Tiananmen Square Bubbling with Holidaymakers
Today Xiao Mao, one of my elder sister in law, accompanied by her husband, her offspring and my another younger sister in law,comes to Beijing for the holiday of spring festival. She used to take good care of me when I was a child. Her arrival is a good opportunity for me to repay her for her kindness rendered to me in the past. I have arranged Wangfujing Grand Hotel for them, which is centrally located on the Wangfujing Street. This street is the most famous commercial street in Beijing with lots of shops. Their plane arrives in Beijing just on time at 13:45 from Shanghai. Through the heavy throng of people, I easily recognize them. My sister in law is in her sixties. How time flies! My mind is still lingering with her young and active image. On our way to the hotel, we talk to each other with passion. I love the long holiday with thin traffic on the road! How nice if the traffic could be the same as today for everyday. Wangfujing Hotel is a litlle letdown at the very start. All the double rooms are sold out. They four have to use 2 king-sized rooms instead of 2 double rooms. It is very considerate of my sister in law to consider it in an considerable manner and forget the room problem. I go up with them to check the rooms. The room are not bad, but a little bit disrepair. It has once been planned to be under renovation. It is said that the decision-maker at last has given up the repair plan and decide to continue the operation intact. I don't know what has happend with the hotel' highest body. My schedule for the afternoon is take them to Tiananmen square and have Beijing Duck Dinner. Tasting duck dinner and climbing the wall are the two things that the first time visitors to Beijing must do! Tiananmen Square is bubbling with happy holidaymakers. Most of them come here with their family members or friends. Some are taking pictures; some fly kites. All of them are enjoying themselves. I find a police car patrolling on the square! Tiananmen square is the center of Beijing, even China, something spiritual and more than a square. North of the square is the Tiananmen Gate, east is China National Museum, west is People's Hall ( just like parliament in west ). In the south is the Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall. We still go further south to Dazhalan, the oldest comercial street in Beijing. The whole street is about 300 meters lined with 36 shops in 11 industries. It is of the two pedestrian streets in Beijing. The other is Wangfujing Street ( some part of the street ). To my surprise, there is a new road erupted to the west end of the Dazhalan Street. What a change! Beijing is changing day by day! At last we get to the famous duck restaurant--Beijing Hepingmen Roast Duck Restaurant. It is the largest duck restaurant in the world with 5 stories . It is said the restautant can hold as many as 20000 people dining at the same time. I have very good connection with the restaurant, so we easily find our pre-booked special room for the diner. Of course we have to pay high prices for the duck dinner during the holiday. The minimum budge for the duck dinner is about USD 20 per person if you would like to have dinner in a special room. It seems the Beijing duck branding is more famous than it delicacy! Eating a duck is more like an effort to finish a routine task. We five share one and half ducks. Full, we leave the restaurant and head for my home first. The lighting is all areas due to the" lighting project" pushed by our local government, making the city more colourful. My wife and son give them a warm welcome with a big hug. We have no relatives in Beijing. So their coming has brought us some festivity. The time for parting, they stand up and say byb to my wife and son. We drive back to the hotel. Life is busy with life! Feb 21, 2007 Daniel Li |
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