April
8, Sunday EASTER Happy Birthday my Perlita !
Mao's mausoleum. The line up to go in is so long it curls around the front of Tianenmen Square. Many older Chinese people still revere him as a hero. His statues are still everywhere in China. They believe that life was good under his leadership. It probably was during the first decades, but many people have said that things got very bad during the last years. People were starving, discidents and many well educated people were sent to the countryside to work the fields. Mao was not an educated man and feared (probably not the right word) them, or what they could do. In any case, this was not part of our tour, and I really did not want to see his "preserved" body.
Some of the local guides we had during the trip were quite open with their comments and I will add these in my notes (like the one above) but not necessarily in the order they were given to us, so that there can be no repercussions to the guides who gave us the information. As far as you know, the above noted information was given to me by the guide in Xi An or the one in Beijing.
One of the statues in the square
and another one on the other side
We cross the main street through the underground tunnel I used a few days ago and enter the Forbidden City.
The main gate to enter the site on the south side.
There is a big monolith at the entrance that reminds me of BC's totem polls.
But this is carved out of white marble
The first courtyard
The second courtyard
Beautiful stone bridge in the middle of this courtyard
Huge lions guarding one of the halls
Imperial buildings have golden roofs
There are huge metal or bronze water containers in every courtyard. These were used to hold water in case of fire since most of the buildings are made of wood.
Passed another series of gates into yet another courtyard
Cindy explains that the number of "little dragons" on the corner of each roof identifies how important the building is. This one has 7 (between the big dragon and the small figure at the end).
Incense burners in the courtyards
They become more and more elaborate as we get closer to the palace buildings
Beautiful crane statue
Wow, 10 little dragons on this roof.
And the courtyards keep coming, one after the other.
This is a view of the back of one of the halls. You can see that the doors are closed, but could all be opened to let air circulate through them.
If any of you saw the film "The Last Emperor" you will recognize this staircase.
Huge bronze water pots just outside the palace buildings.
Along the narrow palace streets
One of the throne rooms
Check out this jade carving ! It is simply incredible what their artists could do.
The Palace Museum consists of a series of royal rooms that have been glassed in so that you can see inside but can't touch anything. Unfortunately the glare through the dirty windows did not help and it looked that the rooms and objects in them hadn't been dusted in a long time.
Another of the palace streets leading to individual houses
Just before leaving we visited the Imperial Gardens and some of its pavilions.
I was glad I had already visited the bigger Forbidden City gardens a few days before since this section was not included during our “walk-through”.
We exit at the north end of the Forbidden City and can see the some pagodas on the hills in front of us.
Restaurant where we had lunch. Below is there "wine room".
and these are the controls for the toilet and built in bidet.
Grounds of the Summer Palace
Another one of the bridges
A cement boat that the Dowager had built for entertaining guests. I will need to read up on this "infamous" lady since it appears that not only did she control the "young" emperors, but also had a few of them killed when they became older and she could no longer control them.
A covered walkway along the lake's waterfront. Elaborately painted like the ones I saw in the gardens of the Forbidden City.
The lake with many pleasure boats. It is Sunday and many families are out enjoying the beautiful spring weather.
A huge dragon boat goes by.
There are many local people here enjoying a day out of the city. We do not get to visit any of the buildings on the site so it seems like a long distance to come and not given time to explore on our own. I would have preferred to wander around on my own and simply be told “we meet back on this spot in 1 hour”. Oh Well !
We return to the city and see some great architecture along the way.
We drive by the site of the Olympic Birds Nest and Water Cube, but are much too far away (a couple of highways) to make it worthwhile. This is a big disappoinment since I would have gotten out there on my own if I had known we weren't going to get to see them up close.
Wendy and I in our rickshaw
The river / canal along the way
and lots of people out for a stroll. Check out this little guy.
The other side of the streets is lined with cafés, some like this one with sofas outside and great music playing. Wish we could stop or come back to enjoy it.
We leave the rickshaws to walk through a small neighborhood (again notice the grey buildings which indicate that it is within the walled old city)
Notice the different means of transportation
The family we visit have a fairly large house and courtyard which actually accomodates 3 families (mother and two of her sons with their families). They each have their own kitchen, living/dining room and bedrooms but share the courtyard space. The buildings suffered damage during the last earthquake and with the money they received from the government they did some major renovations. The mother now has nice tiled floors in her living space, as well as a huge flat screen TV.
OK, this is a puzzle for you. I had noticed that many cars parked in the narrow streets had objects covering their wheels. Any idea why ?
Check out the little kids.
Yes, they still have the law that controls the single child family, but we are told that in some cases this law is now being relaxed. It is an entire generation old now, so you have children who have no uncles, aunts or cousins. If the child is very sick or disabled, the couple will be allowed to have a second child. As soon as a woman is pregnant (and you cannot have a child out of wedlock !) she must register with the government. When the child is born she must return to record this fact as well.
Obviously if twins are born there is no penalty, but if a women accidently gets pregnant with a second child they will have to pay a very heavy fine. None of our guides would speak to the question of forced abortions, so your guess is as good as mine.
Some of the streets are very busy
and there were many small stores along the way. People here use bicycles quite a bit since it is not expensive and they don't get caught in traffic.
Oh, and they drive on the same side of the street as we do.
This morning in the hotel “Library” I finally meet the
group I will be travelling with. We are
only 15 travellers plus our tour director
Katherine (Kit) Cross. We are all Canadians
except for one American from Miami. Wendy is the person I was scheduled to share
accommodations with, but one week before her departure she decided to pay the
supplement and have a private room. It
turns out she worked for the RCMP in Prince George, BC and we know people in
common! It is such a small world.
At 9:30 we get on the tour bus and start exploring Beijing
with our local guide Cindy. We are
dropped off at Tian'anmen Square (the largest square
in the world) and walk through it towards the Forbidden City. {Note that I have seen so many versions of
how Tian An Men Square is written that I no longer know which one to use!}
Mao's mausoleum. The line up to go in is so long it curls around the front of Tianenmen Square. Many older Chinese people still revere him as a hero. His statues are still everywhere in China. They believe that life was good under his leadership. It probably was during the first decades, but many people have said that things got very bad during the last years. People were starving, discidents and many well educated people were sent to the countryside to work the fields. Mao was not an educated man and feared (probably not the right word) them, or what they could do. In any case, this was not part of our tour, and I really did not want to see his "preserved" body. Some of the local guides we had during the trip were quite open with their comments and I will add these in my notes (like the one above) but not necessarily in the order they were given to us, so that there can be no repercussions to the guides who gave us the information. As far as you know, the above noted information was given to me by the guide in Xi An or the one in Beijing.
One of the statues in the square
and another one on the other side
The Square measures 500 meters by 800 meters and covers
an area of 480,000 square meters. It
includes the Great Hall of the People, the museums of Chinese Revolution, the
museum of Chinese History, Chairman Mao Ze Dung’s Memorial Hall and the
Reviewing Stands where Chairman Mao proclaimed the birth of the People’s
Republic of China in 1949.
The main gate to enter the site on the south side.
There is a big monolith at the entrance that reminds me of BC's totem polls.
But this is carved out of white marble
The first courtyard
The second courtyard
Beautiful stone bridge in the middle of this courtyard
We go through a variety of buildings and courtyards and
visit parts of the Palace Museum. All
the buildings are starting to look the same, from all the sites I’ve seen
previously in Beijing. The Forbidden City
was built during 1406 to 1420 AD as the residence for the Ming and Qing Dynasty
Emperors. A total of 24 emperors lived
here, including the “Last Emperor of China”.
Huge lions guarding one of the halls
Imperial buildings have golden roofs
There are huge metal or bronze water containers in every courtyard. These were used to hold water in case of fire since most of the buildings are made of wood.
Passed another series of gates into yet another courtyard
Cindy explains that the number of "little dragons" on the corner of each roof identifies how important the building is. This one has 7 (between the big dragon and the small figure at the end).
Incense burners in the courtyards
They become more and more elaborate as we get closer to the palace buildings
Beautiful crane statue
Wow, 10 little dragons on this roof.
And the courtyards keep coming, one after the other.
This is a view of the back of one of the halls. You can see that the doors are closed, but could all be opened to let air circulate through them.
If any of you saw the film "The Last Emperor" you will recognize this staircase.
Huge bronze water pots just outside the palace buildings.
Along the narrow palace streets
One of the throne rooms
Check out this jade carving ! It is simply incredible what their artists could do.The Palace Museum consists of a series of royal rooms that have been glassed in so that you can see inside but can't touch anything. Unfortunately the glare through the dirty windows did not help and it looked that the rooms and objects in them hadn't been dusted in a long time.
Another of the palace streets leading to individual housesJust before leaving we visited the Imperial Gardens and some of its pavilions.
I was glad I had already visited the bigger Forbidden City gardens a few days before since this section was not included during our “walk-through”.
We exit at the north end of the Forbidden City and can see the some pagodas on the hills in front of us.
We all pile back into the bus, thankful to be seated again after our extremely long walk, and are taken to a beautiful 5-star restaurant for lunch
(big tables for 8 with a huge lazy-Susan in the middle) but the “pièce de
résistance” are the toilets: heated
seats with built in heated bidets with adjustable nozzles. What will they think of next.
and these are the controls for the toilet and built in bidet.
We get back on the bus after our delicious lunch and head north-west out of the
city towards the Summer Palace, built in 1750.
It includes a royal park which is “ranked
amongst the most noted and classical gardens of the world”. The Summer Palace occupies 726 acres, three
quarters of which is Kunming lake, and over 3000 structures including
pavilions, towers, bridges and corridors. This is where Empress Dowager Cixi
liked to live at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th.
Grounds of the Summer Palace
Another one of the bridges
A cement boat that the Dowager had built for entertaining guests. I will need to read up on this "infamous" lady since it appears that not only did she control the "young" emperors, but also had a few of them killed when they became older and she could no longer control them.
A covered walkway along the lake's waterfront. Elaborately painted like the ones I saw in the gardens of the Forbidden City.
The lake with many pleasure boats. It is Sunday and many families are out enjoying the beautiful spring weather.
A huge dragon boat goes by.There are many local people here enjoying a day out of the city. We do not get to visit any of the buildings on the site so it seems like a long distance to come and not given time to explore on our own. I would have preferred to wander around on my own and simply be told “we meet back on this spot in 1 hour”. Oh Well !
But there is a surprise in store for us however, we get to go
for a rickshaw ride through an old part of the city that borders a small river
and get to visit a private home.
Wendy and I in our rickshaw
The river / canal along the way
and lots of people out for a stroll. Check out this little guy.
The other side of the streets is lined with cafés, some like this one with sofas outside and great music playing. Wish we could stop or come back to enjoy it.
We leave the rickshaws to walk through a small neighborhood (again notice the grey buildings which indicate that it is within the walled old city)
Notice the different means of transportation
The family we visit have a fairly large house and courtyard which actually accomodates 3 families (mother and two of her sons with their families). They each have their own kitchen, living/dining room and bedrooms but share the courtyard space. The buildings suffered damage during the last earthquake and with the money they received from the government they did some major renovations. The mother now has nice tiled floors in her living space, as well as a huge flat screen TV.
OK, this is a puzzle for you. I had noticed that many cars parked in the narrow streets had objects covering their wheels. Any idea why ?
I'll tell you at the end of today's blog if you haven't already guessed.
We walked back through the streets, got back into our rickshaws and continued on with our ride.
Check out the little kids.Yes, they still have the law that controls the single child family, but we are told that in some cases this law is now being relaxed. It is an entire generation old now, so you have children who have no uncles, aunts or cousins. If the child is very sick or disabled, the couple will be allowed to have a second child. As soon as a woman is pregnant (and you cannot have a child out of wedlock !) she must register with the government. When the child is born she must return to record this fact as well.
Obviously if twins are born there is no penalty, but if a women accidently gets pregnant with a second child they will have to pay a very heavy fine. None of our guides would speak to the question of forced abortions, so your guess is as good as mine.
Some of the streets are very busy
and there were many small stores along the way. People here use bicycles quite a bit since it is not expensive and they don't get caught in traffic.Oh, and they drive on the same side of the street as we do.
After dinner, we are given the opportunity to meet with a
dress maker who can make us dresses or suits to measure within 48 hours. Wendy had heard about this prior to the trip
and brought a catalogue photo of a few dresses she liked. It turns out that one of the outfits is a
dress suit similar to one I had purchased years ago in Montreal. I choose the material, they take my
measurements and within half an hour they have left the hotel.
I ended up with an extremely nice dress suit !
Have you figured out why they protect the wheels of their cars? It's to prevent dogs from peeing on them !
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