Beijing 1 – Tian-anmen, Forbidden City and Dragon Ladies – all in a days work

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In China it is well documented that Facebook and Google are forbidden. This has nothing to do with West versus East. China doesn’t want a similar occurrence to another ‘Arab Spring’to spread across their country. Arab Spring was a series of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests and riots. This was spread through North Africa by the use of Google and Facebook. China now require internet providers to submit to Government censorship. As these companies won’t comply with these sort of censorship regulations, China has outlawed both sites and blocked any sort of interaction with them. This doesn’t help the blog as the maps function is powered by Google Apps. I spent an hour cursing before I realised the maps not loading had nothing to do with a poor wi-fi connection!!

Our accommodation, the Plaza Hotel, was a well-chosen four-star hotel by ‘Go Russia’. However, for such a large International hotel, most staff did not speak English and those who did speak a little did not have enough comprehension to understand!

The bedroom contained two Queen size beds with two double seater sofas at right angles to each other occupied the other side of the room. A forty-two inch flat screen TV hung above the writing desk. Over one hundred channels were available but all of them seemed to be in Chinese. I did find a Korean channel but this had sub titles in Chinese!! It’s nice to know the hotel are looking after their staff by ensuring all the TV channels are in a language they all understand!!

Breakfast was plentiful with a wide variety of items available. Unfortunately, it was a wide variety that neither Roisin nor I would usually eat for breakfast!! So, a bowl of cheerios, some toast and two cups of coffee later, we were ready for the day.

We met Ping at 8:30 for our drive to Tian’anmen square. The drive took about forty minutes and we were dropped off along Guangchang Eastside Road, a name that sounds more like somewhere to be found in San Francisco or Chicago Chinatown than in the heart of the Orient. We followed Ping down a subway passing through several barriers where smartly dressed officials spent their whole shift standing to attention. A troop of six military personnel came marching in our direction, two by three, arms swinging, rigidly in step. I asked Ping if there is any issue with taking a photo. ‘Only if you get caught!!’ came the non-committal response!

Katie Melua sang about nine million bicycles in Beijing. Not sure about that but there felt like nine million tourists in Tian’anmen square!! Mary did actually ask Ping how many bicycles are actually in Beijing but as the reply was ‘Yes, bicycles’, I guess Ping never understood the question!!

Tian’anmen means Gate of Heavenly Peace and toward the south of the square we found the massive queue to visit the Chairman Mao mausoleum. The time was now 09:15 and the queue was already over one-hour long. The mausoleum contains the embalmed remains of Mao ZeDong and although, for a small element of visitors, this was nothing more than morbid curiosity, for the majority they were paying their respects. Mao ZeDong or Chairman Mao as he was commonly known was the founding father of the Peoples Republic of China. He came to prominence in 1943 until his death in 1976. The mausoleum was built in 1977 and opened exactly one year after his death.

Tian’anmen Square is one of the largest squares in the world covering a whopping 440,000 m². On the east side is the national museum of China and opposite, on the west edge of the square is the Great Hall of the People. This is the Government building, their Parliament. Just up from Chairman Mao’s mausoleum is the Monument to the People's Heroes. This is a ten-story obelisk dedicated to martyrs of the revolutionary struggle in the 19^th and 20^th century.

As we were walking towards the Forbidden City Les asked the question we were all thinking.

‘That bloke who stood in front of the tank. Where did that happen?’ He was, of course referring to the protestor who defied a column of tanks in 1989 by standing in front of them. From the look on Ping’s face, this is an event that should be kept way back in the annuls of time and not brought back in to the present and definitely not a topic for discussion!! With a reluctant glance, she acknowledged the North-East sector of the Square with a nod of her head. ‘Over there!’ she replied. With nothing more to be said, and Roisin quietly reminding me that this is not the time to play ‘devil’s advocate’, we continued our advance to the gates to the Forbidden City.

The Gates or Heavenly Peace is the entrance to the Imperial City. There were four original cities from which Beijing evolved. The centre of all cities is the Forbidden City. This city was only open to the Emperor and his family. Around the Forbidden City was built the Imperial City. This was the residence of high ranking officials. The inner City, where the current Tian’anmen Square stands, was the residence of all low-ranking officials and finally, the outer city is where the rest of the populace resided. In fact, the gate from the outer to inner city can still be seen on the south side of the Square.

Above the gate into the Imperial City is a portrait of Mao ZeDong with Chinese characters either side. The left reads: ‘Long Live the Peoples Republic of China’ (fair comment!) whilst to the right of Mr. ZeDong the characters read: ‘Long live the great union of the peoples of the world!’

Only (ha! Only?) 80,000 tickets are sold each day for entry in to the Forbidden City. It felt as if all 80,000 had decided to rock up at the same time! However, that said, despite the hordes of people, Tian’anmen Square can hold over a million people so it didn’t feel as claustrophobic as I’d expected.

Once through the main gate we found ourselves in the outer court yard of the Imperial City. During the Ming and Qing (pron. Ching) dynasties, only the Emperor and his immediate family could enter through the main central gate. A smaller, plainer side gate to the left was for the higher-ranking officials. The lower ranking officials gained entry through the even smaller gate to the right. If this was the hierarchy the Chinese dynasties adopted then where was the tradesman’s entrance? Did they have to crawl through a cat flap around the corner?

There are 980 buildings in the Forbidden City (not that I was counting!!) We spent the next two hours walking though gate after gate marveling at the enormity of it all. The Imperial City outer court, inner court, upper court. Then we hit the Forbidden City. It was like a set of Babushka dolls. You passed through one court yard into a smaller more elaborate one!!

The Emperor’s colour was yellow. It was taken as a sign of ambition if anyone was caught wearing this regal colour and not only would they be executed by beheading but their whole family would meet the same fate:

‘you’re coming with me! You know the rules for wearing yellow!’

‘It’s not yellow. It’s er…gold. Yes that’s right. Gold.’

‘It looks yellow to me!’

I told you, you shouldn’t have bought him that Wolves football kit for his birthday. I said that would be the death of us all. And with us being Birmingham supporters, as well!!’

Lunch time and our third Chinese banquet in two days. We were led into a private room at the back of the restaurant. The only difference to the meal was that this one came with an hour glass. Should the hour glass run out before the meal is served, then the customer doesn’t have to pay. They don’t call it an hour glass for nothing. It probably takes an hour for the sand to run out and as the meal took twenty minutes to arrive at our table more than half the sand had yet to pass through!! Ping said this was a traditional Chinese lunch although I’m sure that even the Chinese have the odd sandwich now and again and not a full-on banquet, twice a day. Ping did not eat with us. She stood by the door. As we started to tuck in she said something to the driver, looking in our direction, politely laughed then disappeared into the main restaurant.

‘Ha! They actually eat that muck! Tourists, eh! Give me a juicy steak or pizza any day!! C.mon, I spotted a KFC opposite!!’

The afternoon was spent at the Summer Palace. This is a massive parkland in the far North of the city that has its roots as far back as the beginning of the Qing dynasty in the mid seventeenth century when the Royal family would bugger off from the Forbidden city to spend the sweltering summers of Beijing at their summer palace. Cultivated woodland that is four times as big as the Forbidden City, three quarters of the area is taken up by a man-made lake known as Kumming Lake. The present layout of the grounds of the Summer Palace only goes back as far as the nineteenth century as much of the parkland was destroyed in the Great War of 1860 and restored in 1886. The key character (and what a character) associated with the Summer palace is the Dowager Empress Cixi. (more about her shortly!)

On entering the Summer Palace through the East Gate, we arrived in to first courtyard to be greeted by a mythical beast known as a ‘kylin’. This stood guarding the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity and had the head of a dragon, antlers of a reindeer, body of fish, hooves of a cow and tail of a lion. It is said to be a reminder to the high-ranking officials to be honest and kind hearted:

‘Or what?? You’ll set upon us a mythical beast that doesn’t exist and quite frankly, looks ridiculous. I mean, body of a fish and antlers of a reindeer. What’s that all about? Is that supposed to intimidate me? At least you could have had something like body of an Ox and Horns of a Ram. Oh, it’s symbolic. Well, at least you’re half right!!’

To the rear of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity stands an eight metre long and two metre wide boulder. Back in the middle ages, an avid stone collector (they actually exist??) was entranced by its discovery. He gasped with admiration at this marvel of nature while pondering how he could move it to his garden. Eventually it occurred to him to try a technique used by builders on the Great Wall. The stone collector hired labourers to cut a wide road into the mountain and dig wells along the road. When winter came, servants were ordered to draw water from the wells and sprinkle it on the road. This turned to ice and labourers were able to slide the stone along this smooth path. However, his money ran out before he managed to get the stone to its destination and had no choice but to abandon it. 300 years later the current emperor (also partial to a nice ornamental stone!) decided to bring it home. Bankruptcy Rock, as it was soon nicknamed lies in the summer palace. Legend says you should never take a picture of it as the same fate will befall you. (see photo!!)

A short walk through this court yard and we arrived at lake Kumming. Today is Saturday. It is the afternoon and the Lake was populated by many Chinese style pedaloes and rowing boats that one can hire for a nominal fee. A massive bed of water lilies covered the nearside of the lake. We were now at the foot of Longevity Hill. Embedded on the side of Longevity Hill stands Longevity temple. This temple was built by the emperor for the people.

On our way to catch the Dragon Boat across the lake, we walked through a long corridor called ‘the Long Corridor’. The Long Corridor is so named because ‘it is’!! In the Guinness Book of Records this corridor stretches 728 metres alongside the Northshore of the Lake at the foot of Longevity Hill. Near the Western End of the Long Corridor stands the marble boat. This is a legacy of the Dowager Cixi’s (remember her?) extravagance. This 36 metre lakeside pavilion is in the shape of a two deck boat made entirely from marble. It is said the marble boat was paid for by funds intended for the Chinese Imperial Navy. The story of Cixi, otherwise known as the Dragon Lady, a cunning, manipulative and often spiteful ruler, is a remarkable one. In 1851, a year into his reign, a 15-year-old girl entered the palace as a consort of the young Xianfeng Emperor. She rose slowly through the ranks of imperial concubines, before taking the fast-track approach of bearing the emperor a male heir. When the emperor, a notorious drunk of generally poor health, died nine years later, she smooth talked her position as mother to the heir apparent into ruling on his behalf. For a position that should have lasted until the heir became of age, she ended up ruling the Qing Empire for nearly fifty years!! This may have something to do with her son, the emperor, dying at a very early age due to smallpox. However, the Emperors wife was with child so in order to keep the ‘numero uno’ position Dowager Cixi ordered the murders of her son’s wife (the empress), her unborn grandchild as well as her co-regent, her nephew (whom she made emperor after the death of the ill-fated Emperor), her nephew’s favourite concubine and scores of other courtiers, eunuchs and officials who had the temerity to defy her. At one point she was the second most cause of death after small pox!!

The Marble Boat was only one of the Dragon lady’s little extravagances. It is reported that she also demanded 128 courses for each meal (I know the feeling!!) These meals were taken in the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. The courses were prepared and laid out over five tables although she only ever ate from one of them. The rest of the food just went to waste.

On our twenty-minute trip across the lake on the dragon boat, we passed seventeen arch bridge aptly named as the bridge happens to have seventeen arches!! Just imagine how embarrassing that could have been if someone miscounted and ended up naming the structure fifteen arch bridge!! Luckily, they were spot on!! Well done them!! Anyhow, the reason why the bridge has seventeen arches is that with the number nine being the highest single ‘yang’ number and considered very lucky, representing wealth and prosperity the ninth arch of this bridge is always in the centre.

I have never been on an excursion, ever, that doesn’t end at some sort of factory or store and today was no exception. After we concluded our visit to the Sumer Palace, we were taken to a silk factory and retail outlet. The one thing I learned is that the silk is actually extracted from the cocoon the worm is encased in on the way to becoming a butterfly. From one small cocoon, 1km of silk may be extracted.

It was now 17:30. We had been on the go since 08:30. The peak hour traffic was in full flow. Despite dusk closing in, many cars and bikes were driving without lights. Cars seemed to switch lane without warning all trying to gain those extra few yards. Some scooter drivers had left their helmets at home whilst the rest must have left their helmets back in the store from whence they bought their scooter!! One scooter, not only carried a driver and two adult passengers behind, but what at first looked like a bundle of rags turned out to be a baby balanced on the handlebars!!

Dinner was organised for 19:00. Different location, same banquet!! We asked Ping if it was possible to have crispy duck and pancakes on the menu. She spoke to the restaurant and advised us that this could be arranged but would cost extra. Now rather than pay we could forgo tomorrow’s evening meal meaning we’d have to make our own arrangements for dinner…every cloud!!!

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Photos

The gang in the Forbidden City
Photo courtesy of Carol Goedhals