Advertisement
We visited the Tiananmen Square several times, both day and night. It's the world's largest public square, situated at the heart of Beijing. It seemed a mandatory stop for Chinese (out-of-towners) to take a picture, in front of the Forbidden City. On windy days, children were playing with their kites. Besides that, we were approached several times by locals trying to sell souvenirs like "the little red book", also known as "The quotations from Chairman Mao"
The Chairman Mao Mausoleum is also located at the square, as the Great Hall of the people. But what really attracts attention on the square is the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City served for almost 500 years as the home for emperors and their households. It was also the ceremonial and political center of Chinese Government. The name itself comes from the fact that no-one could enter or leave the palace without the emperor's permission.
It is quite large. We've been told that there are about 9999 rooms. We haven't counted them ;-) In fact, when we were there, we could not visit all the buildings. Some of them were being restored, probably in preparation for the tourists that the Olympics would
bring with it, one and a half years after our visit. The palace itself is full with courtyards, pavilions and mini-museums, but we didn't have enough time to visit it all.
As I am writing this text in 2012, five years after our visit, I remember mainly the following: the contrast between the squares without any trees and the squares with trees. If I remember correctly, this has something to do with the art of Feng Shui. What we also found strange was the fact that we virtually saw no furniture, besides the thrones of the Emperor.
It was certainly remarkable to find a Starbucks inside the Forbidden City. We ordered a coffee over there. In July 2007 the shop was closed after protests.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0556s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Forbidden City
