Exploring the Spring of Beijing

The Great Wall → The Forbidden City → The Summer Palace

If you were to ask me, how should spring in Beijing be played? Hey, let's learn from the old Beijinger's leisurely styles. First, climb the Great Wall to blow snow, then wander around the palace to find incense, and finally listen to a song called "Jasmine Flower" on the painted boat in the Summer Palace. The means of transportation along the way, from bus to subway to rowing boat, seems to be the bamboo stick strung with Tomatoes on sticks - wrapping the ancient wind of the Great Wall, the Zhuang and Ya of the Forbidden City, and the Lingxiu of the Summer Palace in a sweet spring day.

Spring Snow in Beijing

At 5:30 in the morning, the Deshengmen City Tower was still immersed in indigo mist, and the engine of the 877 bus was already buzzing. The ticket seller is a big sister who speaks with a Beijing accent. She handed over a one-way ticket and said, "Apricot blossoms are blooming happily. The wild path behind Badaling Mountain, I guarantee you'll get enough tickets for the Nine Palace Grid

Sure enough, the apricot blossoms in Mutianyu section bloom half a decade later than in the city. Stepping up the green brick steps, flower branches hooked onto the zipper of the assault suit, and snowflake like petals rustled onto the backpack. The enemy tower of the Wild Great Wall is half hidden in the sea of flowers, and the weathered city bricks still bear the ancient inscription "Ten Years of Wanli". There is a girl wearing Hanfu in a concave shape, her clothes fluttering in the mountain wind, resembling a person picking Wei from the Book of Songs.

Floating light on palace walls

In the afternoon, taking the subway from Qinghe Station to Tiananmen East, the red wall of the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City reflects the blue sky. Following the central axis, the copper cylinder in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is covered in thin ice, and several koi fish swim beneath the ice surface. I met the orange cat "Aobai" at the corner, squatting under the cypress tree in the imperial garden, its tail sweeping the magnolia petals on the ground.

The palace afternoon tea at the Ice Cellar Restaurant is worth queuing up for. Litchi and Yangmei drink sweet and sour to relieve summer heat, and the milk foam of Jinfu latte is printed with the gilded word "fu". At the next table, an old Beijing man was teaching his granddaughter to recognize the roof figures on the top of the temple: "This is a man riding on a phoenix, followed by dragons, phoenixes, lions..." The little girl bit the ribs of the palace gate, her eyes flickering.

The rowing of the Summer Palace

The next morning, I entered the Summer Palace through the North Palace Gate. The peach blossoms on the west bank were in full bloom, and their branches hung down to the surface of Kunming Lake, like a circle of pink edging on a mirror. Hiring a small boat, the boatwoman hummed 'Let's start rowing', and the sound of the oars shattered the morning light on the lake. Under the Seventeen Arch Bridge, falling flowers float, and the Buddha Fragrance Pavilion on the other side of the bridge is shrouded in mist, as if in a fairyland.

Getting ashore near Gengzhitu, I encountered a wild apricot forest. There is an old man wearing a blue shirt sketching, and the pink color in the palette is even more vibrant than flowers. He said, "Emperor Qianlong used to watch weavers weave here, but now when we see the flowers blooming, it can be considered the same as ancient and modern times

Market Fireworks

Turn into Niujie on the way back to the city and buy a string of Bingtanghulu. Hawthorn is wrapped in amber sugar shells and makes a clicking sound when bitten. There was a long line in front of the stall of fermented sour milk made from ground mung bean wow gold with coke rings. A little brother in a cap held up his mobile phone and said, "Look at this fermented sour milk made from ground mung bean wow gold. People from other places smell it, and old Beijing is drinking comfortably..."

Precautions

Transportation: Taking route 877 on the Great Wall is the most convenient. The Forbidden City suggests taking subway line 1 to Tiananmen East, while the Summer Palace can take subway line 4 to Beigongmen Station.

Appreciation of Flowers: Apricot blossoms in Badaling are best in early April, peach blossoms in the Summer Palace bloom in mid to late March, and peonies in Jingshan are most abundant in late April.

Eating: It's a must order for the palace gate pork ribs at the Palace Museum Ice Cellar Restaurant, try court cuisine at the Tingli Hall near the Summer Palace, and enjoy the sugar grilled rice at Niu Street as a souvenir.

Equipment: lightweight sports shoes (Great Wall hiking), thin jacket (temperature difference between morning and evening), power bank (fast power consumption for taking photos).