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Beijing, whose name means Northern Capital (while Nanjing
means Southern Capital) is one of the greatest metropolis of the world. The
town is very ancient, spot of a famous prehistoric settlement, and it has been
a capital since Mongolian or Yuan Dynasty (1272). For the foreigners, Beijing
is above all the immense
Tian' anmen square
(meaning Gate of the Celestial Peace Square) with its imposing buildings,
symbol of the People's Republic; first among those is the
Mao Mausoleum
, and then the Palace of the People's Assembly and the Museum of the Chinese
Story and Revolution, all in "Soviet Union style". And of course it is the
Forbidden City
, immortalized by Bernardo Bertolucci in the unforgettable
"The Last Emperor"
. But Beijing is also and above all the its
wide roads
, where the emerging motorized trafic mix up with the traditional flow of
bicycles; it is its colored
markets
, and the innumerable small shops and
stalls
of antiquities and knick-knacks, the old popular districts, where the
residences crowd themselves, small and low, in narrow and dark blocks that to
the Western eye, perhaps not too kind, have the uneasy appeareance of a
poultry pen (impossible for me not to remember the furious escape of Richard
Gere across those darkens alleys in the film
Red Corner
).
Today Beijing is a town in vibrating development; in the modern business
district, downtown, almost all tall edifices were built in the last 3 or 4
years, or are still in construction. And the building yard is still on the
move, because great is the Chinese will to change their country, starting from
their Capital.
We visited this exciting city in company of our friends from
BNU
, to whom we are very thankful because they made us to discover places, colors
and flavors we would have never discovered by ourselves.
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