Where in the World?

Wow! I had an incredible first full day in Beijing, China. We visited Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Beijing Yuanlong Silk Corporation, Ltd. I’m exhausted and sunburned but very happy.Tiananmen Square is simply enormous. It can hold approximately 500,000 people. Central in the square is the very large granite Monument to the People’s Heroes. The square is bordered to the north by Tiananmen Gate, to the south by Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, to the west by the Great Hall of the People and to the east by the China National Museum. It was quite a windy day as you can see from the flags standing on end.

The Forbidden City seemed to stretch on for ever. We entered through Tiananmen Gate which is on the south side and proceeded through three more gates before reaching the actual city. It was built in the 1400’s and originally had 9,999 rooms, but now only about 7000 are left. It staggers the mind. The Chinese government is currently in a 19 year restoration project. It’s funny because the original city only took 14 years to build.

Deep inside the city we visited the offices and bedrooms of the emperor, empress and the emperor’s concubines. There was a quartz crystal outside the emperor’s bedroom that was huge. It symbolizes frankness, loyalty and purity and weighed several hundred pounds.

The dragon is a symbol of power for the Emperor. Did you know that in Chinese mythology the dragon is composed of 9 different animals; horns of a deer, head of a camel, eyes of a devil, neck of a snake, abdomen of a large cockle, claws of a hawk, scales of a carp, paws of a tiger and ears of an ox.

We ate lunch at the best and oldest Cantonese restaurant in Beijing located north of The Forbidden City. Dinner was at a lovely restaurant called Yu Xiang Ren Jia which featured homemade style food from various regions in China. We shared everything and it was quite good after a long day of walking in the sun.

Tomorrow is the Temple of Heaven.

Michael