Tuesday, September 25 (Mel)
We got to Beijing at 7:30am. We checked into our hotel, then went in search of breakfast. After a quick shower we were off to Tianamen Square via the subway. Chinese subways are remarkably like Russian subways, only the escalator runs normally (as opposed to Russian escalators, which run a zillion miles per hour).
Statue depicting the "strength of
communism", Tianamen Square
We walked through Tianamen Square, starting on the south side, working our way north. In the middle is Mao’s tomb, some open space, then a memorial to those who died for communism, followed by a huge banner proclaiming that National Day is October 1, surrounded by flowers of course. (National Day to China is what 4th of July is to Americans.) There were families, school groups, babies and grandmothers, and the usual tour groups scattered across the huge expanse of the square. I also found out why there is the occasional smell of sewer at public places - it is because people have their babies pee in the corners of sites, under trees, or against the curb. The babies usually don’t have diapers on.
Children from day care walking at
Tianamen
Square
Baby (look--no diapers!) at Tianamen Square
Anyway, we made our way across the square and, while I was walking, I tried to keep in mind the massacre that happened there in 1989 of the Chinese students. All traces of that massacre have been wiped away. Some people call the massacre an “accident”. What? Like the students “accidentally” stood in front of a firing gun???
We joined up with the group and our guide, Stanley, in front of the gates of the Forbidden City. While waiting for the rest of the group, we stood underneath an awning with a military guard. After a few minutes he became annoyed with us and told us to go away! On the way into the Forbidden City, we touched the door for good luck.
Entrance to Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is named as such, because until 1924 no commoner was allowed to go inside the city. Only royalty, ministers of the various departments, and servants were allowed past the wall. In 1924 the emperor was thrown out of Beijing, and the royal family fled to Taiwan and other countries. There are three main entrances to every part (going south to north), and only the emperor is allowed to use the middle entrance and the middle steps. Even to this day, no one is allowed on the middle steps. We saw the various halls, all lined up in a row - one behind the other so that the emperor would only have to walk a straight line. There was a throne in each hall, each made of gold.
The emperor would have one wife and several hundred concubines. The concubines were chosen from the various provinces of China. The prettiest girls from a village, ages 13-17, would be brought to the palace on a monthly basis. If after a few times the emperor did not chose her, then she would not be allowed to ever marry.
Statue outside main palace
(huge cauldron in background is water for fires)
The emperor of the Ming dynasty did not allow any trees in the courtyards between the halls, since he believed they were bad luck. So all the courtyards were made of stone. They only items in the courtyards were 2-ton copper cauldrons. The cauldrons were always filled with water in case of fire; all the buildings were wood with bamboo roofs.
Palace and main courtyard of Forbidden
City
Behind the main palace was the imperial garden of trees, shrubs, and stone sculptures. Behind the garden was a small forest on a hill, with a pagoda at the top where the emperor could see the entire Forbidden City.
Our guide was thorough, but exhaustingly so! After the Forbidden City we went to a Cantonese restaurant with the guide. Then we took the bus back to the hotel. The bus ride was a trip in itself. Imagine about 150 people crammed into a double-long bus. The driver was yelling at everyone to move back. I was stuck on the steps; if the door had opened up before I could grab the guard rail (or the person in front of me), I would’ve fallen backwards out into the street.
We made it to the hotel, took a nap, Ken dropped off laundry, then we met the group for dinner. In order to get to the restaurant, we had to take back alleys. Situated in the middle of these small houses was our restaurant, The Liqun Road Duck. Grant (our tour leader) went there earlier this afternoon and arranged our dinner. We had three ducks, plus assorted other dishes. Ken ate a lot of duck, but I didn’t. I feasted on everything else instead. We were given a brochure about the restaurant, which included instructions on how to prepare your own roast duck. The instructions say:
Use microwave oven.
Steam duck for 10-15 minutes. Then hold its neck and pour hot oil all over the body.
Use pressure cooker (without water), heated for 5 minutes or so.
Cut the meat into slices, then put them on baking pan. It is alright when good smell comes out.
My first question about the instructions has to do with instruction #2: who gets the hot oil - the cook or the duck?
After dinner we walked along Tianamen Square. People were flying kites all around us. For the first time in two weeks we were able to see the moon. We went to McDonalds for ice cream, then back to the hotel around 11:30pm.
Wednesday, September 26 (Mel)
We started the day with Cocoa Krispies that Ken found at the store. We called the U.S. Embassy to see if we could come by there (just to see what it looks like), and was told we couldn’t go there unless it was an emergency or we had to register as workers-abroad. They said that the embassy was closed to visitors, because of the terrorist bombings in NYC/DC.
We headed to Tianamen Square, since I was very anxious to see Mao’s tomb. We headed for the line to get inside, but a military man started yelling at us. Just as I turned to Ken to ask him what to do next, a Chinese woman grabbed my arm, pulled me out of the line, and said she could help us. She took us to a sign which said we had to have ID, check our bags, and could not take photos or talk inside the mausoleum. We didn’t have our passports, but I did have my driver’s license. She said she was a tour guide, would get us into the mausoleum without ID and get our bags checked for 50 yuan ($6.25). Ken balked at first, but I told him that I’ve got to see another Communist leader’s dead body (the other one being Lenin in 1999), so he agreed. She rushed us across the street to check our bags, then rushed us to the line and grabbed my hand and ran us past the guards so that we wouldn’t have to show our ID. (She yelled something to the guard as we passed.)
Once in line, it moved quickly. Near the entrance people bought flowers from a vendor. Inside was a statue of Mao, and people laid their flowers at the feet of the statue. Beyond that point, all talking stopped. We slowly filed past Mao’s body. Everything but his head was covered with the Chinese flag. His face was pasty looking. Almost like a wax figure. Grant told us that they ship Mao’s body to Russia for restoration for three months of every year. Since the Russians do it for Lenin’s body, then they’re good at restoring Mao’s body. Mao’s only been dead since 1976. Lenin’s been dead since 1924.
On the way out of the mausoleum, our guide told us that she learned English on her own, since the universities were shut down in the 1960’s (because of the cultural revolution). We told her that her English is good. She said she learned from TV and cassette tapes. I thought she was a very enterprising woman - she learned English herself and now works on the Tianamen Square, helping stranded tourists like us for a fee. Capitalism at work in China…
Next we went to the Museum of The Revolution. The museum is clearly for the Chinese and not tourists - no English in the museum. They had pictures of the Japanese invasion, starved Chinese, Mao and various communist leaders and meetings, statues of the communist struggle, various leaflets and banners, Mao having dinner with various world leaders in the 1970’s (including the famous meeting with Richard Nixon). At the end of the exhibit were pictures of various projects the current government is sponsoring - dams, employment, schools, huge farms, space technology. I told Ken “Gee, communism does work and life in China is great. Sign me up!!!” (joking, of course…) At the end of the exhibit was a book where people could write their thoughts on the museum. Most of it was in Chinese, but one sentiment was written clearly in English: “This museum is wonderful, and the country of China is great. We will soon be the richest country on earth.”
Cultural Revoluation museum
After the museum we headed over to the congress building. We wanted a tour, but it was noon and it’s only open 8:30-11:00am for tours. We sat down to figure out our next stop, and a Chinese couple started talking to us. They are students from Beijing University. She’s an art student and he’s in computer engineering. Her name is Camille, and his is Alan. We told them we were looking for a restaurant, and they suggested this fast food dumpling place. For just 2 yuan (25 cents), we could have 6 dumplings with our choice of fillings. Wow! We invited them to eat with us, they declined, but we talked them into having a Coke.
After the restaurant they took us to a 200 year-old shopping district. We browsed around for a while, and then came the zinger - could we stop by her store for a while to see her paintings…
There were a couple of paintings that we liked, but they wanted 300 yuan ($37) for each. Too much. They explained that 15% went to the studio, 70% back to the school for scholarship, and 15% to the artist. But still - too much. We both hated being in that position. After half an hour we declined, even after she explained that she really wanted to have one of her paintings in America. It’s really hard to say “no” to that.
We browsed the antique areas with Alan, and then went to a t-shirt shop. The sizes in China run smaller; Ken had to try on XXL shirts. He settled on a t-shirt, and the girl said 120 yuan ($15). Ken said no way - 50 yuan. The girl said no way. It went back and forth like this, then Ken said “too much” and started to leave. He got three steps away from the store when the girl cried in agony: “You stop!! You come back!!! I no like this, but I say 60 yuan.” Ken stopped, laughed, turned around, and said okay. Meanwhile, I quietly bought a lovely silk purse for 40 yuan ($5), haggled from 80 yuan ($10).
We took the subway home, picked up laundry, and I am now in the café writing this journal. There’s a pattern occurring with me in Beijing - a headache at 4pm every afternoon. It’s not the smog, because I’m not congested.
We went to dinner with Grant at Schlotsky’s Deli. Normally we wouldn’t go there, but it’s all relative - we’re getting tired of Chinese food, and any American food is looking good. After dinner we met Jon and Heidi at the pub for mahjong. And yes - I still kick butt at mahjong.
Beijing (Ken)
Tienamen Square… I don’t know what the attraction was, but over the several days that we stayed in Beijing, we seemed to find our way to Tienamen Square every day. On a surface level, I suppose it was because there are several other things to see right around the square - the Forbidden City, Mao’s tomb, museums, some interesting old hutongs, etc. But the square itself was the main reason we ended up there. Maybe it was the dichotomy of its past and present. The first day we were there, our guide told us that Tienamen is a place every Chinese aspires to visit, and that people are very happy and proud when they get to see it. That was certainly true - seeing the crowds of people of all ages, I could see that people really were happy to be there, particularly on the eve of their National Day celebration. The square was covered in giant flower arrangements, there were tens or hundreds of thousands of people there at all hours of the day and night. People were snapping photos and flying kites, there were groups of kids in their yellow hats, but mostly people were just there to be there. All along, I wondered what the people there knew and felt about what happened there in 1989. During one of our visits to the square, I knelt down and put my hand on the stone tiles, and contemplated the blood that ran there just a little over a decade ago, imagined the terror of the masses as they had no place to flee from the bullets, and what must have gone through the minds of the soldiers as they emerged from the surrounding buildings and fired upon their own countrymen.
Other observations at the square… vans cruising around the square, with dark windows and video cameras and directional microphones mounted on top, and a heavy presence of uniformed and plainclothes police and military personnel (they were pretty obvious because they all had two-way radios).
As far as sights to see in Beijing, Tienamen and the Forbidden City were definitely the highlights, but Beijing is a special city to visit in its own right. It is a mix of old and new; the new developments along the main streets are shiny, beautiful buildings with stores to rival anything in western cities. In particular, just down the street from our hotel was a clossal glass complex, more than 5 blocks long and 20 stories tall. It was built by a Hong Kong trillionaire developer. But only a few blocks away were wonderful, intimate hutongs - the neighborhoods built around narrow streets that look probably about the same as they looked a century ago.
Beijing, being the site of the 2008 Olympics, is obviously receiving more than its share of improvements. Its subway system is modern and efficient and easy to use, thanks to the English transliterations on all the signs. The streets are immaculately clean and well-maintained. The only thing not clean was the air. After several days of clear weather, the smog was bad. One evening out, it could be seen in the lights of the city, and it stung my eyes and throat.
We visited the Forbidden City on our first day in Beijing. The Forbidden City was the last seat of Imperial rule in China. Starting at Tienamen (the front entrance) and working our way lengthwise through the complex, it was a seemingly endless series of beautiful pavilions, each with its own special purpose. Like so many places in China’s grand scale, the Forbidden City was so enormous that it couldn’t be fully comprehended.
On our way back to the hotel from the Forbidden City, we took a local bus route. We waited at the bus stop for awhile, and when it finally showed up, it was packed to the gills with people. The eight or so of us in the group were pretty resigned to not getting onto the bus, but our guide encouraged us to squeeze in. I wedged myself in the back door. People were literally compressed to fit into the bus. The local folks seemed to take great interest in us westerners on this overpacked bus, probably wondering why we didn’t just take a taxi.
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Next installment:
The Great Wall of China...
mkadenko/01.01.02