words from the world

The last part of my transsiberian experience leads me towards Beijing, the swarning capital of an in-a-ferment country. I share my compartment with 3 Irish girls for this 30-hour journey. I spend a lot of time with a Spaniard I sympathise with and in 30 hours, we have time "to make again the world several times". He feels the painful experience of losing all his documents: passport, plane tickets, credit card and money. I try to help him smattering a few words in Chinese. The responsible of the restaurant-carriage will bring him back a few hours later, without the money. A great relief and a lot of problems avoided.
The rest of the journey is cadenced by the Mongolian border before stopping at the Chinese one for several hours. The Chinese railroads width is different from the Russian and Mongolian ones. Each carriage is lifted to a few meters from the ground thanks to powerful hydraulic ram. A lot of Chinese workers bustle about changing the boggies. The train is reconstructed and we stop for an hour at the border train station.



We cross the inner Mongolia that politically enjoys a kind of autonomy such as Tibet. The train splits huge green steppes before going through a hostilest nature. A serie of bridges and tunnels precedes a softer nature getting near Beijing.
The seething economy can be seen everywhere. Bridges and roads building in progress, reinforced concrete of the skyscrapers overhanged by gigantic cranes symbolise the awakening of a giant. In some districts, the architecture is excessive. Hutongs (meaning "alleyway" in Chinese) vanish every day, replaced by ugly glass-covered towers sweeping off bits and pieces of the Beijing spirit in the same time. These tiny lively alleyways and the Chinese white-collar workers' projects don't match any more. The neo-capitalist Chinese businessmen kick out the grandpa, leant against his rickshaw and passionately playing a game of checkers on the end of a table.
The communist party is the only one allowed in "the people's republic of China". Big Brother of the modern era, it looks after everything, from the censorship of the media to the study on the Mao's ideology at school, from the culture control to the right of interference in the foreign companies. The party is everywhere. A few exemples among others : in the libraries, it's possible to find the Lonely planet travel guides for every country of the world except China. In the newspapers which some of them are displayed under a window for the Chinese passerbies, No sign of riots or demonstrations, on the Internet, you cannot access some harmful-considered websites.
However, getting in the WTO and opening up to the capitalism, the premisses of a change, a metamorphose or even a breaking-off are on the way, Mac Donalds and KFC pullulate, the foreign tourism constantly increases, the Internet nebula stays difficult to canalyse and a lot of young Chinese students go abroad to graduate discovering another culture and a new way of thinking.
China overwhelms you when you arrive. I get off the train station and I get in another world, luminous Chinese characters draw the attention, a muggy and close heat doesn't discourage the throng of Chinese people who wander about the alleyways.





Saying a few words in Chinese arouse the smiles. I wander around these winding streets before turning off to a main street leading to a full-of-symbol square, the Tiananmen square, "the gate of heavenly peace". The Mao mausoleum holds court among the largest square in the world.



Northern to the square, the forbidden city stands. It was the house of the Qing and Ming's dinasties emperors. The inside is vast and overwhelming. Numerous curved-roofed buildings scatter in this formerly impenetrable place.








Northeast to the city, Beihai park offers pedal boats trips onto its artificial lake or strolls on its shores.







The discovery goes on northward in a hutongs district. A rickshaws colony offers a ride and sitting in this traditionnal transport is worthwhile. We stop at the Bell tower sheltering a 63-ton bell and the drum tower where a mini drums concert is performed.



The stroll ends with a retreat for one hour at the Yonghegong temple, the biggest lamas temple in Beijing, northwest to the forbidden city.




Despite the muggy heat of Beijing, a great deal of parks offer a respite time.



South to the Tiananmen square, the heaven temple rises above the Tiantan park. Its circular shape symbolises the sky whereas the surrounding square wall represents the Earth. Such as the forbidden city, this park is a touristic highlights in Beijing.






China, when you hold us.