Beijing, China Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City

Tuesday, March 19, 2019           Beijing, China  

Everyone had a harty hotel buffet breakfast and headed out to the bus to go to the Temple of Heaven. Howard, our guide, gave us a quick talk about the spiritual side of the Chinese culture. He spoke about Taoism and Buddhism.

From what I gathered, Taoism, stresses concentrating on the present life. It is based on the year of the animal that you are born in. My birth year was the year of the horse and basically said that I would be a success. Larry’s birth year was the year of the snake and he would be resourceful. We have seen these little charts in the American Chinese restaurants that show your birth year and the animal that pertains to our year. Certain years are lucky or unlucky.

From what I gathered, Buddhism stresses the afterlife. Everything that you do or think gets you ready for eternity, life after your existence on Earth. Howard, a Buddhist, wore a bracelet of wooden beads that helped him to relieve stress. Howard clutched his beads and fingered them constantly…making me wonder whether we were causing him to be stressed. Meditation is a big part of Buddhism. 

Our bus pulled up to the Temple of Heaven where we enjoyed watching the local folks exercising. Some were using the permanent equipment that the government provided in the park. 

Gentlemen were swinging on bars while ladies danced to the gentle tunes of Chinese style music. Small groups were playing hacky sack and a large group stood at a stretching bar. Activity was continuous and you could tell that it was a big social time for everyone as they did their morning exercise activity.

YIKES!

 Over in a corner a group of saxophone players practiced. I’m sure that their playing wasn’t appreciated in their over populated apartment buildings, so they came here to practice.

 Larry especially enjoyed the lady playing the Chinese" guitar" player. Everyone was very friendly with smiles and invitations to participate with them. 

Larry enjoyed playing Chinese ping pong with one gentleman. It was so good to see so many  folks being so active. This was the American LA Fitness…only outside. It was fun to watch!

We walked through the Temple of Heaven Museum....

It had portraits of the Emperors who had used the temple.

 The Temple was sacred ground where the Emperor of China would come to pray for good crops and harvest.

                                        Our group continued on into the Temple of Heaven.  

Sacrifices of pure white lambs and goats were offered to secure good rain and weather for crop growth. In the 1400’s the Temple was built for the Emperor to visit. Although it was destroyed by fire the current Temple was rebuilt in the early 1900’s with it being refurbished about every 15 to 20 years. 

The building has no metal (nails) and is totally wooden. It is a striking structure of Chinese architecture.

                 We enjoyed the morning of nice weather while visiting this Beijing icon.

We headed to a local restaurant, Da Wan Ju, for lunch. Our group enjoyed a combination of chicken, shrimp, beef, pork, glass noodles, fried rice, Jasmine rice, egg plant, Jasmine tea, and many other delights. Everything was very, very spicy, then a dish of Orange Chicken was ordered up with special directions of no hot spices. 

After lunch we headed for a three hour walk around  Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. 

                                       We passed the old train station with the clock tower....

                                                     the old sentry gates into the city....

                                         Nothing had changed here on Tiananmen  Square.

Massive buildings (Congress and 

the National Museum) surrounded the square known for the 1989 demonstration where young protestors were shot down. Howard told us that the exact number shot was never revealed…although the number 40 was tossed around. 

                                        We enjoyed watching the changing of the guards.

                                                                          Mao's Mausoleum

Mao’s transparent tomb rested inside this building and was only open during the morning hours. Larry and I have a vivid memory of standing in line to see him lying inside a glass casket for all to observe. Some today question whether this is a wax figure inside the case.  Howard told us that all Chinese are cremated. Mao was the first to be buried in a casket in this fashion.

On the opposite end of Mao’s tomb, his iconic picture is displayed on the Forbidden City wall. We walked through a long tunnel crossing a very wide street underground to enter the Forbidden City, the largest palace in the world….60 times larger than Buckingham Palace in London and 9 times larger than the Kremlin in Russia. 

It is a huge walled city developed for the Emperor and his staff.The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. Built between 1406 and 1420 the complex consists of 980 buildings the traditional Chinese palatial architecture has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. Declared a World Heritage site in 1987 and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

As we entered the Forbidden City, we noticed that not much had changed here except the amount of people who were visiting here. In 2001, we did not have the crowds that were here today.

The Forbidden City had striking Chinese architecture. We passed through many, many gateways with large structures sitting in front of each gateway. Each time we stepped over a copper or brass 10 by 10 inch high threshold at your feet, it was sort of like stepping in a galley way on a navy ship.

Each building was a Chinese architectural delight!  It went on and on and on….Yellow ceramic tile rooflines with gargoyles lined along the edge indicating the importance of the building. 

                                             The royal red color was prevalent on all buildings. 

Big urns for incense were placed at the entrance of many building and huge caldron pots were placed strategically to seemingly balance the entrance area. Balance was important to them. 

A nice river flowed through the center of the complex providing water in case of fire.

                                                             Howard, our G Adventure guide

Howard told us that the Forbidden City housed the last two Chinese Dynasties. The right to rule is passed on to the Son that the Emperor and Empress produce. A child from a concubine is only used when a royal child is not conceived. One Emperor was known to have 3000 concubines. Whoa! What a horny man!

We walked out of the Forbidden City and took the bus to a local backstreet neighborhood called a hutong. Old, one and two level townhomes were allowed here. Nothing was to tower over the Forbidden City area. Here you would find townhomes without bathrooms. If Mother Nature called, a bucket became handy. A relaxing natural lake rested amongst some budding weeping willow trees.

Lazy boat rides on the lake were available.

                             We passed a old gentleman playing his instrument  on the sidewalk.

Red rickshaws took visitors for rides around the area. We visited a wonderful market with all kinds of tempting, pleasant shops.  Street food smells permeated throughout.

 At the end of the day we shared a couple of local beverages with Suzanne and Sam while listening to a combination of American and Chinese favorites sung by a local group. Larry and I enjoyed tasty chicken stir fry in the hotel for dinner. Another exciting day!