Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City

Wow! We got eight hours of sleep last night. It’s the first time we have slept past 5:30 and boy does it feel good.

Our morning began with a trip to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is one of the world’s largest urban spaces with an area of 100 acres. The square takes its name from the Gate of Heavenly Peace on its north side. We saw, but were unable to go in due to the long line, the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall. This building houses the body of Mao. It is open in the morning during the week. Mao’s embalmed body is raised each day from a subterranean freezer for all to see.

Also in the square we saw the guards guarding the flag of the republic. It was here in front of the flag that Ward was approached by a Chinese man asking to take a picture. At first Ward didn’t understand and told him he already got a picture of the flag but it soon became apparent that this young guy, with his girlfriend looking on, wanted a picture with Ward. Most likely to show his family what a foreign devil looks like!

Our guide mentioned that the square is used for public celebrations. Some of the most recent include; Hong Kong’s return to China and when China qualified for the world cup.

We passed through several large gates until we reached the Forbidden City, officially known now as the Palace Museum. We entered the south gate and walked through the entire area and exited through the north gate. It was called the Forbidden City because ordinary people were not allowed in for over 500 years. The last emperor and his court lived in its palaces after the 1911 revolution, leaving in 1924 to flee to Tianjin. Our guide mentioned he was given two hours to leave the palace or a cannon that was trained on his quarters would be given the word to fire.

There are 9,999 ½ rooms in the structure. Their could not be 10,000 because the emperor’s father’s palace had 10,000 and you could never outdo your father. There are always an odd number of things in Chinese architecture because it was considered lucky. Many of the structures are under renovation for the Olympics. Over the ages some have been destroyed by lightening and/or war. We were able to see the emperor’s throne and bedroom. The people were very small back then. Some rooms contained beautiful clocks, tapestry and china.

We walked through the Imperial garden. It was very beautiful. The pavement had mosaic patterns made of pebbles. They were hand done and denoted stories in some cases.

It was a very long, but scenic walk. The sun was shining brightly and it was quite hot out. Apparently there are not many bright days due to the pollution but since it rained yesterday it helped clean the air.

After lunch we saw the panda bears at the Beijing zoo. Normally they are quite inactive but their keepers were feeding them when we got there so we were able to get some nice pictures.

Northwest of the Forbidden City is the Summer Palace built for Empress Cixi (Su-She) in the 1880s. There are 700 acres of landscaped park containing temples, bridges, fountains and a huge man made lake. We took a small boat ride around the lake to see the two-deck marble boat Empress Cixi had made. It is rumored that she suffered from motion sickness so she didn’t go out on the lake but liked to walk down and look at the boat. It is a very ornate and beautiful structure. Our guide explained that the empress used funds that were earmarked for modernizing the Chinese navy to create the Summer Palace. This error in judgment contributed to the defeat by the Japanese.

Our evening ended with a trip to the Chinese Opera. It was very good. The costumes and acrobatics were amazing. It wasn't a complete opera but two excerpts from two different operas. The stories were told in english on a monitor. The translations were very funny. The guide called them chinglese.