optimal survival environment for early humans. The remains of Homo erectus pekinensis, who lived in the Middle Pleistocene (700,000 to 200,000 years ago), archaic Homo sapiens of about 200,000–100,000 years ago and Homo sapiens sapiens dating back to 30,000 years ago. At the same time, fossils of hundreds of animal species, over 100,000 pieces of stone tools and evidence (including hearths, ash deposits and burnt bones) of Peking Man using fire have been discovered. 30 RMB
Getting there: Subway all the way!! Take the Lime Green line 9 to the SW ending at Guogongzhuang, change to the Fangshan Brown line to it’s end at Yanciendong (11 stops), then cross the aisle to the Yanshan line and get off at Fangshanchengguan (8 stops). Take a taxi 8.3 km to Zhoukoudian. I could not use the DiDi app I had downloaded (available on WeChat) and got a ride in a tuk-tuk to the site (30 RMB). Note that RometoRio was again totally incorrect about getting here (as it always is – it suggested a train from Beijing West station, when a metro can be taken all the way).
My experience: Climb the stone stairs and then climb down through the cave. The roof had collapsed leaving deposits 140m long X 2-40m wide and 40 m thick divided into 13 layers. They discovered 200 human fossils of 40 individuals, 100,000 stone tools, ash layers indicating fire, and 200 animal fossils.
Walk up the stairs to the Popular Science Experience Pavilion (interactive games but no information about Peking Man or the site) and continue up to observation areas and the high cave. The only worthwhile thing is the first cave which is just a cave with nothing more to see.
Getting back. I was lucky to meet an American Chinese woman who hailed and paid for a DiDi taxi to take me back to the subway. Then returned the same way on three different metros to Beijing South Railway Station (43 km – 7RMB!!).
I arrived back at 3 pm and had a great burger at Burger King, then had a wait for my train.
My eventual plan was to fly from Beijing to Kunming on July 5. The hostel let me store my large pack for 13 days so that I could travel with my day pack.
Go to China – Northeast.
Return to Beijing from China-Centre East
Day 15, Tue July 4
I took the train from Shijiazhuang to Beijing @12:58-14:00 (second class 123¥) arriving at Beijing South Railway Station. I then took the metro to the Military Museum stop.
Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution. This huge 4-story museum was thronged with millions of kids. Military art, Civil War, Chinese military history over several dynasties, and a ton of weapons, machinery, and uniforms. Free
World Art Museum. Another architectural wonder from the outside. Large exhibit of photography, a little very artistic and more documentary. Large exhibit of block prints with Ex Libris theme. Pay for galleries included Toulouse Lautrec (68¥) and Ancient Roman Civilization (29¥) that I didn’t see. Free
Central Radio & TV Tower is a 405-metre-tall (1,329 ft) telecommunications- and observation tower. It was the tallest structure in the city until 2018 when it was surpassed by China Zun. It is the ninth-tallest tower in the world and has its observation deck at 238 m (781 ft). The tower provides panoramic views over the city from its revolving restaurant and observation deck. There are 4 floors open to the public: Floor 1 lounge, toilets. Floor 2 History of very famous people in China. Floor 3 How CCTV (Chinese TV programme) work. Floor 4 Viewing area.
The tower was completed in 1992, and contains broadcasting equipment for China Central Television. A race to the top of the tower is held annually with two laps of the base followed by a climb of the 1,484 steps leading up to the observation deck.
ON Peking Youth Hostel. My second stay here. I got my pack which was still sitting behind the front desk.
Day 16 Wed July 5
Laundry day. I went for a bike about, but again had difficulty getting a bike and there were so few around. The yellow bikes only accepted the Meituan app. I finally found a Hello bike (Alipay) and started to see the three sites in a great urban park with several lakes.
Prince Gong Mansion. The mansion was built as a private residence in 1776 by Heshen (1750-1799) — a top-ranking official under the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-99). Heshen is notoriously known as one of the most corrupt officials in history. At a young age, he quickly gained favour from Emperor Qianlong and rose in the ranks of the imperial court. However, after the death of Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Jiaqing (1760-1820) took the opportunity to remove Heshen from his political position for corruption and abuse of his powers. He was sentenced to take his own life in 1799. After Heshen’s death, Emperor Jiaqing bestowed the property to his brother — Prince Qing, Yonglin (1766-1820). In 1851, Prince Gong, Yixin (1833-98) — a prominent political figure during the late Qing Dynasty period became the third owner of the mansion. Prince Gong was bestowed this largest royal palace in the Qing Dynasty by his brother — Emperor Xianfeng (1831-61) who he was close to during his growing-up years.
The prince’s mansion consists of residence buildings with two main halls and a garden. The prince’s mansion consists of traditional Chinese pavilions interlaced with a labyrinth of passages and gardens. The fu culture at Prince Gong’s Mansion is a culture of hidden blessings — cleverly hidden using the design of bats. While there are many illustrations of dragons in the Forbidden City, Prince Gong’s Mansion is filled with myriad bats. As opposed to other Western cultures, bats are considered a lucky symbol in Chinese culture. It is said that there are 9,999 bats carved in Prince Gong’s garden. With the last 8-meter-long “福” stele written by Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722), in total, there are ten thousand fu in the garden. Thus, Prince Gong’s Mansion is also known as the “Garden of Ten Thousand Blessings.”
Another feature of Prince Gong’s garden is the blend of traditional Chinese and Western influences, which reflects Prince Gong’s status as China’s first “foreign minister.” One of the architectural highlights is the Western-style Gate, a marble portal built in the Jesuit-style with ancient Chinese carvings.
Today, the mansion is celebrated as one of the most well-preserved royal residences in history and a tourist site to showcase the daily lives of Manchu nobles of the Qing Dynasty.
With a million people here, tickets were supposed to be purchased on WeChat, but I got mine at the service centre 20¥ reduced. This is a huge complex but not many exhibits. I found only one with old photos, some clocks, clothing and a model of the complex.
When I exited, my bike was gone, but I found another and continued.
Guanghua Temple. Initially built in Yuan times, it was converted to a library in 1908 and then restored as a temple. It is large with five groups of buildings. None could be entered. There were four grand stelae, two on turtle’s backs.
The former Residence of Soong Ching-ling (Prince Chun Mansion) once was the last residence of Soong Ching-ling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen and later Vice-President and Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China in 1981.
The site was once a garden used by princes and nobles of the Qing dynasty; the compound contains buildings that date back to the reign of the Kangxi Emperor and displays flowers and trees, ponds, and rockeries. A Greek captain added a two-story mansion in the 1920s. Soong moved into the residence in 1963 and lived there until her death in 1981.
Gardens with ponds. Exhibits of Soong’s life – documents, photographs, her life and her decision to support the communist cause. Living quarters, personal furniture and appointments Could not be entered.
I ate at a Mickys, returned the bike to the Nanlouguxiang Station (the closest metro to the hostel), got my clothes repacked and started for the airport on the metro – green line 8, blue line 2 to Dongzhimen Station, Line Mauve line 13 to Capital Airport Express 25¥. Stops first at the International Terminal 3 and continues to the Domestic Terminal 2.
Flight. Beijing (PEK T2) to Kunming. Heinan Airlines @16:15-20:00 3’45” HU7111. The flight boarded 45 minutes before.
Go to China – South
