Tiananmen Square

After our excellent lunch, we traveled to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was a little surreal to be standing in the spot we’ve seen pictures of so often. Way in the distance, we could see the Gate of Heavenly Peace, which is the famous picture you’ve seen with Mao on the gate. Tiananmen Square is huge - it was made to fit a million Chinese in it so Mao could review his military from his perch above his portrait. We also saw the mausoleum that houses Mao’s body, although it was closed by the time we got there. Some of our travel group mates that went there the other day said that he looks like wax, and suspect that the body you view may very well be made of wax. He died 30 years ago, so they said the body looks a little too well preserved.



As we walked across the square, we were faced with many vendors, hawking their wares. “Bu yao” was a favorite expression, meaning, “I don’t want it.” We walked by a pillar that was erected by Mao in the middle of the sqaure. It is chained off now, and has been since the student protests in 1989, because that was the focal point of the student gatherings. There are guards all over the square, and apparently there are a lot of undercover officers in plain clothes that go around and watch people as well. The guards are very intimidating. Some just stand there, while others march around the grounds. We also saw the spot where that one man stood in front of the tanks in 1989 during the protests.

We crossed under the Gate of Heavenly Peace, under Mao’s portrait, and entered the Forbidden City, so called because not just anyone was allowed to enter. This was where the emperor lived. It is huge as well, and there are lots and lots of gates to pass through. The entire area, including Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, are all oriented along a meridian line, which runs through the middle of everything. Again, the scale of everything is difficult to convey. We kept passing through gate after gate, and each time there were more temples and palace buildings. The moats that surround the Forbidden City were all frozen, just to illustrate how cold it was there.

Did I mention that it was cold?

Even after we walked through the Forbidden City, there is still a temple high on a hill behind the city. Apparently when the dug the moats to surround the city, they piled up the dirt behind the complex on which to build a temple. According to our guide, this had something to do with feng shui, as they believed something about water in front of you and a mountain behind you was good for placement of buildings.

The main part of the Forbidden City.

After completing our tour of the Forbidden City, we went to dinner at a local restaurant called the Red Lantern. We ate hot and sour soup, salad, a potato dish, string beans with peppers, celery and onion, sweet and sour pork, chicken and cucumber, a beef and onion dish similar to Mongolian beef and watermelon. It was good, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the Noodle King lunch. Then we went to an interesting show called “The Legend of Kung Fu.” It was a pretty cool show that featured lots of young men who were very good at kung fu, and it had a story about a young boy who goes to the temple to become a kung fu master. It was quite good, and they had pretty good special effects. The highlight was when they demonstrated that their bodies were made of iron by breaking iron bars over their heads and busting concrete and wood blocks. It was an entertaining experience!