Beijing (September 2019)

After the car ride from Mutianyu, we went to lunch in a mall and had fish – one fish spicy, one fish not (like yin yang) .

We also had raisin pancakes infused with citrus and a tofu dish. After lunch, we went to the Summer Palace, which has many lakes, bridges, gardens and palaces where the Chinese Royalty vacationed. The biggest lake is called Kunming lake. Cixi, the last empress of China, lived in the most beautiful palace on top of Longevity Hill overlooking Kunming Lake.

There were also many historic spots. We went to a store that sells Chinese ceramics, and Elise got a Chinese bracelet there. That night, we had Peking duck for dinner at the Grand Hyatt.

After dinner we went to bed. The next day we went to the Forbidden City.

There are 81 total studs on each door at the entrances to the Forbidden City, except for the east entrance (the east entrance was where they took out the dead and buried them). In China the number nine means longevity, so the idea is that 9 x 9 = even more longevity. After the doors there are five archways and five bridges. The one in the middle is for the emperor, doors number 2 & 4 are for the top Scholars who pass the exam, and doors number 1 & 5 are for the scholars that fail the exam, a.k.a the doors of Shame.

There are also low buildings near the palace that have to be lower than the palaces because those are the servant’s quarters.

Did you know that the emperors were so paranoid that they had a fifty brick deep wall built under the courtyard above to protect themselves from enemies who might try to tunnel under and end up inside the Forbidden city? Well I didn’t before we went to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden city has over 90 palaces as shown in the picture below. It also has a total of 9,371 rooms.

Click on the Link below to see a 360 photo of the Forbidden City https://s.insta360.com/p/8b7f62c9314e652f7327bc96066da9df

The gold heating pot above used to be gold, but when the European invaders came they scraped off all the gold from every last pot.

The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty. It continued to have palaces added to it until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The palaces built during the Qing Dynasty have Han, Chinese writing, on the left and Manchurian on the right, like in the picture above. The palaces built during the Ming Dynasty only have Han. The blue sign above the entryway was used to hide a scroll with the name of the heir on it (only the Emperor knew who the heir was). When the Emperor died, the scroll was pulled out, and the heir was named the Emperor. It was done like this so there was no argument about who became the Emperor because you know everyone wants to become the Emperor 🙂

The picture above was taken from the pagoda at the top of Jingshang park. Jingshang park is just North of the Forbidden City and is built on a mountain.

At the Forbidden City we toured the six eastern palaces where the wives lived. We also toured the main Forbidden City where the emperor had his offices, gave proclamations, and held festivities.

The slab of stone that was used to make the carving above is believed to weigh around 15 tons. Of course nobody can pick it up to find out.

The Emperor’s throne is where he gave proclamations, announced what he was going to do when there was a big choice (e.g. whether to go to war or not), and where he relaxed after a long day of “work.”

We also went to the Treasure Gallery where there were valuable artifacts from Ming and Qing times. They are made from gold, silver, rubies, pearls, sapphires, jade, and other gems. The Treasure Gallery also has a couple of ancient Chinese paintings from mainly the Ming dynasty though some were from the Qing dynasty.

After we finished touring the Forbidden City, we had lunch at another peking duck restaurant. After that we walked back to our hotel and showered to get ready for the variety show. On the way to the variety show we walked by Tiananmen Square.

The variety show had stand-up comedy, martial arts, shadow puppets, Sichuan opera, Chinese opera, magic, and more.

The Sichuan face Opera is a traditional Sichuan dance that involves the switching face masks in tune with the music and the dancing.

This is a Kung Fu pyramid where the purpose is to strengthen the muscles.

After the show, we went to bed. The next morning we woke up and went to the temple of heaven where people prayed to the gods, and made sacrifices to them too. It had dining, praying, and sacrificing sections. It also had a kitchen and a warehouse. Sacrifices were stored, cooked then offered to the gods, then they were taken to the dining room and eaten. They transported everything using the long corridor.

360 photo of the Temple of Heaven: https://s.insta360.com/p/eb79b1abe63440761fa815e0acf15d0c

After the temple of heaven we packed up and went to dinner.

At the restaurant we saw some sugar sculptures. The art of sugar sculpting first started 6,000 years ago in Ancient Egyptian times. It first became popular in China during the Ming Dynasty, around 500 years ago.

At the restaurant we also saw some fried insects. Frying insects on a stick has been done in China for a very long time.

After we finished looking around, we ate dinner in a private room that was next to the courtyard. In the courtyard, there was a stage that had shows that we watched while waiting for the food to arrive.

The Chinese instruments used above and below are all traditional Chinese instruments that are an important part of Chinese heritage and culture.

After we ate dinner, we went to the train station where we had an overnight train that went to Nanjing!

In our compartment, there were two bunk beds stuffed in, and there was literally not enough room for us all to stand up at the same time.

Elise and I slept on the top, and Dad and Mom slept on the bottom. The next morning, we arrived in Nanjing!