Beijing Sights
Old Foreign Legation Quarter
After I visited the Beijing Ancient Observatory, Southeast Corner Tower, and Ming Dynasty Wall Park, I walked through the old Foreign Legation Quarter. I particularly wanted to see a couple of historic churches in the neighborhood. I enjoyed a meander through the narrow streets searching for these places.
My first destination was the Chongwenmen Church, originally the Asbury Church. Originally built for the American Methodist Church 1870, the Chongwenmen Church is one of the largest protestant churches in Beijing. The design is the same as the expanded church design of 1880.
However, after destruction during the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing government appropriated funds for rebuilding, as they did for several other churches in the same situation. This expanded the capacity even further to 2,000 people. They accomplished this expansion with a basement where services are shown on closed-circuit television today. Parishioners actively use this church. My visit coincided with some event, so I didn’t actually get inside. The stained glass shown as a highlight though on the exterior.
While wandering this neighborhood, I also found St. Michael’s Church, one of several historic Catholic churches in Beijing. I only caught a peek of the gothic architecture through the fence. It was not open for visits at the time of my stroll through the neighborhood.
Reed Canal Park
Lovely parks dot Beijing. One day, I found a small park that follows a historic canal to the west of the Qianmen neighborhood. Historically, this park was used for growing and processing reeds into baskets and vessels of all kinds. Today, it is another example of the growing historical restoration and tourism expansion efforts in Beijing.
One thing nobody can ever understand until they have spent some time in China is how many people live here. The rise of the middle class with more disposable income brings with it more domestic tourists. And, every domestic Chinese tourist wants to visit the treasures of the capital in Beijing. The Palace Museum boasts some months of capacity visitors at 60,000 people per day. That means millions of people annually visit the Forbidden City. The museum has worked very hard to open more spaces of the nearly 1,000-room complex to visitors through restoration projects. This helps disperse the hordes from the main central axis and alleviate the pressure on the historic site. This strain is felt all across China, but particularly in Beijing. The city works very hard to restore more historic sites and create more tourist friendly destinations to help spread the crowds.
China Railway Museum
Of all of the museums I’ve been to in Beijing, this is one of the most boring. With a subject like trains and being inside a historic train station, you would think it would be a bit more interesting and exciting. However, it is mostly photos and information on the walls, and pretty much all in Chinese. There are some artifacts here and there, but how cool would it be to have a model set depicting the evolution of Chinese railways. There could be a series of tracks with a different iteration of Chinese train on each track. That way you could see how amazing the modern bullet trains are compared to other trains, even the still-in-use k trains. More simulators and hands-on activities and displays would also make the museum more engaging. If you want more of this kind of display, the neighboring Beijing Planning and Exhibition Hall has a section about transportation with at least several models, and it is free.
