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12 novembre Hidden Treasure in Beijing - First Film in China Memorial CinemaWhile, as mentioned in our previous Blog Item, the QianMen Area of Beijing and QianMen Dajie' - part of the ancient entrance into the (former) Imperial City - are under reconstruction to be modernized into a pleasant car free shopping whalhalla, Dashilar - Beijing's Number 2 Old Shopping Street is still operating as usual, vibrant, alive and well !
After our disastrous attempt to Fly out to the far West, and start the China Report's Full coverage of the ancient silk road path in China, not all of the day was lost. On the contrary ! Stay with this Blog and find out some of the lesser known details on this ancient area of Beijing. While still not every arriving tourist is familiar with Dashilar - Big Railings Street in the Xuanwu District, below a small Report on our Visit to the Birthplace of Chinese Cinema.
Yes, it was just about here, in the year 1905 AD, that the First Ever Chinese Film was created !
Dashilar for 600 years already has been among the Top Places to do your shopping in Beijing (See - China Report - Beijing - Xuanwu District Introduction & Menu). Next to Wanfujing, now once again the Most Exclusive Shopping Street in the City of Beijing, Dashilar has always been the other choice. Although recently somewhat lost to the eye of the many visitors to Beijing, due to the modernity and the Glitter and Glamour of revived Wanfujing, Dashilar had it all, and still does ! Especially when one is looking for a good bargain !
Among the better known establishments of Dashilar Street, first of all the TongRenTang Medical Store, established by one of Beijing's first succesful commercial Families - the TongRenTang's. The store must be one of the most famous addresses to get your herbal medicines and/or engage in an on the spot lesson in Chinese Traditional Medicines (TCM). Looking for Ginseng ? Get it fresh and in abundant varieties at the TongRenTang Store !
Other stores include the Beijing Silk Store, with a longstanding reputation in quality silks, the large Ten Fu Tea House, not an original item in the street, but certainly for years now a welcome addition, and lately - the Da Guan Lou Cinema.
Although the original Da Guan Lou Cinema was lost in history, recently - it has been reopened at Dashilar East Street !
In 1905 AD .... -incomplete, more follows
Da Guan Lou Cinema, No. 36 Da za lan Street, QianMen Area of Xuanwu District in Beijing. HomePage / URL: http://www.zhdyy.com.cn
11 novembre Walk Beijing or Blog? - New Photo Additions on New BeijingWhen one is thoroughly on the Prowl in Beijing as Doc Ben was the last week, it is not always easy to return to base and still have enough energy to keep a Blog and describe the wonders of the Day. Surely not! As Doc Ben has a habit of browsing through every nook and cranny of Beijing's Palaces and Many Temples, his adventures are many, exciting and yes- rather exhausting. At the moment Ben has two fine blisters on his feet just to prove it !
Luckily, after 7 days of long walks, fabulous sites and -hopefully- magnificient photos, Doc Ben was supposed to Fly out to the West, but .. did not. He missed his Flight due to a variety of reasons and factors conspiring against him.
 But - there is an up-side to everything, or at least - a true explorer always tries to find it. Today, belatedly, instead of Photos from Gansu Province, instead an overview of the passed week and some updates of what has changed in Beijing in the last year. I think you could say - we have good news on the New Beijing !
First of All - An update on what will be coming to your computer in the period leading up to the Beijing Olympics in August of 2008.
As the hard work progresses, Doctor Ben once again moved swiftly but accuratly passed and through a number of Beijing Landmarks & Monuments on his way to the "completion" of the Virtual City of Beijing. The results were many. Here a quick list of what is new and now recorded in 12.2 megapixel photo:
The Chongwen District - as you may have noted on our Website in the last few months, although neighboring Xuanwu District and most of the (Huge!) Imperial Palace (aka Forbidden City) have been introduced and described for you , the Chongwen District, as yet is incomplete and without proper description.
On reason for this was the fact that Dr. Ben works near 70 hours and more a week, and therefor sometimes lacks the Time to do some proper writing. The other reason, much more practical and logical, was that the Chongwen District - when we left in Summer 2005- has just started on it's huge overhaul, pulling the District into Modernity. As a direct result of this, anything we might have written and uploaded for you, would have been outdated severely by this Time.
The good news on the Chongwen District - plans and construction of the changes to Chongwen District are now reaching their final stages and shape, enabling us to to give you directions for years to come.
Recorded in November 2007 in the Chongwen District were - the Yong Ding Men, former South Gate of the Qing Dynasty wall surrounding both Chongwen- and Xuanwu Districts. Next up - the nearby (walking distance) former Altar of Agriculture, which is the Place where the Emperor symbollically tilled a piece of Land, and performed Rituals for an auspicious season and abundant harvest.
Also among the Treasures of the District, a revisit of the World Cultural Heritage Site, the most sacred Shrine in China, The Tiantan - or Temple of Heaven. In the past, due to hardware failure, some of the photos of this magnificent Park had been lost to The China Report, however - in the past week we returned to one of the lesser wonders of the Park, the double-eaved Pavilion, and recorded it once again for you and History. This Time in 12.2 Mega-Pixels !!
Last but not least in our listing for Chongwen, a return to the Chongwen Fire God Temple on West Flower Market Street, including the Old Mosque, the Center of Worship in what was once a Muslim Hutong Area in Beijing. Both holy shrines have recently been fully restored, as we hope to show you as soon as is humanly possible.
Next - the Haidian District of which so far we have been unable to show you much.
This will change soon ! Among the Monuments and Landmarks of the Haidian District recently covered, first of all - a Return to Beijing Zoo, home of the Panda's!
Although this Time we did not enter the Zoo, we did make an effort to show you more of the surrounding area which includes Xizhimen Subway Station and the still new western starting point of recently opened Subway Line 13, which can be dubbed the Olympic Line. From the West, line 13 arches through Haidian District to pass by all the Olympic Venues and newly built Stadiums for the Beijing 2008 Olympics and there-after.
After seeing this, we returned to our more traditional subjects and made our way up to the Great Bell Temple. The Great Bell Temple is the Home of the 6.75 meter solid bronze Yongle Bell - the largest and heaviest ancient Bronze Bell in China. Go have a look for yourself if you are in the area, as the Great Bell Temple offers much more than what one would expect upon entry ! If you are Fan / Enthousiast for Ancient Bronze Bells and Chinese Achievements in Bronze Casting - you mUst visit this Temple ! Many of the finest Bells in China have been brought together and are on display at this Fine Place.
Other future photo-laced Haidian Reports will further include - the Altar of the Earth, located just outside the 2nd Ring Road across from YongHeGong - Lama Temple (Part of Dongcheng District).
And there is More ! Next - The Palace Museum aka the Forbidden City which can easily be counted as a District all in itself !
Here China Report already covered an unprecendented percentage of the Palace, making the first Virtual Palace Museum on the World Wide Web (See China Report - Beijing). However, even we did not cover all, yet, as we are speaking about the largest preserved group of wooden buildings in the World. Therefor we had a return to the Palace in the Hope to Score yet more magnificent photos of this Timeless Palace and Wonder. And we succeeded !!
Coming soon to your Computer ! Unique Photos of the Palace of Peaceful Old Age, better known as the retirement Palace of Great Qing Emperor Qianlong.
Photos will later be available through our automated Photo Galleries and prints - even in wall size or larger, can be purchased (then) through www.chinaphoto.eu, our Future Stock Photography Pile on China.
And still there is more ! Before partially incomplete, Doc Ben further made hard efforts to complete the Full Introduction to the Dongcheng District of Beijing. The Dongcheng District, already much photographed beforehand, will be enriched with even more photos !
Additions in the coming months will involve the Confucius Temple, shrine to the world renowned and fabled wise-man from the far Past. Other important visits in Dongcheng - the Dr. Sun Yat Sen memorial Park. Once part of the outer Imperial Palace during much of the Ching Dynasty, Sun Yat Sen Park, now is a large shrine to the Father of the Chinese Revolution, the unsurpassed Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, and ofcourse his equally unique wife and later widow - Madame Soong Ching Ling.
The park is a large and pleasurable garden and is usually good for a great getaway from the Tourist Crowds and traffic noise of the North End of TiananMen Square. Go there and be surpised, or ... wait around and have a virtual visit through your computer and our website !
Last Up in this week's Photo-Coverage of the Wonders of Beijing - the beforehand nearly undescribed and un-photographed Business District of Beijing - ChaoYang.
In ChaoYang one can find one of the Last Imperial Altars of the far past, the Altar of the Sun.
The Sun Altar and Temple are located at Ritan Park in Central ChaoYang District. Although now counted as one of the lesser wonders and smaller Parks of Beijing, naturally the Virtual City of Beijing would not be complete without it. Furthermore, covering this Park gave us an excellent chance to browse through Beijing's Embassy District, scout out the fenced off but large North Korean Embassy in Beijing and from there move on to DongYue Temple.
You may not have heard of the latter at all, but we can inform you that DongYue is once more, a splendid Temple in Beijing. And not only that, it is one of the most popular and most active Taoist Temples in Beijing. Find the Father of all Taoist God's in control of his many many subjects at the DongYue Temple, also known as the Place of the Beijing Folklore and Folk Art Museum. It is both a worthy place to offer your prayers (Father God is the Home God of Tai Shan Holy Mountain in Liaoning Province) and a great place to discover more and marvel about the interesting Folk Arts of Beijing. Toys abound, paper-cuttings, ofcourse the un-missable Beijing Kite and more joyous items await.
More of the ChaoYang District will be covered tomorrow, on what will hopefully this Time be our last shooting day in Beijing.
That is- for the coming two weeks !!
As always - Doc Ben shall return to Beijing to complete his Gargantuan Volunteer Task !
A monks Job ???
 04 agosto Order out of Chaos - The Beijing Public Transportation SystemTime Flies! Especially when you are having fun, or just like us, are very hard at work to achieve ambitious goals.
Even when one is succesful, there still is no time to chill out, lay back and enjoy the Fruits of Labour. In our case that is - Yet !!
Let's have a look at the new additions to the China Report website.
We had promised to take you on a wild Tour of the City of Beijing, while we get our site (more or less) ready for next years Olympics in that city. As you may have infered from our Beijing Report and other pages in our website, we had great urges to inform you on several places of interest we still need to cover. However, the abundance of such historic places and sites in Beijing made us bog down in indecision
 on what to write on first.How to create order out of Chaos ?
After some careful deliberation, browsing around the web for info and a spark of inspiration & insight, we then decided to take you on an entirely different course. Afterall, how take you - the reader/viewer properly on a Tour of the City of Beijing, without having some insight into the City Lay-out and ofcourse, the best and most handy ways to get around the City ?!
We needed to get you on your way around the City first !
 As a result, last weeks stint of writing produced a long overdue but very comprehensive and complete introduction to the Beijing City Public Transportation System. As our more loyal visitors may know, we had already written an introduction to Beijing Busses and an Introduction to Beijing Taxi's much earlier, the latest additions include information Beijing Western Railway Station, and, as mentioned, a comphrensive overall explanation of the Beijing City Transportation System.
As the planned Transportation System of the larger Beijing Mega-Metropolis is nearing the completion of it's current stage (yes, there will be more .. ), you guessed it - in preparations for the August 2008 Olympic Summer Games of Beijing, it was finally possible to give you a good overview the current travel options within the City of Beijing. Before, changes went too fast to keep up with !
In short the new know-hows on city travel in Beijing: The Beijing International Airport (Capital) will open a brandnew terminal on a new location, including a suway station and line connecting directly to the Olympic Park and Venues as well as and additional directly into ChaoYang Business District. The new Terminal itself will be an architectural masterpiece of sorts, a grandiose piece to show-off the new Beijing.
Next additions to the city transport system are the opening of several new metro/subway lines and a multitude of new stations. We will bring you a more detailed guide to the new system, after the latest line No. 10 opens (partially) in September. For now the main travel tips remain that the yellow line has been connected via XizhiMen Station to connect to the Summer Palaces. In the past one needed to take a taxi there, an organized tour or the bus line. Now one can reach near the Summer Palace by subway. A much more attractive outing. Further line extensions include the subway to ChaoYang in the East and Fengtai in the West. In Both directions lines have extended to reach the outermost districts, among things to make it possible for commuters to reach the city by car, then travel around the city by subway/metro.
Other news on the subway follows.
Next up the Trains and Train Stations of Beijing. Loyal viewers have long been waiting for that and finally we can give you some decent and useful information which is up to our standards. With these tips you can reach destination, no doubt. Check out the overall Introduction to the Beijing City Public Transportation System for the most basic information, including the correct station to reach the Great Wall of China at Badaling. It is XizhiMen, The North Station. Go to our report page on the Beijing Western Railway Station for very detailed information on how to get tickets for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Beijing is the First Station on this very interesting train-ride to the City of Lhasa in Tibet and the roof of the world !
The information on Beijing's Main Station, Beijing Zhan, in south-east corner of the Dongcheng District has not been added yet, but will follow in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile there have been many more additions on and around our website. Perhaps you have already found some. If not : Have a look at our Introduction to Hebei Province, which is the Province of China that Beijing City Province is part of. For some good first information on the province, read the story on this page and browse around the many maps. This general information page gives a good idea and backgrounds to the Great Wall of China of the Ming Dynasty and includes a map of it's shematic path. And .. if that is not enough for now.
In those seven months of absence before the last Blog Item, we also added the same on Shanxi Province. Find an Introduction Page to this Province now available inside www.chinareport.com too ! For even more information and the best details on Shanxi Province, turn the page and read through our Full Historic Introduction to Shanxi Province. Shanxi's most famous landmark, 4Th Century Statue remnants from the Silk Road known as the Yungang Caves and the nearby City of Datong have also been partially covered by us.
Enjoy the many photos and growing texts! We provided some easy listening music here and there to make your reading a more comfortable and fun experience. More Beijing Additions in the next Blog Item !
Photo 1: Schematic of the Beijing Subway in November 2004. A Northern Ring connects to Summer Palace than back Via Olympic Park to the City Center. More has been added since !
Photo 2: Doc Ben at Shen Wu Men, the Forbidden City North Gate. Drive and Park your bicycle anywhere and go photograph and see Beijing !
13 luglio Demise of the Beijing Hutong - Soul of the City, how the Hutong are LostWe Break Away from our usual stories, book reviews, and listings of new site-updates to draw your attention to a New York Times-article on an important historical event concerning Beijing, the Capital of China. The Hutong of Beijing are being destructed and have almost been Lost ! Many swaths have already been levelled, taring the soul from the Old and Majesticly Chinese Imperial City at least in the QianMen - Dashilan Area's, and the most pristine and last remaining old alleys of the Xuanwu District (see this overview Map of Xuanwu-Chongwen with QianMen in the Center) are under the Axe as we write this.
As I was already very well aware, it seems there has gone something wrong with the protection of the Beijing Hutong as proud Beijing Cultural Relic. As advertized widely and quite conspicuously at the so-called "Beijing Planning Exhibition" (at QianMen Dongdajie, located east and behind the QianMen Old Railway Station) the Hutong Area's between ChongwenMen and QianMen (dubbed QianMen Hutong), some parts of which date back to the 12Th Century AD, are -officialy- to be protected as Cultural Relics, preserving the heart and soul of the old cty of Beiing. This was the situation as we visited the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall for ChinaReport.com in November 2004. It seemed that one of my favorite parts of Old Beijing, the Hutong Area's south of TiananMen Square, would remain what they were - a great place to dwell in, enjoying the sites, coming across scenes of children playing, of old pensioners tending their bird or flower-garden, and all the Hutong groceries that are available in the tiny Streets. Your fresh chinese coal, many many fruits , fresh and live fish from your neighborhood stall. Ah - I can almost hear the coal peddling rickshaw Men calling. Untill late in the evening a serene athmosphere permeates these quiet lanes and one feels protected from this modern city by the warmth and intimacy of these Old Beijing Residential Alley's. I used to dwell these small streets in the evening and fell in love with the Hutong. Who would not !? The evening stroll from The Luxury Capital Hotel, through Hutong Streets - a different Beijing - to the charming old Zheng Yici Theater. There, at the oldest wooden theatre in China, a Ching Dynasty Temple and once the stage for Master Mei Lanfang, I witnessed my First Peking Opera, and .. loved it too ! Then ? I grew a habit of walking through Dashilan Street al the way through the winding Alley's to western Liu Lichang Street. A browse around Liu Lichang is must-have-done for visiting Foreigners. Always a treat full of shopping. Ceramics, Caligraphy, plenty fake and too expensive objects, the forever tourist "chop" - the stone name seal offered everywhere, and .. I always return with a book of new and treasured valuable goodies. Be it books, new VCD Documentaries or just another great little statue to be had. The Hutong of Xuanwu, once the commercial district and territory of the jade, peark, silk- and gold-working guilds, home to Beijing's Number One Antiques and Curiosa Street Liu Lichang are Therapy for Me.
And QianMen ?? Well - that is where I charmed my Caroline, and we sat together overlooking the lights of TiananMen Square. Min Tien coffee language used to be the name of the Place. Now it is boarded up, empty and Gone.
Now no more Beijing Hutong ??
As I have personally and tragically witnessed something went wrong with the planned preservation of the Soul of the City - the Hutong. That is - As recorded for this website, even in November and December of 2004, the 1st Chongwen-district Hutong were being leveled at ChongwenMen, directly East and across from The New World Plaza and Office Buildings (at ChongwenMen Nei Dajie'). These now demolished Hutong have immediatly been taken up by the rapidly rising Glory City, a block of Luxury Appartments with a Park, for upscale Beijingers. The last old pensioners, some of whom tried to tell me their sad story of non-compensation, were being turned out, probably driven outside the City by the cost of new living, never to Return again. I witnessed it all and got it on camera before the Police sternly asked me to leave.
And Then ?? Next in May 2005 the Hutong, west and at the end of Dashilan, famed old shopping street of this once commercial district of Beijing, were being leveled. These Hutong should obviously have been among the protected, however - as I heard then from a local fellow photographer and rickshaw-man-turned-restaurant-owner-, this was just to be the beginning of things. He was Right.
Please go to the New York Times Version of Events - As written currently at the New York Times - Olympics Imperil Historic Beijing Neighborhood. The Story of the Demise of the Chongwen-Xuanwu District Hutong Alley's - known as the QianMen Hutong. Please read the impressive and probably historic article, a record of the End of a Lesser Known but Equally Precious Architectural and Cultural Jewel of the City of Beijing. In due time we hope to follow this great article up with a www.ChinaReport.com ONLY digital reconstruction of the now lost area's, photos-series of several Hutong Area's while under demolition and possibly more eye-witness accounts of my Time exploring and documenting the Beijing Hutong before, while and after they Fell.
(For this Keep and Eye on the QianMen Hutong Report Page(s) or follow this China Blog). 28 aprile Beijing Jeep Tours - the best way to Explore around BeijingDue to an accumulation of problems with our various e-mail adressses and internet providers from China - we are currently delayed in our promised Full Story on Beijing Jeep Tours. Our (somewhat frustrated) apologies !!
Here a first attempt on some extra information to go with our Full Information and Photos on Beijing Jeep Tours and their travel options available from www.theBeijingReport.com through the Beijing Transport Page and of course the Excursions outside Beijing. To Contact directly with Beijing Jeep Tours for Bookings or Travel options and all information , please e-mail: KentCXD@hotmail.com
All Travel Information on Beijing Jeep Tours available in this Blog ITEM shortly.
In other Beijing News our usual smalll update of Beijing Historic Monuments under Renovation:
1) At TiananMen Square both QianMen (Front Gate) and ShenyangMen (arrow gate) are still fully clad in green plaids and bamboo ladders. As such they are not expected to re-open to the Public anytime soon.
2) Still under renovation - All Pavilions atop Jingshan, the Best Look-out point for viewing the Forbidden City grounds. All Pavilions are closed to visitors, so we all have to make do without the best views for a while.
3) Inside the Imperial Palace / Forbidden City - The renovations and reparations between WuMen and TiaHeMen have been completed. Currently under renovations are * TaiHeDian , the main Ceremonial Hall of the Outer Court, * ZhongHedian - the small Hall of Balancing Harmony in between of the two main ceremonial halls, and last but not least * BaoHeDian - the Hall of Preserving Harmony.
4) Also still under extensive renovations - The world renowned Imperial Summer Palace and Park on Beijing's North-Western outskirts (Haidian District). The Main Tower Hall on Kunming Lake having been partially completed, the Summer Palaces' many Halls are expected to be under renovations throughout the coming tourist season, leaving however plenty to view and sightsee. Don't miss out when visiting Beijing !
5) We close this small listing with some Good News ! - After extensive renovations and repainting of ALL Halls and Pavilions, the Temple of Heaven and Park (Tiantan Gongyuan) all of the Park and Temple complex are now once again open to the Public. Tiantan is ready for the 2008 Olympics in which it wil play a central ceremonial role. 11 gennaio Time for some new Beijing Imagery !!!High Time for some Enlightening new Images from Beautiful Beijing ! If people think I like to do this for the hard and boring work. Think again ! I am not. Here is for some fun with Images from the Beijing National Theatre Dome, still under construction in November 2004! We'll tell ya all about it when were done uploading this series..  Enjoy !!   I am going to try and work this into a new update of the existing report on The National Theatre Dome (in 2003). Or ?? Maybe not ! I might just replace the old report with the new photos, but that would be boring wouldn't it ?? At any rate you will have to be patient for that since I am currently in the mood for more Photos. Stay tuned for a whapping series from Da Cien Si (Great Goose Pagoda Temple), the 7Th Century Tang Dynasty Temple and stone Tower in Xian, Shaanxi Province of China. I'm almost done sorting these, a job that was left unfinished when I returned unusually early to China in November 2005.10 gennaio New Map of the Forbidden City - Official SchematicIntroducing the latest additions to our Report(s) on The Forbidden City : The Official Schematic Map of the Palace Museum, by the Palace Museum. Yes, one might have thought this map was already available on the internet, but .. it was not !!  I picked up this Map on my latest trip to China in November-December 2005, on a new photo-shoot and visit of the Palace Museum. When buying a ticket this easy Tourist Guide Map of the Forbidden City comes complementary with the ticket and so was handed to me. Finding it quite helpful on my own path through the Palace, eventhough I know my way around a bit by now, I decided to include it on our Report(s) of The Forbidden City - Palace Museum. From now on make use of this easy and neat shematic map to navigate your way around our growing "Virtual Forbidden City" created in 1000's of Photos at The Beijing Report.09 gennaio Brightening up your (Web-)LifeSome esthetic improvements to the pages at the heart of the Beijing Report. Today not many comments from us as we emptied all our writing inspirations into the Beijing-Monuments-In-Alphabetical-Order-Menu. Quite a job ! Enjoy the new and improved look of this page and use the short descriptions of each depicted Beijing Monument, Park, Museum, Landmark etc to get better aquainted with the many aspects and sites of the historic city of Beijing in China. 08 gennaio More on the Beijing Police and TiananMen Guards DetailNew update of our explanation of Beijing Police Uniforms and (Special) Branches of Beijing's Police Force ! Rather unexpectedly the DVD on the Grand Militairy Review also turned out to be a small but excellent source on uniforms, functions and branches of the Beijing Police. As a result of reviewing this Documentary we now have some extra backgrounds to share on the Special Ceremonial Detail of the Armed Duty Police found stationed in the Forbidden City and entrusted with the guarding of the National Monuments in TiananMen Square, as well as the handling of the National Flag raising and lowering ceremonies. 10 novembre So Many ativities to undertake around the City of BeijingAfter visiting no less than 3 new Publishers and a supplier of Goods that we will keep a business-secret for now we are calmly awaiting some business decisions and await news from Tiantan Park and Administration. Unable to upload our latest site-information, we decided to head out again to make new photos and assemble some new Reports on the Great City of Beijing. Todays program - The Summer Palace at the (former?) outskirts of the City at the foot of the Western Hills. With yet again warm weather a great day to visit and photograph.
As you may have noticed, the Summer Palace is one of our Reports unfinished and in dire need of extra photos to map out this rather large Park and Imperial Garden. Today was the day for those additions. Here a small review of our findings: first of all - growing Chinese internal Tourism is making it increasingly difficult for us to upkeep our level of quality (photos without people are preferred). After taking Bus 826 from QianMen on the South Flank of TiananMen Square, and having an hour to view all of drab Haidian District, we arrived at the South Gate to The Summer Palace to find it overcrowded with many many chinese tourgroups. So many visitors we had not encountered here before. Entering the Park here-after we found that the Summer Palaces main Hall (Western Longevity Hill) was sadly under construction and therefor not open to visitors.
These wre the main obstructions of the day. Trying to enjoy and make the best of it, we did manage to cover new parts of The Palace & Park. A great day! We hope to bring you these additions soon. However, true .. with still at least 20.000 photos of Beijing and all it's Major and Minor sites, in reality this may take us a substantial time.
 We do our Best and give much of our energy!Tommorows program: The Western Hills. An area hitherto unvisited by Doc Ben for his China Report.
As mentioned The Main Hall (with Buddha Statue) of the Summer Palace is under construction, as are many sites in Beijing Today. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, many repairs are being undertaken around the City (and many hutong are flattened to be replaced by soul-less appartment highrises that all look the same).
Here a short list of Monuments and Landmarks under (re-)construction :
1) The Forbidden City Outer Court (plus some of the Central Inner Court in front of The Gate of Heavenly Purity)
2) Tiantan - Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (Main Hall Temple of Heaven) and Hall of Fasting (West Park)
3) WanChun Ting , or Everlasting Spring Pavillion, the Central Look-out Pavillion atop Jingshan ( Coal Hill) and it's adjacent smaller Pavillions (5 in all).
4) QianMen, or the Front Gate to the Inner Imperial City- located at the South side of TiananMen Square
5) The MiaoYing Temple, or 2nd Bai Ta Si. The White Dagoba Temple at 171 FuchengMen NeiDajie, in the western XiCheng District
6) ZhiHua Temple, the Temple founded by Eunuch Wang Zheng in 1443 AD, at Lumicanghou, near ChaoYangMen in the Eastern parts of DongCheng District
7) Bai Ta Si - The White Dagoba of Beihai Park at Jade Island, also under reconstruction
8) As mentioned the Central Pavillion on the Western Shore of Kunming Lake at The Summer Palace.
So far we haven't seen or remembered any other sites under re-construction, except maybe the Hutong directly South-East of The Forbidden City. All these hutong are being demolished and rebuilt in traditional style, a process that has been going on since the year 2003.
More News on Beijing to come ! 21 ottobre 2nd Stage of Menu Repair and UpdateCurrenty repairing landmarks & hotspots menu's - listed by function and in alphabetical order, after changing headings throughout most city districts. 16 ottobre Taking a Break from Menu's - with Beijing Photos of course !After something that could be dubbed hell-week, sweating it out with 100's of menu files, we complete the first stage of this upgrade and take a break from creating menu's with some nice new photos from Beijing and Xian. For starters we turn our attention back to the Drum Tower of Beijing, expecting to complete the lay-out of the entire Drum Tower walk-through by tonight. Enjoy this unique virtual tour, still under construction. Get a great sense of the Beijing City sky-line , view the Bell Tower at it's Best , the Capital Hotel Tower and have a sensational panorama of the Inner Imperial City.
After completing the Drum Tower we also threw in a few photos of Beijing Police Uniforms and a series of 2002 photos from the QianMen Hutong, the latter being an area rather hard to cover, index and make photo-tours of. We shall try anyway, of course. More to come ! 05 ottobre New Additions + Re-organization Beijing Maps MenuAfter we uploading our set of photos of The Forbidden City, we continue with a re-organization of our somewhat overgrown Beijing Maps Menu Page. With the new additions of some historic maps of Beijing, the loading time of this Beijing Maps Menu page has finally grown too excessive, even for a patient person like me. Besides, even we , the staff, sometimes cannot find Maps easily anymore. High Time for change! Luckily we already planned for this situation while building this website and can work with an excellent menu creation program (Xara Webstyle4 - see buttons on site). We should be able to complete these changes in only a few days, without inter-rupting our service. After this site-navigation should be considerably easier once more.
8 Oktober - Unfortunatly my Clients and aquaintances had completely different plans it turns out.
We had an important and very urgent order for one of our photos, to be published in the new Book "Beneath the Metroplis - Issue Beijing", by Alex Marshall, coming from Oxford University Press in 2006. Expect more on this later. Meanwhile we were thrown into chaos for a few days and thus can only now Oktober 8Th continue our work. We do our best to complete as much as we can before our next trip photographing in Beijing and around North China (so far). 29 settembre Random Uploads - Photos from The Palace Museum (Gugong)Currently uploading random scraps of new photos of the Palace Museum of Beijing in preparation for more work on- the gargantuan Palace Museum Report, Virtual Walk-through and Photo-Tour. It is now possible to explore around the Forbidden City Walls East, West & North, and walk inside as far North as the Palace of Heavenly Purity, on the Palace and City Central Axis, inside the Nei Ting. Also added - From a very pleasant walk east of the Forbidden City, exploring the Hutong north of Chang An avenue, some very rare photos of a quiet Imperial Library and recently renovated Hutong (2003 hutong under renovation photos). These parts of hutong I heard in 2005 were once part of the Imperial Palace City. However, so far I haven't found out exactly if this means they were part of the Forbidden City proper. I hope to find out researching the internet and some books. 17 settembre New Photo-Series and Future Report - Drum TowerWe are currently uploading a new photo-series: the Beijing Drum Tower. 11 Pages of Photos forming the basis for a future thorough in-detail report on and impression of the Drum Tower of China's Ancient Imperial Capital and it's surrounding area. Three pages of 11 now available, making it possible to reconnoiter Gulou (Drum Tower) Dajie' and it's crossing with DianMenwai Street (Dajie=Street). We will upload all 11 pages swiftly in sequence, then turn back to complete Tianning Temple Report.
Already uploaded earlier - Bell Tower and Bell & Drum-Tower Square. In the Future- more on the nearby Hutong Home of Chairman Mao Zedong, who lived in Beijing during more than one period of his eventful life. 09 settembre New Photo-Report - Our pre-opening visit to TianNing 13 Story PagodaToday we open with a new Photo Report. Fresh new and magnificient photo's from TianNing Tower Pagoda in the Fengtai District of South-Western Beijing. This report soon to be augmented with some well-researched background text on this un-known chinese national jewel. TianNing Pagoda is one of the famed Tower Pagoda's in China. Construction of our, as yet, unique Report in Progress !! We are currently awaiting Caroline Wong's translation of some source materials, after which we will complete our work on this subject. Meanwhile- Doc Ben is conducting a thorough internet search for TianNing Tempe and related subjects in order to provide you with the best ability to find the information you wanted when you logged on.
We shall follow this up with a repair of all site menu's.
Next? A return to China and Beijing to negotiate and work with Tiantan Park and it's Divine Music Adminstration ! 24 agosto More Source Maps on Beijing - Satellite Images Chongwen + Overview Historic CityTwo More New Source Maps Today - A Day;s work in between of Good Business. Map one is a Birds Eye View of Chongwen District, demarkating the district North en West-Borders and clearly outlining the Legation Quarter just inside the Old Imperial City Walls (DongCheng District). Map two is an overview of the entire Ancient Imperial Capital Area (now the center of Beijing City) + Souther Village of Fengtai. We aren't completely finished with these, and will continue uploading more source materials in the coming days.
Other Additions / Upgrades : 1) a New Map for our Capital Hotel presentation (Satellite Aerial View of Area) , and a visual refreshment of the Capital Hotel Main Menu/Presentation Page. 2) Sound File Re-organisation. Not visble for you.3) Introducing two new Business Partners at ChinaReport.com and spreading their Banners and Links. In Progress !! 17 agosto Latest Beijing Additions - Overview Map + Forbidden CityToday's upload's include more and even Better Beijing Maps. Is it possible? Of course, it is for the China Report !! Please enjoy the use of some fine new additions to the leading information website on Beijing (Historic Tourist) City! New Maps include an overview Map of Beijing City Entire, all Districts, all bits withing the 6Th Ring Road, and a super-upgrade of our detailed and informative, but not digital Forbidden City Maps. The Satellite image based map of The Forbidden City is really a Jewel. We log of completely contend with our Days Job.... 14 giugno Forbidden City (Gugong) under RenovationAs usual when I am in and around Beijing, I had to pay at Least One visit to Beijing's Legendary Palace Museum, the Forbidden City. I found it in a rain- & hail-storm, but also sadly (for most visitors) completely under Renovation ! For you - here the latest detailed information on that. The Palace Museum is undergoing extensive renovations, in advance of the 2008 Olympic Games. Reconstruction and renovation of some of the Nei Ting (6 western and 6 eastern) Palaces had already started last November-December 2004, now all of the Nei Ting is under thorough renovation. This means all buildings are shrouded in Bamboo Poles and Green Plastic Netting, sometimes even boarded off completely. Apart from the Nei Ting and Palaces (2nd half or northern half of the Palace Complex), now also under renovation are both East- and West Passages of the South Half of The Palace Museum - starting at Wumen, Past (but not including) TaiHe Men=Gate of Supreme Harmony (which gives access to Harmony Square), buildings East- and West- of Taihe Dian (Hall of Supreme Harmony), ZhongHedian (Hall of Middle Harmony), and BoaHe Dian (Hall of Preserving Harmony). As mentioned above, the Rest of the Palace Museum is also quite hidden from view and really not good for any photography at this Time. In other words - if you plan to come to Beijing and your main interest is the Forbidden City, you may want to postpone your trip for some months (see elsewhere in the Log: Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) - Hall of Prayer for Abundant Harvests is also under renovations and not open to the Public). Of course, there are still plenty of interisting things to see at The Palace Museum. Visit the before mentioned Throne Halls, enjoy the Imperial Jewelry Collection and adjacent Clock Museum (West of Boahedian), find interesting exhibits around the Nei Ting Palace Halls including some relics of Last Emperor Pu Yi's early Youth and Life. A Bicyle, family photos, his glasses, crayons, schoolmaterials and bicycle are all there to rouse your interest and perhaps dreams. 12 giugno Another Day topping the Heat Charts
Some small items about yesterday : I did not find any of the desired Dragon Boat's at Beihai at all. Lots of "normal" Boats at Beihai, with a whle chinese flottilla of mini-boats leisurely floating around the Huge Inner City Lake, but surely not a Dragon Boat in sight! From what I now hear and maybe deduced myself - the Dragon Boat festival is much more celebrated and popular in the South of China. Here in beijing, they more or less just concentrate on the family celebration, and of course - the Food. So - I after walking around the entire Bei Hai lake (from South-West entrance to East exit), finding no Dragon Boats, I too had to turn to the Foods. For the first time in my live I tried a ZongZhi - this sticky little package of rice, filled up on the inside with something. In my case the everpresent (Chinese) Dade Palm. First evers are always exciting to me - but I must admit, I can't say the zhong zhi are very tasteful to me. A bit of a disappointment there, but .. t was nice sort of receiving this Gift Like food package, unwrapping it ... and devouring it small bite by small bite. Boy, the things maybe somewhat tasteless to westerners, but .. they sure are good fillers. That is ... trying to eat the whole bunch of them turned out to be impossible. And it was several hours before i felt hungry again. So much for Dragon Boat day: a day filled with heat, sweating, the magnificient courtyards and Temples of Beihai Park, enjoying saturday crowds and life singing performances by pensioners - and in the evening Movies, french language studies and cuddling with Caroline. Even in the evening it was too hot to browse about, so we made ourselves a cozy home evening. Today ? Well - while Caroline is out to hear French Language Classes (it is the year of France in China) I am doing this here reporting, some background work with the Capital Hotel to earn money (donations are welcome) and .. now I shall probably head out to The Forbidden City. Not so much for photography (the crowds will be in in Force already) but mostly just to enjoy myself at this always interestng and just plainly mythical place. Never visited the clock-museum, yet. So... that may be where I will end up this afternoon. I think I will also try and concentrate on China Daily life this Time. After all - the Touristic Sites are nice, always a blessing, but for those interested in the real China - what it is like to be here or live here - we also intend to give them something. |
Every morning it looks like the weather may have cooled down a bit, the Chinese " Mist ", so often seen on landscape paintings, fooling one into believing the Heat somehow has gone, at least for that Day. Not so (again) ! Just after 12 O Clock, the mist (or is it pollution here in Beijing?) already has cleared away and we are in for another scorching sunny day in China's Capital. Not really that pleasant for the Tourist or interested traveller. Much less so for lenghty photography endeavors ! Yesterday it was defenitly too hot, even when staying close to the Lake Shore at Bei Hai. Well - anyway, this cool-temperature-adapted Dutch Guy will have to make the best of it... Relax and browse around. Enjoy a small holiday.
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