Where in the World?

Another exhausting day in Beijing. It was the good kind of exhaustion. You know the feeling when you’ve packed several days of vacation work into one day and then went a little bit further. The day started with an extensive walking tour of the Temple of Heaven; 680 acres of temples, gardens and juniper forests. It was built immediately following completion of the Forbidden City in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty. The emperor used the temple grounds and buildings twice a year; during the Winter Solstice and spring. It was not occupied during the rest of the year.

Many locals go to this park to practice dance, play music, participate in board games and many other artistic/athletic pastimes. We wandered in and around the people and learned a little bit about how the Chinese relax and interact in Beijing. It was quite the cultural lesson.

As the emperor was the son of heaven, he was the only man to pray to the God in heaven. The common man could not do this. Also, the main temple (The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest – see photo to the left) was higher to show respect for heaven which is the highest. Animal sacrifices were made to insure a good harvest for the coming growing season.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven (see photo to the right) within the Echo Wall is connected to The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest by the Sacred Way or Danbi Bridge. This is the walkway that the Emperor took to reach the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.

There are some strange acoustic properties within the Echo Wall. If you stand and face the wall and then have a friend go to the other side; when you speak into the wall your friend will hear you. It really works. We tried it. Additionally, if you stand on the three Echo Stones in front of the Imperial Vault of Heaven and clap you will hear an echo on the first stone, two echoes on the second and three on third. Yes, it does work.

Finally we walked through The Circular Mound Altar. The inside section is round representing heaven and the outside section is square representing earth. The entire structure is built on multiples of nine, which is one of the three lucky numbers of the Chinese and it also represents heaven. It was a fascinating place to spend a hot, balmy Saturday morning in Beijing.

Afterwards, we drove to the Beijing Arts & Crafts Group Pearl Center which is a state owned fresh water pearl outlet and had a quick tour. I knew nothing about fresh water pearl production before this. Of course it was also a large retail store where you could purchase high quality pearls of many colors.

At the end of the afternoon we went to the Silk Market which was a nine story building comprised of seemingly hundreds of stores that sell absolutely everything. You can find all the faux items here; purses, luggage, DVDs, electronics, jewelry, clothing, toys, shoes, silk, etc. I was particularly attracted to some jade carvings. You have to bargain hard or you will pay very high prices if you are not careful. It was great fun.

In the evening we went to a show at the Beijing Opera. Wow! Nothing at all like I expected. As we sipped on tea and snacked on Chinese hors d’oeuvres, we watched the combination of dance, recitation, music and acrobatics. It was a stunning show and a completely new experience for me. For Western ears, the music seems quite disjointed and non-melodic. After a little while, you begin to see how each of the instruments is matching the actor’s motions. The sounds were still hard on my ears, but I gained an appreciation for the coordination between the musicians and the actors.

Tomorrow is the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs.

Have a great day.

Michael