TIAN'ANMEN SQUARE & FORBIDDEN CITY

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BEIJING DAY TWO - An early start for another day of touring the capitol of China, Beijing, previously known as Peking, as in duck, man, Opera and the Great Wall, the top “musts” in Beijing according to my tour guide, Lee. He also says the best time to visit is April-May or September-October. In the year 2000, China changed its policy on ownership of property and became a government with a socialist philosophy but with a market economy. People could own condominiums but not the land. Land rights extend for 70 years at the present time, but China is modifying their policies as conditions dictate. Air pollution is a growing problem for the government to deal withand needs to be dealt with.

It is a cold morning, again, and we bus to Tian’amen Square, the largest square in the world at 34 acres, to start our touring day. Its size is impressive as is the long lines of Chinese lining up to view the body of Chairman Mao in the mausoleum. His portrait is hung on the entrance to another building. He is venerated as a god by the Chinese people. They acknowledge that he is not a perfect human, but they still regard him as a god. On leaving the square I saw the large number of surveillance cameras for “security purposes” overlooking the square on our way to visit the “Forbidden City”, home to 24 emperors over several dynasties. It, the Forbidden City, covers 250 acres and has great historical relevance for China. If interested in this topic, the guide strongly recommended and referenced the movie “The Last Emperor”, which he said was largely accurate and fictionalized very little. Many scenes were filmed on location here and I saw the rooms, alley ways and furniture involved in that chapter of Chinese history.

After another wonderful Mandarin Chinese lunch, we went to the Temple of Heaven, a group of buildings in a walled park built between 1400 and 1420 for the emperor to worship in. The most famous of these temples is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

On the way back to the ship, my bus had a tire blowout. Fortunately, we were only about three miles from the ship, so another bus was sent to get us back on board before the embarkation time.

I’ve just passed the half way mark on this adventure. So far, so good. Tomorrow, Dalian, China.

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