Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A-Z

There was a crowd perpetually round the tent: all our actions, all our belongings, were closely scrutinised — by the Mongols with vacant gravity, by the Chinese with magpie curiosity. ‘How much did this cost, Mr. Fu? How much did this…

Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A-Z

The home-grown entertainment is Běijīng opera (京剧, Jīng jù) for which the usual great antiquity is either claimed or assumed, but which is an early-19th century or at best late-18th century amalgam of ideas from puppet theatre…