Although I have travelled to China many times in the last twenty odd years, I have not had a chance to visit Beijing and it's many tourist attractions. Fortunately, with sailing over until January, this year I have been able to correct that. It is not easy to get tickets at short notice for some of the attractions I wanted to visit, unless you sign up with a travel agency. So, for my first time in China, I went for a guided tour.
My first stop was Tiananmen Square. Located in the centre of Beijing, the square lies at the heart of Chinese politics and recent history. Here you can find Chairman Mao’s mausoleum, with long queues of people lining up to pay homage to the founder of the Chinese Communist Party. (Following WW2 a civil war raged until 1949. Chairman Mao led the winning side and the previous ruling party, which had been supported by the USA, was overthrown and fled to Taiwan).
Few from my generation will forget the 1989 image of a student protester, in this square, standing in front of a column of tanks. The image captured the imagination of the world. Deng Xiaoping, the successor to Mao, had opened China to the world, created a nascent market economy and China was changing. Neither the Party nor the people really knew where China was headed. The peaceful outcome of that moment created hope for a more open country. Unfortunately, the optimism was short-lived with hundreds (if not thousands) dying in the violence that followed. It was strange to be standing in the place where that history was created.
It is the largest city square in the world. The National Museum is on the east of the square with the main parliament building opposite. In the centre of the square is a Monument to the Fallen Martyrs. (When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, they killed 300,000 people in the first week. By the end of the war, that figure had risen to 20,000,000).
On the parliament building is a plaque, depicting the Chinese flag. The red colour depicts the blood of the fallen martyrs. The large star symbolises the Communist part whilst the four smaller stars are added to represent the (then) population of four hundred million.
To the north lies the entrance to the Forbidden City, where, before 1911 and the fall of the feudal system, the Emperor lived with the Empress, his concubines and the eunuchs.
The eunuchs were the servants. They were chosen from children of poor families, and castrated to keep the concubines ‘pure’ for the emperor. However, they were given a good education, if that is any compensation.
Of the concubines, the ‘favourite few’ were brought to the emperor after he finished his work in the early evening to ‘serve’ him. It was supposedly a great honour to be chosen by the emperor. But there were so many that, to have a chance of selection, the concubines had to bribe the eunuchs to ‘put in a good word’.
The emperor would choose the new emperor elect, from among his children. It was not necessarily his eldest son. And, normally, he did not father children with the Empress but with the concubines (his mother chose the Empress, whilst the emperor could chose his own concubines).
When the Emperor died, the new Emperor would chose his own new set of concubines. However, the previous collection were not allowed to leave the Forbidden City, and could not marry, even though the new emperor was not interested in them. So who would want to be a concubine?? To my surprise, there are multiple ‘fancy dress’ stores around the Forbidden city, renting out costumes for the day. I witnessed 10's of young women in the Forbidden city, dressed for the part, just to get their picture taken as a concubine.
One feels China needs a #metoo movement!
The Dragon is a mythical creature and, in Chinese culture, is believed to evolve from multiple animals, inheriting the ‘super powers’ from each. This belief is displayed on small statues on the roofs of buildings (see top photo). The number of animals or ‘stages of evolution’ signify the importance of the building. The example given was the building where the emperor held court, listened to his advisors and made his decisions. It depicts the most animals of any building in China.
Symbolism is everywhere in China. For instance, around the Forbidden City, castings of male and female lions have different objects under their paws. The female lion has a baby lion, whilst the male has a ball which, in Chinese culture, represents power.
Other statues signify longevity (e.g. a crane). There are lucky numbers and colours. Only the emperor could use the number nine, the luckiest number, or the colour yellow.
The Great Wall lies less than a couple of hours drive north from Beijing. It was originally built of mud, with the first sections constructed around 200 BC. The idea for the wall came from a capable and loyal general, a favourite to the Emperor. The idea was to keep the Mongolians out of China. The project was approved but it took much time and money.
In fact, it was deeply unpopular with many in the Emperor's inner circle as the cost meant they had less for their own budgets. The General was away fighting Mongolians and building the wall and did not pay enough attention to politics in the capital (then Xi'an aka Sian). The inner circle managed to persuade the Emperor that the loyal general was plotting against him who, for fear of being overthrown, sanctioned a plot to murder the general.
The moral of that story is that, if you are part of a large organisation, do not spend too much time away from where the key decisions are taken!
The wall did not work as well as planned. The Mongolians, under Genghis Khan, managed to take control of China for 150 years in the thirteenth and fourteenth century.
Once they had been defeated, the next Chinese Dynasty set about rebuilding the Wall in stone (early 1400’s). This is the structure which most people call the 'Great Wall'. When first built, there was no mortar or even lime. Instead, the ‘glue’, which they used to hold stones together, was made from a mixture of sticky rice and egg white!
There is evidence of some type of Wall construction over a length of 6500km, although much of that was never built in stone and large sections are just ruins today. However, it is still regarded as the largest man-made structure in the world.
Back in Beijing, another popular attraction is the (new) Summer Palace. It was built around 1750 by the emperor as a gift to his mother. Situated on a lake, it allowed the Emperor (and Empress) to escape the summer heat of the city. The centrepiece is the Hill of Longevity, complete with Tibetan style buildings. There used to be a canal linking the Forbidden City to the Lake and the landing stage is at the bottom of the hill.
There is a 'long corridor' which fans out along the lake from either side. It is over seven hundred meters long, decorated throughout its lengths with intricate paintings
There are many places from which to enjoy the lake views but my favourite has to be the 'Stone Boat' or marble boat. Actually, the superstructure is not built of marble but rather wood painted as marble.
The old summer palace, or Yuanmingyuan Park, used to be known as the "Versailles of the East", but is now in ruins. During the Second Opium War, British and French troops invaded Beijing, ransacked the Old Summer Palace, and looted its treasures, which are now displayed in museums around the world. Two weeks later, the destruction of the palace was ordered.
Today, the site forms a key part of Chinese secondary education.
Over the years, the nation has suffered badly at the hands of foreign powers. After the Soviet Chinese War in the early 19th century, over 200,000 km2 of Chinese territory were given to Russia (Siberia) in exchange for peace. In the second half of the 19th century Anglo-French forces invaded after the Emperor banned trade in Opium. Hong Kong was lost to the British and Macau to the Portuguese. Finally, as mentioned above, during WW2 20,000,000 Chinese died at the hands of the Japanese.
The Yuanmingyuan Park site is left in ruins to help confront students with this 'Humiliation of China'. Students are encouraged to visit and witness the destruction first hand. They are taught that the root cause of the military defeats was a lack of technology, not courage. With inferior weapons their soldiers had no chance. Consequently, technology development is now accepted as a national priority.
Perhaps the motivation for China's determination to become a leader in technology and independent of other nations for its core security and economic needs, would be more understandable (in western eyes), if viewed in the light of China's relatively recent history.
Beijing is the only city which has hosted both the summer and the winter Olympics. The Olympic centre is dominated by two buildings, the famous 'Birds Nest' Stadium and the Water Cube (used for swimming and diving events)
The inspiration for the shapes came from Chinese tradition where the earth is round but heaven is square.
Prior to the 2008 Olympics, Chinese priorities focused on economic growth at all costs, even to the detriment of the environment. Hosting the Games changed all that. To reduce air pollution, factories around Beijing were (partially) shut down for the duration and the Party realised that environmental issues matter.
It is amazing how quickly things can change in China. Today, China leads the renewable power revolution - but more of that in the next post.
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