An ongoing passion for historic Beijing

Many boats unloaded close to the Silver Ingot Bridge, while others continued to the Jade River Ca-nal. The restored Fire God Temple sits at its entrance from Qianhai Lake. That channel allowed navigation east around the former Imperial City to serve the Forbidden City close to today’s Chang’an Avenue.

The northern lakes (Xi, Hou and Qian) are collectively known as Shichahai or “The Lake of Ten Temples”. Today it provides a unique and beautiful water landscape for the city. Cafes and restau-rants along the willow tree-lined banks are particularly popular on weekends. It has long been a de-light for me to take friends on walks around this area — many of whom are surprised to see such beauty right in the city’s heart. I started getting to know the area from 1995, when it was so totally different — indeed, an almost isolated spot with mostly poor-quality buildings. It was, however, a place I would go to walk, cycle, relax and let time drift away in a small cafe or bar with no name near the bridge. And yes, it was referred to as “No-Name Bar”. When I was at Shichahai with friends, we wandered through a quiet back alley with several good Muslim restaurants to visit the delightful Guanghua Temple. Later, time was spent chatting in a modern teahouse close to a lakeside pagoda-style tower before wandering through pages of history and ultimately reaching Nanluoguxiang Metro Station.