At
last, Beijing, last
of the imperial capitals of this country with the world's largest population. The traffic seems to be much more disciplined than in the
provinces. It’s been raining heavily and the air is thankfully fresher
for now than anywhere else in the provinces.
We can breathe! We have dinner at Mr. Lee’s family restaurant and experience
an authentic Chinese gastronomic happening.
Next day, we are standing in infamous Tiananmen Square. One has to imagine that day in 1989. Everywhere we look, there are soldiers. There are no vendors, no birds or dogs. It is huge, sterile. The most action is people getting their pictures taken in front of the picture of Mao which dominates the entry to the Forbidden City, seen here. A palpable sense of tension hangs in the air as the Falun Gong have been active in the past few days and are likely to begin a demonstration at any time. The soldiers are watchful.
The 10,000 room Forbidden
City, home to Chinese emperors, was built from 1406 to 1421.
Again, we are
overwhelmed by tourists as we slog our way through courtyard after courtyard with
imperial yellow rooms and vermilion walls. Many buildings are off limits to tourists except to peer in, often through dirty glass.
This may have been declared a World Cultural Heritage site but we find it
sterile and not a little boring although many icons are worth a second look like
the door knocker shown here.
The following day, we head north from the city towards the Ming Tombs, auspicious burial places of most of the rulers of that era. The area was chosen because it fit the uniquely Chinese rules of fengshui or geomancy (wind and water). Undulating hills form a screen to the north and the Wenyu river supplies the water component. The concept of fengshui is critical to Chinese builders, even now.
After
our driver loses his way to the Great Wall we eventually arrive at the 
Badaling
cable car and are hoisted to the top of the mountain by cable car where we finally get to
clamber out and up onto the wall itself.
Surely, one of the great wonders of engineering in the history of the world, the wall would rank thus, even by today's standards. One can only imagine what misery its construction must have caused 2,200 years ago, being built across the spines of numerous mountains. Various different walls were cobbled together in the Qin dynasty to make the wall to protect the new China's northern flank. It was renovated during the Ming Dynasty and again more recently.
The view in the late afternoon sun is stunning. It takes ones breath away to stand there and realize that it runs for 3,750 miles and garrisoned up to a million soldiers. Walking along it we find it to be surprisingly steep and difficult to traverse. It is a fitting way to end our visit to this huge, wondrous and scary monolith called China.
Forbidden City Forbidden City Temple of Heaven Mao Memorabilia Ming Tombs Great Wall Guide Vendor Great Wall