Asia Adventure 2012: Beijing

Shu and Hun, our Driver, arrived at 8:30am to take us on our first tour in Beijing, as they did every day of our time in Beijing. We started at Tiananmen Square with the Monument to the Peoples’ Heros in the Centre, is surrounded by the Tiananmen Gate entrance to the Forbidden City on the north side, the National Museum of China on the east side, the Mausoleum of Mao Zadong to the south (where Chairman Mao is entombed), and parliament on the west side. Although it is the off-season, this square was packed with tourists, both foreign and Chinese. After demolishing a number of buildings over the years, Tiananmen Square was built in 1959 and was designed to hold over ½ million people. Greg was quite popular among Chinese tourists, particularly villagers, many of whom are visiting this huge metropolis and possibly meeting their first foreigner ever. Shu said they would be quite proud to show the pictures back home.

There was an astounding number of police, guards, and likely under-cover security all over this area.

After crossing Chang'an Avenue via the underpass, we entered the Forbidden City through the Tiananmen Gate and across the moat. This city was the imperial palace of the Ming (1420-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911) and was forbidden to commoners. This impressive city is surrounded by a moat and its 3 cities (outer, inner, and imperial) occupy 967m X 763m of space which is about twice the size of Tiananmen Square. Many of the structures were built and some rebuilt after natural and man-made disasters starting in 1420.

After crossing the moat, we entered the city through the Meridian gate, which is the Forbidden City’s tallest structure, and entrance to the outer city, into a lovely courtyard leading to the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Once past the gate we were in the courtyard leading to the Hall of Supreme Harmony where celebrations took place for the Chinese new year, emperor’s birthday, winter solstice, new emperor’s enthronements, installing an empress, weddings, etc. There are 18 bronze Dings (incense burners) in this courtyard. Bronze statues of a crane and turtle were symbols of longevity.

For firefighting purposes, there were a total of 308 copper and bronze vats in the city, 18 of which are gold lined copper vats which adorn the in Halls of Supreme and Preserved Harmony and the Gate of Heavenly Purity. If necessary, these vats were heated during freeze up.

Steps ahead was the Hall of Complete Harmony where emperors would practice speeches prior to performing sacrifice rites in other temples and steps ahead of that was the Hall of Preserved Harmony where emperors would change their clothes before important ceremonies and hold banquets for princes, dukes, and ministers and also to hold examinations for emperor’s officials. At the back of the Hall of Preserved Harmony is a large stone carving weighing more than 200 tons, depicting 9 dragons, clouds, curling waves, and lotus flowers. In 1761, it was carved out of a huge natural stone in the western suburbs of Beijing and transported to the palace via a created ice road.

Next, we crossed The Gate of Heavenly Purity which is the entrance to the inner city. The emperor would hear reports delivered by his officials at this gate. He would live and conduct political affairs in the Hall of Heavenly Purity.

The Hall of Union and Peace followed and that is where the empress’ birthday celebration was held. The two symbols above the seating area “Wu Wei” means to “do nothing”.

Hall of Tranquility is where the empress resided and where the emperor and empress slept. One empress hung herself here in 1644 after a rebel-peasant army captured Beijing. So it wasn’t always a tranquil place it seems.

Finally, the Imperial Garden tops off the tour. One will find some interesting things in this garden; the Hall of Imperial Peace with an altar for the emperors to burn incense every new years, a branch-interlocked cypress tree symbolizing the two-becoming-one love between the last emperor and empress of the Qing Dynasty, Accummlated Beauty Hill and cave where the concubines would climb and walk around (part of the two-becoming-one love I suppose), two guilded unicorns to protect against evil spirits, and pavilions in each of the 4 corners symbolizing the seasons.

We exited through the northern Gate of Divine Prowess and across the moat, as did the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty in 1924!

Now that was a lot to take in, so off to a not so mind-boggling activity in the Hou Hai Area where we enjoyed a wonderful rickshaw ride along the lake and through the streets until we arrived at the home of a local person (whose name I neglected to write down and have forgotten) located at a 2 Liuyin Jie, house number 6 downstairs and 13 upstairs. Residents of this area of the hutong share a common toilet which was kept clean, but one must remember to take toilet tissue. She served enough food to feed 6 people, so there was plenty left over and through Shu’s interpretation, we conversed a bit with the resident.

It is too bad the weather was uncooperative because the pictures bear the dullness of fog and smog. Nevertheless, we had a great time before Greg was whisked away to the University of Peking for his presentation.