Revisiting the past, kiddie-style

There’s a place in Beijing called The Forbidden City. It’s a big, flat, gray succession of red-roofed halls stuffed with dusty chairs, dull stone turtles, imposing red doors and the odd big copper pot. Ho hum.

There’s also a place in Beijing called Gu Gong. It’s an astonishing, ancient city spread across 72 hectares of land that once housed emperors and empresses, warlords and eunuchs. It’s pink-washed palaces are stuffed with gold-dipped thrones and thousand-year-old treasures. Its massive copper pots doubled as fire engines, its courtyards were once frequented by concubines toting baskets of pomelos, and its red, gold-studded gates once hemmed in eye-popping secrets of Ancient China.

But wait – drum roll, please – did you know that these places are one-in-the-same? Yes, Gu Gong is actually the Forbidden City. It just depends on how you’re looking at it. In a city that’s crammed with ancient treasures, it’s easy for families to pass over these historical sites because the kids are deemed “too young”. We love taking our kids to these history-steeped spots in China’s capital. You just have to know how to view them, kiddie-style.

For a trip to Tian’anmen Square, we give the kids a video camera to swoop around the panorama of the world’s largest city-central square. We tell them about the embalmed body of Chairman Mao and the ancient city walls, and they’re soon weaving a movie plot around the mysterious network of hidden tunnels lying beneath their feet. This is entrancing stuff.

For Gu Gong, we always visit Jingshan Park beforehand – we love it there, especially in the early morning when the fan dancers and ribbon swirlers are out in force, creating serious aesthetic pleasure. The kids run up the hill to the pagoda with unparalleled views over the old imperial city, and try on the yellow robes of emperors-past at the little booths nearby. In the Gong, you could hand kids a clipboard and ask them to draw scenes of concubines or warriors marching through Gu Gong’s massive squares, or to find certain objects – stone turtles and copper urns, or count the gold nodules on those red doors (there are 81). Another great trick is to pick up a book from the store in the Imperial Garden (in the city’s north) to give the kids a running commentary on everything strange, beautiful or icky way back when.

At Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven), kids can stand in front of the vault at Three Echoing Stones and hear their voice echoed once, twice or three times, depending on which stone they’re standing on. The circular Echo Wall is also cool – if kids stand at either end of the 65 meter wall and whisper, they’ll be able to hear each other! Don’t miss the 500-year-old Nine-Dragon Cypress, whose branches are said to look like nine dragons winding their bodies together. Look out, too, for the talented elderly using meter-long brushes to practise their calligraphy on the paved areas around Tian Tan. Using nothing more than a little water, our Ella was deftly depicted in her very own self-portrait by a talented calligrapher - it was a sight to behold.

At Yi He Yuan (the Summer Palace) there are plenty of gentle hills for the kids to exhaust themselves on, as well as a myriad of pavilions, temples and halls to explore. Kids will be impressed by the famed Marble Boat sitting heavily in the water towards the north west side of the lake. Suzhou Market Street is also a fun place for kids, though beware – the watery “streets” have no fences, barricades or ropes to prevent little emperors tossing themselves headlong into the waterways.

For Yonghe Gong (the Lama Temple), arguably Beijing’s finest sight-seeing temple, kids can light meter-long sticks of incense and send billowing clouds of fragrance to heaven. They can also trail the gardens, explore the dark-as-night staircases, or ring the enormous bell.

Finally – The Wall. Nowhere beats Jinshanling but if you can’t stomach the three hour journey to get there, try Mutianyu instead. It is the place for kids. The Jingcheng expressway through Huairou has cut this trip down to a snappy one-hour, and features a meandering drive into the hills. Be sure to stop at the Schoolhouse for lunch and so the kids can watch the glass-blowing. But the biggest drawcard here, other than the beauty of the Wall, is the super-slick toboggan ride, snaking in a silver ribbon from the top of the Wall down to the car park. Kids - make sure you wait a good few minutes for the grannies to reach the bottom before you go soaring down like a silver bullet. So cool, you’ll want to pay the entry fee twice.

Snaffle a crabapple toffee stick and a hawthorn juice, jump on a rickshaw through the hutongs around Hou Hai and watch your kids become entranced in this remarkable, historical city. Even though Beijing is currently being white-washed with shiny new modernity and a little something called the Olympic Games, they’ll soon enough discover – the past rocks!

Tania McCartney