Your key to the Forbidden City and other tips for visiting Beijing's landmarks
Traditional Beijing Street life
Escape to the back streets...
Away from the flash new developments and renovated tourist hotspots of Olympic Beijing lies a city where ordinary folk go about their lives as they have done for decades. Free of traffic, since most people choose to walk or cycle, Beijing's back streets have a slower pace of life. Here, hawkers call out their wares as they slowly pedal their bicycle-cum-roving shops; knife sharpeners drum up trade by clanking chunks of metal strung together; soy milk and tofu sellers summon people out of their homes; while rag and bone men ask for muck to turn into brass.On busier roads barbers park their bicycles, connect their electric clippers to a car battery strapped to the parcel rack, unfold a chair and are ready to snip passers-by into shape. Though a novel way to get a haircut, don't expect anything more complex than a short back and sides or the military crew cut flat top favoured by local forty-something men.
Across the city pigeons circle overhead, let out for their morning and evening exercise; caged songbirds look on enviously from their perches behind bars or tethered to their owners' bike handlebars. On street corners, keenly contested games of chess are played out on boards roughly drawn on an old box. These kerbside matches inevitably draw a crowd of onlookers, all keen to share their opinion of what the players should have done. Games of mahjong seem to be less of a draw, sedately played in quiet spots – though the recent boom in mahjong clubs has seen many players take their games indoors.
People need neither an excuse nor a court for badminton, with games taking place in the road. With no net, court markings or – usually – scoring, it's just done for the fun of getting a rally going. Pensioners prefer to get their morning exercise on the ubiquitous roadside gyms – the colourful tubular steel machines are a common sight near any housing development. In the evenings look for elderly ladies practising their fan or drum dancing, or couples ballroom dancing in public squares. This can be seen nightly at the southern end of Shichahai lakes.