Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
making it an ideal place to browse in low gear. At the western end of Guozijian Jie stands
occupied by Běijīng residents. Only the first hall - the Mountain Gate (Shān Mén) - re-
mains recognisable and the remaining temple halls have been greatly adapted.
CULTURAL REVOLUTION SLOGANS TOUR
As a city constantly in the throes of reinvention, Běijīng seems to change its guise almost daily. But it's all too
easy to get carried away with the forward movement of Běijīng and ignore its equally relevant past. Unmarked
by either a memorial or museum in Běijīng, the tragic Cultural Revolution (1966-76) is one period of history
the authorities would rather just gloss over. Fortunately, faint echoes from that era still resonate in Běijīng's sur-
viving brood of political slogans
(zhèngzhì kǒuhào)
.
Most slogans from the 1960s and 1970s have been either painted over or scrubbed clean, but some ghostly
messages still haunt Běijīng. Other maxims have been exposed after layers of concrete have been stripped from
walls, revealing hidden directives from the period of political fervour.
Daubed on the wall opposite
59 Nanluogu Xiang
are the characters, which mean 'For industry study Dàqìng,
for agriculture study Dàzhài, for the whole nation study the People's Liberation Army'; left of this is a much
earlier slogan from the 1950s, largely obscured with grey paint. The wall opposite the Guanyue Temple at
149
Gulou Xidajie
is covered in faint, partially legible red slogans, including the characters ('establish the proletari-
at') and the two characters ('old habits').
The former Furen University (
CLICK HERE
) has a magnificent slogan that can be seen from the road. Very in-
distinct characters can just be discerned under the windows of the former
Banque de L'Indo-Chine
at 34
Dongjiaomin Xiang in the Foreign Legation Quarter (
CLICK HERE
). The
798 Art District
(
CLICK HERE
)
is heavily
bedecked with slogans. One of the rarest and most enticing survives on the wall of the
Cave Café
: a personal
dedication written by Lin Biao, Mao Zedong's one-time chosen successor.
The village of
Chuāndǐxià
has a generous crop of slogans. Maoist slogans can still be found on the house at
27 Yingtao Xiejie
and on the building at
65 Xidamo Changjie
, opposite the now-closed Underground City,
where passers-by are again exhorted to 'study Dàqìng' (China's No 1 oilfield, whose workers were held up as
exemplars of diligence) and to 'study Dàzhài' (China's model commune).
Next to the Confucius Temple, but within the same grounds, stands the Imperial Col-
lege, where the emperor expounded the Confucian classics to an audience of thousands of
kneeling students, professors and court officials - an annual rite. Built by the grandson of
Kublai Khan in 1306, the former college was the supreme academy during the Yuan,
Ming and Qing dynasties. On the site is a marvellous, glazed, three-gate, single-eaved
decorative archway called a
liúli páifāng
(glazed archway). The Biyong Hall beyond is a
