Our Fourth topic is Beijing, or more specifically items of note in and around Beijing. Once again, you can click on any image to view a larger version. This is our next-to-last post on our trip to China.
We're starting off with Tiananmen Square. It is purportedly the largest public square in the world and sits across the road and just south of the Forbidden City and Emperor's Palace. It is also where the Mao Zedong Mausoleum is located that houses his entombed body. The building in the background is the central government building - similar to Parliament or Congress. The Monument is to the solders who fought for China's independence.
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Just how large is the square? The Google map above shows that Tiananmen Square is approx. 2,500 feet long (North to South) and about 1,000 feet wide (East to West). On our tour we walked its entire length plus the entire length of the Forbidden City. That totaled over 6,000 feet. You can scroll the map down to see the Forbidden City as well, and zoom in and out.
Above is the main entrance to the Forbidden City. Previously, you could drive up and drop off people right in front to tour the city, but now with increased security, that is no longer possible. You must park farther away and walk to the entrance. We needed to walk under the roadway to get there. There are five entrance arches, the one in the middle is for the Emperor only, the next closest on each side for military leaders and local government leaders and counsel. The outermost two are for invited guests and servants.
In order to get a sense of the size of the Forbidden City, above is a short video showing only one of its five sections. You can refer back to the Google Map above to see how large each section is (scroll North up to the Forbidden City). Its called the Forbidden City because common people were not allowed to enter. Only by special invitation were ordinary people allowed inside. For almost 500 years it was the Emperor's home and the seat of China's government. As our tour guide told us, it contained 9,999 rooms. Heaven was to have 10,000 rooms and the Emperor was the son of Heaven, so therefore could not have as many rooms. Nine is an important number in Chinese tradition and myth. It is the largest number before adding another digit. It was therefore considered 'infinite' and very lucky. For instance, it was customary for a bride's dowry money to be $999 or $9,999 or $99,999 as this was considered lucky and a more respectful amount than $1,000 or $10,000 or even $100,000. More on the number nine later. Note the color of the roofs.
Here is a closeup of one of the roof decorations - note the nine figures...
Next up is the Temple to the Heavens. Also located within Beijing, this is where the Emperor would go to pray to the Gods and to Buddha. There are a series of steps up to the temple, three in all, and each set consists of Nine stairs. Nine was not used everywhere in China, just in auspicious and holy places. Again, as Nine was considered infinite, a series of nine steps up to the temple was appropriate. Note the color of the roof.
Yes, see, we really were there! The smooth slightly rounded path on which we are standing was the path for the Emperor only on his way to the Temple.
On our tour, we actually visited the Temple to the Heavens in reverse - came in from the exit and exited via the entrance. Above is the main entrance to the Temple. Note the color of the roof.
Here, just outside the entrance is the Emperor's changing room. Here is would wash, change cloths and prepare himself to pray in the temple. Note the color of the roof.
As stated earlier, there is a lot of hidden meanings, superstitions and tradition in the Chinese culture. I'm learning more and more each time I go. The number Nine, separate entrances for specific classes of people, and here, the color of the roofs.
In Imperial China, the class, or importance of the groups of people were denoted by the roof color of their houses and buildings. You could not deviate from this mandate, or face execution. Gold roofs were for the Emperor only, Blue (as in the sky and heavens) were for holy places of worship. Green was for the military (and is carried over today in their uniforms). Lastly, gray was for the commoners.
Our last stop is the Great Wall. I can't tell you exactly where we were outside of Beijing, just that is was about an hours drive north. Again, it was rather smoggy that day, so not any good long-range photos. But I think you can get a sense of the size and breadth of it all.
This is not a camera trick or optical illusion. This section, like most sections of the Great Wall, are very steep. This incline was about 35 degrees and much of it was without steps. Ping and I made it about halfway up before admitting defeat and turning around. Built on the peaks of mountains and hills, the Great Wall wanders across China for over 4,000 miles. Much of it is in poor shape, but restoration efforts have already begun. We visited one of the more pristine sections.
The Great Wall is really many many little walls built over a period of two thousand years to keep the Mongolians out of China. It was first built during the Ching Dynasty (the first Emperor of China) and was a connection of many smaller walls. It again rebuilt and reconnected 500 years ago during the Ming(?) dynasty where more stone, mortar was used as well as lookout towers and signal towers where added. It is estimated that over the 2000 years of construction and reconstruction, as many its workers died as there are stones in the entire wall itself. Count it out, its in the millions.
We visited many other places as well, including the Summer Palace, a Cloisonne manufacturing shop, a Silk shop and a Jade and Perl jewelry store and manufacturer. But I can't show it all - you'll need to go see it for yourself!
And finally, here are our two tour guides in Beijing. Ching Li in the middle and Mr. Leo on the right. We hired a private tour this time so that we would not be rushed by a large group, could take our time and see what we wanted and skip what we wished. It worked out very well. Although it was considerably more expensive, also with having and English speaking guide, it was well worth it. They picked the four of us up at the train station when we arrived in Beijing and took us to our hotel. For each of the three days, they picked us up at the hotel in the morning, took us out on tour, gave us an excellent cross-section of restaurants to have lunch at (from Beijing Duck to local native establishments) and dropped us off at the hotel each night. When it was all over, they took us to the Airport as well. We have their business card if anyone finds themselves going to Beijing and wanting a first-class private tour.
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