Beijing: Day 2

Today was a good day. I met Richard in the lobby again at 9:00 to sight see. First we walked from my hotel to Tiananmen Square, where I could see the National Museum, Mao Zedong’s Memorial Hall, the Monument to the People’s Heroes, and the Great Hall of the People. The only picture I’ve ever seen of Tiananmen Square is that awful, disturbing image of the tanks rolling across the square at the student protestors in 1989. The place was so crowded with tourists that it didn’t look anything like I imagined it. I decided to visit Chairman Mao’s mausoleum, and Richard said he’d wait outside for me and hold my bag. No bags or cameras are allowed inside. I stood in a long line that shuffled in an orderly, quiet fashion through two security checkpoints and finally into the chambers where Mao’s body is entombed. The people in the line near me were all quite solemn. Many of them carried yellow chrysanthemums, which they placed in front of a great statue of the Chairman in the first room. The line moved slowly into another room where the body was on display in a glass coffin. Mao’s face was well preserved, relaxed, and spotlighted in a weird, orange light. Many people bowed to him as they passed, and no one made a peep. No one’s phone rang, no babies cried, and no one sneezed. The Chairman is a controversial person, but China wouldn’t be the nation it is today without him, and I am glad to have seen his resting place and so many, many people who respect him.

Next, we crossed the street to visit the Forbidden City. This is a huge (and I mean HUGE) imperial palace that was built during the Ming dynasty. I thought that it had been built during the Qing dynasty, but I was mistaken. It is older than the palace I visited in Shenyang. Usually when a new dynasty formed, the emperor would demolish the old emperor’s palace and build a new, fresh one. I guess that when the Manchu emperor from the north saw the beautiful place left behind by the Ming emperor he decided not to, and I don’t blame him! It is a huge complex that covers 720,000 square meters and has 9,999 halls and rooms. Being the highest single-digit number, nine is very significant. Only the emperor was allowed to use it in designs. For example, there are nine rows of nine golden studs nailed into the palace doors. There are three sets of nine stairs leading up to the main buildings. The kings, lamas, and princes serving the emperor would have had to use smaller numbers. The Forbidden City is divided into an outer court, where the emperors would conduct political business, and an inner court, where the royal family lived. Although the outer court’s grandeur is impressive, I enjoyed wandering through the inner court more to catch a glimpse of what daily life was like. Some of the halls and rooms are furnished as they were during the end of the Qing dynasty, and they are sumptuous. The rooms are filled with beautiful porcelain, jade, sculpture, paintings, tapestries, clocks, and silks. I think being emperor was a pretty good gig. Richard said that some of the Qing emperors would have employed as many as100,000 people in the upkeep of the palace, and I believe it. It would have taken many artisans and craftsmen to build and maintain such a huge place. Although I could have spent all day at the Forbidden City, I wanted to see some other sights too, and after lunch we headed out.

Next on the tour was the Temple of Heaven. This is another huge structure constructed during the Ming dynasty. Situated in a lovely park, the Temple of Heaven was where the emperor would have conducted worship ceremonies that, at least from what I could gather, included elements of Buddhism and Taoism. The temple complex has rooms and pavilions for fasting and purification, prayer and meditation, slaughtering animals, and preparing sacrifices. The first of the three main structures is a large, tiered, white marble platform that looks like a wedding cake. At the very top of the “cake” is a smooth, round stone that marks what was believed to be the center of the universe. This was the spot where the shamans and priests would set up special stone pillars that represented various gods. In front of these special stones, musicians and dancers would welcome the spirits of the gods, and then the emperor would offer ritual sacrifices of incense, meat, grain, wine, gold, and jade. In the ancient times, women were not allowed anywhere near the temple grounds to keep them “pure.” In fact, the emperor and all of his entourage would have to abstain and fast (in the Pavilion of Abstinence) for three days to get rid of any traces of their wives, concubines, and mistresses so that their offerings would not displease the gods. For this reason, I took a special delight in standing on the stone at the Center of the Universe. Take that, chauvinist religion! The other main structures in the Temple of Heaven were built to enshrine the ritual stones when they were not in use. Amazingly, these were constructed without any nails or cement. They are marvelous examples of how advanced Chinese builders were during the Ming period.

As the afternoon wore on, the temperature outside climbed to an unseasonably warm 70 degrees, and the pollen and smog were particularly bad. Richard and I decided to see something indoors with the remainder of the afternoon. He took me to the Pearl Market. Once upon a time, the Pearl Market was a street where pearl vendors would set up shop to sell and trade their goods. It still has lots of pearl merchants, but the market is now inside a huge, five-story warehouse that also has dozens and dozens of other types of vendors too. There was a floor devoted to stationary and school supplies, another for gift-wrap and party decorations, one for reproduction Ming and Qing porcelain, and a whole annex for toys. Richard walked me to the door of the market and told me to meet him back there in an hour. I was on my own to barter and bargain with the merchants for souvenirs, and so I hardly bought anything. My feelings about bartering have not changed during this trip. It is still every bit as unpleasant and stressful as it was with Lili in the flea market in Shenyang. All I managed to buy were some toys for my niece and nephew. I did have fun wandering through the shops and looking at everything, though.

I decided that I wanted to take the subway back to my hotel, which really surprised Richard, but he agreed. Apparently, the traffic in Beijing is almost as bad underground as it is above. Sometimes the subway can be so full that one will have to wait for several trains to pass before he can finally climb on. Subway riders have to be as aggressive as drivers and really push and pull their ways onto and off of the trains. Fortunately, it was not busy when we were traveling. It was just before rush hour. The trains and the stations are heated and air conditioned, and are very safe and clean. Beijing will have twelve subway lines by 2020. I wish Atlanta would take a cue from Beijing. We only have four, and one doesn’t really count because it only has a few stops a few blocks away from the main line. We had to transfer trains once, but the ride went very quickly, and I said good-bye to Richard on the platform. I was nervous about being without a tour guide for the rest of my stay, but I wasn’t exactly impressed with Richard, either. He seemed very bored, and this is certainly not a place to feel bored.

That night I attended a Beijing opera; it was beautiful. Beijing opera is not like western opera at all. Most opera troupes perform in tea-houses, small theaters, or hotel ballrooms. I saw a performance in the Hougong Gildhall, a splendid, fully-restored tea house built during the turn of the last century. When the taxi dropped me off, I was skeptical. It didn’t look like much from the front, but as soon as I walked through the doors, I found myself in a beautiful courtyard that lead into a gorgeous, spacious tea room with an elevated, open stage along the front. An attendant led me to my seat at a table near the front where a steaming pot of Jasmine tea and a tray of snacks were already waiting for me. The musicians, all dressed in yellow, were seated on one side of the stage. The room, full of tourists from all over the world, was highly decorated with colorful paintings, intricate woodwork, and tapestries. When the opera, began the lights dimmed and noisy, percussive music music rose from the orchestra pit. The American family sitting at the table in front of me looked at each other in disbelief and crinkled their noses. I can understand how the sound could be shocking if one isn’t prepared for it. There isn’t a melody, exactly, and the actors kind of sing, but mostly shout. I think it’s pretty, but I had fun watching opera at Vicky’s house with her mother on CCTV chanel 11, which plays Chinese opera around the clock. The actors on stage wore elaborate costumes and make-up and performed acrobatic stunts and tumbling. I enjoyed myself immensely. After the show, there was a long line for taxis, and so I hired a rickshaw to pedal me back to the hotel. The night was warm and nice, and it was fun to have a look at the shops and streets at a slower pace. I hope I can see a Beijing opera again.