10/20/02 - Beijing: Forbidden City (Imperial Palace), Tiananmen Square, Pearl factory, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, and Acrobatic Show. Hotel: Beijing Shangri-la. Guides: Benjamin and Jason.

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Benjamin	Jason

Met up with our tour guides, Jason and Benjamin. Benjamin was the main tour guide whereas Jason really was the keeper. Jason made sure that we were all accounted for after each excursion. I believed we started the day at 7:30 or 8 am.

Benjamin was born in the year of the Rabbit...so I guess that means he's in his 40's. I was told by someone that Benjamin was a doctor. I am not sure what kind of doctor he was. Jason is 25 years old, born in the year of Snake.

At first we settled in seats near the front of the bus. One seat in front of us was broken and it kept leaning back. The lady who sat there was not comfortable and wanted to switch seats to the back. Her husband got up, gave her his seat, and sat down on the bad seat. The husband kept leaning back and eventually he was leaning on my brother's knees. We later learned that the husband was a professor of some sort, and I nicknamed them "Mr. & Mrs. Professor." Eventually we decided to just let them have our seats and left for the end of the bus. The end of the bus became our "designated" seats.

Our 1st stop was the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace), the vast inner city of emperors and eunuchs for 500 years (A.D. 1423-1923). The place is huge. The structures were amazing. The only thing that sort of bugged me was that Benjamin kept referring to that many of the good art works were taken to Taiwan during the war by KMT, even though it's true. Come to think of it, if KMT didn't take those to Taiwan, the majority of these treasures would've had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. We also learned a bit about the alleged 3,000 concubines the emperors could have back in the days.

About Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is nearly 600 years old and was originally planned and constructed from 1407 to 1420. The principles of Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese system of geomancy governed the process. In 1987 the Forbidden City was named a World Heritage Site.

Thousands of craftsmen and one million laborers were involved in the construction of the 9,999 rooms and halls. The walls surrounding the complex are eleven feet thick and thirty-three feet high and it is surrounded by a 164-foot wide moat. At each corner there are watchtowers for protection from possible invaders. The entire complex covers 250 acres.

Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties from 1420 to 1911 held court and lived within the walls of the Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum. Some treasures remain from the Japanese invasion, and from the Nationalist Chinese taking the most valuable ones to Taiwan in 1949. Those are now on display in the National Museum of Taiwan. The last emperor, Puyi, remained living here for many years after the 1911 Revolution.

If you are interested in seeing what treasures are in Taiwan, visit Taiwan's National Palace Museum online: http://www.npm.gov.tw/index-c.htm.

The 2nd stop was the Tiananmen Square. Since it was connected to the Forbidden City, we basically walked through the Wu Gate of the Forbidden City, and we were at Tiananmen Square. It is the largest public square on Earth, but it didn't seem all that impressive to me. Maybe because it was empty. We just walked by and didn't visit any of the museums alongside the square. We did take a group picture here.

Our next stop was the Government owned pearl factory. We spent a lot of time there since everyone was busy buying & bargaining. We had our first bargaining lesson here. According to my brother, you just hacked the ticket price to 1/3 or ¼ and stuck to it. My cousin was able to get a strand of black pearl necklace and a set of earrings for $200 from the original price of $800.

Then we made a quick stop at the Temple of Heaven. We were given a brief introduction and 15-20 minutes of free time to browse around. I was told that Temple of Heaven occupies a space that is 5 times bigger than the Forbidden City. I am sure there are other interesting things to see. Unfortunately, we didn't really get to see much except for this one Worshipping Hall.

Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan)
Temple of Heaven or Tian Tan is about 2km southeast of the Forbidden City. This is where dynastic rulers in China used to worship the heaven. The temple plus subsidiary buildings and a surrounding garden covers an area five times the size of the Forbidden City. As Chinese emperors called themselves Tianzi, or the son of heaven, they had to cede supremacy to the heaven in terms of abiding.

The 4th stop was the Summer Palace. Here we saw an example of how luxurious Empress Cixi's life was. This place has a huge manmade lake (Kunming Lake) with lots of bridges and a long Corridor painted with thousands of scenes of China and its mythology. We took the boat to sail across the Kunming Lake. The sunset was pretty.

About Summer Palace
The Summer Palace, Yiheyhun, is located in the northwest area of the city, and during the late Qing Dynasty was the summer retreat from Beijing's heat for the imperial family and court.

Originally created as an imperial garden by Emperor Qianlong, it was destroyed and plundered during the Second Opium War in 1860. In 1888 the notorious Empress Cixi used the money intended for the Chinese Navy to build this opulent summer retreat for herself. In 1900 the Summer Palace was damaged extensively once again during the Boxer Rebellion, but was rebuilt shortly after.

Kumming Lake, which is man-made, is available for boat rides during much of the year, but ice skates can be rented during the frozen winter months. Also in the lake is Empress Cixi's famous Marble Boat.

The Long Corridor is 795 yards long and parallels the lake.

At night, we went to see the acrobatic show. Those performers looked to me like students. I must say that I've seen better.

Our dinner was the famous Peking Duck. It was pretty tasty. Although the restaurant did not smell clean.

After dinner, we had hoped to go into the City at night and asked Jason about it. Jason told us that it would take 40 minutes each way. He also told us that we would need our IDs to get in to the clubs/bars. After hearing that each way is going to take 40 minutes, I didn't feel like going anymore. I guess Jason was discouraging us because he didn't want us to venture out while in Beijing to avoid any complication. However, Arlene and Joey* did go to Hard Rock Cafe in Beijing so Joey could add to his collection. And they informed us that the ride was 20 minutes each way. Joey has an amazing collection. Here's his stats: 47 hard rock cafes visited. 812 total pins.

*Joey and Arlene are two long-time family friends.

On the way home, Benjamin pointed out the CCTV tower, and one of the tourists, nicknamed The Politician, turned around and told us that the Chinese TV station only airs propaganda materials and those are filled with lies, all lies. I was a bit irritated since I didn't come here to think about politics. I was really here to enjoy my vacation. Some facts that I learned later about the Politician: He's a neurologist with 2 sons who do not want to travel with him. He owns 2 houses in S. CA. He's about 60 years old.