So, on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, China celebrates DuanWu Jie, or the Dragon Boat Festival. The story goes that some famous poet threw himself into the river to commit suicide and the local villagers jumped into their boats and threw ZongZi (bamboo leaf wrapped balls of sticky rice) into the river to stop the fish from eating his body. Supposedly there are dragonboat races now (though we couldn't find any in Shanghai) and people eat ZongZi (though again we couldn't find anywhere selling them). The good news is that despite the lack of real traditions for this holiday, you do get 3 days off in the week in China. So... since we had 5 days off, we flew up to Beijing to see the famous touristy sites as we hadn't done that yet.
Upon arriving in BJ, we noticed they have created some odd looking architecture in recent years.
This was one example of modernization that looked really odd. Of course, no modern wonder in China is complete without some weird English sign to accompany it. If you look closely, this one says:
"Aiming at the world cities,achieve the positive and fast development in Chaoyang district at a higher level"
Nice.
After arriving in BJ, we set out to find the Famous Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan). To the right is the approach up to the pedestal where they sacrified animals.
I think this Chinese guy had his mind on something other than religion.
What a feeling! You reach the top and you see a giant pagoda ahead. You know you are in an Asian temple now... being that they all look almost exactly alike.
Although this temple was made in the Ming Dinasty, like just about everything else in Beijing, the Manchus took over from North of China during their own reign (Qing Dynasty) and re-did everything in their own style... so it is very colorful with reds, greens, blues, and golds painted all over the inside of the dome.
We had enough culture for one day, so we headed over to the Beijing Zoo to see them torture animals from all over the world. The famous "Panda Gardens" had only about 3 Giant Pandas, all trapped in a small indoor enclosure and looking pretty sad. Shanghai Zoo was much better for seeing the pandas.
And of course most of the exhibits were empty, if they had animals, they were in poor condition. And it was located in a sprawling garden with tons of space that could have been used to give the animals a better habitat... but was instead filled with large walkways for people instead and it took forever to get from one end to the other.
Too much Chinese-ness for one day. Luckily the Beijing Hard Rock Cafe is right next door to the Hilton where I usually stay.
10 years ago, this place was a local dive for hookers to hang out. Over the years it has become a respectable family restaurant in Beijing.
Consequently, it was empty on a Saturday night from 9-10pm.
Nevertheless a pig sandwhich and a milkshake go well after a day of seeing animals tortured.
Up early the next day for the one thing everyone wants to see when they go to China - the Great Wall. It is called ChangCheng (Long Fortress) in Chinese. Stretching 5000 kilometers across the northern portion of China, this was built around 1400 in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to try to keep the Mongols from invading on horseback through the one accessible valley to the northern captial of Beijing.
There are several very famous areas of the Great Wall to visit. Last time I went in 2000 I went to a wild area called Yellow Flower section and there was no one there. This time we went to one of the more famous places called JuYong Guan. There were tons of Chinese people, tourist souvenir shops, and places to eat there. A much different experience. And this is not even the most famous place on the wall - just one of the top 4.
For all the people there, the climb up the wall is pretty darn steep here. It is not for the faint of heart. In fact there are signs that people with heart conditions should abstain from climbing the wall... of course the signs are located at the TOP of the wall.
Here we are on the initial ascent on the wall.
As I said - it's steep
In Chinese they say, "Bu Dao ChangCheng, Fei Hao Han." This basically means until you have climbed the Great Wall, you are not a man. So... I have done it twice. I guess I am a real man now.
Who am I kidding? I'm no man.
But the views are really cool. I would say I have to agree with former President Richard Nixon on his trip to China in 1972 when he stated, "I think that you would have to conclude that this is a great wall."
After climbing up the Great Wall, we decided to visit another of China's cultural treasures just north of Beijing - the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty Emperors.
To the left is the gate to the DingLing tomb of the 13th Emperor where you pass from the world of the living into Hell. If you don't return through the same gate on your way out, you will remain in Hell forever. For those of us who are married, there is no discernable difference.
Actually, this is the only fully excavated tomb. The site was created in 1400 by the 3rd Ming Emperor, and 13 successive emperors are buried in the tombs.
This is the so called "Diamond Wall" entrance to the Ding Ling Tomb of the WanLi emperor. This emperor was famous for hoarding the Chinese Empires money and wasting it. He was one of the last Ming emperors and he spent 30 years building his tomb and used thousands of forced laborers to do so. To protect the location of the tomb, of course all the laborers were killed once it was finished.
The tomb was excavated in 1956 and they found the body of the emperor, two empresses, and 20,000 items of treasures including silks, wooden statues, and countless gold and gem items. However, when Chiang Kai Shek fled mainland China for Taiwan, he took the majority of this treasure and most of it is now in the ROC museum in Taipei. This is one of the many contentions between Taiwan and mainland China now.
Now you can walk down several dozens of meters deep in the ground and move around in the moist tunnels and see all the empty rooms where the emperors were buried. It is all the original stonework, preserved for 600 years because it was underground.
To the left is a pillar of pure white marble that was erected after burying the WanLi emperor. You may notice that this pure white marble memorial to the emperor is suspciously not white. In fact it is quite red. This is not the effect of aging over 600 years, but of vandalism by communists.
Another tragedy that befell this historical site was the horde of young communist zealouts in the cultural revolution following Mao ZiDong's rise to power in 1949. Young communists roamed the countryside destroying the relics and temples of ancient China in the name of the Marxist view that there is no God. They tried to destroy this giant monument but could not - they tried to move it, but could not. In the end, they settled for painting it with communist China red paint.
Later, in the restoration of the temple grounds in the 1970s and 1980s, the paint was removed as much as possible, but the stain of rampant communism remains a bloody reminder upon this majestic monument.
On the lighter side... there is another truly white monument near the entrance/exit of the DingLing tomb. In the background is a pillar topped by the Dragon and the Phoenix - symbols of the emperor and empress of China. And beneath it stands a proud BiXi - a mythical dragon turtle supporting the pillar on its back.
These stone dragon turtles are often found in Ming and Qing tombs and in castles around China. Touching the bixi's nose brings you wealth and prosperity, while touching its butt brings you health. We touched both but I have yet to receive a raise, and I caught a cold the next day... so I have my doubts about the efficacy of dragon turtle butt as a curative agent.
Can't get enough of ancient Chinese culture? Well, good. There's more.
To the left is the entrance to YiHeYuan: The Summer Palace of the Dowager Empress CiXi. Actually, CiXi was just a concubine of the Manchu (Qing) emperor XianFeng in the mid 1800s. The emperor barely noticed her, but apparently she sang well and he bedded her. She begat him his only son, so she was raised to empress level. After the emperor died, she poisoned the other senior empress and became regent of the empire as her son was too young to rule.
When her own son came of age, she killed him too and remained the ruler of China for 47 years until her death in 1908.
There was actually only one Chinese emperor after that, the young PuYi emperor who was confined to the Forbidden City from his youth until 1912 when the GuoMinTang ousted him to create the Republic of China.
However, before all that, CiXi had her fun wasting away the empire's money like most of the Chinese emperors did. To the right is a statue of a QiLin - a mythical creature with the head of a dragon, the antlers of a deer, the skin and scales of a fish, the hooves of an ox and tail of a lion. Although it looks fearsome, the Qilin only punishes the wicked and is said to appear only in areas ruled by a wise and benevolent leader, hence its placement outside of CiXi's palace.
The grounds of the Summer Palace are quite beautiful and would be truly serene if not for the hordes of Chinese tourists. Even with all the Chinese people, the grounds are so expansive, that it is still a nice visit.
To the left you can see the painted hall walkway around the grounds of the palace. It stretches 720 meters long and is the longest painted hallway in the world apparently.
Every arch, every post, every ceiling along the entire walkway has a unique painting with the same color scheme. It is pretty cool.
To the right of the painted hallway looms a great temple on top of a mountain. The palace was actually built next to this mountain on purpose and there was a very small pond at its base...
The temple was first constructed at the top of the mountain, but in typical Chinese emperor style, they thought it was too high up the mountain and ordered it disassembled, and rebuilt lower down the mountain to where it now stands.
Additionally, the emperors thought this Summer Palace would be a great place to contemplate the difference between mountains and lakes... so they turned the aforementioned pond into the VAST man-made lake you see on the left... which is just to the left of the painted walkway. It is very pretty and amazing to think they forced so many Chinese peasants into digging this giant hole in the ground to make this lake.
The last, but certainly not least, example of Empress CiXi's wasting of money, was the famous story of her taxing the people and getting money to create the royal navy. Instead of creating a Chinese navy, she built the massive stone party boat on the lake you see on the right. Brilliant use of funds. It doesn't float, of course... just sits at dock unmoving as a...well, a rock. Because that is what it is... not a boat... Silly empress.
After a long day of Chinese culture, I like to wind down with a nice greasy duck sandwich.
Well.. it wouldn't be a trip to Beijing without eating Beijing Roast Duck, right?
Often known in the west as Peking Duck, the dish is served hot and sliced right at your table. Small bits of succulent flesh are served still attached to the crispy duck skin with generous helpings of duck fat. Those are placed into a wrap, garnished with green onions and lathered in plumb sauce. Yum!
OK - last Day! So we headed to the other most famous of places in Beijing... TianAnMen Square. In ancient times this is where the army would assemble before the South Gate of the Forbidden City. And you likely remember the 1989 massacre that happened aorund this square.
It also houses the "Maoseleum" - where they interned Mao ZiDong's body after his death. However this is the second time I have gone there and it was closed to the public. Darn. But to the right is the monument celebrating the Communist victory over the GuoMinTang in 1949.
And looking from TianAnMen Square across the street, you can see the southern entrance to the Forbidden City.
Of course, it has a giant picture of MaoZiDong on the gate now... And the flag of the People's Republic of China now proudly waves over the square...
Here is a close up view, standing just outside the southern gate. You can see Chairman Mao in the middle. On the left it says, "10,000 years for the People's Republic of China". On the right it says, "10,000 years for the grand joining of the people of the world." Hmm... ominous ambitions.
Let's go inside...
This place is amazingly vast... It has over 980 surviving buildings and covers more than 7.8 million square feet. Of course it was designed to house the emperor and his entourage of servants. In fact it was built in 1400 at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, along with the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall. It took about 15 years to build, but of course many buildings were destroyed several times and rebuilt since then.
The main building in the background of the the photo to the right was the dwelling of the Last Emperor (PuYi) of the Qing Dynasty - the last emperor of all China. He was confined there until he was ousted from the throne by the GuoMinTang. It is now the largest wooden structure in the world. And the Forbidden City is the largest surviving palace complex in the world.
It's also really, really hot on a Summer day, let me tell you! But the amazing thing here is the detail of the architecture. Dragons are the symbol of the emperor and they are everywhere. Every tile on the roof, every shingle, every wooden board, and every stone pillar is carved or painted into the shape of a dragon. There must be literally tens of millions of dragons in the palace.
It is a pretty walk... but there is just too much of it to show here. So... I'll stop before inundating you with more photos.
Another cool thing we did in Beijing was to visit the Paleontology Museum of Beijing. To the left you can see a specimen of a coelacanth. Thought to be extinct since the Cretaceous period until 1938 when one was found off the coast of Africa - since then deep water fisherman have found them several times. But they are rare, so it was cool to see.
Though it wasn't much to look at, this museum holds the famous "Peking Man" specimen: A partial skull of a Homo Erectus found near Beijing in 1929 which combined with the Java Man specifmen found 30 years earlier in Indonesia confirmed the existence of Home Erectus - previously thought to just be an ape.
Of course, Dinosaurs are what you really want to look at when you are in one of these museums. And they have a few full skeletons of dinosaurs including this impressive T-rex on the right.
Staring into the massive maw of this pre-historic beast, one must surely be filled with a sense of almost reverent awe from its obvious power...
...unless that one is me.
Yikes!
Well.. that about wrapped up our trip to Beijing.
3 days of culture was too much for me. I need a beer.
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