First Impressions of Beijing
August 14th, 2006 by MarkSince my trip to the mainland, I’ve been mulling over my impressions of Shanghai and Beijing, and how they compare to the closest thing to a big city Taiwan has- Taibei. Before my vacation, I had a really distorted view of what the mainland was like. Living in Taiwan, I haven’t really had access to much mainland media, and everything in the papers here is pretty negative. Anyway, this is what saw in Beijing:
Beijing
When I first arrived in Beijing, I was completely overwhelmed. I had just finished a “colorful” 26 hour train ride on the cheapest sleeper class train available. An incredibly kind co-passenger who was heading the same way, walked with me to the subway and even used his card to swipe me in! Ten minutes later, as soon as I left the subway, I was beset upon by half a dozen asshole rickshaw drivers who tried to rip me off by asking for seven times what it should have cost me to get to my hostel. When I refused and started walking by myself, one of them even followed me for ten minutes shouting at me about how it was really far and I wouldn’t make it! Still, even with annoying bozos like him trying to rip off every westerner they saw, Beijing was awesome. The food was both cheap and incredibly tasty. I met amazing people. Other than those who made a living off the tourists, Beijingers are the friendliest group of people I’ve met in my life. The atmosphere was amazing. I almost decided not to leave!
There’s quite a bit to say about Beijing’s finer points, aside from the low cost of living. One big one was the sidewalks. Usually, in Taibei, sidewalks are narrow, cluttered with illegally parked scooters, and built at a different height in front of each building. In Beijing, they were level, wide, and uncluttered. Walking was there was a joy, and bicycling was even better! Beijing is a paradise for bicyclers like no other city I’ve ever seen in my life. That alone made me wish I lived in Beijing. Another nice thing was the fact that people seemed to expect me to speak in Chinese and to do so as a default. Not only that, but they all seemed to be used to westerners speaking great Chinese. Maybe I should thank Brendan for that. The very one thing that frustrates me most in Taiwan is how often locals try to speak English to me… even if I initiate the conversation in Chinese. Beijingers, even those who speak great English themselves seem to expect foreigners to speak Chinese… and I loved it!
The city’s huge, and there are a great number of cutting edge tech companies, but it still didn’t have the same money-grubbing feel that Shanghai did. Beijing is a bona fide world-class cultural center. Everything from classical puppet shows to ballet to Xiangsheng to a wild indie music scene is there. The people I met in Beijing were friendly and interesting. The selection of dining, both Chinese and western, in Beijing was also better than anything I’ve seen in Taiwan. Especially in terms of Chinese food, it was amazing. Besides the obligatory “Beijing Duck”, they had authentic foods from every province, and even a pretty kickass pizza place, too. The thing I loved most about Beijing, though, was the sheer Chineseness of the place! Every morning, as soon as I stepped out the door, I’d be greeted by shirtless old men playing Chinese chess on the sidewalk, old ladies doing heading off to the park to exercise, 6-year olds playing with their Chinese yo-yos, neighbors zipping around on their bikes, and all the hustle and bustle I’ve been seeing in Chinese movies since I was little.
As for Beijing’s dark side, there’s also a lot to say. Tons of people there make a living off of western tourists, and basically try to rip off every white person they see. Worse still, they don’t wait for you to go to them, they follow you around offering to sell you over-priced knockoffs, rickshaw rides, tours of art shows, etc… Another thing is that while ATMs are a pain in the ass to find. In Taiwan, you can find one in almost any convenience store. In Beijing, on the other hand, I had to walk for 15 minutes from my hostel to get to the closest ATM. The subway commuters weren’t nearly as rude as those in Shanghai, but they didn’t line up as well as those you’d see in Taiwan, either.
Random Observation: Beijingers can actually put an 儿音 into the words 门 and 水!!! Talk about tongue-curling fanatics!
Related Posts: First Impressions of Shanghai, Loving Beijing, Seeing Beijing with Brendan
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August 15th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Mark-
Thanks for the insight of Beijing. I have never been there. I am glad to hear that their sidewalks are paved evenly. I have never understood why Taiwan doesn’t do it that way. As far as your comments about the bad side of Beijing AKA the tourist leeches, I have seen it in South America too. Lets skip the whole the “retailers provides the supply while the consumer demands”. In Peru, and from what I can tell from you post, Beijing too, the retailer provides not only the supply, but also demands you demand it- if you get what I mean.
Oh, and by the way, your comment on my blog “Holy adsense Batman” was hilarious. Thanks for making me laugh.
D.A.
August 15th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Alas, the powers that be in Beijing seem to regard bicycles as backward and cars, cars, cars as modern. So don’t count on those bicycle lanes remaining much longer, even though Beijing — as a flat, dry city — is perfect for bicycling. It’s as if China is determined to repeat the mistakes of America in the 1950s without paying any attention to what has been learned since then.
August 15th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
I have actually found the selling to be less agressive in Beijing than elsewhere in China. Prostitutes being generally out of sight and (mostly) not harassing you is also much more pleasant for the male traveller than in other places. On the other hand, less grandfathers are blowing their noses or hacking onto the footpath next to you in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
You’re right Mark S. every time I go back there are more audis and less bicycles.
I like Beijing because it is old, brooding and dusty.
August 16th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
I remember the first time my wife asked for a 份儿 of something. I just looked at her funny and asked, “Honey, what the hell is a ‘fer’?” 味儿 is another personal favorite.
Man I love 儿音.
August 16th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
How about 空儿 kong er? There’s something about kong and er that really doesn’t go together well.
Mark, what about nay ge rather than nage (那个? Do the use nay ge and zhay ge for 这个 那个 in Taiwan like Beijing?
August 17th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
两个字: 水儿.
August 19th, 2006 at 2:48 am
China can not remain divided. Not because both free china and slave china want to rule the other but because communist ideology has always been war like and expansionist. Beijing won’t let Taiwan live in peace. It has consistently remained committed to confrontation. If heaven forbid there is ever another civil war in china it will be the fault of the communists. I believe that Taiwan should not join the UN, instead the communist dictatorship should be striped of its membership and the UN seat given back to Taipei. The decision in 1971 to all but send Taiwan into political isolation was one of the stupidest in the cold war. We in the US should have held firm and if the communist hadn’t liked it told them either reform or shut up.
read the rest at my site if you like.
btw I like this blog, its now on my fav list
August 21st, 2006 at 10:23 am
I do not agree with u on some point about darkside in Beijing. I living in BJ for a year,as u see im not a Beijinger. Beijing is more amazing than u thought.
When I just arrived in BJ, I just like u, complain about everything in BJ. but when u understand BJ, u will lovin it.
Shanghai is a economic city, BJ is a culture metropolis. wanna make money? yeah, SH is a good choice, wanna experience culture? there two city in the world can be ur first choose: 1 Paris, 2 Beijing(before it become 2 another skyscraper city)
maybe when u come 2 BJ next time, u will change ur mind.
BTW: about those rickshaw guy? just let them alone, it will be ok, nobody will kill ya, lol.
August 21st, 2006 at 5:38 pm
Kun, you must not have read much of my blog. I did love Beijing. I’m not sure how you can possibly think I was “complaining about everything”.
As for the rickshaw guys, I did leave them alone. They just wouldn’t leave me alone. I got harassed by them a minimum of 15 times a day. And there wasn’t a single day that went by in which people didn’t try to rip me off or aggressively try to sell overpriced crap to me just because I I’m white. I don’t think I’ll ever like those aspects of the city, no matter how long I live there.
Still, I enjoyed Beijing quite a bit, despite the problems. I think I’d enjoy living there, as long as it was away from the touristy 前门 area.
P.S. Do you look western, Kun? If not, then you have no idea what it’s like getting ripped off and harassed by bozos who see you as a walking money dispenser.
August 22nd, 2006 at 1:29 pm
haha.
haha.
well, about those rickshaw guys, nobody can help them, low education and low income, so they might rude
but my western friend never told me about rickshaw guys, but there always some people like to say “Halou” and start sell stuff to western.
here is a website called “DANWEI TV”
http://www.danwei.tv
is some short film about BJ and update every weeks. or maybe u already know this website.
if u have another changce come 2 BJ again, u can going to 鼓楼大街 Gu-Lou Da-Jie, there has a 胡同hutong area, and 中央戏剧学院 is there, Zang Ziyi and Gong Li’s school. I’m was in a short film crew which shoot there. and meet a lot foreigner but I didn’t see any rude rickshaw guys there(rickshaw guys there are belong some company I think.)
August 22nd, 2006 at 5:29 pm
They thing about all those rickshaw drivers and scam artists is they’re all congregated around like 大扎兰 (da shi lar) and the other tourist places. Away from that area, I didn’t see many. Unfortunately, those rude guys are the first thing most foreign visitors in Beijing will see.
BTW, I met one of the guys who runs Danwei during my trip. I blogged about it, too.
October 10th, 2006 at 10:41 am
I’ve been offered a job in Beijing at 12,000 RMD a month plus free apartment and utilities. How would that stack up with the cost of living in Beijing?
Thanks