Travel experiences: Last impressions of China – Part 1

The initial impression of a first time traveler to Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China and, with Shanghai and Hong Kong, one of the country’s world class cities, will be the large, new airport and the six lane, ultramodern toll highway to the city’s center. Anyone expecting a small, ramshackle airport and narrow dirt road from the airport lined by water buffalo will be greatly surprised! This initial impression should prepare the traveler to discover a Beijing – and China – with one foot still firmly planted in its long, exotic past and, building on its hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics, another foot in a busy, entrepreneurial and prosperous future.

Beijing is home to 14 million ‘official’ residents and another 3 million whom the city government describes as floating’, i.e., moving around looking for work and residence. In riding a tour bus around the city, one will think each of the city’s residents is driving or walking past the bus! The three most visited attractions in Beijing are Tian’anmen Square and the adjacent Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and sections of the Great Wall near enough to the city for tourist visits.

The Square is one of the largest open air plazas in the world at 4 million square feet and is capable of holding one million people! On the beautiful day we visited, it was colorfully filled – but far from overflow’! – with foreign and Chinese tourists. Most readers will remember the thrilling images from Tian’anmen in spring 1989: the Statue of Liberty crafted by Chinese students to express their desire for more democracy and the single courageous student, bags in hand, who faced down tanks sent to disperse the protesters. Our guide pointed out the grassy area where the statue was placed and the general area where the student stood before the tanks. In contrast to the expression in 1989 of a desire for more freedom, Mao Tse Tung, whom we know to be a mass murderer, is still revered, at least, for his establishing a China free of foreign domination. His tomb is located in Chairman Mao’s Memorial Hall on the south side of the Square and Chinese citizens stand in long, respectful lines waiting to view his body in a crystal coffin.

The Great Hall of the People is located on the west side of the Square and the building housing the Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution with an inexpensive admission charge lies on the east. A large photograph of a 56 year old Mao is placed