Beijing Day 3

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Today was my last full day in Beijing and it turned out to be the best one. I liked the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, but they were both very crowded and I felt as though I didn’t get to see everything because of the press of people. Today I started out in Tiananmen Square, which reportedly can hold one million people, so even though there were plenty of tour groups, it didn’t feel too crowded. Chairman Mao looks down over the scene. I was surprised to find that this is one of the few likenesses of him that I saw anywhere. My next planned stop was to the National Museum of China, located on the square, but it was closed, so I went to Plan B. I walked out of the south end of Tiananmen Square, crossed the street and then wandered through the hutongs. Everything I read about Beijing said that any visitor should make a point of seeing the old back lanes and one-story residences of the fast-disappearing areas known as hutongs. I was not convinced. They sounded like slums to me, but in fact the area I strolled through was delightful. These are clean, well-kept pedestrian lanes with intermittent plantings and even a few goldfish ponds/tanks. I now understand why there is an outcry to prevent them from being replaced by apartment blocks. Eventually I emerged at the Temple of Heaven Park. This is where the emperor used to come once a year to exercise his divine authority by praying and making sacrifices to ensure a good harvest. There are three main temples which are impressive to see. The park that surrounds the temples is well-used by the locals for tai chi, ballroom dancing, hacky sack, and more sedentary activities such as card-playing, reading, etc. (If you look closely at the photo, you will see that the folks doing tai chi are actually a tour group of Westerners, but trust me, there were local people doing all those things in then park today.) As I returned to my hotel, I passed by posters on the walls of the subway corridors for places to visit in China. You may have noticed that I did not go the Great Wall on this trip, but I took a picture of the subway wall, so that will have to do. Tomorrow is a travel day, but I will try to publish a short blog if I can.

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