Beijing Walks: Exploring the Heritage
By Don J. Cohn
Odyssey (HK$200)
'The likes of Hong Kong and Taipei have their virtues, but lack 'the script' that tells China's story of the past thousand years,' writes China scholar Don Cohn.
Throughout much of its history, Beijing, or the 'vast curiosity shop', as Cohn puts it, has served as the capital of the empire, be it Mongol, Han, Manchu, republican or communist.
Now, thanks to the frenzy of destruction and reconstruction, Old Peking is crumbling into the dust from which it came. Beijing Walks commemorates what has been lost and celebrates what remains, charting six walking tours of key historic areas of the capital: the Forbidden City, the former Legation Quarter, Beihai Park, the Temple of Heaven, the Confucius Temple and the Summer Palace.
