Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
- its two leaning towers are joined at top and bottom with horizontal letter Vs, the point of
the uppermost “V” seeming to defy gravity - has quickly made it a world-famous symbol of
the city.
In true
yin-yang
style, the building just to the north is steeped in infamy: before its comple-
tion, it was gutted by fire in 2009, thanks to a stray firework from CCTV's own Chinese New
Year party - a huge event, though one mysteriously absent from the news on state television.
Sharing foundations with the CCTV building, it couldn't be torn down, and sat as a rusting
eyesore for years. It was still under renovation at the time of writing.
Ritan Park and around
日坛公园
, rìtán gōngyuán • 24hr • Free • Yong'anli subway (line 1)
Just west of the CBD is
Ritan Park
, one of the imperial city's original four. Each park was
the location for an annual sacrificial ritual performed by the emperor, but today's Ritan Park
is popular with embassy staff and courting couples, who make use of its numerous secluded
nooks. It's a very attractive park, with paths winding between groves of cherry trees, rocker-
ies and ponds.
Jianguomenwai diplomatic compound
The area surrounding Ritan Park has a casual, affluent, cosmopolitan atmosphere thanks to
its large contingent of foreigners, many of them staff from the
Jianguomenwai diplomatic
compound
, an odd place with neat buildings in ordered courtyards, and frozen sentries on
plinths. Though their embassy lies elsewhere, you'll see plenty of Russians (and Cyrillic
script) here; many have set up shop in this area, most notably in the weird
Ritan Interna-
tional Trade Center
, most of whose shops have closed doors and no customers, and seem
to be fronts. Perhaps more interesting is the
North Korean embassy
; though their grouchy
staff are unlikely to give you a visa, you can eat North Korean food with them at the fantastic
Unban Bulgogi
restaurant nearby.
The Beijing station area
First things first - the area surrounding
Beijingstation
(
北京站
, běijīng zhàn) is bloody hor-
rible. Crowded and smoky, it's a place to get away from as soon as your train arrives, even
though they've finally turned off the Kenny G sax muzak which blared over the square for
several years (continuously, or so it felt). Mercifully, there are two nice historical sights with-
in walking distance - Beijing's old
astronomical observatory
, and a section of the old city
wall, preserved in the
Ming Dynasty Wall Relics Park
. Also in the area is the wonderful
Red Gate Gallery
, while for fans of kitsch architecture north of Beijing station stands the
International Hotel
, which resembles a toy robot in all but scale.
