Temple of Heaven viewed up Qinian Dajie from Chongmenwen Xidajie, originally uploaded by China Encounters.
[Originally written in August] I love to walk in China! My second day in Beijing it was raining so I spent the first part of the day pondering the Bombing of Qana in Lebanon. I Finally headed out at about 4pm. It was too late to get to the peaceful oasis of Tiantan Park, site of The Temple of Heaven, but that was probably good as it meant i went elsewhere! Still I had chosen a location nearby so walked past the entrance, and then down the Avenue that runs towards it - photo above.
Let me take you along with me on my walk! ......
.............................. To start we leave the Dongfang Hotel and (11) Walk up Wanming Lu. (You can follow it here as well as on Flickr - open the link on another page so that you can look at both pictures and text at once. To the upper right of the main picture you can see two thumbnails. The right hand one is the next in the series.) By the way you can follow A map of the walk here -- the walk starts in the bottom left at Dongfang hotel and goes to the top - where Wanfujing Dajie starts.)
At the end of Wanming Lu we turn left along Yong'an and its latter part on Wanfujing Dajie here. (Lu. After a while we get to (12) The Friendship Hospital. Yong'an runs into Tiantan Lu, and hence along the side of Tiantan Park. Eventually we get to the entrance to the Temple of Heaven. Entrance to the park is from early morning when you can go and join the Tai Chi, ballroom dancing, dog appreciation club or whatever activity you choose to start your day with. We will go there another time. Instead we turn down Qinian Dajie; after a while the centrepiece 0f Tiantan, (13) the Hall of Prayer for Good harvest is visible in the distance . Qinian Dajie is in fact a very new road - it is not marked on the map I have attached for this walk. It was obviously built to showcase the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Qinian Dian, after which it is named.
We cross Chongwenmen (the Railway station is along Chongwenmen to the right) and see the (14) Zijin Guest House, once the Belgium Mission (Embassy). Continuing on we are now on Taijiching Dajie and at the intersection with Dongjiaoming Xiang where on the right we come t0 the (15) back gate of the Zijin Guest House / Belgium Mission. Opposite is (16) the entrance to Dongjiaoming Catholic Church (St Michaels Church).
We are in the heart of the old Legation Quarter. It was too late to enter the church yard or building, but there are some great pictures on Dr Bens very extensive China web-ring on this page and this. There is a lot more on Dr Ben's which I have not see myself. There is a lot to be said about the Legation Quarter and the history of its establishment, especially the Boxer Rebellion. Maybe more another time, but for now Dr Ben can say it here.
(17) The Beijing Hotel dates from just after the Boxer Rising of 1900. It stands where Taijiching Dajie meets the huge (18) Dongchang'an Jie. (More pics of Dongchang'an Jie here - its runs past the Forbidden City at the north end of Tiananmen Square.) Opposite the Beijing Hotel is (19) the Oriental Plaza, Asia's largest shopping mall. Again I will leave Dr Ben to show you the outside of the Oriental Plaza and its inside!
We will walk on past Asia's largest shopping mall and down Beijings famous shopping street, (20)Wanfujing Dajie. Wanfujing Bookshop (right on this picture) and Foreign language Bookshop further down on the left hand side are musts, as is (22) Being Arts and Crafts Store with its wares (here and here) (25) The Wanfujing Snack Street is a great place to eat a variety of ordinary and exotic dishes. There are also gifts to be bought in the Haoyuan Market. You can but tea at (31) Ten Fu's Tea Shop (there is another outlet in the Oriental Plaza)- many varieties are to be had and and you may be fortunate to see a tea ceremony. We walk on down (33) Wanfujing Dajie past the Beijing Department Store.
A little further on after we reach the end of the pedestrianised area we come to (34) St Joseph's Church, also known as the East Cathedral. It dates back to the early days of Catholic missions in China, 1655, though has been rebuilt several times; the current building dates from 1905 and was restored and reopened in recently after many years closed. It is beautiful, and is popular for wedding photo's , if not for weddings!A report referencing that restoration here. Dr Ben reports service times as these.
Wanfujing buzzes with life at night, with a lot of street cafes operating with live music. One of the biggest was outside McDonalds.
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