To get a sense of Beijing's past, wander through the tiny alleyways, or hutong, starting at the central Houhai lakes and heading east through the narrow lanes, which once defined the entire city. Traditional siheyuan, four-sided buildings with a courtyard in the middle, once housed a single family, but as the population exploded they were split between up to ten families. Though most still don’t have plumbing, many have been renovated by private owners. After a couple of blocks you will arrive at Nanluoguxiang Hutong, an official "Olympic Lane." This has become one of Beijing’s most sought-after areas to live in, and both sides of the newly paved street now have small, unique cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. “There’s 780 years of history here,” says Dominic Johnson-Hill, owner of Plastered, a popular t-shirt shop. “It’s always been a commercial trading street and now the theme is different, but it is being preserved.”
Starting at the north gate of the Forbidden City, walk south through this home to former Ming emperors. It’s immense, and it’s possible to spend a day here, but after a while touring the rooms may become a bit monotonous; if so, skip the rest and head through the southern end to Tian’Anmen Square. The world’s largest public square takes at least an hour to get across, especially when stopping to view Mao in the centrally located Mao Zedong Mausoleum.
That’s what the Forbidden City Culture Service Centre offers as part of their private tours of sections of the Forbidden City usually closed to the general public. The tour even includes tea in one of the studies and lunch in an actual pavilion, in a restaurant that many Chinese do not even know about. Served in impeccable imperial style by waitstaff in traditional dress, the menus include replicated meals that Mao Zedong purportedly dined on with, for example, the last emperor of China, Puyi, or with British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in 1961. Ask a Chinese speaker to call 6559 2482 to book.
In Houhai there are two central lakes ringed with restaurants, bars and cafes, although the northern lake is much quieter. This is where to come to see archetypal willow trees drooping over the water. On the northeastern bank of two central lakes stands the former home of Soong Qingling, the wife of the man regarded by many as the founder of modern China, Sun Yat-sen. The two-story house is set back in leafy gardens with pagodas, rockeries and walkways. Inside is crammed with photographs and belongings of the founding communist thinkers and details of Soong’s life. She lived and worked there for almost 20 years.
It’s not just about art at 798. The entire complex is a former factory site unchanged from its former days except for the absence of production lines. What better setting for the works of China’s contemporary artists than the spacious, empty factory buildings that once teemed with blue-uniformed, live-in workers? Quiet, tree-lined lanes between galleries have few cars but many sidewalk cafes and restaurants.
Gaobeidian Village is like an ancient hamlet, with low-level houses straddling either side of a narrow main street—nothing like the colossal streets and buildings of inner-city Beijing. Over a thousand years old, the village gives way to the huge Gaobeidian Market, a mecca of traditional and antique-styled furniture offering items from the far reaches of Tibet to the palaces of Peking. Some of the carpenters work on site, so it’s possible to get stuff made to design, and agents can arrange shipping.
Just inside the Second Ring Road—Beijing's major freeway—sits the Lama Temple, or Yonghegong. Take a couple of hours to wander through the five halls packed with Buddhist art and carvings to the last room, where a towering 20-foot-tall golden Buddha awaits. Then take Guozijian Hutong, opposite the entrance of the Lama Temple, and eat lunch at the vegetarian Yuxiangzhai restaurant before crossing the road to the Confucius Temple, built in 1302 to commemmorate China’s most famous thinker.
At the Purple Bamboo Park in the west (Zizhuyuan), drink something cold by the lake and then hop a boat to the ancient Summer Palace, the playground of the Emperors and once off-limits to ordinary Beijingers. The boats leave every hour after about 10 a.m. After about 40 minutes you’ll arrive at the marble boat of the Empress Dowager Cixi at the palace itself. From the main gates, catch a taxi back to town (about 45 minutes).
On its way out—but not quite dead—is China’s tea tradition. For an evening out in a traditional teahouse, the Lao She Tea House combines Peking Opera entertainment in capsules so it’s not too painful: An entire opera can be rather grating on the nerves, but the teahouse puts on a cabaret show with only several different acts including musicians, acrobats, face changing, cross talk, mimicry as well as snatches of opera. Snacks and tea are included in the price.
It’s said that the Chinese will eat anything with four legs unless it’s a table, and anything with two unless it’s a person. Check out this nighttime market and prove it to yourself. Silk worms, chicken hearts, scorpions, baby sparrows, starfish—it’s all there and cooked under the noses of the iron-bellied. There are also more Western-friendly choices available, and plenty of restaurants along the main pedestrian Wangfujing shopping street, the most famous shopping street in Beijing and commercial area since the middle of the Ming Dynasty.
Just to the north of the Forbidden City is 800-year-old Jingshan Park, another of the city’s pretty parks where early risers will spot hundreds of Chinese people practicing tai chi. Go before the afternoon heat makes climbing tough, and scale the hill where, on the rare clear day, the curly roofs and buildings of the entire Forbidden City spreads out on a north-south axis right down to Tian’anmen Square.