Day 2: Beijing

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

What a packed day! This morning some of us ran to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag raising ceremony at 5 am. I slept in. We all trickled in to a famous bun shop near our hotel called the Qingfeng Steambun (庆丰包子) and we all tried their specialty buns! President Xi Jinping ate here before, but you can also see some students eating here before school as well. Ordering in Chinese for the first time is definitely scary the first time, but it's definitely do-able. As long as you speak with confidence, and allude to what you want, usually shop keepers are able to figure out your order. You get a lot of food for the price and can learn so much about your fellow students while you're there! Make sure to get the warm soy milk, it's sweetened and tastes much better than American soy milks (as well as Vita Soy, if you've ever had that).

Next, we stopped by the Forbidden City. There were so many people in one space! It was hard to stay in a group, so definitely find a buddy or two to stay with in case you get separated. A lot of the Chinese visitors wanted to take pictures with members of our group and will usually keep coming if you agree to take one picture. At the same time, most of us were largely left alone. The Forbidden City is vast, and the time we had there was not enough to explore the entire place and learn about the history. Make sure that if you break off from the main group, that you have someone who is great with directions (thanks Julia!) The architecture was beautiful, with the traditional sloped tiled roofs. The colors were extremely vibrant, and the use of gold leaf made everything that much more special. Of course, much of the vibrancy is due to restoration work made to the original buildings. But the Forbidden City is so much more than buildings and architecture. You can see the way that the buildings were planned, with much of the Empress's palaces being close to palaces for consorts. In addition, there were multiple gardens, so while one garden might be crowded with people, some inner gardens are less populated and a lot more tranquil. Definitely check those out if you don't have allergies!

We were also fortunate enough to have a speaker who was extremely knowledgeable about the history of hutongs (which are actually supposedly Mongolian in origin). It's so crazy to think that these massive complexes, which house many families today, actually belonged to one family in the past! And while culturally important, it's also understandable to see that the government is tearing them down in order to make more space for high rises, which actually houses more people and has modern plumbing. Seeing traditional hutongs also is a reminder that Beijing, like many other cities, does have a wage gap and that not everyone lives a luxurious life here. Thanks to our guest speaker, we were able to see a variety of places both big and small, but all wonderfully historic.

Afterwards, some of us went to exchange money at the Bank of Beijing. While you can't withdraw money here (like with Bank of America), you don't have to pay a fee when exchanging cash. A quick warning: the lines can be pretty long, so you might have to wait a while to get some RMB. We had a free night, so everyone grouped up and went their own separate ways. At the end of the day, I can't wait to see more of Beijing!

- Michelle W.