Beijing Part 1

Arrival

During September Koreans celebrate a holiday called Chuseok (Choo-sock), which is essentially their harvest holiday/Thanksgiving. I will have a separate post on Chuseok later. All you need to know for now is that it is a three day family holiday, and our school gave us an extra day off, which amounted to a six day weekend. I, along with four other teachers at my school, decided to take advantage of this and travel to Beijing. After buying a stick-it-to-the-Americans 195,000 won visa (Canadians pay 40,000) and boarding our plane we arrived in Beijing. I noticed an interesting arrival flight at the baggage claim area next to ours:

I doubt North Koreans are allowed to travel to any country besides China, and I wonder if it's only diplomats and state workers that are permitted to leave North Korea at all. I don't know; but it was very odd to see a flight arriving from Pyongyang. All of the luggage on the conveyor belt was blockish and colorless.

Before the trip we did some research and found that getting around by taxi in Beijing is a huge hassle for foreigners. We decided to hire a guide to help us see the sights. Since there were five people in our group, it only cost us about $60 each for three full days of his services. His name was Alvin, and he picked us up at the airport and took us to our hostel to drop off our bags. Here is a picture of Alexa, Antonio, and me with Alvin outside our hostel:

Summer Palace

We arrived around noon, so by the time we dropped our stuff off at the hostel we had time to do one major tourist attraction the first day. Alvin took us to the Summer Palace. The palace is actually more like an expansive park surrounding a lake with living quarters, gardens, and a massive Buddhist temple that dominates the landscape all on the northern shore. It was built by the Qing dynasty (China's last) in 1750 as the summer residence of the emperor. It was the most beautiful site we visited on the trip. Here are some of the best photos I took there:

Left: A view of the northeastern shore of the lake, which was completely covered in lotuses. Right: Alexa and me in the Imperial Gardens.

Left: A view of Longevity Hill, which contains the Palace's religious buildings, such as The Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha (Right).


















Left: A view of the lake from Longevity Hill
Right: One of the many arched bridges in the palace

Left: Marble Boat
Right: Sunset in the Summer Palace

I took a lot more video during this trip than I did in Japan. Some of it turned out okay, but the quality isn't great for any of my videos. The video below was taken from Longevity Hill and gives you an idea how big the palace is. The entire lake is actually artificial, as is Longevity Hill, which consists of the dirt drudged up while digging the lake.

We enjoyed our time with Alvin and would book him again, but his one flaw is that sometimes he was too thorough. We spent so much time in the living quarters that we didn't have time to see as much of the palace as we wanted to. Fortunately, on our last day we returned for a more leisurely stroll along the lake.

Tiananmen

We began the second day with a visit to Tiananmen Square, the political center of Communist China. The square contains government buildings, museums, monuments to the Chinese worker, and Chairman Mao's Mausoleum. Buildings from China's imperial past stand alongside massive, boxy communist halls. As the largest city square in the world, it has been the site of many rallies and political events throughout China's history. It is probably most known among Americans for the protests that took place there in 1989, which resulted in the massacre of 3,000 protesters. This famous picture was taken there.


This is a shot of Tian'an Men Gate, where Mao proclaimed the formation of the People's Republic of China. We went up in to the Gate to get a view of the square from above. Inside the gate is a small exhibit that explains the significance of many of the political rallies and events that have taken place in the square during the communist era. Noticeably absent from the exhibit was any reference to the year 1989. Seeing the square in person was like walking into a history textbook. It was otherworldly.

















Left: The China National Museum, which was unfortunately closed while we were there.
Right: The Great Hall of the People, home to China's legislature.















In the middle of the square is the Monument to People's Heroes (the large pillar/obelisk) with Mao's Mausoleum behind it. We went inside the Mausoleum and saw Mao's embalmed body. We only got a quick look because the guards were ushering people through quickly. Many of the locals (including Alvin) claim the body is wax, but it was hard for us to tell. Below is a panoramic video of the square that captures what a single picture could not.

Forbidden City

Just north of Tiananmen Square is the Forbidden City, an absolutely massive complex of halls, gates, courtyards, and a garden. Built in 1420 and served as the emperor's residence and seat of the Imperial Court until 1912. Every building along the north-south axis could compete for the most majestic structure I have ever seen.

Shots from in front of (left) and behind (right) the Meridian Gate, the entrance to the Forbidden City.

The city (and it's right to call it a city) consists of an outer court which was the administrative and ceremonial center of the palace, and an inner court, which was for the emperor and his family. Only one-third of the palace is open to the public, but Alvin showed us the vast majority of what was open in the five hours we spent there.





Perhaps the most impressive structure is the Hall of Supreme Harmony (above) which was used for ceremonies such as the crowning of a new emperor.




















If you step off the main strip (the north-south axis) you can wander through small gates courtyards, and a labyrinth of halls like the ones above. You will also find exhibits on how the imperial family lived, which contain many authentic artifacts.

After spending several hours at the palace, we headed to Jing Shan Park, which overlooks the Forbidden City and helps you appreciate the enormity and complexity of the entire palace grounds.

Below is the pavilion in the park that we hiked up to.

This is the only picture that can really do justice to the scope of the Forbidden City; even from above I could not fit it all on my camera:



We finished our second day with a Peking Duck dinner, but I will provide details about all the meals we ate in a future post. That's all for now, but I will have two more posts on China coming shortly.