Comments on: Beijingity? http://peer-see.com/blog/beijingity/2007/02/16/ Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Simon http://peer-see.com/blog/beijingity/2007/02/16/comment-page-1/#comment-3736 Simon Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:53:30 +0000 http://peer-see.com/blog/beijingity/2007/02/16/#comment-3736 Here's my favorite part of Beijing: the underground city. http://www.china.org.cn/english/travel/125961.htm "The tunnels, built [underneith Beijing] from 1969 to 1979 by more than 300,000 local citizens and even school children, wind for over 30 kilometers and cover an area of 85 square kilometers eight to eighteen meters under the surface... There is no authoritative information on how far the mostly hand-dug tunnels stretch, but they supposedly link all areas of central Beijing, from Xidan and Xuanwumen to Qianmen and Chongwen districts, to as far as the Western Hills. They were equipped with facilities such as stores, restaurants, clinics, schools, theaters, reading rooms, factories, a roller skating rink, a grain and oil warehouse as well as barber shops and a mushroom cultivation farm, for growing foods that require little light... In the event of attack, the plan was to house forty percent of the capital’s population underground and for the remainder to move to neighboring hills... Of course, the underground city was thankfully never needed for its intended purpose, but it has been maintained by city officials. Water conservancy authorities check it every year during rainy season, and it is included in anti-vermin sweeps." Here’s my favorite part of Beijing: the underground city.

http://www.china.org.cn/english/travel/125961.htm

“The tunnels, built [underneith Beijing] from 1969 to 1979 by more than 300,000 local citizens and even school children, wind for over 30 kilometers and cover an area of 85 square kilometers eight to eighteen meters under the surface… There is no authoritative information on how far the mostly hand-dug tunnels stretch, but they supposedly link all areas of central Beijing, from Xidan and Xuanwumen to Qianmen and Chongwen districts, to as far as the Western Hills. They were equipped with facilities such as stores, restaurants, clinics, schools, theaters, reading rooms, factories, a roller skating rink, a grain and oil warehouse as well as barber shops and a mushroom cultivation farm, for growing foods that require little light… In the event of attack, the plan was to house forty percent of the capital’s population underground and for the remainder to move to neighboring hills… Of course, the underground city was thankfully never needed for its intended purpose, but it has been maintained by city officials. Water conservancy authorities check it every year during rainy season, and it is included in anti-vermin sweeps.”

]]> By: Olivia http://peer-see.com/blog/beijingity/2007/02/16/comment-page-1/#comment-3716 Olivia Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:31:05 +0000 http://peer-see.com/blog/beijingity/2007/02/16/#comment-3716 Hi guys, It's been a long time since I was briefly in Beijing, but the thing I remember most was visiting the "wild wall" outside the city about an hour or 2 by bus. We got the info from a Lonely Planet guide, so the area may not be so wild anymore (this was 2001), but at the time my friend MC and I managed to get ourselves on some public buses (which was really fun and interesting in itself - changing lines was particularly challenging) to this tiny town and then you just hike up to the crumbly old great wall of China and wander around on it for as long as you please. Back then there was no one really around, though an old man was asking for some money for us to walk the path up to the wall. That could be a bad sign for the area's development. I don't know what the weather's like now, either (snow might preclude outside fun), but that day was the most memorable part of my trip to Beijing, other than the lingering memory that the metro stops are really not close to one another at all.... O Hi guys,
It’s been a long time since I was briefly in Beijing, but the thing I remember most was visiting the “wild wall” outside the city about an hour or 2 by bus. We got the info from a Lonely Planet guide, so the area may not be so wild anymore (this was 2001), but at the time my friend MC and I managed to get ourselves on some public buses (which was really fun and interesting in itself - changing lines was particularly challenging) to this tiny town and then you just hike up to the crumbly old great wall of China and wander around on it for as long as you please. Back then there was no one really around, though an old man was asking for some money for us to walk the path up to the wall. That could be a bad sign for the area’s development.

I don’t know what the weather’s like now, either (snow might preclude outside fun), but that day was the most memorable part of my trip to Beijing, other than the lingering memory that the metro stops are really not close to one another at all….

O

]]> By: vlad http://peer-see.com/blog/beijingity/2007/02/16/comment-page-1/#comment-3667 vlad Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:04:43 +0000 http://peer-see.com/blog/beijingity/2007/02/16/#comment-3667 It has been a year since I left Beijing, so I am sure everything has changed beyond recognition. But art galleries at Area 798 in Dashanzi used to be pretty cool - Chinese modern art in an abandoned weapons factory. Check out that's beijing for up to date happenings - thatsbj.com and available at most places Westerners frequent! For the record - I love/hate China! It has been a year since I left Beijing, so I am sure everything has changed beyond recognition. But art galleries at Area 798 in Dashanzi used to be pretty cool - Chinese modern art in an abandoned weapons factory.

Check out that’s beijing for up to date happenings - thatsbj.com and available at most places Westerners frequent!

For the record - I love/hate China!

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