A tale of two T-squares ... Beijing & Shanghai

JOHN ROZENTALS spent 10 days in China and discovered a tale of two T-squares — Tiananmen and Tomorrow.

THE view from the 59^th floor was as provocative as it was spectacular. Block after block of high-rise, stretching like a cornfield towards the horizon; air pollution that at times gave the image a sepia tone; a skyline of striking modern architecture and exuberant neon.

One of those neons said it all — “CapitaLand”. Welcome to Shanghai’s aptly named Tomorrow Square, and welcome to the pointy end of the Chinese economic miracle, to a country already roaring its presence on world markets and obviously seeking an even more powerful economic future.

But, ideally, this isn’t the best place to begin an introduction to China. That lies about 1100 kilometres nor-nor-west, in Beijing’s Tiananman Square and adjoining Forbidden City.

Set right in the heart of Beijing, these are powerfully evocative symbols of China’s long and magnificent history, as well as obvious influences on the present.

Don’t be fooled by the Forbidden City’s alternative title — the Palace Museum — into thinking it’s just an easy stroll through history. It covers more than 70 hectares, with nearly a kilometre between the southern Tiananmen Gate and the northern Gate of Divine Might, and reputedly has 9999 buildings and rooms.

In summer it can be fiercely hot, in winter there’s often snow, and it’s usually crowded, so visiting can be hard work, but the rewards are immense. Building after building, hall after hall, room after room, square after square, laneway after laneway are filled with glorious remnants of five centuries of Ming and Qing Dynasty rule — grand architecture, bold statues, exquisite artwork, and, above all, an absolutely enveloping flow of history.

Leave yourself at least four or five hours to wend your way through the Forbidden City. Most hotels can arrange tours for you, but it’s a destination you can fairly easily manage on your own. Ignore the pleas from the would-be guides (“I’m a university student and speak very good English”) clustering around the gates but do purchase one of the GPS-driven audios available at the ticket booth.

Cross the boulevard and you enter the Mao-zone, Tiananmen Square, the political heart of China for the past half century and for the foreseeable future. Standing opposite each other are the Great Hall of the People and the National Museum of China, which incorporates the Museum of the Chinese Revolution, and at the end is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, normally with a long line of visitors waiting their turn to pay respects to the revolutionary leader.

We took a stroll through the square one evening after dinner. The guards seemed friendly enough, even to the point of posing for pictures, but at about 10pm a military van drove through the square and the message from the megaphone clearly wasn’t “we trust you’re having a pleasant evening”. Within minutes the thousand or so visitors had dispersed and the square was deserted. It was easy to imagine the tanks rolling through.

There’s obviously much more to see in and around Beijing than can possibly be achieved in five days that we spent there, but equally obviously there are a few musts.

I’d certainly put the Summer Palace, which dates back some 800 years and sits on nearly 300 hectares in the city’s north-west, into that category. Like the Forbidden City, it is jam-packed with architectural and artistic treasures, and with visitors. But the greenery and the huge lake make it quite a different, more relaxed experience as you join the locals for a day out in one of their largest parks.

Many of Beijing’s hutongs — patchwork suburbs of narrow alleyways lined with courtyard residences shared by several families — have been demolished to make way for roads, commerce and apartment blocks, but fine examples remain, especially in the Dong Cheng district adjacent to the Forbidden City.

The best way to explore these is by rickshaw. We negotiated a couple of hours for 300 Yuan (about $50), and spent that much again in admissions to various courtyard buildings, but the opportunity to chat to “real” people in their homes quickly became a highlight of our visit to Beijing.

And don’t ignore nearby Beihai Park — the “Jade Islet Palace” of the 11^th century — with its own plethora of imperial history and a good dose of Buddhist influence as well.

And then, of course, there’s the Wall, the Great Wall. How could you possibly visit China and ignore Mao’s challenge: “You are not a real man if you haven’t climbed the Great Wall.”

Several sections are within 70-80 kilometres of Beijing, the most popular being at Badalang, which is connected to the city by expressway, has undergone major rebuilding and tourist development, attracts millions of visitors annually and is the Wall commonly depicted in the brochures.

I’m pleased we took our hotel receptionist’s advice and headed instead to the less developed, less crowded and more genuine Mutianyu section, which dates from the sixth century. A cablecar makes the ascent both easy and spectacular and there’s plenty of wall to wander along and marvel at incredibly rugged scenery and amazing feats of construction.

There was just one nagging question. Who was more ambitious, or perhaps the crazier? Those who built the Great Wall or those who tried to conquer it?

It’s possible to take public transport from Beijing to the Wall, but we found having a tour bus and guide of invaluable assistance. Expect to pay about $100 per person for a half-day tour, which in our case stretched to almost eight hours and also included a cloisonné (traditional enamelware) factory.

Our hotel, the Marriott Beijing West, was everything we would have expected from an international four-star property — large, comfortable rooms, extremely efficient staff, internet access, excellent breakfasts with Western and Chinese options — but it certainly didn’t prepare us for Tomorrow Square.

The 60-storey JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai at Tomorrow Square is, to put it mildly, one stunning place to stay, rising like a torpedo above the city, with, in our case, views down the neon pearlstring of the Nanjing Road East shopping strip, to the historic Bund commercial district, and over the Huanpu River to even higher and more architecturally revolutionary buildings.

The feel of Shanghai is quite different to that of Beijing. While the latter has its own bevy of modern shopping malls, commercial and residential high-rise, and multi-layered freeways, Shanghai is the Real McCoy in this respect.

The best sense of that is provided in the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, just across the People’s Park from the Marriott. The centrepiece is a 1-to-2000 scale model — claimed to be the world’s largest such construction — of the city, showing both current and proposed development. It quite clearly shows the existing 1500 or so buildings of greater than 20 storeys, and the 1500 more that will rise by 2015. And many of those will well exceed 20 storeys.

One of the musts, day or night or both, is to stroll down Nanjing Road East to the Bund. I suspect that you could buy just about anything there and that if something wasn’t available they’d make it on the spot. But be warned, things are often not what they seem, labels do not necessarily reflect reality, prices vary enormously, the haggling is intense, and you will be hassled from all quarters by street vendors offering handbags, DVDs, watches and probably their mothers.

It’s fun, though, once you learn to ignore the approaches. And there are some good things to buy, especially in specialty shops dealing exclusively in things such a beautifully packaged chopsticks. Just don’t expect the shirt you buy to be the same size or of the same material as the one you tried on. And don’t be surprised when the colour stains the sweat on your neck!

The Bund, which runs along the western bank of the Huanpu River, dates back to the late 19^th century, when Shanghai emerged as the financial centre of East Asia and many international banks, trading houses and embassies were allowed to establish themselves there.

The architecture reflects the grand European style of the period and the best way to see it — and also take in the more futuristic side of Shanghai’s skyline — is from one of the many ferryboats that ply their trade from the adjacent wharf. Depending on inclusions such as drinks, a couple of hours shouldn’t cost more than $10 to $20.

The essential out-of-city experience from Shanghai is to take a tour to one or both of the “water villages” — Suzhou and Zhouzhuang — about an hour-and-a-half by road from Shanghai. We spent half a day in Zhouzhuang, often described as “the Venice of the East” because of its canal system and the gondalier-like tourism transport on offer.

Dining in Beijing and Shanghai

You can’t go to Beijing without eating Peking Duck. The most famous provider of this delicious, spectacularly presented treat is Quanjude, which has several restaurants around the city. We tried, and were very satisfied, at Beijing Wangfujing Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, 13, Shuaifuyuan Hutong, Dongcheng District.
The cuisine of the Hakka people (from central China rather than New Zealand) has become very trendy in Beijing and for good reason — it’s delicious, especially the paper-wrapped fish. The Keija Cai restaurant is not far from the Forbidden City and close to the hutongs. Southeast Bank of the Qian Hai.
Sichuan cuisine is the really spicy stuff, highlighted by dishes such as chilli crab. We tried, and found excellent, Ba Guo Bu Yi, at 89-3, Dongdajie, Dianmen, Dongchend District.
1221 in Shanghai provides an excellent, and quite easy, introduction to a range of Chinese cuisines. Lots of ex-pat Westerners share tables with locals, English is well understood and the food is fantastic. Make a beeline for 1221 Yanan Xi Lu, Shanghai.

And if you want a view of Shanghai, drop into the Wan Fao Chinese Restaurant in JW Marriott Tomorrow Square for some excellent dim sum and Cantonese and Shanhainese dishes.

Getting about in Beijing and Shanghai

Don’t hire a car. While traffic in Beijing and Shanghai isn’t threatening in the physical-safety sense (indeed, I see more aggression daily in Sydney) it does work quite differently. It flows like a river, broadening or narrowing to make as many lanes as will fit, and seems to incorporate trucks, cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians into that single stream.
Public transport is cheap and omnipresent, but signage and crowds make it difficult for inexperienced Westerners to use. Far better to catch cabs, which are cheap, reliable and readily available. In Beijing, for instance, the half-hour drive between Marriott Beijing West and the city heart generally cost 40-50 Yuan (about $7-8).
Language is a problem, but it’s an easily surmountable one. Outside your hotel, expect very few people, and that includes cabbies, to speak English. When heading out from your hotel, get the receptionist to write down your destination in Mandarin, then get the doorman or porter to show the instructions to the driver and make sure they understand exactly where you’re going. The big hotels also have printed cards with their locations, so make sure you grab a fistful. They make getting home a breeze.
Don’t hire a car!