Beijing, amid highways and futuristic skyscrapers, holds countless treasures from the past off the beaten track. Here are ten little gems to start with.
At the speed with which Beijing has projected itself into the 21st century, its history is in danger of remaining in the shadows, and sightseeing in the city focuses on futurist architecture and the best-known hutongs. However, the Chinese capital retains many authentic sites, little known but rich in history, appreciated by the most intrepid explorers and worth visiting without the usual crowds.
Underground City of Mao
In the midst of Cold War paranoia, Chairman Mao ordered a second city to be built under Beijing in the 1970s to safeguard the population in the event of a nuclear attack. For a few years, until 2007, it was possible to pay to visit the damp shelters almost 8 m deep under the Qianmen district, which included a school and even a theatre, but massive construction in the area is fast erasing all traces of the tunnels, which are actually rather shallow and in all likelihood ineffective. That said, everyone seems to be aware of a rumour that some restaurant or other establishment has a cellar leading to the underground city. Ask around and you might still find a way to the Beijing underground.
City Walls of Kublai Khan
In 1274, Kublai Khan commissioned the construction of a series of massive earthen walls to protect the city of Dadu, the new capital of the triumphant Yuan dynasty. Unknowingly, the Mongol conqueror was laying the foundations for the foundation of Beijing. Amazingly, more Dadu battlements remain today than stone walls built by the Ming dynasty, demolished in the 1960s to make way for the second ring road. Take the underground to Beitucheng (the translation of which is a clue: 'north earth wall'), and you can walk for more than two kilometres on the edge of the great embankment, now set up as the Yuan Wall Relics Park. At nightfall, the area becomes a gay-friendly meeting point.
A mini Forbidden City (without the crowds)
Before Mao renamed it the Palace of Workers' Culture, this miniature Forbidden City was an ancestral imperial temple, the holiest piece of land in Beijing, where the 'son of heaven' (or emperor) would honour his predecessors with sacrifices. A series of horizontal stone bridges connect the large, bright yellow portals through which one enters the spacious halls, while the quiet surroundings are dotted with pine and cypress trees, as well as a revered centuries-old tree allegedly planted by Zhu Di himself, the third emperor of the Ming dynasty. But the real merit of the Workers' Palace of Culture is the Ming 'character' that sets it apart, much more genuine than the larger, largely reconstructed Forbidden City of the Qing era that lies immediately next door.
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White Pagoda Temple
Away from the cafés and lamb skewers of the hutongs (the crowded alleys of the Gulou), courtyards surround the graceful forms of the White Pagoda of Miaoying Temple (171 Fuchengmennei Dajie), a kind of bulbous bulb surrounded by an atmosphere of extreme serenity, and whichever way you turn, the sight of the pagoda soaring over the tiled roofs will inspire a photograph. Designed by Nepalese architects in the 13th century, the pagoda is the glorious crowning glory of the Miaoying Buddhist temple, which finally reopened to visitors in December 2015 after years of restoration work.
Tribute to the Peking Opera
One of China's oldest opera houses and a true relic, the Zhengyici Theatre (220 Xiheyan Dajie, Xuanwu district; +86 010 8315 1649) was originally built in 1688 on the site of a Buddhist temple. With less than 100 seats, this two-storey wood-panelled building is the most atmospheric place in the city to watch a Peking Opera performance, marked by the style promoted by the foreign Qing dynasty, after opera companies from the south arrived in Beijing in 1790 to perform in honour of Emperor Qianlong's 80th birthday. For true connoisseurs, the oldest and most erudite form of kunqu opera is often staged here. Or try to see the Mei Lanfang Classics, a tribute to Beijing opera master Mei Lanfang, who trod this very stage in the early 20th century.
Beijing Noir
On the edge of Beijing's old foreign legation district and in the shadow of the haunted Fox Tower (Dongbianmen), you will find yourself in a dilapidated area where the echoes of its past, when it was a den of vice in the 1920s and 1930s, still resound. It was here that the heinous murder took place that inspired Paul French's best-selling mystery Midnight in Peking, the murky Fox Tower Murder. You can explore the area by night, following the official 'Midnight in Peking Walking Tour' itinerary with Bespoke Travel Company(bespoketravelcompany.com). Or, if you're not in the mood for thrills and suspense, you can come during the day: the Red Gate Gallery inside the Fox Tower displays a collection of photographs on the district's intriguing past.
Steampunk with Chinese sauce
It is no secret that Beijing's 798 Art District, home to contemporary art, was once the most technologically advanced industrial complex in China. The East German Bauhaus-style workshops are a testament to the concept of an ideal workspace for artists such as Huang Rui and Ai Weiwei in the 1990s. Hurry past the galleries and cafés to get to D-Park, where you will find yourself in a veritable testing ground of retro-futurist communist industrial architecture. To cross this area, there is an elevated walkway with a wide view of towers, smokestacks, boilers, hissing pipes and gigantic metal structures that, as a whole, look like the film set of the latest steampunk movie.
Architecture in the age of warlords
When the last emperor was banished from the Forbidden City 100 years ago, the warlord Duan Qirui became the de facto ruler of a country plunged into chaos. The government building (3 Zhangzi Zhonglu) he had constructed is an intricate brickwork, a typical example of classical republican architecture, including the clock tower. It served as headquarters and residence, and later housed Chiang Kai Shek's Nationalist troops. Although the gate is always manned by police, you can wander freely inside the complex; don't miss the charming old wood-panelled university buildings at the back, a branch of Renmin University. Then seek out the Peanut Cafe, a relaxed eatery on the eastern side of the area, to sit and contemplate the architectural expressions of the highs and lows of power while drinking a caramel macchiato.
The water dragons of Houhai Lake
Surrounded by willow trees and beer gardens, Beijing's three lovely Shichahai lakes were long ago an important port hub on the Grand Canal, the branch line that directly connected Beijing to Tongzhou on China's southeastern outskirts. Beneath the worn cobblestones of the Houhai Lake Wanning Bridge on Di'anmen Waijie, a pair of stones carved like water-spitting beasts are completely ignored by Beijing's busy inhabitants, but have guarded this strategic waterway since the 1200s. To learn more about the innovative waterways of the Yuan dynasty, head to the small museum inside the Huitong temple north of Xihai Lake, which documents the work of Guo Shoujing, a 13th-century canal engineer and astronomer.
Beijing's best museum
The Poly Art Museum is a treasure trove of ancient Chinese artefacts located more or less halfway up a glass skyscraper (you can also buy a ticket at the reception desk). Bronze and Buddhist sculptures are displayed in exemplary fashion, not hidden by dusty glass cases but placed on artfully lit pedestals. Much of the collection has been purchased by various overseas auction houses and then repatriated; pay attention to the six 'zodiac sculptures' that once decorated a fountain in the Old Summer Palace. Research work to complete the dozen is still in progress.
