October 4, 2005

October 4, 2005

After awakening, Aimee and I went downstairs to the breakfast buffet. It was a large spread and we found some things to fill us up amongst the strange foods.

After breakfast, our guide and driver met us in the lobby and we drove towards Tiananmen Square. She explained to us that October 1 is National Day and the Golden Week following is a holiday comparable to our Fourth of July and that everything will be very crowded. Because traffic came to a standstill we got out a few blocks early and walked. Along the way we were gently assaulted by vendors wanting to sell tourist items. We pass by two big “Old Chinese” looking structures that I learn are the Zhengyangmen gates from the old city walls. The original massive walls were torn down in the 1960’s to build the subway. The next thing we see is a huge line of people along our left side as we walk. It is the line to get in Chairman Mao’s Tomb to take a very brief glance at his body. The farther we walk the more we see how humongous the line is. It is four people wide and wraps around the perimeter of the square a couple times; it must be several miles long.

Tiananmen Square is the largest public space in the world and Mao’s Tomb is the centerpiece. The square is named after the large Chinese gate to the north. Tiananmen means “gate of heavenly peace”. On the wall hangs a huge picture of Mao Tse-Tung. After a break to take photos, we walk across the street and thru this southern gate of the Forbidden City.

Beijing, which means Northern Capital in Mandarin, has been the capital of China for most of the last 1000 years. The Forbidden City, built in the 1400’s, was the imperial palace of the Chinese emperors during the Ming and Qing (pronounced Ching) Dynasties. It was strictly off-limits to everyone but the emperor and his entourage.

The Forbidden City is definitely city-size. It is monstrous, surrounded by a 30-foot wall and wide moat, and contains supposedly 999 buildings. We pass over a series of traditional Chinese style buildings with orange tiled roofs and through large courtyards working our way towards the center of the complex. The main buildings exteriors are decorated with large bronze pots that were filled with water in case of fire. The center rooms have a few royal artifacts and jade carvings. Afterwards we exit out the backside where our van is waiting.

Everyday we eat lunch together as a group at a very Americanized restaurant. In general, the food for us is little different than Chinese food at home.

While driving our guide starts to teach us a little Chinese. We all learn to count to ten. I also learn how to say beer (pee-joe). She teaches us to recognize the two characters 中 国 that represent China. They are easy to pick out and mean “central kingdom”, for the Chinese thought they were the center of the universe.

After lunch we head northwest of Beijing to the New Summer Palace on Kunming Lake, another World Heritage site. The Old summer palace was apparently an amazing complex of gardens and artwork but was destroyed by European troops in retaliation during the Opium Wars. This new one was built afterwards in 1895. From the Seventeen-Arch Bridge, we take a dragon boat ride across the lake towards the pagoda complex on Longevity Hill. We don’t go inside but instead tour the grounds. We stroll the half-mile Long Corridor. This is a highly decorated covered walkway that straddles the shoreline. We end at the “marble" boat pavilion.