Sunday August 1 Beijing

Well, we've clearly been spoiled in these fancy hotels because the one we're in now seems a bit worn and we notice. We're a bit surprised since this is a Japanese Airlines hotel. Once again, we've been told that there is "free Internet" but that does not appear to be the case at all. I mistakenly thought that we would have the most capability of being wired here of all the places we've been in China. It is possible but at a very high price. The breakfast buffet is satisfactory though the selection is a bit less than in our previous hotels. Probably a good way to ease back into a typical breakfast at home! (Addendum: In spite of the literature to the contrary, we are, in fact, not charged for the internet so the word that we got when we checked in that the Internet is free was correct after all).

Sunny, our guide, and our bus driver, Mr. Han, take us to the Forbidden City for a tour by Sunny that begins at the north gate and ends at the south gate where we emerge at the edge of Tiananmen Square. Sunny tells us that the Forbidden City is also referred to as the purple Forbidden City, because the color purple refers to the North Star and symbolizes Heaven. The Emperor would be seen as the son of heaven. The official word is that the Forbidden City has 999 and a half rooms, 9 being a lucky number, but there are actually 8074 rooms. Lucky numbers seem to figure into lots of beliefs in China and thus into their buildings such as there being 81 golden nails in the Emperor's Gate for 9x9, of course. The Forbidden City has been home to a total of 24 emperors in the Ming and Qing Dynasties: 14 in the Ming; 10 in the Qing. The Forbidden City was built in 1420 by about a million laborers. The foundation is 15 layers thick of stone to prevent anyone from tunneling in. The last emperor, Puyi, wrote a book entitled From Emperor to Citizen (- would underline that since it's a book title but don't know how to do that on this machine...) describing how he became successfully reformed from being an emperor to that of a common citizen, Sunny tells us. (We have that book at home. Richard read it after our last trip here in 1995. Blatant propaganda, Richard adds.) The last emperor died in Beijing in 1965 at the age of 57 of kidney cancer. Early on he had been a prisoner first in Russia and then in China before being "reeducated". He married a nurse. They had no children but he raised a nephew who is now a famous calligrapher.

In keeping with feng shui, a mountain should be behind a home with water in front of it so there is a manmade hill behind the Forbidden City with a manmade river in front of it. We first go through a garden area in which trees that are tagged red are 400 years old and those tagged green are just 200 years old. The rocks in the garden are from Taihu Lake, 1000km away; having rocks hauled to the palace from that distance would show the power of the emperor. That is the last garden we see in the Forbidden City. Sunny explains that the rest of the area was kept sparse in terms of any type of vegetation in order to maintain an aura of seriousness and protect the emperor from those who might ambush him using vegetation for cover. Trees that were present were brought down in 1530 due to such an attempt. The open areas of the Forbidden City now look neglected due to lots of grass growing up between the slabs of stone. On the flip side, the Forbidden City buildings sure have great paint jobs! Sunny explains that renovations were undertaken in 1990 including painting in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, using 18 carat gold paint. The colors of red, blue, green are vibrant and so characteristic of colors used on buildings throughout China. Another characteristic feature outside buildings is the use of the lions - female on one side with one paw on a baby lion and male on the other with his paw on a globe of the world. Finally, the animals on the corners of the roofs in China ward off evil spirits and also show the importance of the building, also keeping the tiles from sliding off, Sunny explains. The emperor's throne looks more like a sofa; it's apparently a Chinese sofa. There are 4 Chinese characters above the throne that read "Justice" on one side and "Benevolence" on the other. The 2 carved dragons on the ceiling were believed to be able to discern an imposter from the real emperor and come down if an imposter ever tried to seat himself on the throne. Reportedly, this never happened.

The names of the various offices sound very imposing but, for the life of me, I can't recall the purposes of each. Besides, my guidebook gives me different information than Sunny, too, so I'll just jot down the names of the buildings and you can decide what sorts of activities might have occurred there: Hall of Mental Cultivation, Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Middle Harmony, and Hall of Preserving Harmony, the latter of which was where imperial exams were given.
Put it this way: Even if I was an empress, I wouldn't want to live here. Too much upkeep, too austere, and too many crowds. I would, however, like to hire the painters they use.

We emerge from the tunnel that goes under the road from the Forbidden City to Tiananmen Square with the Gate of Heavenly Peace, with a giant portrait of Mao hung in the center, at our back. It was one of the gates to the Forbidden City in earlier times. In Chinese characters on the left, it says "Long Live the People's Republic of China" and to the right, it says "Long Live the Unity of the Peoples of the World". in front of us lies the huge, open square with the Great Hall of the People where elections are held every 5 years by the National People's Congress to our right, the National Museum (that Sunny tells us is "closed" today) to our left, and the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall where Mao's body is entombed, in front of us at the other end of the square. In about the center of the square stands the Monument to the People's Heroes. The big star on the national flag of China stands for Communism while the four small stars stand for soldiers, farmers, technicians, and children. Sunny explains that farmers used to make up 60 or 70% of the population while only 30 to 40% do now due to the fact that more younger folks are attending universities than used to be the case. He tells us too that two other squares in the world that are comparatively large are Red Square and Trafalgar Square. We ask him whether he has seen photos of the mall area near the Capital in Washington, DC, but he has not. Interesting. Sadly, no kites are allowed on Tiananmen Square anymore. We walk out into the center of the square to get a sense of what it's like compared to the families packing the square with lots of kites in the air in 1995 when we were here with James and Ross and the Knoizens and the rest of our group: Family groups are milling about or enjoying picnics, but it is not at all crowded. A Chinese mother and her daughter approach Gail to ask to have a photo taken together. (Will be a sweet photo). We also remember that, in 1995, guards seemed to be present in many places and were armed, but on this visit, we haven't seen as many and the ones we do see, in Tiananmen Square, for example, appear to be very young - maybe 15 or 16yo? - and are not armed.

We board the bus again to go to our next destination, that of the Temple of Heaven where we walk through a beautiful park and end up watching a group of mostly older singles and couples ballroom dancing to music from an amplifier. In another part of the park, we hear some singing and move closer to listen to older retirees singing songs from a Chinese songbook. The songs sound like military music. Sunny explains that retirees gather frequently to dance or sing. He relates that one of the songs is about the cypress tree, another about a man in prison during the Cultural Revolution who later became a teacher - Sunny describes this as a. "tragic" situation, and others are army songs. He says that younger people in China cannot relate to the retirees' music. Men retire from the government at 60yo while women retire at 50yo; both men and women receive pensions. Other workers retire at 55yo (men) and 45yo (women) with a smaller pension while farmers receive no pension at all. Medical insurance covers everyone for about 90% of their needs. The summer holiday period is 2 months long while the winter holiday period is 2 months long also.

Something about Sunny: Like other tour guides, he has chosen his own English name for himself to use for work.

One family/one child policy comments: This topic is a recurring one. Difficult to get a handle on it actually, but sounds to me like those who are wealthier than others can have more children is they can afford to. There are rules and there are other rules. In the case of divorce, can have another child. Also, those who are in minority groups may have more than one child.

Back to the Temple of Heaven: Used for animal sacrifices during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Thresholds were raised. The higher the stature of the person in the residence, the higher the threshold. The central entrance up the steps to the Temple of Heaven was reserved for God while the east entrance was for the Emperor, considered to be the son of Heaven, and the west entrance for family members and high ranking officials.

Back on the bus we go to go back to the hotel. Richard, Gail, Anna, and I walk to a Chinese restaurant - all Chinese characters, pictures on the menu, the second business in to the left from the mint building - for an enjoyable time figuring out what to order with the assistance of my IPad and Anna correcting my attempts to speak Chinese. Anna's pronunciation, I must say, sounds pretty fine, and the waitresses understand Anna when she tries to correct me! I'm getting more comfortable in trying out what I've learned since it doesn't appear that anyone feels offended by my ill attempts. The waitresses are intrigued with my IPad. They bring us "porridge" on the house (which we don't like too much but politely have) and the dishes that we order. We have ordered a bit too much food (since we couldn't figure out how much to order), but it's all delicious and the bill comes to about $20US. During our meal, a mother and daughter who is about 7yo arrive and sit down at the next table. Feeling a bit more confident in my language efforts and being enticed by Anna, I say "Ta shi Piao liang" for "She is pretty", and the young girl replies in perfect English, "Thank you". We laugh all the way back to the hotel. Another fine day.