Forbidden City and Xian-Tuesday 10-SEP

Gates where the city walls used to be.

This was sort of the “big day” for Beijing.  After breakfast, we went to Tiananmen Square.  “Tian” means Heavenly, and “an” means peace, and “men” is gate in Chinese.  So this would be the Heavenly Peace Gate, which leads into the Forbidden City.  The city walls (there were two for the capital) had huge gates.  But, since the walls interfere with traffic flow, they were removed in the 50s, but the inner and outer gates were left intact.  It happens that many government buildings now surround the square, and it is an appropriate gathering place for people, which makes it a bit obvious for protests.  For this reason, Chinese Nationals must go through a security check point.  I guess they presume that tourists will not be bothered to bring weapons or propaganda from home, so we go straight in to the square.

Outer gate with windows for archers to defend.

Inner gate.  Note the size the wall was by the cross-section.

The end of a VERY long line to go into Mao's tomb (background).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first thing we noticed upon entering the square was the significant size and the incredible line of people waiting to go into Mao Tse Tung’s mausoleum and view his preserved body,  Many people (seemingly) view him as something between a god and how we see George Washington.  I’m not sure how long I would stand in a line to see a dead George Washington.  But, I am sure it would not be very long if it was just a wax replica!  Although they attempted to preserve Mao’s body after death, they really were not very good at it, and the body started degrading.  So, they created a wax replica to sit in lieu of the real body until they could “refurbish” the original.  So, at any given time, it might be either the “original” or the “wax” Mao on display.

Monument to the Fallen Heroes

Just off of Tiananmen Square.

 

Giant TV screens in the background.

Most of the square is empty (excepting people), and not a chair or bench is to be found.  But they have a smattering of monuments in additional to the mausoleum, and two incredibly large “TV” displays.  I think they said the TV’s were over 100 feet long, and 8 feet tall, so when there are official celebrations the programming can be seen by people far away from the center.   From all sides we were accosted by people trying to sell picture books, maps, Chinese military caps with the red star (or sometimes four stars) or watches with Mao's face, and arms as the hands.  How ironic that enterprising capitalists should run around hawking symbols of communism? 

Just before we left the square, a small group of men from the far west in China were apparently staring at us,  We were told that they probably have never seen a Caucasian, and Chinese people are very curious about funny looking people, and may want to have their pictures taken with a real live Caucasian!  Some of our group happily indulged and took pictures of and with them.

Tianan Gate (Men) from the Square, with ceremonial flagpole.

Official Flag.  Note the two soldiers on guard.

Water show just before we entered the Forbidden City.

As we approached the Heavenly Peace Gate (Tiananmen) of the Forbidden City, there was a moat between the square and the gate, and a water show began, so we stood and watched.

 

 

 

 

 

Passing through the gate into the Forbidden City.

The first of nine squares in the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City is where the Emperor lived, and it was forbidden for the common folk to enter.  Only the Emperor, various women, and eunuchs could be inside the city.  That way, any children that were born inside the city were necessarily the Emperor’s.  The city has nine courtyards.  Nine is a significant number to the ancient Chinese.  It represents the Emperor, as it is the largest single digit, and he is the largest single entity.  So, it is repeated often.  There is a dragon that has nine children.  On the eaves of the buildings, they frequently have a dragon on the corner with several of the children, and the higher importance of the building, the more dragon children shown.  It is always an odd number, and the highest being nine (of course).  Odd numbers are meaningful because they can be shown with a center and evenly flanked. 

Instead of steps, many places have ramps with overlapping tiles.  Up is to the left, and down to the right.

The first few courtyards are very large, but the Emperor lives in the back, a more private area.  His wife and concubines seemed to be able to travel more freely, but not outside the city.  He might have upwards of 3000 concubines, as did Chin, the first Emperor, or merely 72 as many of the later ones did.  Regardless, the concubines vied for his attention and affection as it elevated not only their status, but that of their families on the outside.  For this reason, poor families often hoped for girls rather than boys as this would help the entire family.  In his area, the roof tiles are baked with a yellowish glaze.  Yellow is reserved for the Emperor, but I sort of wonder how one enforces that?

Theresa and Mike reviewing map for where to go next.

Incidentally, what is the purpose of having a wife, and an Empress, if one has as many concubines as one desires?  The Empress has no real authority, and her child has no guarantee of succession.  It can only be to support a belief that marriage is "appropriate", and the ruler "ought" to have a wife.  And yet, the purpose of a wife is somewhat blurred by the addition of dozens or hundreds or thousands of "sub-wives".  Oh well.

Another Square.  I like the water element.

Apparently, the Emperor leaves a will in which he designates his successor.  It might be his first born son, or the son of his favorite concubine, or perhaps his smartest son.  But, sometimes the will is forged and one (or more) of his ministers will effectively name the next Emperor.  The last one is dead, so he can’t argue, and likely the ministers would have written the original and then it was stamped, so how would anyone know this was a fake?  In one of the early dynasties (Tang or Han?) a minister replaced the will with one that required the Emperor’s chosen son to commit suicide.  The son did as he thought his father wanted, and the ministers selected the one they wanted.

 

And another square.

Inside the place where the Emperor did official business.

Random buildings I thought looked nice.  Lots of roof lines.

Another throne room.

Roof Lines.  Note the Dragon and his "children" on the corner.

Detail of roof with Dragon and nine (max) children.

Behind Forbidden City, across from moat (obviously)

After the Forbidden City, we had lunch.  In trying to remember the details, we are aware that almost all of the meals were about the same!  Same round tables for ten, same glass rotating platter in the middle, same tiny glass of beer, and nearly the same food.  Anyway, after lunch we had a stop at the pearl “factory”.  Following the obligatory “show”, we found the concessions and I had a beer (I love these beers for $1-$1.50!) and tried to work on the blog.  We ended up chatting with people instead!

This is NOT a 767!

Then we headed to the airport for our flights to Xian.  Yes, flights.  It seems that they reserve “seats” and approximate times for the tour group, but the airline doesn’t really commit to a given flight until a few days out.  So, whatever times we were told 5 months ago are meaningless.  Also, the equipment operated on a given, well, let’s call it a “scheduled flight” seems merely a starting guess.  We should have been on a 767, but they could not accommodate all of us on one flight, so we were put on two flights that actually were only 50 minutes apart.  Both were A321s.  What happened to our 767?  Oh well.  No airline bashing on THIS blog!!  Oh, by the way, we are moving from B to C on the map to the side!

This was my turn for the middle seat.  I sat next to one of the guys from our tour (and Theresa, of course).  There was a video program, which included a sing-a-long music video, with Chinese sort of karaoke.  We did not know the words, so the guy next to me and I made up the story and surmised the words.  Same with the other video bits.  Theresa was quite proud, I suspect.

Drum or Bell Tower in Xian.

We arrived in Xian about 9PM or so, and had a bit over an hour to our hotel.  Xi is West, and as you might recall from Tiananmen (Heavenly Peace Gate), ‘an’ is peace.  So, the city is “Western Peace”.  This was the first capital of China since the “unification”.  There used to 7 kingdoms, which fought constantly for hundreds of years.  This time was known as the “Warring States” period.  In one of the kingdoms, the ruler died leaving a child as his successor.  The ministers took charge of his schooling, training, and such until he was old enough to take the rule himself.  By the time he was 39, he had successfully conquered all of the other 7 kingdoms, and became the first Emperor.  His name was Chin, and his new domain became known as “China”.  His capital was Xi’an.  This was about 220 BC. 

The furnishings were neat.  Sure wished the window opened!

Driving to the hotel, we saw the city wall, illuminated on top, and the bell and drum towers, similarly lit up.  Our hotel was, as we suspected, the fourth step down in the pecking order of this trip!  It wasn’t a bad room, and it actually looked good, but it was very stuffy, and the AC did not work!  Although we were sweating sitting still, the thermostat thought it was 15 degrees C (59 F), so the AC never kicked on.  It was the old style thermostat, with the bi-metallic spring indicator (presumably with the mercury bulb inside).  The last hour before we checked out, we discovered that, by using a piece of paper, and forcing the indicator to the far right (very hot), it turned the spring enough to tip the mercury and the AC FINALLY came on.  I wish we had tried that on the first night!!