Welcome to China’s communist bunker bar

China Travel News Posted in China Travel News，
23 July 2012
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By David Gray

China never, ever fails to amaze. What better way to preserve a former
Communist Party military leader’s cave headquarters, then to make it into a bar?
Not just any bar, but a ‘Military Bar’, decorated with furniture made from old
ordnance. What better way to use old artillery shells and land mines than to
turn them into bar stools? Brilliant. It does make you ponder the question – now
why didn’t I think of that?

Deep in the mountains west of Beijing, and extremely difficult to find, lies
a cave where the former Communist military Marshal Lin Biao made his
headquarters during certain military ‘disagreements’ with Russia in 1968.
However, from this cave it is alleged he was also plotting the assassination of
Chairman Mao Zedong. He died in 1971 when his plane mysteriously crashed in
Mongolia, and shortly thereafter, he was officially condemned as a traitor by
the Communist Party.

This intriguing history is the reason for the entrance of the cave being
shaped in the form of an airplane (definitely a strange site at the foot of a
mountain). A very realistic cockpit greets visitors just inside the door.

Guests are then presented with all sorts of Communist propaganda lining the
roof and walls of the cave as they walk down towards the larger chasm, where the
really interesting scene awaits them. At first, the bar looks fairly normal but
when you look up and notice that the light fittings are actually made from old
bombs, you start to look more intently at what exactly is around you.

The bar stools are made using old artillery shells for the stands, and land
mines for the seats. For seating around tables, you can sit yourself down on an
old ammunition box. The tables have a glass top displaying model battle scenes.

Dividing each table are piles of sandbags. Lying in the corners of the cave
as ornaments are old ordnance, including tank mines, land mines, gas masks,
grenades, parachutes, helmets, bullets, guns, an army jeep and my personal
favorite, a rocket launcher. You can, of course, play with all this military
hardware while you are sipping on your icy cold beer, perhaps chatting with your
‘comrades’ about your next maneuver in your battle plans. Let’s face it, its a
tough world out there in business these days.

So whether you are a weapons fanatic or a peace-loving citizen, it makes for
a unique and interesting night out, even if it is way out (if you know what I
mean).

Beijing Side Trips: Great Wall of China

China Travel News Posted in China Travel News，
23 July 2012
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great wall of china

No visitor to Beijing leaves without at least a quick trip to the Great Wall.
Usually people visit the Wall at one of the two main heavily touristed sections:
Mutianyu and Badaling. But there’s a lot more to the Wall — called the
“Long City” in Chinese — than those destinations; with a bit of effort and not
that much extra time, you can have a piece of the Wall more or less all to
yourself.

One option is to arrange a visit to a part of the Wall that’s farther off the
beaten track. Simatai is two-plus hours from Beijing, which usually puts off
the more casual visitors. But the effort is worth it. Not only is the scenery
here — with the Wall snaking up and down plunging cliffs and jagged ridges — the
most dramatic, but the crowds are also thinnest.

There’s also Shanhaiguan, where the Great Wall begins, literally, rising
out of the Gulf of Bohai at a spot called Laolongtou, or “old dragon’s head,” after the beast carved
into the section of the Wall that faces the sea. This spot outside the port of
Qinghuadao about three hours from the capital, gives a completely different and
unique perspective on the Wall.

Finally, for the more adventuresome, check out the Beijing Hikers website,
for news on their latest expeditions. The group organizes trips to remote
sections of the Wall and leads hikes for all levels of ability, with transport
and food included in the price. It’s a wonderful way to get better acquainted
with this chunk of history.

Is the Great Wall of China Longer Than Previously Thought?

China Travel News Posted in China Travel News，
23 July 2012
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The Great Wall of China

Experts once believed that the Great Wall of China only stood 5,500 miles long, but a new archaeological survey done by China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage says the Great Wall is more than double than that length.

The report, released early June, estimates that the Great Wall extends 13,170 miles long and across 15 provinces. According to the Los Angeles Times:

That’s more than half the circumference of the globe, four times the span of the United States coast to coast and nearly 2 1/2 times the estimated length in a preliminary report released in 2009, two years into a project that saw the Chinese measure it for the first time.

Traditonally the Great Wall was thought to extend from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan, in the Bohai sea. That was amended in 2001 when Chinese archaeologists claimed it also extended to Xinjiang, where China’s Muslim Uighur people live. Now it’s been extended further east – practically to China’s very own border.

Unfortunately the new estimates are ruffling a few feathers, as it’s being seen China asserting its own grandeur. The announcement has upset neighboring Koreans, who contest that sections of the wall that Beijing is now laying claim were originally built by ancient Koreans from the Koguryo kingdom who occupied modern-day Manchuria. The new estimates bring the eastern end of wall straight to North Korea’s doorstep.

The problem lies in the fact that there is no consensus about what is Great Wall, according to David Spindler, a leading expert on the subject. Indeed, Yan Jianmin, the office director for the Great Wall Society, a specialist nongovernmental organization, admits these ambiguous definitions are reflected in the new estimates. “The previous estimation particularly refers to Great Walls built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but this new measure includes Great Walls built in all dynasties,” says Yan.

That’s not to say that there aren’t valid new discoveries of the Wall. Just last year, British explorer William Lindesay stumbled across an unknown section sitting in Mongolia, where Genghis Khan often ran his military campaigns. A man named Zhang Lingmian, who resides north of Beijing, was collecting walnuts last fall when he discovered some strange stones that he thought must have been part of famous man-made structure.

But then again, it’s not as simple as it seems. The question remains, how do you distinguish the ruins of the Great Wall of China from what’s merely an old wall?

Erica Ho is a contributor at TIME and the editor of Map Happy. Find her on Twitter at @ericamho and Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

Travel: Shanghai, China

China Travel News Posted in China Travel News，Tags:
23 July 2012
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Planes, trains and automobiles. I hate to sound like a transport geek but you can’t go to China and not be impressed by its 
obsession with travel as the dragon economy rushes to embrace its superpower role. From the bullet train that whisks you the 665 miles from Shanghai to Beijing in four hours to the 
super-efficient underground, there’s a serious commitment to getting everyone moving.

This isn’t all good, however, and the traffic jams in Beijing make tram-jammed Edinburgh in rush hour look like a rainy day in Plockton. It seems the city’s 20 million population have swapped their bicycles for cars.

We kicked off with a BA flight where we were upgraded to first class. What do you get for your £5,700 ticket? Well, free pyjamas, a separate menu served whenever you want (though they ran out of posh pasta – imagine), a seat that transforms into a bed with mattress, constant teas, coffees, drinks and snacks, and that pathetic sense of privilege bestowed by the knowledge that you’re getting something the rest of the passengers back in steerage aren’t. Oh, and an Anya Hindmarch washbag stuffed with Elemis goodies.

All of this was fabulous, but the 
return journey in business class provided an equally good sleep, despite the annoyance of having a fellow passenger on the other side of a partition. That’s the trouble with privilege. We despise it for others, but when we taste it ourselves, we can get to quite like it.

Nowhere is this more true than in China, where capitalism is all systems go and the Maoist doctrines of the past reduced to retro T-shirt and biscuit status as we dipped into shops on a break from our motorcycle ride around Shanghai. This is a brilliant idea from Shanghai Sideways that saw us zipping past the traffic to explore the beautiful, tree-lined French Quarter, then the British and US areas and the fascinating China Town where immigrant workers from the provinces live and work.

Denied a pass to move to the city, they come anyway for the higher wages and sleep in shifts in tiny ramshackle houses, earning enough to go home and start a business. In the spotless alleyways chickens’ necks are slit, reconditioned white goods line up for sale and prized single children walk like little emperors to school accompanied by at least four doting adults. Not for much longer perhaps, as the real estate 
moguls eye what is prime turf right in the shadow of the Bund.

Based in the Kerry Hotel in Pudong, a huge property where the endless attractions include its own brewery, cheese room (a departure in China where our local cheese waitress admitted, “We don’t like rotten milk here, but I do now”), the biggest gym in China and The Cook restaurant, where the choice of local and international food was mind-boggling.

Located on what ten years ago were rice fields to the west of the city 
centre, we would have had stupendous views across its architects-on-mescaline skyline if it hadn’t been for the freezing fog that clung with a grip as tight as a starving giant panda clutching a stick of bamboo. No matter, we could see enough of the outline of the crazy high-rises of Shanghai’s famous Bund waterfront with their baubles and orbs to get the gist. Up in the air might be where all the deals are made to fuel China’s economic boom, but down on street level we were in among the thronging masses.

We visited the historic wooden Huxingting tea house, on its own mini lake in Yuyuan Road, a must with Chinese and foreign tourists alike. Here the brew comes with buried eggs and the tinkling and plonky-plonk of dulcimers and glockenspiels of the ‘house band’.

Then it was on to explore Shanghai’s many markets hawking designer copies, silk and tea. We did the behind-the-sliding wall-to-see-the-really-good-stuff experience and walked off with Mulberry and Prada bags that wouldn’t fool a fashionista, but at a distance look the business.

Later, taking the bullet train through the hinterland from Shanghai and seeing the towns where most of the things we buy are manufactured – little more than factories and cement block accommodation – you can’t help but conclude that the lives of the workers there are grim. China’s economic miracle wouldn’t be possible were it not for the labour of millions of workers who clearly don’t enjoy the liberty of those shopping to excess in Shanghai’s Louis Vuitton or Stella McCartney stores, and for whom the branding, especially if it’s western, is everything.

Shanghai might be the happening, trendy hotspot where the hotels are hipper than Beyonce getting a wiggle on to catch a departing bus, but Beijing prides itself on being the repository of China’s cultural treasures. And rightly so. We visited a Tiananmen Square (“Oh no, there are no demonstrations here. Look at the rest of the world … they cause so much trouble,” said our guide) so vast and cold I envied Mao waxed up and snug in his tomb.

Next door the Forbidden City’s multiple inner palaces went on longer than The Last Emperor, which was filmed here, and the chill was so deep it made my mouth taste of pennies. However, its grandeur is awesome – if only they’d fill the hundreds of vast copper urns dotted around with fire like they used to.

Then it was on to the Great Wall at Matianyu, in the heart of the beautiful fruit-growing region. Unlike many tourist must-sees, this really is a must-see. Impressive in both scale and execution, you want to keep on walking up its dragon spine, turret to turret, until you realise you have to walk all the way back. Never mind, there’s a toboggan ride down on a twisting aluminium chute that will have you smiling like the Dalai Lama by the time you reach the end.

Back in Beijing, the Kerry Hotel shocked us with its happening Centro bar, one of the city’s go-to nightspots, by virtue of the fact you’re allowed to light up. Strange how you miss trekking outside to strike up conversations with fellow addicts, and that inflicting smoke on non-smokers around you spoils the enjoyment. It did, however, make for a hazy atmosphere that was perfect for its bluesy house band and the stylish collision of east meets west as the band broke into Whitney Houston summed up modern China.

 

- Scotsman