BEIJING--DAY 1

MARCH 13th

Breakfast in Hilton Club Lounge

     Our guide, a young lady named Jenny, and our driver, Mr. Fang, were waiting for us in the lobby just before 9:30.  Jenny is really nice, very knowledgeable, and works hard to explain all the history of the places we visit.  I am very, very pleased with Katherine Lu Tours, who I hired for our touring here.  We hoped into a new looking van and headed to Tian’anmen Square.  The Forbidden City is also located next to it so we had a long walk through both places.

     Tian’anmen Square is best known to our generation because of the 1989 when hundreds of protesters were killed by government troops.  But is much more than that.  It is the world’s largest city square (half mile long by quarter mile wide) and can hold 1 million people at events or celebrations.  It was built in 1615 and enlarged 4 times to its present size and paved over in 1958.  Sitting next to it is The Great Hall of the People (we can see it lit up at night from our hotel) which is where the leaders of China meet to rule, like our Congress building.  Security on the square and Forbidden City was very tights (we were searched prior to entering both) because their government was in session.  Military and security guards were very evident all around.

                                                    Security check for Tiananment Square

                                                   Monument of People's Heros

                                                                 Great Hall of the People

                                                            National Museum

                                                  Military changing of the guard

                                                         Republic of China flag

 


  At one end of the square is the Mausoleum of Mao.  On the east side is the National Museum and on the west side is the Great Hall of the People.  In the center of the massive flat square is a 125 feet high “Monument to the Heros”.  On the north end was The Forbidden City.  We had to walk through a tunnel under the boulevard  to enter the north entrance to it. 

     The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty and served as the home of 24 emperors and their households over  the almost 500 year period.  Built in 1406 to 1420 it consists of 980 buildings and covers nearly 8 million square feet.  To say it is huge is an understatement.  It is “forbidden” because the common people were not allowed to enter it.  The “city” is surrounded by a 26 ft high and 20 ft deep wall and wide moat for protection.  The Forbidden City is on a south to north axis with the main building there which was home to the Emperor and his family.  Hopefully some photos will show it better  than I can describe it.

                                                  Guards at Forbidden City

                                                      Picture of Mao at Forbidden City entrance

                                                Second gate to Forbidden City

 
                 Imperial Palace 

                                                     380 pots used to store water in case of fire

     Next we visited the “hutongs” which are narrow streets or alleys surrounding the Forbidden City in which the common people lived.  The higher ranking social class was allowed to live closest.  These were small homes that originated as early as the 12^th century when Ghengis Khan and the mongrels ruled China.  We rode in a rickshaw through some on the hutongs and stopped and went inside a local woman’s home.  These have no bathrooms because there is no sewer system in them so have to go to a community toilet nearby.

                                                                Drum Tower

                                                                  Bell Tower

                                               Rickshaw ride through hutongs (narrow streets)

                                                 Got to go inside a local's house in hutong area

                                                       We had lunch here.  Next to McDonalds.

 Last stop was the Lama Temple.  It is the largest and best preserved lamasery in Beijing.  Built in 1694 during the Quin Dynasty as the home of the 3^rd Emperor.  In 1744 it was converted into a monastery  and still today is home to 100 monks.  Inside the four main buildings are huge Buddhas, the most popular is “The Laughing Buddha”.  Buddhism is the dominant religion in China and there were many people burning incense and praying while we were there.  Photos of the Buddhas was not allowed.

                                                   Entrance to Lama Temple

     By the time we got back to the hotel we were very tired.  At 6:00pm we went up to the club lounge and had some drinks.  They also had pasta, sandwiches, broiled shrimp, cheeses, and desserts that were complimentary so just ate there and was in bed by 8:00pm.  We slept for 10 hours that night!

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