Bei Dai He - Lay Back and Close Your Eyes

by Simon Andrew
photos by Lu Gang

Surprisingly, Beidaihe has been able to keep its sleepy, laid-back atmosphere despite increasing numbers of outside visitors to the seaside resort town during the past few years. Large numbers of ordinary Chinese people and a scattering of overseas tourists, mainly Russian, inundate the sleepy seaside town during summer, robbing the town of the exclusive air which existed before the beginning of China's reform period in 1978.

Although Beidaihe was originally designed by foreigners as a resort town during colonialist times, after the Communists came to power in 1949 the town came to serve as a venue for China's political leaders to meet, rest and plot the course of the nation. Leading government officials still go to Beidaihe today to relax and swim, and drink beer and eat seafood by the surf-less beach while holding the occasional informal meeting.

The difference with former times is that today, apart from the latter activity, common people are now also partaking in these forms of relaxation in Beidaihe, located about a three-hour train ride east of Beijing. This is not to say, however, that officials and common people engage in these recreational activities together. Many of the government officials' holiday resorts, sited back from the beach in secluded spots amongst groves of trees, are surrounded by high walls and guarded by armed soldiers. The possibility of an unexpected intrusion into these resorts by a lost tourist are further reduced by the traffic police who are posted at various points throughout the town, often in front of driveways leading to ornate resort buildings.

Many of the traffic police are more friendly than their stern expressions suggest. While riding bicycles along the road lining the western side of the beach, where many of the officials' resorts are located, myself and two fellow foreign friends were waved down by one of the traffic policeman. His stated intention was to warn us not to ride three abreast. It soon became evident, however, that the animated 32-year-old officer was more interested in the chance to engage in a little international exchange as he chatted to us in English while we sat on our stationary bicycles, three abreast, unintentionally occupying nearly all of the left lane of the road. A motorcycle policeman, whose benevolent smile more than compensated for his lack of English in the facilitation of communication, stopped to fill up the remainder of the left lane. We left, imbued with the glow left by cross-cultural cordiality, being careful to ride in single file.

Any signs of high-living by government officials in Beidaihe are not evident in the relaxed town or along the stretches of beach. Even with the seasonal influx of tourists, the town has a pronounced laid-back feel. While the beaches at Beidaihe are not particularly beautiful, the sand and water are clean and a dip in the seawater, which was still rather cool at the time of my visit, offers a refreshing respite from the summer heat.

While some overseas surfer visitors may be a little saddened by the flat seas at Beidaihe, Chinese holiday makers seem content to paddle in shallow water close to the shore, while others recline and clamber around on large, floating tyre tubes or unfold deck chairs on the beach to soak up the sun's rays while contemplating which of the wide variety of seafood available at Beidaihe they will try at their next meal.

Restaurant goers can be assured that they will be able to eat fresh seafood as they can select their own squirming delicacy from the variety of shellfish, clams, lobsters and other multi-legged sea creatures which are kept in red plastic buckets at the front of many of the town's restaurants.

There is more to Beidaihe, however, than the beach and seafood. As with most Chinese tourist spots, Beidaihe also has some historical significance. For those who are not satisfied with lazing around on the beach in a bleary torpour, it is possible to take a 40-minute bus trip to the point where the Great Wall ends at the sea.

This section of the wall was originally built under the tyrannical orders of China's first emperor, Qin Shihuang. The present section of the wall, reconstructed for the sake of modern tourism, is actually based on the Great Wall built during the Ming Dynasty. The sight of the wall undulating across mountains to end abruptly at the sea presents an impressive spectacle. The atmosphere was spoilt somewhat, however, by the noisy public address system broadcasts of a woman calling for visitors to buy photographic films at a stall positioned at the very end of the wall, known as laolongtou.

From this vantage point, it is possible to see the nearby Sea Goddess Temple, an elegant building constructed on a jetty which juts out into the sea to end with a small pagoda, where on a clear day it is possible to look far out to sea. The building is a reconstruction of a Song Dynasty temple, built to commemorate a local girl who is said to have saved the lives of many sailors from ships which sank in the area.

This nearby city of Shanhaiguan, which means the meeting place between mountain and sea, is famous because of the sad story of Meng Jiangnu. The beautiful woman is said to have travelled a long distance to carry warm clothes to her husband who had been forced to join in the arduous task of building the Great Wall. Unfortunately, Meng discovered that her husband had already died and had been buried among the foundations of the wall. Meng's grief was so intense that here tears broke apart a section of the wall. In typically tragic fashion -- an eternal feature of Chinese historical dramas -- Meng threw herself to her death in the sea.

Many visitors will find, however, that imagined distressing images of desperate grief are soon replaced by the satisfaction of self-indulgence after their return to Beidaihe as they enjoy a seafood meal and a couple of drinks while looking out to sea, feeling the brush of the sea breeze while relishing the oncoming calmness of dusk.

It is now very easy to go to Beidaihe It takes less than three hours to get there by the direct air-conditioner train.

Train K201 starts from Beijing Railway Station at 7:18am; train Y209 starts from Beijing Railway Station at 7:52am.