Beijing

The people of Beijing are direct and jovial with an attitude of childlike innocence. They are friendly and helpful to foreigners and find them intriguing. Meditation is practiced on a regular basis, and the favourite pastime, both for children and adults, is kite flying. A systematic approach is popular in Beijing: people eat three times a day and always at the same time and always take a rest for one or two hours at midday after lunch. These facts help to reveal the distance between our hectic western culture and the local culture in Beijing.

FAITFULLY PRESERVED TRADITIONS

Tea was once the drink of the rulers, but more recently it has played an important role in the life of every Chinese person. Teahouses were the theatres for social contact, where the chattering classes, sitting with steaming cups of tea, had genial discussions and philosophized, or even played chess. In the teahouses of Beijing today the price of the admission ticket includes a sample of tasty floral teas with Chinese biscuits and dried fruit and a live performance. Artists usually perform the more easily digestible scenes from the Beijing operas, and entertain the audience with acrobatic displays.

BIZARRE MEALS

Practically every city in the world has a Chinese restaurant, yet Beijing cuisine still holds some surprises in store for u. European stomachs might react a little sensitively at first to the new food, so it's worth seeking out ore expensive, high-quality restaurants in the first few days. It's best to try out the locals' favourite eating-houses later. If you're looking for the most original flavours, you should head off to Wand Fu Qing after six in the evening, where insect larva, scorpion, dog meat or small birds are available. Most European only come here to take a look, and pass on the taste testing. Anyone, however, can happily try the fish-flavoured meat and a hundred days eggs. In order to disinfect the stomach, it does not harm to take a sip of argotto or mao tai barndy before and after eating.

MICROPHONE MANIA

Even entertainment means something completely different to the Chinese than their western counterparts. The only noisy form of fun we can recognize is karaoke. People here sign at home, at workplace parties, in pubs and hotels. Singing comes as naturally to the Chinese as dancing to us. In China, it's not just the successors to Pavarotti who seize the microphone, though nobody disapproves if a false sound comes out of your throat. In restaurants, there are fenced off karaoke cabins, along with separate rooms cater for the entertainment of groups of various sizes. If you get tired of the sound of your own voice, then just pay a visit to the San Li Tun street, where you'll find bars, live music and dance floors.

ON TWO WHEELS OR FOUR

The metros and taxis are worth using in Beijing. The underground is suitably designed and clean, and the names of stations have also been transcribed from Chinese characters. Taxis are cheap, though a typical driver's knowledge of English is often lacking. It's therefore advisable to set off with a map on which the name of your required destination is also written in Chinese. Getting on a bus is slightly more adventurous: the overcrowded, slow, run-down vehicles are relatively cheap, but tickets for higher quality models are more expensive. The favoured vehicle of city residents is the bicycle. This means we can find cycle paths almost everywhere and car drivers are wary of those travelling on two wheels. It's quite common for cyclists to disregard red lights.

A WALK ALONG THE GREAT WALL

The Summer Palace, worth visiting as a whole-day program, is 15km east of Beijing. A boating lake, swimming pool, museum and architectural outdoor museum are located in a park surrounded by almost 300 hectares of the wall, with the outdoor museum displaying the varied styles of Chinese buildings. To the west of the palace is the picturesque Scented Mountain. It is a bit misleading, however, that it takes its name from its shape, which reminds us of a Chinese incense burner rather than its sweet smell. The Great Wall extends to the north of Beijing along the ridge of the Yan Shan Mountain. It's not possible to walk along the entire length of the structure, originally 6000 kilometres, as only the refurbished sections can be visited.

Beijing extras

Word stress plays a large role in spoken Chinese, as the written word has different meanings depending on pronunciation. For this reason, he tuneful and slightly raised pitch of Chinese speech is unusual to European ears.
In Beijing birds, not dogs are usually "taken for a walk" in their cages. Owners believe that if the singing birds hear the voices of other birds, they will learn from them and sing even more beautifully.
The Chinese have a strong belief in the mystique of numbers. This is why almost everything is sold in packs of two.
Brand-name clothes can be bought cheaply in China, as large international companies produce almost everything here.
Bargaining is compulsory everywhere, even for hi-tech products in department stores.

Réka Balla, Viktória Szabó