Pocket Beijing: What to See and Do If You Can't Stay Long (Pocket Guides) [Paperback]

Fodor's (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 1998 | Series: Pocket Guides

Pocket Guides are designed for leisure and business travelers who want the highlights of a
destination. They contain full, rich descriptions of the best a destination has to offer -- the most
worthy sights, the best restaurants and lodging in all price ranges, plus shopping, nightlife, and
outdoors highlights.




The best guide to Beijing, packed with essentials
The Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, Mao's Tomb
Walking and biking tours in the narrow lanes of the Muslim quarter and around Liulichang and Beihai Park
Side trips to the Ming Tombs, the Great Wall, ancient temples, and China's oldest bridge
Shopping for antique and reproduction artwork, crafts, porcelain, jade, embroidery, fabric, carpets, silk
Where to stay and eat, no matter what your budget
Modern high-rises, traditional guest houses, European-style classics from the 1920s, hostelries
Beijing duck specialists, cafés, small private eateries, bustling Chinese regional restaurants

Endorsed by the American Society of Travel Agents
Pocket Beijing is excerpted from Fodor's China
"Fodor's can't be beat." -- Gannett News Service
"Fodor's always delivers high quality...thoughtfully presented...thorough." -- Houston Post
"Packed with dependable information." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"An excellent choice for people who want everything under one cover." -- Washington Post

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Pocket Guides are designed for leisure and business travelers who want the highlights of a
destination. They contain full, rich descriptions of the best a destination has to offer -- the most
worthy sights, the best restaurants and lodging in all price ranges, plus shopping, nightlife, and
outdoors highlights.

The best guide to Beijing, packed with essentials
The Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, Mao's Tomb
Walking and biking tours in the narrow lanes of the Muslim quarter and around Liulichang and Beihai Park
Side trips to the Ming Tombs, the Great Wall, ancient temples, and China's oldest bridge
Shopping for antique and reproduction artwork, crafts, porcelain, jade, embroidery, fabric, carpets, silk
Where to stay and eat, no matter what your budget
Modern high-rises, traditional guest houses, European-style classics from the 1920s, hostelries
Beijing duck specialists, cafés, small private eateries, bustling Chinese regional restaurants

Endorsed by the American Society of Travel Agents
Pocket Beijing is excerpted from Fodor's China
"Fodor's can't be beat." -- Gannett News Service
"Fodor's always delivers high quality...thoughtfully presented...thorough." -- Houston Post
"Packed with dependable information." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"An excellent choice for people who want everything under one cover." -- Washington Post

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Beijing: A Beating Heart



The daily photographic ritual, the giddy throng gathered beneath the Forbidden City's ancient
vermilion edifice, illustrates Beijing's position -- unrivaled to this day -- at the center of
the Chinese universe. In spite of devastating urban renewal, modern Beijing continues to convey an
imperial grandeur. But the city is more than a relic or a feudal ghost. New temples to communism --
the Great Hall of the People, Chairman Mao's Mausoleum -- convey the monumental power that still
resides within the city's secret courtyards.  If China is a dragon, Beijing is its beating heart.



Beijing's 12 million residents are a compelling mix of old and new.  Early morning taiqi
(tai chi) enthusiasts, bearded old men with caged songbirds, and amateur Peking Opera crooners
still frequent the city's many charming parks.  Cyclists. most pedaling cumbersome, jet-black
Flying Pigeons, clog the roadways.  But few wear padded blue Mao jackets these days, and they all must
share the city's broad thoroughfares with trendy Chinese yuppies and their private cars.



Manifest "reform and openness" notwithstanding, Beijing still carries a political charge.  It is
the seat of China's bloated national bureaucracy, a self-described "dictatorship of the proletariat"
that has yet to relinquish its political monopoly.  In 1989, student protesters in Tiananmen Square
tried -- and failed -- to topple this old order. The government's brutal response, carried live on CNN,
remains etched in global memory.  To this day, secret police mingle with tourists and kite-fliers on
the square, ready to haul away all those so brave or foolish as to distribute a leaflet or unfurl a
banner.



Mao-style propaganda campaigns remain a common mechanism for engineering proper behavior.  Slogans
that preach unity among China's national minorities, patriotism, and love for the People's Liberation
Army decorate the city.  Provincial leaders, who manage increasingly independent regional economies,
have all but abandoned such ideological measures; in Beijing they still flourish.  The result is an
ironic mix of new prosperity and throwback politics: socialist mantras emblazoned on electronic
billboards hung at shopping arcades that sell Gucci and Big Macs.

    

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Fodor's (May 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067900078X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679000785
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,443,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars nice but need more effort, March 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Pocket Beijing: What to See and Do If You Can't Stay Long (Pocket Guides) (Paperback)

China is a country with long long history and many manycontent. The pocket just introduce only small part of China. But it is still enough fo the foreigner who go to CHina for the first time.