Beijing means business

In October 2003, Garry and I traveled to China for two weeks. While I’d visited China twice before on business, this was Garry’s first visit to the Middle Kingdom. On this occasion, he accompanied me while I was there for work. During the trip, we spent eight days in Beijing, including a weekend filled with excursions. The company also took us out for dinner several times, including a meal at one of the city's famous Peking Duck restaurants.

Despite my busy schedule, we found time to explore some of the city’s classic tourist attractions. This included a nighttime visit to Tiananmen Square, a private tour of the Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City, and a day trip to walk the Great Wall at Mutianyu. According to Lonely Planet, the Mutianyu section of the wall is considered its best-restored section. I'm pleased to report that this star billing lived up to the hype.

Mutianyu really was a highlight. We spent Saturday there with my China Country Manager, and Brian an expat visiting from Text 100’s San Francisco office. This was my third trip to the wall. Previously, I'd been lucky enough to walk it at Simatai during the height of Summer (while en route to the UK for business in 1998). I then visited it again, covered in snow, at the traditional tourist haunt of Badaling during an executive board offsite in January 2003.

However, despite these previous excursions, Mutianyu didn't disappoint. This 2.25km restored section of the wall rambles through one of its most scenic locations, tracing the crest of tree-clad hills, framed by soaring craggy mountains. It’s built mainly from granite, is 7 to 8.5 meters high, and up to 5 meters wide along the top. This section also boasts 22 impressive watch towers, an unusually high concentration of these fortifications.

We began our excursion by parking in a nearby village and taking a cable car to an outpost near the wall. We then climbed a steep switchback section of stairs up the final hillside. These eventually finished in front of the wall itself. I’m not afraid to admit that I lost my breath more than once during this rather arduous climb. 

However, it was well worth the effort. Our visit coincided with the height of autumn. As a result, the surrounding hills were awash with golden foliage, creating a truly stunning backdrop on a highly memorable day. I’ll let our photos speak for themselves.

The following week I took a half day off to join Garry and Brian on a private tour of the Temple of Heaven. I then left them to enjoy a guided tour of the Forbidden City while I returned to the office. The weather was perfect all day. It was one of those rare blue skies days that are few and far between in smog-clad Beijing. Two decades on, a photo of Garry and me on the steps of the marble-clad Circular Mould Altar still sits on a console in the main bedroom. It’s the image that opens this post.

The Temple of Heaven is laid out in an axial arrangement. The Circular Mound Altar to the south opens to the sky. Immediately to its north lies the conically roofed Imperial Vault of Heaven. This structure is then linked by a raised, marble-clad, sacred causeway. This elevated walkway extends for 360 metres and is framed on both sides by a series of white marble balusters. You can see a short section in the image above. 

The causeway leads you towards the spectacular circular, three-tiered, conically roofed Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests location at the northern end of the axial layout.  To the west is the Hall of Abstinence where the emperor fasted after making a sacrifice. To the right is a second complementary building. I read recently that 92 ancient buildings, with more than 600 rooms, fill the complex.

The emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties visited this sprawling complex three times a year to act as interlocutors between humankind and the celestial realm. On each accession, they offered sacrifices to heaven and prayed for bumper harvests. 

On the day of Shangxin in the first lunar month, the emperor would hold a ceremony named Baguli in the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, praying for an abundant harvest of all cereal crops; on an auspicious day in April, he'd hold another ceremony named Dianli on the Circular Mound Altar, praying for rain; on Winter Solstice, he'd hold the final ceremony, named Gaosidi, in the Circular Mound Altar, reporting to Heaven on the year's successful harvest.

The Hall of Prayer is one of Beijing's iconic symbols. You see its image reproduced everywhere. In advertising, as a recognizable silhouette or illustrating all manner of literature. I've visited many times over the years. My first visit was in 1998, then again on this trip, and then a final time in 2012 with my parents. On each occasion, I always walked away with postcard-perfect images of its conical roof and elegantly tiered white marble podium.

As noted above, I got to share Beijing with my parents a decade later. I took them both to Mutianyu and the Temple of Heaven, as well as the Summer Palace and the Ming Tombs. One of the most iconic images I took during this trip shows my father leaning on the Great Wall as it winds away into the distance. This was also the last time I walked on the Great Wall. Given the current political climate, I doubt very much I'll ever return to walk it again.

Follow this link to read about our first time in Shanghai.