Beijing IV: Tackle the basics

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.    

We are touring the best-preserved imperial palace in all of China, the five-century-old Forbidden City located in the center of Beijing.  Our guidebook, Beijing Encounter (by Lonely Planet), says that the 14 Ming emperors and 10 Qing emperors “became absorbed in the splendor of life inside the palace.  The royal mealtime took up much of the day.  By the time Empress Cixi took power, she was getting twice-daily meals consisting of over 100 dishes” (p. 11).
    
Just as in other countries (such as Istanbul/Constantinople, Turkey) the “lap of luxury could be a detriment to imperial rule and Chinese leaders were often ignorant of the living conditions outside the palace walls” (p. 11).  The dull task of actually ruling the people was turned over to court eunuchs.  Emperors, instead, spent their time eating, collecting concubines, and writing poetry.  Many [emperors] died at a young age because of poor diets, no exercise, and a life in the lap of complete luxury.  Who would trade a longer life for such self-indulgence and immoderation — total hedonism!
    
We visited few of the 9,999 rooms in the Forbidden City.  We did, however, wander off the main walkway to see some of the museums located at the sides of each open square.  More than a million workers built the City, and workers, to this day, are thought of and treated as the bottom rung of the economic ladder.
    
An example of how workers are viewed is revealed on Chinese currency.  The 5.00 RMB note comes in 2 sizes.  The large one, with Mao’s picture is truly worth its value (about $.74 U.S.), but the small 5.00 RMB note, which depicts a beautiful young man and woman (workers), is nearly worthless (pennies), according to Michael Ye, our previous tour guide in Beijing.  And as Ye pointed out, it is clearly a political statement.  (As an aside, we did not know the difference between these bills, and a taxi driver refused to take our small 5.00 RMB note, and we didn’t know why until it was explained to us by one of the Marriott employees who could speak English clearly.  If Beijing wanted another problem to solve that would make the City more “user/tourist friendly,” it would be: Get rid of the small 5.00 RMB note!  Take care of the basics.
    
To show how the belief in symbols and colors dominated the life of the Chinese, we saw colors, symbols, and animals that are believed to bring peace, prosperity, happiness, longevity, and a continuance of ruling the people in every square and outside every pavilion.  Their beliefs were clearly revealed as we walked the main path through the Forbidden City.
    
We began our tour of the Forbidden City by walking to, and looking into — from barriers outside swarmed by hoards of pushing and shoving Chinese tourists — the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the palace’s biggest structure, which was the site of the imperial’s grandest events.
    
Inside the hall, the throne is guarded by two luduan (beasts which can detect truth) — mythical beasts that can understand all languages and cover a distance of 9,000 leagues in a day.  Outside some buildings at the Summer Palace, we saw cranes, elephants, and lions.  And a male and female (the female is always on the right) lion can be found guarding the outside of many buildings to help ward off evil spirits.
    
Following the Hall of Supreme Harmony was a Hall of Central Harmony and a third called the Hall of Preserving Harmony.  Behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a 55.77-foot-long marble carriageway, the wall of which supports a large, carved dragon.  A dragon represents power and the authority of rulers.
    
The Palace of Heavenly Purity housed Ming and early Qing emperors, and the Palace of Earthy Tranquility served as the empresses’ quarters.  Many of the present museum buildings along both side of the various squares, were the halls formerly used as the concubines’ or eunuch’s living quarters.  One emperor is known to have at least 3,000 concubines.
    
At the northern end of the Forbidden City through the Gate of Terrestrial Tranquility is the Imperial Garden.  Built in 1417 during the Ming dynasty, it was the private garden of the imperial family, and it is the most typical imperial garden in China.  At a Chinese website, in an essay on “The Forbidden City,” it says, “This garden was used exclusively by the imperial family to sip tea, play chess, meditate and generally relax.”  The garden included rockeries, walkways, pavilions, carbuncular and deformed cypress trees, and, I might add, based on our visit, wall-to-wall tourists.
    
We left the Forbidden City very tired of walking, and we were pointed in the direction of a taxi stand.  We walked a long way to a corner where taxis were forced to stop, and there, a Chinese lady who spoke flawless English helped us secure a taxi, made certain the driver knew where we were going, and even came over to make certain everything was fine as we departed.
    
On this day (Day 3 in Beijing), we walked to the Railway Station (just a ten-minute walk from our hotel), walked over the boulevard in front of the station via a pedestrian overpass, and had dinner of 2 spicy-chicken sandwiches and a vanilla milkshake at McDonald’s.  Because you cannot drink Beijing water (discussed in my second Beijing essay), we chose not to trust the food at the numerous Chinese restaurants available.  Why chance an intestinal problem just as we’re facing a long flight home the next day?
    
Our stay in Beijing has been delightful, and on the last day when we opened the curtains, we saw the sun for the first time in Beijing — or in more than a week.  The weather while we’ve been here (late March-April 1st, 2010), has been refreshingly cool (especially after the heat and humidity of the early cities we visited on this cruise).
    
We exchanged our money back from Chinese yuen (about 522.50 RMB) to U.S. currency (about $76.00 U.S.) which took us about one-half hour at the same exchange center/bank we used when we first arrived in Beijing.  It was a complicated, paper-heavy transaction which required the use of passports, numerous signatures, and money counted at least 3 times.
    
Princess cruise line provided the shuttle to the airport, and we discovered that Beijing has one of the most attractive, tourist-friendly airports in the world.  It is clean, toilets are spotless, airport personnel are helpful and friendly, and the methods used for boarding the aircraft are efficient and effective.  What a delightful way to end our Southeast Asian experience!
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At Wikitravel the essay on “Beijing” offers Beijing history, orientation, people, travel, climate, demographics, as well as where to eat, shop, and sleep.  This is a complete website and is a good place to begin for its broad orientation.

At Epinions.com there is a very complete essay on Beijing, entitled, “Everything You Need to Know About Beijing,”  that offers a lengthy review of the city covering such topics as A. Overview of the city; B. Weather; C. Money Issues; D. Transportation; E. Lodging; F. Dining;; G. Tourist Attractions; and H. Shopping.      
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Copyright June, 2011, by And Then Some Publishing, LLC.