Where in the World?

Our final full day in Beijing began at the 726 acre Summer Palace of which 545 acres is water. The entire acreage is the “palace” and not a specific building. The Summer Palace functioned as a place of relaxation and entertainment for the royal families.It was originally built in the Jin Dynasty (1115 – 1234). As the years went by, it was extended considerably. In 1860, Anglo-French allied forces burned in down. It was rebuilt in 1888 by Empress Cixi (approximate pronunciation is suh see). In 1900, it was burned again by the Eight-Power Allied Force.

The photo to the left is The Tower of Buddhist Incense. It is a central building in the area and contains a Buddha statue called The Buddha with One Thousand Hands and Eyes. Empress Cixi burned incense on the 1st and 15th days of each month.

We walked the 728 meter (796 feet) Long Corridor, which according to Guinness is the world record. Four pavilions are interspersed throughout and symbolize the four seasons starting with spring and ending with winter at the Marble Boat. Our guide said that the corridor contains over 8000 paintings (landscape scenes, animals and human figures), but one internet source I found estimated the number of paintings to be as high as 14,000.

Our tour of Hutong (Old Beijing) was on bicycle rickshaws. We wound in and out of the narrow alleyways and got a taste of what it’s like to live there. It was actually quiet as we were away from the hustle and bustle of buses and cars. After a fantastic lunch at the Sichuan Restaurant we met with a lady named Mrs. Luo who opened her home to us and gave a tour of the quadrangle that she and two other families shared.

The 60 square meter (640 sq. feet) house had been passed down for six generations (200 years) through her husband’s family. We had a long chat with her and were able to ask her anything. The Hutong area is protected now and high rise apartment buildings cannot be built here. After we left Mrs. Luo, we walked the streets to look at the shops and just watch the busy activity of this rich culture.

The people I encountered in Beijing have been simply wonderful. They are incredibly curious, open, friendly, genuine and possess a great sense of humor. They enjoy talking to us and try to speak as much English as they can. We tried, but not very well, to speak as much Chinese as we could.

I had a good laugh today while at the Summer Palace. Two young, male college students approached me and pointed at their camera. I immediately thought they wanted me to take their picture for them as I was carrying lots of camera equipment. I was wrong. They wanted me to be in a photo with each of them. I was the novelty here! They wanted to show their friends that they had meet an American. I found it quite funny. We figured everything out despite a heavy language barrier. They could say hello in English and I could say hello in Chinese. That’s about it. The rest of our communication was done in hand motions.

Tomorrow we will attempt a quick tour of the Beijing Zoo. I’m hoping to see pandas! We will also go to the Beijing Capitol Museum which was closed on Monday.

Have a great day!

Michael