China Day 4

Today we woke up to beautiful weather again.  The day promised to start off cool and end up sunny and warm.  We started off our day around 8 am at Tian' an Men Square.  

Tian'an Men is a vast open concrete expanse at the heart of modern Beijing.

I was surprised at the Square.  I thought it would be more open and you would be able to see from one end to another; however, this isn't the case.  Mao's Mausoleum, a large building in the front 1/3 of the square, blocks any view across an open square. 

Here is a photo of the Arrow Tower, or Jian Lou.  It was first built in the Ming Dynasty and it is now closed to the public.  This lies across the street from Tian'an Men Square.

                                   The revolutionary statues in front of Mao's Mausoleum

 The Arrow Tower above in the previous photo (Jian lou) is directly across the street from this tower:
 which is Qian Men.  These two towers formed a double gate to the city.  We are standing in Tian'an Men Square!

At this point we opted to skip Chairman Mao's bodily remains and take in the rest of the Square.  We walked past his Mausoleum and into the back 2/3 of Tian'an Men.  Here are the boys in front of the Great Hall of the People, the seat of the Chinese Legislature.

Right about this point,  the boys began to be objects of fascination again.  Pretty much for the rest of this day, actually.  I would estimate they had their pictures taken by at least 20 groups today.  At least they were good humored about it!

Tian'an Men was decorated quite a bit. There was a big Olympic display out that was pretty and then this large Chinese Lantern: 

Finally we came to Tian'an Men, the Ming Dynasty gate from which Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China.  His picture still hangs there on the gate.  People in China hero worship him.  It's, um, different.

Lots of pictures!  Here was a friendly group:

Then we crossed the street and took our picture directly in front of Tian'an Men:

You pass through this gate (with Mao's picture) to get to the Palace Museum, also known as The Forbidden City.

Forming the very heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City is China's most magnificent architectural complex and was completed in 1420.  The huge palace is a compendium of imperial architecture and a lasting monument of dynastic China from which 24 emperors ruled for nearly 500 years.  The palace was the exclusive domain of the imperial court and dignitaries until the 1920's.  It was fully opened to the public in 1949.

Okay, so we went under Mao and entered into the Outer Court of the Forbidden City.  We were startled by deep guttural yelling, and out of some side building came a line of Chinese army!  Several units ran out and began doing drills behind a roped off area.  Here's a photo of them lined up.  We were only several feet away:

We watched the soldiers for a short while and then passed beyond the outer court and into the Forbidden City!  The highlights that most people hit are the large Halls which are in a series horizontally across the length of the Palace Walls.  Among them are the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Middle Harmony, the Hall of Preserving Harmony, and finally the Gate of Heavenly Peace.  Whew!  Mind you: you can't actually enter the halls.  You can walk around them and peer inside.  

Here is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the largest Hall in the palace.  It was used for big occasions such as the enthronement of an Emperor:

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony sits an ornate throne:

Very neat!  Lots of Halls, lots of people, lots to see.  The best part is beyond all the Halls and buildings, when you get to the Imperial Gardens.  Still inside the Forbidden City, it is filled with ancient trees (Cyprus ones) and rock gardens with small pavilions.   We wandered throughout the garden and were absolutely delighted when we ran into a school group armed with one brave girl who stepped forward and spoke with us to practice her English.  Among the giggles and blushes from the school kids, one by one they got braver and tried to say simple phrases, "how are you"  "how old are you" etc.   We were happy to pose with this group!  It was the highlight of our day!

  

At this point, we exited the Forbidden City and walked beyond its walls.  We were starving!  We found a spot to sit and eat our Subway.  Jim and Joe posed for a quick pic.  Behind them is the moat and the Forbidden City's walls.

Refueled, we made the short walk to Bei Hai Park.

An Imperial Garden for more than 1000 years, Bei Hai Park was opened to the public in 1925.  Filled with artificial hills, pavilions, and temples, it is associated with Kublai Khan, who redesigned it during the Mongol Yuan dynasty.  The park is named after its extensive lake, Bei Hai, whose southern end is bordered by the inaccessible Zhongnanhai, the Communist Party Headquarters.

We walked around a bit and made our way to the lake where we rented a boat for a while. 

The day keeps going!  We left the park by the opposite end and  found a guy to take us on a Trishaw tour of a hutong!  Jim had to bargain down the price, and he did a great job.  It's a little nerve-racking to try this out (the bargaining), but riding through Beijing's old neighborhoods was very eye opening for all of us.

Hutong's are alleyways where many Beijing residents still live.  The sad reality is that many hutongs are being demolished to make way for more modern buildings.  It is a shame as these are such a part of history!

Typically running east to west, hutong are created by the walls of courtyard houses.  Most are now state owned.

We actually boarded two trishaws and followed each other through the alleyways past many "homes" that people still live in.  At one point, we were invited to go inside and peek around.  It is humbling.  This particular hutong neighborhood was, if you believe our guide, where Jackie Chan lived.

The tours are less than an hour.  You  must do one if you ever visit Beijing.

Post-hutong, we taxied back to our hotel for a rest.  This night we went out for dinner to a restaurant recommended to us by Beijing Cat folks.  It was a nicer place, which frankly, was difficult with the kids after such a full day.  But the food was amazing again!

Impressions:

1.   We became aware again of being an oddity to the locals.  We find that disarming them with a smile and a "ni hao" makes them happy and turns a stare into a "conversation".  Three boys?  Wow.  So lucky.  Pat on back, hand shake.  Then we move on.

2.  Tian'an Men was much different than I had pictured in my head.  It's not a wide open space like a Quad on a University campus.  That's what I had in my head.  It's also full of touring groups.  

3.  Forbidden City is large.  We only were able to do the highlights but there is so much more to see!  The gardens were a bit crowded, but very pretty.  Western toilets here. :)

4.  Bei Hai park was just what we needed after touring Halls and Gates.  It allowed us to let off steam and relax.  The scenery is very nice.

5.  Hutong tour is a must do.  I still wonder how people live in such close proximity to each other in such narrow alleys.

Up Next:  Great Wall of China!