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| Monument to the People's Heroes |
Standing in Tianamen Square was powerful. So much history! It is one of the largest public squares in the world; a vast concrete plaza devoid of any natural greenery, it’s only feature is a commemorative monument honoring The Peoples Heroes. Nothing there recognized or commemorated the student riots that occurred. Surrounding the square on three sides are The Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. The fourth side is flanked by the iconic Gate of Heavenly Peace, the main entrance to the Forbidden City, with Chairman Mao’s portrait.
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| National Museum of China |
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| In front of Gate of Heavenly Peace |
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| Changing of the Guard |
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The Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is an enormous complex in the heart of Beijing with hundreds of structures that housed the Emperor, Empresses, Concubines, Princes and Princesses, Emperor's staff, and Officers. The only people living inside of the City were the Emperor, his Empress, his concubines, and his guards that were emasculated men known as Eunuchs. Even the relatives of the Emperor who were male were not allowed to stay for even a night in the inner circle of the city. The Eunuchs protected the concubines of the Emperor, and were the only people that were allowed within the inner walls of the city and in the courtrooms. This was to ensure that the Empress or the concubines could not get impregnated by anyone other than the Emperor himself. These Eunuchs lived a very privileged life and were given power and wealth.
The concubines of the Forbidden City lived a very lonely life within the city walls. By the time of the Quing Dynasty (which was China's final dynasty), there were a total of 20,000 concubines on the premises. There were some which never even saw the Emperor, yet were kept trapped inside the city till they took their last breaths. Others who were in good favor with the Emperor lived a prosperous life and had enough affluence and luxury to spread to their extended families. There was ferocious competition between the concubines to be in good favor with the Emperor, which often lead to murder. It was a merciless and isolated life for the concubines, who were only allowed to visit their friends and families outside the walls once a year.
The Emperor was never seen by the commoners. If anyone tried to enter the city without permission of the Emperor they were imprisoned and left to die a very slow and painful death.
It took us several hours to pass through the center spine of the complex, learning the history and hearing legends of the emperors and their dynasties. At the opposite end of the Forbidden City (from where we first entered) sits Jingshan Park, built by one of the emperors to ensure proper Feng Shui for the Palace, and now is a lively public park. In fact, everything in China is built according to Feng Shui principals to ensure prosperity, luck, health, longevity, and happiness.
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| Gate of Divine Might (Northern Gate) |
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| Hall of Supreme Harmony |
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| Throne Hall of Supreme Harmony |
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| ....and the buildings just go on |
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| ...and on, and on..... |
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| Peony Garden within the Forbidden City (my favorite flower!) |
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| Ancient Tree in Forbidden City Garden |
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| Overview of the Forbidden City |
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| Pagoda in Jingshan Park |
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While Beijing is an extremely modern city with skyscrapers, wide roads, expensive cars, extensive bike lane and subway networks, and high-end shopping malls, there are still inner city neighborhoods that retain their historic character, called Hutongs. They consist of single-level homes of four rooms surrounding a small courtyard situated along narrow alleyways. These very compact, congested neighborhoods share a public toilet and showers, located near the center of each block, as many individual homes do not have their own bathrooms. Rents for a small room (shared public toilet) can run upwards of US $800 per month. Some Hutongs retain their original character while others have undergone renovations and now contain chic coffee houses, restaurants, and trendy shops.
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| Typical Alleyway in the Hutong |
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| A Very Gentrified and Trendy Nanluoquxiang Street! |
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We had the opportunity to ride a bicycle rickshaw around one of the more characteristic Hutongs, then walked along Nanluoguxiang Street, one of the trendy Hutong streets. Why so expensive given the personal inconveniences and costs? Think “Bid/Rent curve.” It beats the hour plus commute from the more distant ring-road neighborhoods.
Our last day in Beijing was a big one! We started off at The Summer Palace, just outside the central city. This lushly landscaped palace and surrounding forest with several man-made lakes is where the “Dragon Lady” Dowager ruled China through her nephew puppet-emperor, whom she eventually imprisoned as he did not follow her wishes. Life wasn’t particularly fair or fun back in the good 'ole days, but the palace and gardens/forests were just beautiful.
Back to modern Beijing and the site of the 2008 Olympics. Was thrilling to see the Birds Nest Stadium and Water Cube in person after viewing them on television. Was interesting to learn the story behind the name- the Olympic Torch started out in China at this site and then after working its way throughout China, it returned back to the site like a Phoenix returning back to its nest. Phoenixes and dragons are very symbolic for the people of China, both in historic as well as in modern times.
The Great Wall - Mutianyu Section
From here we headed to the Great Wall, a few hours away yet still within the Beijing city limits. A dumpling stop for lunch was in order (definitely yum!) before we headed up to visit the Mutianyu Section Of The Great Wall, which was built in the early Ming Dynasty. This section is unique in its construction, in that the many watchtowers and walkways were built on steep mountains following the mountain ridge. This served as an added defense feature in fighting the Mongolians back in the day. It was humbling walking/climbing (mostly climbing!) the Great Wall, knowing its age, history, and appreciating its construction in such rugged terrain. Ascending up to reach the wall was easy in an open chairlift; returning down was fun (although perhaps not the most appropriate given the spirit of this site) in a self-driving toboggan slide.
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| Toboggan Run down! |
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| End of the Tobogan Run... |
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Our Beijing visit also included a classic Peking Duck Dinner with one of Nathan’s former business colleagues. Delicious! Need I mention we were the only Westerners in the restaurant!
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| Nathan and Harold (Nathan's Business Colleague) |
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| Beijing's Most Famous Peking Duck House - Quanjuede |
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| Harold drove by the Forbidden City for a last look after dinner....... |
Back on the bullet train (reaching 350 km/hour on this one!) towards Shanghai.......
Have you locked yourself in your room to post all these blogs all of a sudden? Enjoying China vicariously!
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