China was the first country I visited that reminded me that I have a lot to learn about the world. I had always thought that my mixed heritage and third culture lens I see the world with, meant I could recognise and feel familiarity to most cultures. Within minutes of flying into Beijing, I realised this wasn't the case, and I looked forward to immersing myself in Chinese culture and heritage.
We stayed at the Novotel in Dongcheng, Beijing and travelled around the city by taxi or transport the hotel had organised for us. I would recommend two things before heading out to China; firstly, download a VPN before heading out to China so that you can access social media, otherwise China has blocked most apps and you may struggle. Secondly, write the name of your accommodation and places you would like to go in mandarin and keep it safe when you are out! Don’t expect locals to speak English, from my experience only those that worked at the hotel spoke English and I am so glad they gave us that tip before we got lost in the depths of China with no way of getting home.
A personal highlight has to be visiting Nui JIe Mosque for Jum’ah (Friday prayers), the khutbah was in Arabic and then in Mandarin (I believe, I’m not entirely sure!) and it was surreal. The architecture was unlike any mosque I had previously visited and although I couldn’t fully communicate with the locals, we greeted each other with ‘Asalaamu aleykum/Peace be upon you’ as a part of our shared faith.
I’m sure a lot of people have experienced this but SO many people took pictures of my friends and I when we were out in China, be it because of the hijab, skin tone or different features. I have never experienced that before, people would come and stand so close to take selfies. It became a bit of a novelty after a while, and we just had to get used to it!
Here are the top five places I would recommend when visiting Beijing as a creative;
The Great Wall of China
I did’t expect for the views to be as breath-taking as they were, but gosh it was stunning. We visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall (you can choose which part of you would like to span for the day), which is located in Northern Beijing. It is one of the best preserved parts of the Wall with several watch towers and such vast surrounding woodland and streams. Did you know you can taboggan down the Great Wall? I did not until I got to do it!
The Hutongs
Narrow streets and alleys that go back about 800 years originally made up of courtyard homes, now you can enjoy tea houses, hand-made jewellery and great food made right in front of you. I’m not too sure which hustings we visited but the Nanluoguxiang and Yandaixiejie Street are amongst the recommended! If I was to go again, I would go at night for the atmosphere!
The Forbidden City
Architecturally, the Forbidden City is beautiful and seen as one of the vastest palaces, home to Chinese emperors and their households for about 500 years. All roofs have yellow glazing as this is the colour of the Emperor. When we visited, the amount of people visiting really overwhelmed me but once you get inside you get to experience the space!
Panjiayuan Market
Hands down I prefer the road less travelled by when travelling, and I loved visiting this market filled with various oil paint artists, Chinese calligraphers and locals selling various orniments and Chinese paint brushes. I will say I got a bit lost in the beauty of it all and forget to stick to my friend with all the details of how to get back to our hotel, for a good hour I was stuck in the market aware I couldn’t communicate in Mandarin that I’d lost my friend and needed to get back to my hotel!
Kung Fu Show at The Red Theatre
I can’t take credit for organising this but ended our China trip with a Kung Fu Show at The Red Theatre was hands down a highlight! The show was called “The Legend of Kung Fu” and the performance was honestly incredible.
I created a short film of my time in Beijing which you can find below!
Beijing: A Short Film