Beginnings in Beijing

I visited the main iconic highlights on my first full day, which was before our group was to meet at 6p. This took me to Tianenmen Square and into the Forbidden City. Tiananmen is the largest public square in the world. It his absolutely huge. Crossing the front is the portrait of the Communist Party's PRC leader when he assumed power in the 1940s, Chairman Mao. There is not alot visible in the square, as I am sure the Chinese government would prefer there not be too many reasons for the general public to loiter there. Security is omnipresent. I found a light security presence visible at most every other major public sight, but nothing overwhelming. One of the first impressions I have had the first two days is how capitalistic the Chinese society has become in many and most respects.



If you did not know or were not aware of the authoritarian government, you would probably find many commercial parts of Beijing bustling like few other places in the developing world. Things change monthly in Bejing and I have heard that visits that occur every year bring about many changes. Used to, Beijing and China were known for their heavy volume of bicycles, which was the main mode of transport. That has been replaced with a new cheap (30 cents per ride) state-of-the-art mass transit subway and thousands of cars. Beijing's population of 17-20 million sales nearly one thousand new cars every day!

The Forbidden City is closeby to Tianenmen, so I went there next. The Forbidden City was home to the Chinese emperor and the nobility for centuries and up until the imperial system was abolished in China's efforts to modernize in 1911. It's amazing to think about how vastly different China is today from the system back then in 1911 to where it is now. In the Forbidden City, the emperor and the nobility lived completely and totally separate from the peasant society. The general public was strictly forbidden to enter.



At the end of the first day, I met my group and we got together to enjoy a Beijing traditional Peking duck dinner at a local establishment. Meals in China are typically served "family banquet style" where many dishes are selected and everyone at the table digs in, with chopsticks of course. The duck was delicious. The other menu items were too as well. The Chinese like their food spicy, so you have to be selective in your choices or you can quickly find yourself overwhelmed.

As for my group, we are small in number. There are five of us in total with me being the only male. Our group leader is Jenny Lu, with her adoptive first name. I'll introduce the others later.

The second day took us on a hutong tour of the Bejing ghettos. The term, hutong, is a Mongolian word, and is used only in Beijing to represent the busy residential areas with small and narrow passageways. The hutongs are very traditional and a majority of the Beijing public lived in hutongs until the Chinese government has made a policy of transitioning into larger residential complexs, with alot less character. The destruction of these hutongs and relocation of the families has been a major controversial topic in China. Unlike the shantytown favelas in Rio, the hutongs of Beijing feel almost completely safe. Also unlike the favelas, the government has complete and total control here, unlike in Brazil's favelas.

I struck out in the afternoon on my own to explore the famed Temple of Heaven Park. This will end up being the highlight of my Beijing city visit. The park is a huge ceremonial grounds for the ancient and semi-recent Imperial sacrificial grounds of the Taoist. I won't claim to know anything about the religion but the Chinese emperor and his processor would fast and abstain from meat, music and sex twice yearly for three days prior to the ceremony. It involved animal sacrific at the park and was meant to bring good harvest fo r the entire nation for the entire year. The ceremony was quite elaborate and any mistakes were always suggestive of a bad omen for anticipated bad luck that upcoming year. The Chinese temples there are some of the largest traditional and most extensive in the nation. Huge throngs of tourist come out to view the monuments. The entire sacrificial system, which was aimed toward the Imperial System, ended when the emperor was forced to abdicate in 1911.





Also, as pictured below, I had some time to visit the Lama Temple, home to the Beijing's Tibetan Buddist population...




Tibetan Buddist monk & a Tibetan prayer wheel