       CHINA: Macau Chongqing to Yichang (via the Yangtze River) X'ian Beijing
7.04.09 Plane trip with a local carrier takes us X'ian to Beijing, approx 2 hour flight and not much money when booked and paid for on line.
Beijing, city and capital of China, located 110 km north-west of the Bohai Gulf in north China. Also known as Peking or, formerly, Peking, the city is surrounded by Hebei Province although it constitutes an independently administered municipal district of 16,808 sq km (about 6,490 sq mi). Situated at the northern edge of the North China Plain and encircled on the north and west by mountains, Beijing was a strategic northern outpost of the Chinese Empire throughout much of its history. Initially settled more than 2,000 years ago, it has been the capital of China for most of the last 700 years and is today one of the world's great cities. It is the cultural, political, and intellectual centre of China, as well as a major industrial and commercial metropolis. Beijing is the second-largest city in China after Shanghai. Beijing, like most other Chinese cities large and small, has serious problems of air and water pollution. Rapid population growth and construction along with largely unregulated industrial and residential waste water disposal and burning of coal and other polluting materials are the principal causes Mandarin Chinese is the language spoken in and around Beijing. The dialect of Beijing has become the standard for northern Mandarin, the standard form of Mandarin and the official spoken language of the People's Republic. Just over half of Beijing’s population inhabits the built-up area of the city proper. The remainder live in the surrounding counties in small cities, towns, and villages. The city has low birth and death rates and a very low rate of natural population increase. Most of the city's recent growth has been by immigration, and there are today more than one million transients (visiting workers on temporary permits or illegal entrants) who are not included in the official statistics. Many of these transients live in crude shacks or other temporary shelters or rented dormitory space. They serve as construction workers, domestic servants, and in other low level service activities. Because of their transient status and low income level, they are often blamed for rising crime and social unrest. More than 90 per cent of the population are Han Chinese, and the remainder are Manchus, Mongols, Turkic peoples from western China, and other minority nationalities and foreigners. Population 11,807,000 (2005 estimate
Our trip to China was too short by far, there is
much to learn in this country. We found the people to be extremely
courteous and helpful to tourists the exception was the occasional
taxi driver who was on the "take". The effect of humanity on the
environment was more pronounced than anywhere I have seen before.
For example we did not see the sun clearly for our entire stay and I
found a few patches of air on the Yangze river so sulphurous that
breathing outdoors was difficult. |
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