International travelers coming through Beijing will soon be able to spend 72 hours exploring the city without getting a visa. During that time a conventional guidebook won't cast light on some of the stranger sights you will see. Why do ancient buildings appear to be brand new? Why do some barbershops have no hair on the floor?
Here are a few examples of what you should pay attention to, and some tips about some tourist spots you should ignore.
Innovation
It is often said that the Chinese are great at copying things but terrible at innovating. This is not true. My favorite innovation is Heaven Supermarket in Sanlitun, Chaoyang district, which heralds the future of bars. Heaven is a liquor store with a twist. You can grab a beer from the cooler, or pick a bottle of hard liquor from the shelves, buy it from the cashier at retail prices, and then sit and drink as the place has indoor and outdoor seating.
Similarly, Frost Nails just up the road has a great innovation, a cocktail with your manicure or pedicure. If that's not enough, the owner's husband will fry you up an American burger on the gas barbecue. This place has become so popular that even guys are hanging around.
The best innovation, though, is that McDonald's delivers anywhere; to your office, to your hotel, even to Heaven Supermarket.
Sex
If you enter a Beijing 7-Eleven, bookshop or any other establishment, there are no pornographic magazines on the shelves, nor are there pornographic movie theaters, or even a red light district. Turn on the television and you will never even see two people passionately kissing.
But look a little more carefully and you will find that you are never more than a 10-minute walk from either a place offering "foot massages" or a hairdressing salon where there is never any hair on the floor.
Some societies like to talk about sex a lot; other societies just go ahead with it without making a big fuss.
Children
The Chinese love their children more than anyone. Old people will give up seats on public transport so children can sit down.
Children even have slits in their pants so they can pee or poop in the street as often as the urge hits them. Adults should not follow suit however.
Preservation
The Great Wall at Badaling looks like a movie set version of the Great Wall, being brand new. This is because your hosts would like you to see the wall as it was at the time, in its full glory.
Some foreigners, displeased with what they consider a lack of Great Wall authenticity at Badaling and Mutianyu, started trekking to the crumbling Simatai section of the wall. Authorities are now rebuilding that too, unable to comprehend that by doing so they are killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
Plenty of other once quaint or old historical sites are falling victim to this trend to stamp out the old and bring in the new. Throughout your trip in Beijing, you will notice that for a city this old, there are very few things that are actually ancient. Most have been rebuilt.
Many are also very upset by the destruction of the city's old lanes, called hutong, which are being bulldozed and replaced by skyscrapers.
National unity
Note the giant stone tablets near the entrance to Lama Temple, Dongcheng district, in four languages, Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian and Manchurian, the languages of the ruling Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) at the time the tablets were made.
The leaders of China have for centuries aimed to make this country a melting pot of cultures.
Also note the yellow cloths draped modestly over the copulating Buddha images in the "Esoteric Hall."
Scams
If you stay near Nanlouguxiang, Dongcheng district, it is easy to take the No. 919 bus to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. The first thing to notice is that there is a No. 919 bus stop just outside one of the exits of the Jishuitan Subway Station, Line 2. Beside it are official looking bus employees in matching uniforms, sometimes with little flags.
After you stand there for a while, they will tell you that the No. 919 bus is not running today and suggest you hire one of the drivers parked nearby. Or they will tell you it is too late in the day to get back on the bus and you will be stuck there unless you take a car.
This is a scam that has been going on for years, despite periodic crackdowns. The real No. 919 bus stop is in the shadow of the giant ancient stone building, with scores of people queued up.
Other scams exist too. Watch out for tea sellers in Tiananmen Square. Don't agree to have tea with them. Also don't agree to see a student's art exhibition.
Traffic rules
As a pedestrian, you have noticed that cars rarely stop for you, making right turns even if the light is in your favor. On a bicycle, you will notice that anything goes. It all seems chaotic, but it is all following a simple organizational principle: me first. Forget rules of the road and just go first if you can.
This rule extends to standing in queues. There are so many people here in Beijing that to follow abstract rules and principles would mean you would never go anywhere in life.
Old people
In many Western countries old people stay inside. In Beijing they wander around unsupervised.
You'll see them everywhere. They hang around the side of the road playing chess or gambling. They gather around the entrances of schools, waiting to pick up their grandchildren. They do social dancing at dusk in parks and in front of shopping malls.
China must be one of the greatest countries in the world to grow old in.
Beijing breakdown
Don't miss
The Great Wall, particularly the wild section, The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, Lama Temple, hutong around Nanlouguxiang, Houhai, 798 Art Zone, Beijing duck restaurant and other Chinese regional restaurants, such as Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Shaanxi noodle.
Miss
Wanfujing, Beijing Opera, Tibetan food, Qianmen, dim sum, Haidian district, your favorite Chinese dishes back home, Zhongnanhai, Temple of Heaven, Temple of Earth, Silk Market, Pearl Market, Ming Tombs, National Art Museum and the National Museum.
Tips
Clearly set prices for rickshaws.
Make sure taxis use their meters.
Don't take full-day trips to the Great Wall or ones that include shopping or side destinations.
Don't get in or escalate a fight under any circumstance.
Avoid large groups of Chinese young men, especially in Sanlitun.
Things to see and do
Slurp yogurt in a clay pot with a paper lid.
Practice Mongolian at Maggie's.
Sip tea at the Stone Boat in Ritan Park.
Read China Daily or Global Times and watch CCTV English to get a sense of Chinese news values.
Witness cricket fights and go to a bird and flower market.
Eat hot pot one night at a restaurant along Guijie Street, a street covered in red lanterns with great eateries.
Eat street food.
Experience a foot massage and cupping.
Rent a bike and get lost in Beijing's alleyways.
(By Chris Hawke)
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