We decided that with warmer weather on the way it would be wise to start checking off Beijing's high traffic tourist destinations early in the season. Our first site was the Forbidden City. It's official name is Gugong, or Palace Museum. Even though we visited on a weekday, the place was still packed.As we made our way through the Tian'anmen Gate (the famous entrance with Mao Zedong's portrait), we were bombarded with vendors trying to sell us anything and everything. The best one was a middle-aged woman that came up to us and said that she was a struggling art student and her teacher had allowed her and her classmates to set up a "free" art gallery at the Forbidden City. We did not go for this "scam" as we read online that this was a growing problem where vendors con tourists into buying overpriced artwork. The best part is that the work is reprinted and not even original!
After evading all the sellers, we made it to the ticket line. It was a whopping 60 yuan (just over $8.50) for admission. Now, that may not seem like a lot in the States but by far that was the most expensive fee we paid to date. But we figured it was worth it to see one of the top tourist spots in all of China.
After all of this we finally made it inside. The first thing we decided to do was eat our lunch. Since it was about 11:30am we found some benches and pulled out our packed meals. After recharging with sandwiches and chips, we were ready to spend the entire day exploring the this enormous complex that was built during the Ming Dynasty some time around 1420 and approximately 720,000 square meters (856,800 square yards) in size.
The first exhibition that caught our attention was above the Meridian Gate. It housed a visiting collection of artwork about the famous Napoleon Bonaparte through Beijing's French Croisements Festival. The displays consisted of paintings, sculptures, and furniture that explained the rise and fall of this historical leader of France. Pazi particularly enjoyed the exhibition and was glad we spotted it for it was not at all advertised well.Next, we began our pursuit of viewing the architectural wonders that are visible throughout this site. One note though, since the government is pumping $185 million dollars into a multi-year restoration program, we were a little bummed to see a few areas closed off to the public. Of course, main areas like the famous Hall of Supreme Harmony was barricaded for it will need to be finished before the Olympic Games in August.
The Golden Water is a great opening scene to the Forbidden City. It consists of five marble bridges that symbolize five cardinal virtues of Confucianism (see photo). Just beyond the bridges is the Gate of Supreme Harmony, an area originally used for receiving visitors or guests. Here is were we first noticed a craze by Chinese tourists to take photos of the palace doors. We didn't realize it then but later after doing some research it turns out that yin and yang play an instrumental role in the design of the palace. Yang symbolizes masculinity that is associated with the emperor. All odd numbers also represent yang with the nine being the ultimate odd number. Thus, these palace doors were created for the emperor with 81 (9x9=81) brass studs (See first photo of Adán and Pazi together). Even more important, the Forbidden City has exactly, 9,999 rooms!
We continued on viewing several of the many halls throughout the complex. We enjoyed the sights of many amazing Chinese pavilions, stone cravings, and statues. We particularly enjoyed the tranquility of the Imperial Garden. In it we saw many different flowers, rock formations, and temples. As we took a break in this area, we happened to meet a family from México on the ultimate Asian vacation. They told us they were from Léon, Guanajuato. We learned that they had only been in Beijing for a few days after flying from LA to Tokyo. From there they spent a week and then took a cruise to China. They were very nice people and it was nice to find Spanish speakers!
By this time it was 4:00pm. We decided since we spent the 60 yuan for entrance fees that we stay the extra hour before closing. We decide to explore some of the lower traffic areas. In these smaller halls we viewed relics and other artifacts about Chinese history. Taking things at a slower place around these areas Adán wanted to take photos of the fine carved hall rooftops. Amazing figurines of dragons lined up at the points of several buildings. Later after reading up on this, we learned that they are called "roof guardians" and are associated with water. They are supposed to protect the structures from fire. And remember what we said about the importance of odd number?Check out the photo, how many dragons do you see?Soon after announcements were made that the facilities were closing, we made our way out of the Forbidden City. On our way home we couldn't stop talking about our incredible day.
Although our day was fun, we had nothing on this little guy!
