So Much to See - So Much to Learn

Nov 7 

In the first place -at the moment -  I am very tired, we had a big day.  In the second place, the internet access in Beijing is retarded.  My experience is that one has no idea when or if it might ever work.  We are watching the US election results and I must say that I am very pleased with the results, it appears the media is slightly less pleased.

This morning our fist stop was Tiananmen Square.  That sounds simple but the traffic, in our Beijing experience so far, is in a perpetual grid lock

Our original plan was to go to the Great Wall this morning, but China too, is having an election (tomorrow) so LiNa suggested we do the square today.  All of the representatives for the Communist Party of China are in Beijing for tomorrows election.  The representatives are chosen by the president and only the reps have a vote every 5 years in an effort to choose a president.  LiNa tells us she thinks China will have a new president.  I can only imagine the corruption contributing to that song and dance.  I also wonder if the China election is why our internet is disabled tonight.

Tiananmen Square is the worlds largest public square at 440,000 sq m, in the center of Beijing, the symbolic center of the Chinese universe.  It is flanked by 1950's style Soviet buildings.

October 1 is  National Day in China and we see some of the leftovers that are still very beautiful, as this years celebration marked the 60th anniversary of 'New" China .

 Mao's body lies in the  Mausoleum in the square and Chinese people still queue to pay tribute to the man some 36 years after his death.

We are sure enjoying LiAn.  She is so cute.  She tells us she works 7 days a week, she has made 6 trips to The Wall in the past month.  It must be exhausting for her.  When she means to say the word 'exactly' she uses the 2 words 'is actually', her English is generally very good.

From the square we walk to the Forbidden City.

  It is ringed by a 52m wide man made moat (the soil from the moat was used to build a mountain to satisfy feng shiu purposes.)  The Forbidden City is so named because it was off limits for 500 years until the end of the Qing dynasty.

  It is China's largest and best preserved complex of ancient buildings.

Lions are at the entrance of many gates in China.  They are symbolic in that their  animal kingdom leadership enables them to ward off evil spirits at the gate.  We notice that the paw of the lion is on top of a ball (the world).  

A picture of Sid and LiNa in front of the male lion.  The belief is that LiNa will now have a promotion...we hope so, she is a nice girl!

The buildings are wooden structures, we wonder how many times they have been rebuilt.  There are over 300 cauldrons 

strategically placed to catch rain water, to be used in the event of a fire (unsuccessfully)

We have a quick lunch of pork dumplings and mushrooms and continue on to the Summer Palace.  I am the first to admit that my knowledge of Chinese history is juvenile at best.  A more through blog would involve considerable research...

We visit the Summer Palace

At every door way of every gate the threshold is raised

and we have to step over it.  LiNa explains that the belief is that ghosts do not have knees so a raised threshold protects those inside from ghosts (I didn't make that up - honest)

In the garden we have our photo taken at the couples tree - two trees that have grown together to become one...

From the Summer Palace Xing takes us to the 2008 site of the Beijing Olympic Games.

We walk around the Birds Nest,

 LiAn says it is only used for concerts and in the winter it is used for indoor skiing (really?)  We walk to the Water Cube

and view the beautiful Olympic diving area

and pool which LiNa says is never used.  The public pool, in the same building, is quite busy.  The total lack of activity seems a sad thing to me.  Surely there is some intrinsic use for a world renowned swimming facility...isn't there?  Otherwise, what really is the point?

In the evening we have Peking (now called Beijing) Duck for supper.  Sadly the batteries in my camera are completely dead, after this photo.

  Ducks are two months old when the are slaughtered for this delicacy. With the duck we have mustard cabbage steamed with garlic (tastes nothing like mustard) and lotus root.  The duck comes to the table whole and the chef carves it for your viewing pleasure.  It is very good.  When we leave we are presented with the ducks  certificate of authenticity , just in case we were worried about having an impostor Peking Duck.