Our first day in Beijing was a busy one. We started at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I was amazed at the security to get into Tiananmen Square. We had to go through 3 different security queues as well as through a metal detector to enter. The square was massive. It can hold over a million people. We saw many guards and policemen patrolling the area to make sure there are no demonstrations or protesting. Our guide told us all about the history of Tiananmen Square and how Beijing is the political center of China, but of course he did not mention the massacres that occurred there in 1989. Just like how he referred to the pollution as fog, there are some things you are not allowed to talk about openly in Communist China.
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| In front of the famous building with Chairman Mao's portrait in the background. |
Tiananmen Square is adjacent to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty, starting in 1420. Many of the historic buildings we saw were built during this time period. They were definitely busy and spared no expense. The Forbidden City housed the emperor, his family, and his servants. It also served as a place for the Emperor to have political meetings. It is named such because ordinary people were forbidden from entering it. The main entrance to the Forbidden City had 5 gates, or doorways, to walk through (3 in the middle and 1 on each side). When the palace was in use, only the Emperor could use the middle gate, it was forbidden for others to use it except for the Empress who could use it only once in her lifetime. Also, 9 is a very lucky number in Chinese being the largest single digit odd number. The door to the entrance had 81 (9 x 9) metal discs. We were told to touch one as we entered for good luck. The number 9 (and 81) was reserved exclusively for the Emperor. Others were not allowed to use it for their houses. We also noticed our hotel didn't have a 4th floor. The Chinese word for 4 is very similar to the word for death, so it is considered bad luck. Skipping the 4th floor is similar to US airplanes not having a 13th row.
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| 5 entrances to the Forbidden City |
Chinese buildings have a different layout than I am used to. In the US, we would expect to see a wealthy, historic family build a large mansion containing many different rooms. In China, it was more common to have a central courtyard or courtyards with many different buildings, containing one or two rooms each, surrounding the courtyard. There would be separate buildings for the Emperor, the Empress, male children, female children, concubines, servants, teachers, etc. The location of the rooms would be based on rank and convenience
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| Intricate stone carvings outside one of the buildings. The dragon is the symbol of the Emperor. |
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| Even the ceilings are elaborately decorated |
After the Forbidden City we ate lunch. Chinese eat everything family style, where you choose many different dishes put on a lazy susan in the middle of the table and everyone shares. It is a great way to try something new because you don't have to worry about not liking the one dish you ordered for yourself and having nothing to eat. All the food we ate on our trip was delicious. After lunch, we went to see a hutong house. Hutongs are slowly disappearing as they are torn down to build apartments and high rises. Hutong neighborhoods are very community based, everyone knows their neighbors and they look out for each other. We took a rickshaw to get to the neighborhood. It was definitely a highlight for Tommy.
Hutong are traditional houses built around central courtyards. They often do not have their own bathrooms, but share public bathrooms with their neighbors. The courtyard is surrounded by several buildings with separate rooms for the parents, daughter, son, kitchen, and sitting room. It is traditional that the son and his wife would live with the parents after they are married. The elder parents would help care for grandchildren when they are little and the son and his wife would take care of his parents when they are elderly. That is why it is so important to Chinese couples to have a son.
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| Central courtyard. Lots of rabbits |
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| Daughter's bedroom |
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| Sitting room |
After visiting the hutong, we went and saw the Chinese Acrobats. It was a great show. We were amazed at how flexible they were and all the amazing tricks. One favorite was the motorcycles. They had a wire mesh steel sphere, probably 30 feet in diameter that they ran motorcycles inside of. We were amazed when they brought out the second one to put inside and they were able to drive so quickly without crashing. By the end of the stunt, they had put 8 total motorcycles inside. Tom was on the edge of his seat. Another favorite was the girls riding bicycles. By the end of their stunt, they had 15 girls balanced on one bicycle while the girl rode around in small circles on the stage. The show wasn't very well attended, but they perform 3 shows every single day. We went to the middle show, before dinner. I assume the evening show is most popular.
After the show we went out to dinner for Peking duck, a Beijing specialty. They slice a roast duck right in front of you. Then you dip the meat in the sweet plum sauce and put it along with cucumbers and onions inside a thin pancake wrapper. You wrap it up and eat it. Delicious! We have had Peking duck in Hong Kong, but it was especially delicious here.
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| Peking duck |
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| Taro pie for dessert. Taro is like sweet potatoes. It was good, but seemed to have cheese on top which was a strange combination |
It was a very full, but fun day!
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