Our first stop that morning was to see Tian'anmen Square, the site of so many historical events. It is a huge square, and the day we went there were thousands of people there - tourists from China - doing the exact same thing we were doing. In the center of the Square there is the Monument to the People's Heroes, while on the left side of the square you can see the Great Hall of the People, where all China's biggest legislative decisions are made. And on the right side of the square you can see the National Museum of China, which I have yet to visit.
While we were in the square, a few people started coming up to us and asking for pictures with us. This didn't surprise Cara and I, because Carly has very blond hair, and we all have blue eyes. Chinese people from the western parts of China think that blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners are part of the tourist attraction in Beijing. But then, a few Chinese people turned into many Chinese people, and we were suddenly surrounded by Chinese people taking pictures of us and with us. Above is a picture of us with a random Chinese man who wanted his picture with us.We were hoping to visit Mao Zedong, who is cryogenically frozen in a mausoleum in Tian'anmen Square, but he was on vacation. Mao's Mausoleum was closed for renovation until March 20, so Carly will not get to see him. Instead we headed towards Tian'anmen Gate, where a huge picture of a seemingly ageless Mao hangs over the passageway to the Forbidden City everyday.
Before heading over to the Forbidden City we met Molly for lunch where she works. Lunch was pretty standard at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, but on the way I got to see the National Grand Theatre in Beijing. It is actually a beautiful architectural structure, but because it was built by a Frenchman and looks inherently un-Chinese, Chinese people call it the Bird's Egg.After lunch we made our way back to the Forbidden City, and entered through the Tian'anmen Gate. I actually got to go through the Forbidden City again on Saturday, but today Cara and I focused on getting to parts of the city that Carly wanted to see. The whole complex is very intriguing and beautiful, and it just amazes me that so many buildings built out of wood have lasted so long.
We wandered through the central buildings, named Taihedian, Zhonghedian, and Baohedian. These were the locations that saw the emperor's most important activities. He got married, made laws and decrees, and went to war in these central buildings, and spent most of his working days here.In the corridors surrounding the central buildings, there are complexes and halls for mental cultivation, concubines, empresses, and eunuchs. There are temples, gardens, and small displays of Imperial jade, pearl, and gold throughout the city, which is now called the Palace Museum. I had heard there was a Starbucks in the Forbidden City, and while the prospect of sipping on a tall mocha while wandering through the Hall of Peace and Serenity appeals to me, it didn't to many Chinese protesters who forced the Starbucks to close down a few months ago. No caffeine for me!
My favorite part of the Forbidden City was the Imperial Garden, which is the last part you see when you work your way through the city. It is so beautiful and interesting. The trees are all hundreds of years old, and twisted and knotted like old men. Many of the trees are supported by wooden stilts because they would crack and fall over if they were left to stand on their own. The rock seen in the Imperial Garden comes from the Ming dynasty, where the emperor ordered the rock to be removed from a nearby lake and used to make pathways and tunnels in the garden. It is clearly a very porous marine rock, and it makes the garden very unique.
After passing through the Imperial Garden and out the north gate of the Forbidden City, we found ourselves standing in front of a huge, manmade hill. Coal hill was constructed when the moats around the Forbidden City and the Golden River down the middle of it were dug. The remaining debris were all piled here, and trees were planted, pagodas built, and a temple with a Buddha in it was placed on top. Very resourceful, I think.
The nice thing about the hill is that, from the top, you can see the entire Forbidden City, Beihai Park, and the Drum tower. It offers pretty views of all of central Beijing, despite the hazy pollution in the air. The other interesting fact about the hill is that in 1644, the last Ming Emperor, after forcing his Empress to commit suicide and killing his daughters with his own hands, hung himself off of a tree on Coal Hill with his most trusted assistant. He had realized that the Manchus had won the war and would soon invade the Forbidden City. He hung himself with a note saying that he hoped his body would be enough for the Manchus, and no people in Beijing would have to die. I saw the spot and was going to get my picture taken there, but realized that this might be too morbid.
The next day Jon, Cara, Aaron, Richie, and I all went to the Temple of Heaven while Molly and Carly visited the Olympic Stadium and the Cube. The Temple of Heaven was beautiful and very peaceful despite the fact that the wind was blowing 40 km/hour that day. We entered into the long corridor and found hundreds of Chinese people just spending their afternoon in the park. They were singing together, playing instruments, playing a kind of hacky-sack that is called Jianzi. We saw others who were doing Tai Chi and writing on the pavement with a huge, disappearing ink calligraphy pen. I think my favorite thing about middle-aged Chinese people is that they walk slowly with their hands clasped behind their back. It's like they're contemplating something very serious, but really they're just enjoying their free time.
The Temple of Heaven complex was filled with ritual temples and sacrificial mounds. We started at the place of animal slaughter, which is now a very pretty spot in the middle of the park with the long corridor on the right. The Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests was in a compound with several side temples. This is where the emperor prayed for good crops and rain in the coming year.
We also visited the Echo Wall, which is a walled compound surrounding the Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you stand on one side of the round wall and talk to the wall, a person standing on the opposite side can hear you and talk back. You can have a quiet conversation from about 200 metres apart.
The Circular Mound Altar is a Marble altar built in concentric circles. The Chinese believe that the earth is a square and the sky is a circle, so naturally all cities and towns are built in squares and all temples and altars are built in circles. I think they've figured out the way the world really is by now. The last thing we saw was an enormous furnace used to burn the animal sacrifices. I was pretty impressed that they needed steps to go up the side of the furnace and then drop the animals inside. You could make a really good pizza in there.
On Friday, I taught at the Practical Learning Center for Rural Women. I teach here twice a week, and my students are girls from 16-20. They have never had an education before, and they come to this school in the suburbs of Beijing to learn how to become secretaries, hairdressers, and pre-school teachers. Older rural women come from all over the country to learn how to start their own businesses. I am an English teacher there, and it makes me sad that this school is the best opportunity that the girls I teach have ever had. But they are all great young women, full of energy and excited to learn. They think I'm very funny and they're patient with my bad Chinese. I am very different from teachers who are Chinese - apparently they are very stern and scary, while I dance around and make bad jokes about my big feet.
That Friday, I got to meet some of the older students. They were amazed at me - I'm the only white person around for 50 miles, and they fought over me to take pictures. Chinese people are pushy, but in a very friendly way, and I didn't mind at all being manhandled from woman to woman for pictures when they each introduced themselves and told me my Chinese was very good. See if you can spot me in the picture below!
After teaching my girls how to say the colors in English, I made the journey back to Beijing University to meet my language partner, Percy, for coffee. We started talking at 7:30pm, talking in Chinese or about China, and stopped talking at 11:30pm! We had such a good time talking about Chinese culture and the original meaning of Chinese characters that we lost track of time. I'm actually really thankful that I got a language partner. Having a Chinese person who is willing to talk to me while I practice Chinese and tell me about differences in Chinese culture is really a great thing, and so Percy and I get along great.
The next morning, the program was taking us back to the Forbidden City for free, so I decided to go along and see some of the things that I missed the first time. Luckily, I had a great tour guide this time. Qian, Percy's girlfriend is another student's language partner. However, her student wasn't there, so she hung out with me, told me the meanings of characters I didn't know, explained the purposes of some of the more abstract halls in the Forbidden City, and listened while I spoke Chinese. It's almost like Percy and Qian are a two for one deal! But she is very sweet and a real spitfire, so I enjoyed spending the day with her.
your blog is feel good......
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