Today Agnes and me went in search for Beijing underground world. Not the world of gangsters, people bribing, dealing drugs or killing, but the underground tunnels and air raid shelters of Beijing. In fact, Beijing underneath is like an "emmentaler" cheese. In the underground tunnels you can walk to nearly all of Beijing (Mao mausoleum, summer palace, even until Tianjin or Badaling Great Wall).
Mao let them be built between 1969 and 1970 because he had just broken up with Russia (or Russia broken up with him) and feared attacks. The tunnels and shelters were designed to fit more than 300,000 people inside and offered extensive facilities such as hospitals, weapon arsenals, libraries and even a mushroom cultivation farm (because many Chinese love to eat mushrooms of all kinds). In the tunnel there still are many Mao posters and advertisements to invite people to join the Chinese army.
Having escaped the underworld, we also strolled through Dashalan and Liulichang, two old Beijing shopping streets. Dashalan was rather unpleasant - many muddy puddles (it had rained yesterday) and a lot of construction works going on in the former hutong area. Some nice curiosity shops were to be found in both streets. A Chinese music instrument shop, a Chinese medicine pharmacy (offering the most weird things as medicine at incrediblly high prices), antiques shops with Buddhas and Mahjong games as well as Chinese seal shops. I could not resist it... I now am the proud owner of a Chinese seal supposedly with an abbreviation of my name on it (but, hey you never know with those seldom Chinese signs...) and carved in the form of a rooster (my Chinese astrologic sign). If you want to see a similar seal and read some background information try the following link (in German language):
Wishing you a nice Sunday.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen