After breakfast today, we had an 8:30am start. Our first stop was Tian’an Men Square in the heart of Beijing, home to the Great Hall of the People, Zhengyong Men tower, Mao’s Mausoleum (which was closed on Mondays), The Monument to the People’s Heroes, Tian’an Men (The Red Gate), and China National Museum.
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| Tian 'an Men Square |
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| Forbidden City |
Here, we took photos and we had Chinese students taking photos of us (!) it was a little odd, but I saw no harm in pausing for them to take photos of me and they all said “Thankyou” which was nice! So far I hadn’t experienced much in the way of what we Westerners would see as good manners, such as “Please”, “Thank you” and “Excuse Me” in English OR Mandarin. Basically if someone pushes you trying to get somewhere, you push back. Rarely do you hear “Sorry” either...think of it like a road with no horns....! But anyway, there you go, at least these kids thanked us if we stopped for photos, even if they weren’t asking our permission. Before we left Tian’an Men Square, we all took part in a group photo in front of the Red Gate.
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| Forbidden City |
Off we went to the Forbidden City! It felt like a whistle-stop tour of the place, yet it felt like we saw a good deal...but in relation to the actual size of the Forbidden City, we only scratched the surface really. We passed through the Meridian Gate where the Emperor would review his armies and perform ceremonies marking the beginning of a new calendar. We went over one of the fine marble bridges across the Golden Water, and on to the Gate of Supreme Harmony which was originally used for receiving visitors. The front part of the Forbidden City was where the political and public affairs took place.
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| Forbidden City |
We went on and up the Marble Carriageway steps to the Hall of Supreme Harmony – the largest Hall in the palace – before going on to the Hall of Middle Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. All these buildings were similar in architectural style to that of the Temple of Heaven, with regards to flying eaves on the square buildings, and the glazed tiles on the roofs – only these were glazed in yellow, which is the imperial colour!
After this we diverted off to the left to see the Hall of Mental Cultivation which was in the residential area around the sides and rear of the Forbidden City. It was one of the inner palaces, the residence of the Emperor Yong Jeng and where the last Emperor (Pu Yi) abdicated.
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| Forbidden City |
We then went out via the Gardens – which I would have liked to spend a little more time in, before we left for lunch. I had forgotten to take a snack with me today, so I was feeling a little light headed and giddy by lunchtime. Fortunately, I wasn’t ill otherwise, and as soon as we ate, I was feeling much better. I still had a sore throat though. Perhaps I swallowed some sand – Jane told us that not to long before we arrived in Beijing, there had been a huge sandstorm. I know the air was dry, but it was affecting my throat more than I had expected it to!
After lunch, we went to the Lama Temple – a working Temple which was very interesting. It is known as Beijing’s most spectacular Temple complex, constructed during the 17th century and converted into a Tibetan Lamasery in 1744. The roofs are all yellow glazed as it used to be an Imperial building beforehand. It had 4 main halls, all of which we went into:
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| Lama Temple |
- Has a plump, laughing Buddha flanked by the Four Heavenly Kings and guarded at the back by Wei Tuo, the protector of Buddhist Doctrine
- Yonghe Hall has 3 manifestations of Buddha flanked by 18 luohen (those freed from the cycle of rebirth)
- Falun Hall houses a statue of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Yellow Hat sect of Buddhism (Tibetan)
- Wanfu Pavillion – this is where a 55ft (17m) high statue of Maitreya (The Future Buddha) stands, carved from a single block of sandalwood!! He was HUGE!! It was very impressive and I had no expectations whatsoever so I was very impressed by the large scale Buddhas in all the halls, especially this last one!
The buildings themselves were also impressive, in traditional Chinese style with flying eaves, and very very colourful. If you’re not impressed by the size of things here, you’re wowed by the colour – everything is so vivid and painted with ornate images of flowers, animals and flowing patterns. Bright greens, blues, yellows, reds and gold leaf seem to bring everything to life...and the smell of the incense was amazing.
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| Lama Temple |
We went back to the bus and on to the hotel for a break. Mathew and I decided to go to the late afternoon show of “The Legend of Kung Fu” which told a story of a young boy studying Buddhism, losing his way, finding his path again, and becoming an abbot. Again, this show was very different to all the ones we had seen before, with lots of Kung Fu and Tai Chi moves displayed on stage, and group movements were precise and faultless. It was quite fun, and I think I can only liken it a little to what the Shaolin Monks do in their performances around the World. This one didn’t focus quite so much on everything the Monks can do; the acrobatics, lying on beds of nails, splitting concrete and bending metal with the body. There was just a little of this with LOTS of Kung Fu moves incorporated into the dancing.
We had dinner straight after, and before we went back to our room, Mathew and I went to the shop to get some nibbles and drinks for tomorrow, when we would have an early start – our earliest yet at 7am. Tomorrow we go to the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!
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