Photography

Photography, with or without flash, is not permitted inside museums or temples, as signs frequently make clear. Which means that the Chinese take photos all the time, or at least until someone comes up and tells them to stop.

Police

jǐngchá 警察

Policemen in China are generally to be avoided, not because they pose as much of a threat to visitors as they do to their own countrymen, but because they tend to be more of a hindrance than a help. Effectively in China the law is what a policeman says is it, and like most other…

Planning

Decide in advance exactly what you want to see and put it into priority order. Be modest in your aims and do not assume you’ll see everything on your list. On arrival in Beijing tackle your top priority and its near neighbours, and then go on to the next. Never leave anything important until your last…