Day 04: Wanping Ancient City and Temple of Heaven (April 2019)

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Sunday, 21st April 2019

I took a long metro + bus excursion out of Beijing to the Wanping Ancient City this morning. Home to the famed Marco Polo Bridge, this was where World War II officially started in China after Japan waged their aggression across the bridge. Housed within the city walls is the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

This is a huge museum containing lots of information about the War. It really helped that there was a free guided tour when I was there which summarize the information to a more manageable magnitude. China did not officially surrendered during the eight-year war between 1937-1945. After the coastal cities fell to the Japanese in the early part of the campaign, the war eventually reached a stalemate given the strong willpower of the Chinese people.

In the afternoon, I paid a visit to the Temple of Heaven which was accessible via the East Gate where the Metro Station was. The Temple of Heaven Park occupied a vast area south of the Forbidden City which required plenty of walking and determination to complete the experience. In order to access the main prayer compounds, separate admission tickets need to be purchased on site. Since this is a very important historic site, I had no complains about parting my RMB for this visit.

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