Our China trip almost ended before it began. Hubby and I had incorrectly read our itinerary and thought the plane was leaving Seattle several hours later than it did. We were at the airport but looking for some lunch. I had found a “grocery store” and went inside to see if I could find a salad while Hubby waited in the corridor dreaming of one last hamburger before starting the trip. He heard a “last call“ for two people with our first names but some unintelligible last name but thought it was to close to be a coincidence so grabbed me and off we ran to our plane!
The young man sitting next to me was returning to China after a six month stay in San Diego studying a the college. We worked hard to communicate and had a nice visit. He was excited that we were going to be in Beijing for Liberty Days. April 29 - May 1. He explained that this is a big Chinese Holiday. Many people will be going into the city to see the government sites. “The traffic will be bad, it will be very crowded,” he said.
Hubby immediately went to Kentucky Fried Chicken after we checked into our hotel. I was happy to have brought peanut butter and gram crackers! We then tried to sleep but it was difficult, In San Francisco we were sleeping from 3 am to 3 pm. not easy when I’m used to getting up a 6 each morning.. Breakfast was at the hotel and our guide picked us up at 8:15 for a busy day.
Beijing has a population of 21.5 million. Traffic is unbelievable, mostly new cars with few dents but loud horns! Every movement is a game of chicken!
Our first adventure this morning was a rickshaw ride around
Old Beijing Hutong, or ancient Beijing. Our driver was very experienced - the first thing he did was to offer to take a photo of us! He commented that I was, “Very tall.”
Much of the ancient area has been torn down for modern buildings but the area left is a labyrinth. They have their own layout and structures. Because of the way they are laid out each building is connected. Names of the streets were once passed on by word of mouth, they are named after the markets and local positions such as Skewed Tobacco Pouch Street.
We stopped at a traditional home now worth 2.4 million dollars. It had a courtyard in the center will all rooms around it. In the courtyard, or common area, there were gourds growing down from the trellis, birds in cages, pet rabbits, fish and frogs. This home was a lucky to have its own private bathroom, the other houses in the neighborhood all shared a communal bathroom down the street.
The home had a shrine, social room, a honeymoon suite, boys room, girls
room, parent’s room, bathroom, kitchen equipped with microwave and
refrigerator, and storage. (It also had three rooms that were rented out
to tourists - not “5 star”)
Doorways have a lip at the bottom so evil spirits can’t pass through closed doors.
Because the weekend was a holiday and everything was crowded Helen, our guide, asked us to stay together like “Sticky Rice.” The group liked this and were constantly saying, “Let’s stay together like sticky rice” the entire trip. Another quote we quickly picked up was “Happy Room” for the bathroom.
We then drove on to the
Temple of Heaven.
The grounds and buildings are made up of circles representing heaven and
square representing earth. Under the shelter of the first square the
citizens play checkers, and relax along the walkway.
Because it was very warm and Liberty Days were in full swing all public places with a little shade were very crowded.
It was in the shade along one of these walkways to the Temple I saw the only woman in China knitting or crocheting.
I took her photo and she shyly said “no no” and hid her face. I took out my trusty knitting and showed her my sock. She was very interested and indicated she knew what it was and then showed me her finished hat and wanted me to take a photo of it.
Little did I know there would be no more sharing of handicrafts. As I was leaving she smiled and started to wave but I thought she was giving me a high five so I clasp her hand! I looked up and there was a group of citizens that had gathered around and were watching us.
The Temple of Heaven was a place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would pray for a good harvest. In modern times women wish for things such as beauty and wealth, when they do it will come true.
After a lunch of cabbage, duck, pork, rice we were off to
Tiananmen Square. We were warned by our tour guide that there would be many police, soldiers, and teen volunteers as well as undercover police at the square. They understood English and we should be very careful what we said because it was their job to listen.
Tiananmen Square is near the entrance of the Forbidden City. The Tiananmen or Gate to Heavenly Peace was built in 1415 was later damaged. Tiananmen Square was but in 1651 and enlarged to its present size in the 1950’s. Making it the largest square in the world. It is flanked on each side by the parliament building which holds 10,000 people, Mao Zedong’s mausoleum, the National Museum of China - largest museum in the world, and the entrance to The Forbidden City where Mao gave his speech
Because it was Liberty Days there were many people there and our guide “Helen” warned us that because many of the visitors from the country side may have never seen “Big Noses” or caucasians, we might be asked to have photos taken with them. Many wee shy and photos were taken stealthy but if there was a brave sole who asked for photo then many would follow. We never said no and would sometimes “turn the tables and have our own photos taken with them!
We then walked on to the
Forbidden City
(About a month before this trip I read I
mperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China by Pearl S. Buck. It is the story of the Dragon Lady. I was surprised at how accurate the book was to the information given by our guide. The story’s setting is the Forbidden City and Summer Palace)
Each day there are 18,000 tickets to the forbidden city sold. Because it was a holiday the tickets had sold out early. Our guide was approached for any available extra tickets - scalpers even in China!
Our day was rearranged so we would arrive later in the day to tour the Forbidden City. We almost had an empty city and we were able to tour easily and take many beautiful photos.
We entered the Forbidden City through the South entrance which was the entrance and exit used by only the emperor. The first building was for government offices of the Emperor, each building as it progressed was used for more and more personal endeavors. There were 3,000 concubines and eunuchs in the forbidden city. The forbidden city covers over 178 acres with a floor space of 1,600,000 square feet. It is surrounded by a moat and a wall 10 meters high. There are 9,999 rooms.
We left the Forbidden City through the North which was used exclusively by the Empress, (The East and West entrances were used by all others.)
After a dinner of spicy cabbage, duck, rice cake with sweet sauce, tofu with sauce, potato cake, potatoes carrots with HOT peppers we headed back to the hotel. There were several high rise apartments with hen houses instead of balconies. We were told,”If there are no clothes hanging out the window it’s an office.”
Our night’s big adventure to “Wo Mart”…
One of the couples on our tour said they hadn't gone out for dinner the night before but went to the Walmart in the basement of our hotel, WHAT??? A Walmart in China??? So when we got back to our hotel Hubby and I went off looking for the local Walmart.
It was different from our Walmart stores, much more a variety/supermarket. Smaller and three floors in all. Hubby decided to get his Cola fix while I waited outside the doors, and waited and waited…
Finally, I decided to go in and find him but he was nowhere to be found. I tried the second floor, nothing. Not wanting to miss him I went back to the original door I’d been in the first place and waited and waited some more…
Again, I decided to take the escalator up in attempt to find him. As I was making my way to the third floor I saw him through a window going down. Waving like a maniac I caught his attention, he turned around and walk up the stairs and I got off the escalator, turned left and went out the door marked in Chinese and in English “Exit”. The door opened and alarms went off, I remember hesitating and looking again at the front of the door. No where did I see FIRE exit so I kept on walking. When we reached our original spot I was greeted by three men who made it clear I’d gone out a no exit - exit. Fearing the worst I was asked to follow one man back into to the store but he had me walk out the door again and he waved me out and I was told good bye. My the first 24 hours in China and I was almost thrown in prison for illegal escape from a Walmart!
Cloisonné Factory
First made in Beijing for the emperor only Cloisonné began being made in the Yuan Dynasty. At the time it was made in blue and took sevens dips to complete. The copper pot is hand hammered and copper wire is glued on. Paint is filled into the spaces where it is heated in a kiln and the process is repeated. Finally, the pot is polished.
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