Independence Day

We walked through the corridor and then got onto a dragon boat to cross the lake. We were already starting to talk about the questionable haze that seemed to surround everything. We thought it was morning haze or mist but by Noon, thought differently. Francis said he will talk to us more about that “on the bus.” Nod, nod, wink, wink.

Our next stop was our first meal in China - lunch. We were going to The Capitol Hotel by Tienanmen Square. We were later to learn that most of our excursion lunches were either in hotels or at special stores that we were to visit. There is a whole industry of buffet or lazy-Susan style mega restaurants for tour groups. Once we were lead into the ballroom with settings for 12, we were directed to a buffet. One side was Chinese and the other Western. The food was great – lots of terrific salad making stuff including arugula. Didn’t eat too much cause we were starting to fade already.

Next stop, Tienanmen Square. We first drove around the square and had a chance to get a perspective on the largest public square in the World. It was originally the front gated area for The Forbidden City which starts on the far end of the Square. On the near end of the square, there are three of the original seven gatehouses that guarded the entry. Each of the remaining are in a different dynasty style of architecture and roughly the size of a large office building. We exited the bus and had our first tour experience.

We all gathered as a group and Francis gave us a brief history of the Square, each of the buildings surrounding the Square, and the fact that it can hold one million Chinese. Then the joke was that it will hold 500 thousand Americans or two million Japanese. Tee hee.

There are many many vendors and several of them are disabled/disfigured. They were selling Mao handbooks, kites, paper birds, sun hats, postcards, etc. Hard not to give them money but it is very illegal particularly in the Square and every few moments, they are chased away by the police.

The army is also prevalent and are stationed at each entry to the Square. We could hardly not feel a sense of what had happened in this Square 18 years ago when the students rose up against the government and so many were killed or jailed. Could this type of situation happen again in their new move towards Western methodology and Capitalism? You sense it is most certainly happening somewhere behind the scenes but now that we are allowed into their enclave, they are putting their modern face forward. A bit disconcerting but even more exciting. There is an energy that is contagious and all around us.

It was a very hot day (90’s) and we were standing in the full sun. Francis told us we had one hour to walk the Square by ourselves and then we will all go to the Forbidden City on the far end of the Square. We walked past the ancient gates, Mao’s mausoleum where he was interred in a crystal sarcophagus in 1976, and the government buildings flanking the Square. One has a huge digital display that is counting down the seconds before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They are really really into the Olympics. They were also building displays in the Square for the October 1st National Day events. This is their Independence Day – October 1, 1949.

By the end of our tour around the Square, we were melting and craving water. There is a ton of water for sale by vendors but we were warned frequently not to buy/drink it. Vendors find empty bottles, fill them with tap water, freeze them for enticing effect, and sell. We looked for a store that has bottles that are sealed and never opened.

We met our group and headed towards one of the five bridges entering the Forbidden City, right under the huge portrait of Chairman Mao. They obviously loved this guy. The City was built in 1411 and was closed to all but the Emperors and their concubines, wives, servants, and army until 1949. NO ONE was allowed to leave either. If a servant or wife became old or no longer of use, they were killed or jailed until they died. The Last Emperor, of which the movie was made, was only six-years-old when he took the throne in the City. He left in 1924 when the City was invaded in a political coup. It became the Palace Museum until taken over by the Peoples Republic in 1949.

The City is over 3/4 of a mile from start to finish but seems so much larger. There are 9,999 rooms in over 800 buildings. The majority are painted red, which means prosperity and happiness, and the roofs are yellow ceramic tiles which is particular to monuments of wealth. The renovation of these building has only been happening for the last 10 years and they were in a major state of disrepair. Many of them were shrouded in scaffolding and drapery and won’t be done and unveiled until the Olympics open. It is costing the Chinese government millions for this effort – and that’s just the Forbidden City.

3.7.07 12:35