A defence of Beijing: Why Beijing isn't boring!

Recently I've been thinking a lot about Beijing, and I'll be honest, how boring it is. I wrote a serious travel article about it a few days ago. However, one of my students, wasn't impressed! Silvia, a native Beijing-er became quite hostile to my critique of her home town so I told her to write a defence.

So here it is, A defence of Beijing, By Silvia Jackson: 

"My Good Friend Sam told me Beijing is the most boring city in China. As a Beijing person I feel I have to clear my hometown's name. BEIJJING IS NOT BORING!! Maybe some places are but all you need is a good guide and the resolve to NEVER follow any travel agencies!

So, how can you make sure this trip does not become a useless, boring and ridiculous drama show?

OK, the first thing you should know is it's definitely not a good idea to go to Beijing in the peak travel seasons (holidays/spring festival) because the city will be jam packed with tourists! But any other season will be wonderful. Remember this! 

Beijing during the tourist season

The first place you SHOUDN'T go to is the Palace Museum（故宫. It's the most boring thing I've ever seen!! There are just some traditional Chinese Palaces, most of which are not as old as they say. The government always overhauls them, making those poor palaces lose all of their original charm and character .I mean if you ask some people who live near there, they will say,

“Oh, That chair is new, they just put it here yesterday! Oh, this table is pretty old it was here last year”. 

The Palace Museum in Beijing, China. A place to avoid!

But anyway, the palaces are beautiful, and they are a good place for the people who come to China for the first time. But once you've been there once, don't go again next time, it definitely wont be worth it.

Never Go To China Millennium Monument（中华世纪坛）It is not that famous, so you can just ignore it. Just in case, if someone asks you to go there, no matter what, DON'T GO !!

The China Millennium Monument, You do wonder sometimes don't you!

BeiHai Park or the Summer Palace, don't go to both, just choose one. They are almost the same. But they are both wonderful places to spend your time, If its not tourist season.

The Summer Palace in Beijing!

The Geological Museum of China. Every year for the last 8 years, upon my return to my hometown of Beijing, I go there, without fail! I don't know why but it is Fantastic!!!! Especially For Children!!!!!

The Geological Museum of China

Let's talk about shopping. WangFuJing is the best place to go. It has one of the biggest shopping centers in Asia, The biggest book store in China, the best roast duck in the whole world and a bunch of the best traditional food in China! After 6:00pm you can find traditional street snacks. With every single delicious snack from around China here. More than that, there are a loooooooooooooooot of brilliant restaurants, there are too many to mention so the easiest way to find them is follow the crowd. The restaurant with the most people is probably going to be the best. It's the truth!

Wang Fu Jing in Beijing. The best place to go shopping in China's Capital!

Just remember, stay away during the tourist season and stay away from the travel agencies. Then wherever you go to, everything will be fine. Beijing has much more fun than meets the eye, you just need some time to discover it all.

Walk around ,Slow down. Sit down and chat with some old people, drink a cup of tea, you will find out how brilliant it is.

Whether a city is boring or not cannot be judged by a few boring places, but by her History. You can feel the history through these places, but you can only know the history through peoples eyes.

So its not about where you should go, its about where you are standing." 

By Silvia Jackson of Beijing, China.

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