Our first two days in Beijing were superb, but we still had an exciting day ahead of us on Day 3. It was a short night’s sleep after last evening’s big event, but we managed to get up early, eat breakfast in the hotel, check out of the hotel, bring our small overnight bags to the bus, and depart at 8:15 for a morning tour of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
Traffic was terrible this morning, and it took us about an hour to travel five miles from our hotel to Tiananmen Square. This was basically a photo opportunity, but Mark pointed out many of the sights to us. This is one of the largest public squares in the world, covering approximately 122 acres. It was originally built in 1651 outside Tiananmen Gate, the northern gate to the Forbidden City. We were told that Tiananmen means “Gate of Heavenly Peace” in the Chinese language. It was in this square that Mao Tse-Tung (also spelled as Mao Zedong) proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Tiananmen Square was enlarged and cemented over in the 1950’s. It’s said that Mao wanted the square to be larger than Moscow’s Red Square. Mao’s body is now entombed in the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall on the south end of the square.
Mark told us that the square is large enough for massive gatherings of ½ million or more people. There are daily military parades for raising and lowering the flag. He also told us that, after the pro-democracy demonstrations here in 1989, protesting is no longer allowed. He said that the army and local police control who gains access through security checks. Despite that, there were plenty of people in the square this morning, and no one seemed to be concerned about us. Our bus then drove us to the South (Meridian) Gate of the Forbidden City, which is called the largest and best-preserved imperial palace complex in the world. It was named as a UNESCO World Heritage site about 30 years ago. There are about 15 million annual visitors to what is now officially called the Palace Museum (in the Chinese language). They claim that this is the most visited museum in the world. Twenty-four emperors worked and lived here with their families and royal court from the early 1400’s through 1911. Ordinary people were not allowed inside the gates; thus, it was called the Forbidden City. It reportedly took 14 years to build, and there were millions of laborers and artisans involved.
The complex of six palaces and 800 smaller buildings (more than 8,000 rooms) is enormous. Rebuilding was necessary over time (mostly due to fires), and the last update was before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. If a person were interested in exploring everything in this complex, it would be necessary to spend a week here. We didn’t have that much time, as we had to get back to the ship before it left port today.
Our guide Mark has spent a lot of time in the Forbidden City, and he led us through the highlights on the most efficient route possible – from the South Gate to the North Gate, along the central north-south axis of the “city,” where the most important buildings were located. We didn’t go inside any of the buildings except one, and he gave us only a few minutes there. Unfortunately, the few people in our group that attempted entry returned saying that, “It was like a football scrum in there.” We think they meant it was way too crowded to see anything.
For simplicity purposes, think of the Forbidden City being divided into two sections –the Outer Court and the Inner Court. The Emperor lived and worked almost exclusively in the Inner Court, and the Outer Court was used for ceremonial purposes. Buildings in the Outer Court were deliberately large and imposing. The Inner Court was less formal with gardens and courtyards (separate courtyards for each of the emperors’ many wives). Apart from the many buildings and palaces along the central axis, there are even more buildings on the two sides, for lesser members of the court. We didn’t venture into those areas at all. Once through the South Gate, we walked to the Gate of Supreme Harmony, which is the main entrance to the grand Outer Court. The largest structure in the Outer Court was the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the ceremonial center of power, where the emperor held court to discuss affairs of state, or for royal coronations and weddings.
The Gate of Heavenly Purity separates the palace into the Outer and Inner Court. Behind the gate is the residential area of the palace.
Within the Inner Court, 16 of the emperors lived in the “Palace of Heavenly Purity,” and eight later emperors lived in the “Hall of Mental Cultivation.” We rushed through the Inner Court fairly quickly, but spent some time examining the exterior of the nicely styled residence of the Empress Dowager Cixi’s residence and the accompanying gardens.
After exiting the Forbidden City via the North Gate (the Gate of Divine Prowess), we hopped back on the bus and headed for lunch at the Regent Hotel. This was yet another very nice hotel restaurant that handled our large group very easily at an excellent buffet.
We then bid farewell to Beijing and arrived at the port of Tianjin with about an hour and a half to spare. For good reason, Mark was concerned about traffic jams slowing down our drive; but, we got lucky again and raced unimpeded to the port. This time we had no trouble with the Chinese immigration officials. When we boarded the ship it was like a big homecoming, with dozens of Serenity crew members and staff welcoming us home, carrying our bags to our cabin, and asking us about our trip.
The 3-day overland excursion was even better than we had hoped – hotel and food were great, we saw all the big highlights of Beijing with a wonderful tour guide, weather was perfect, and we were treated like royalty wherever we went. After visiting Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xiamen, and Beijing, we have seen enough evidence to believe that the talk about China having one of the world’s fastest growing economies must be true.
Life now returns to normal on board Serenity, and we’re on our way to Incheon, Korea where we will arrive on Thursday, April 7.
Jim & Ginny
P.S., Erin – Here’s a picture of Nanny with a “panda person” that we met at our hotel.
We then bid farewell to Beijing and arrived at the port of Tianjin with about an hour and a half to spare. For good reason, Mark was concerned about traffic jams slowing down our drive; but, we got lucky again and raced unimpeded to the port. This time we had no trouble with the Chinese immigration officials. When we boarded the ship it was like a big homecoming, with dozens of Serenity crew members and staff welcoming us home, carrying our bags to our cabin, and asking us about our trip.
The 3-day overland excursion was even better than we had hoped – hotel and food were great, we saw all the big highlights of Beijing with a wonderful tour guide, weather was perfect, and we were treated like royalty wherever we went. After visiting Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xiamen, and Beijing, we have seen enough evidence to believe that the talk about China having one of the world’s fastest growing economies must be true.
Life now returns to normal on board Serenity, and we’re on our way to Incheon, Korea where we will arrive on Thursday, April 7.
Jim & Ginny
P.S., Erin – Here’s a picture of Nanny with a “panda person” that we met at our hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment