We headed to what is probably the most well known landmarks in Beijing, Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. Due to my stupid "formatting" error, my pics from Tianamen Square were deleted, but there are plenty of the Forbidden City on my photo page. The misty rain kept our day rather nicely cool, and as a further benefit kept some wary tourists away to make our visit less crowded.
A brief history lesson... Tianamen Square is the world's largest public square, and considered, by Lonely Planet (LP), to be "the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe." During imperial times the square was part of the Imperial City Wall, with gates that were pulled down to create the square in 1949. It's probably most well known for the riots that took place here in 1989.
Some observations: There are policeman everywhere, something LP says is meant "to paralyze the first twitch of dissent." This is the first time we really encountered Chinese people en masse wanting to take a picture with one or all of us. I understand from TimeOut that in China photos are "evidence to show people back home you've made that trip of a lifetime," so its considered the norm. And obviously, it is just overwhelming in size. You can understand how it can fit one million people when you are there.
On to the Forbidden City... It housed 24 emperors from two dynasties, Ming and Qing, from the time it was finished in 1420 after 16 years of building. Due to the Chinese lucky numbers of 8 and 9, the place has 800 buildings, 9,999 rooms (rooms being anything between four pillars), and many of the patterns are in 9s. It takes 10 years to do a full renovation of the place, and as I understood, most of what we saw was painted two years ago. Attention was and still is paid to every detail, from decorations and architecture to court and to imperial rules back when it was a palace. One example is the little mythical animals on the corner of every building. You'll have to see the photos to get the full picture (haha...). Just another example of how the Chinese like to do it big.
After lunch we got to go in a rickshaw ride through the hutong area. Hutongs are neighborhoods with courtyard-based houses that are mostly of days of old, but still do exist. We first went to Prince Gong's residence, one of Beijing's largest private houses, to see his magnificent garden. Again, see the pictures, but there were lots of rock and water formations, as well as lots of greenery and gorgeous buildings. We went up one passageway up the side of a hill, meaning we got promotions - hopefully that bodes well for when school is over and a job is necessary! We also got our picture taken with a newly wedded couple that were in the most gorgeous costumes. We then got to visit an actual hutong which seemed quite small by U.S. standards but as the owner said it provided a comfortable space to live on a pension in China. The courtyard had a few birds, including a black one which could say "ni hao" (hello), and I can say I actually heard it speak! Another rickshaw ride led us to Qianhai lake and a walk through the Snake Pipe lane to the Drum Tower. The Drum Tower is previously how the citizens knew what time it was by the beating of the drum. After climbing what seemed like a never ending staircase, we were rewarded with a drum performance that was quite neat as well as amazing views covering all of Beijing.
On Sunday we thought we give bargaining a go at the Silk Market. If you've ever been at a market where bargaining is standard, imagine being haggled ten times worse than that. It is absolutely crazy, especially because you can't hide the fact that you are a foreigner. People are shouting and grabbing at you from every angle just to make a sale. I think my emotions are easily read on my face, so maybe my haggling skills are not quite up to par with some of my friends ;). We then went to the Wangfujing area which is a popular modern shopping street where we got some Olympic and other arts and crafts souvenirs.
Monday and Tuesday were lecture days, the first on Chinese history, and the later on more about the Chinese media. Both of them tried to drum fact after fact into us, and the later was more critical about some of the problems facing the Chinese media, such as "creating" stories for the purpose of getting them in the news. I was quite surprised by the inclusion of these criticisms for reasons already mentioned. Later on Tuesday we went to the Pearl Market, another bargainer's delight. I got my Mao alarm clock - yes, I have fallen for Mao kitsch, but as a student of the history of Communism, cut me some slack! Also got a nice Chinese silk top and silk painting.
Behai Park and temples are next...
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