Beijing -- End of Day One Dinner and a Show

We ended day one with an Imperial Dinner....
not really sure what "imperial" meant, but it was quite tasty!!!
Except for that very thin tomato-ish soup.....

 

As we were eating, we could hear music in the room next door, then, this dancer steps into our little room and says, "I dance for you." The music starts back up and she begins to "dance".... but, it was really this awkward moving.... Then, before the music stopped, she stopped dancing and just stood there.... After probably almost 30 seconds of just standing there, she turned around and walked out of the room. We were just looking at each other, not knowing if we should clap for her or if she was waiting for a tip or what!! Awkward!!

Then, it was time for the show!!
"The Legend of Kung Fu" playing at Red Theatre which, according to the pamphlet, is "the most exciting KungFu show in the world"!!
"In an ancient temple we encounter a little boy (Chin Yu 'the pure one'). Through practicing Kungfu and Zen he becomes a master and finally reaches the sacred goal of enlightenment."

We were expecting to see all the kungfu demonstration parts of the show, but, the story and full stage production used were fascinatingly surprising!! 

This sign on the Ladies toilet door was also fascinating..... a great example of Chenglish!! 

After show picture with a monk! 

When we were walking out to the bus, Rodney spotted this sign across the street.... Anybody got a ligarette?? 

It was also fascinating to see the moving lights on the buildings.... the vertical lights were running up the building!

Finally, the end of Day One.... Time to head back to the hotel, get some sleep and be ready for Day Two,
because, according to our itinerary, we were going to
"step on Great Wall"!!!!

Beijing -- Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was built in the early 1400s and has been home to 24 emperors from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. It was first turned to a museum in 1925 and became a World Heritage site in 1987.

Looking back at the Meridian Gate, the first of a few we'd be going through... 

The Gate of Supreme Harmony in the outer court is a perfect backdrop for a "harmonious couple" photo! 

 

 

The turtle dragon is said to bring good luck. 

The inner court leading to the Hall of Supreme Harmony. 

If you notice the big bronze pots along the edges of the courtyard, I couldn't help but imagine the fires burning in those pots as the sound of the guards walking their posts drifted through the night....... Turns out those pots were used to hold water. The buildings had burned down a couple of times, so they got smart and kept water on hand! 

 

Hard to believe this carved marble slab is about 700 years old! 

I loved how even the ceilings were so ornately decorated. As we went through the city, it was apparent parts of it had been refurbished, so I asked Sunny about it and she said the parts that were used during the Olympics had been "refreshed". 

The Hall of Central Harmony is one of 980 buildings in the 7,800,000 square feet city. 

 

The courtyard of the "inner sanctum" where the Ruler of the time actually lived.

 

Hard to believe something as lovely as this porcelain bowl could belong to someone who is now known as the "Dragon Lady"!!  

 

 

We had walked in one gate, through the city, and now out another gate, the Gate of Divine Might, in time to get pictures of this beautiful sunset over Beijing....

Then, we were off to dinner and a show!!

Beijing -- Tiananmen Square

The bus dropped us off and we started our three hour afternoon walk that would take us across Tiananmen Square, then through the Forbidden City....

On our approach to the square, we first saw the Zhenyangmen Gatehouse (above) and the Qianmen Archer Tower (below) which are located on the opposite side of the square from the "Heavenly Peace Gate" leading into the Forbidden City.

 

As we rounded the corner, these two soldiers were walking along the sidewalk, saw us, did their perfect toe point turn and stood at attention, apparently to allow us to take their picture. Well, Rodney and Brian wanted their picture with the soldiers, so moved over toward them. The soldiers, pretty much in unison, each held up a gloved hand signifying 'stop'! We were all like, "Oh! Ok!?!" 

Looking across the street at Tiananmen Square and the gate wall to the Forbidden City. 

As we crossed the square, the National Museum of China was on our right.

In the middle of the square is the Monument to the People's Heroes. The Great Hall of the People can be seen in the background. 

At the back of the square are these two ginormous screens!! There was music playing and some kind of video loop showing.... 

We found it interesting that these two soldiers/guards were standing very statuesque in glass boxes beside the flag.

An interesting tidbit about Tiananmen Square-- the square is closed every June 4 in fear of retaliation from family members of those killed during the protests in 1989.

Our group souvenir photo....
The little characters are the Olympic mascots.

After we crossed the square and took the underpass to the other side of the road, we found a couple of soldiers in place allowing photos to be taken with them :)
An interesting side note-- it seems the soldiers and even police that we saw, instead of having name tapes or a name tag had a number.....

This guy stands outside the Heavenly Peace Gate.

In an emergency, call 999!! 

Not sure where this cannon was from originally, but it was impressive!

We learned a little bit about Chinese child-rearing---
when it comes to potty training, the Chinese do it very differently!!
When the child turns one, they start dressing them in "split pants" which are pants with a split crotch. So, when the child needs to use the toilet, they simply squat where they are and go!!! So, we saw a few Chinese baby bums peeking out of their split pants!! Although, at times, the parents will put a diaper on the child, sometimes under the split pants, but sometimes over them!!

 

Beijing -- Silk Factory

Our next stop of the day was at a Silk Factory....

I absolutely LOVED this rug!!!
Didn't see a price tag, though, but was sure-- if I had to ask the price, I couldn't afford it.....

Our host was describing the life of the silk worm. Each cylinder shows the next stage of development. He talked about the occasion where two silk worms would 'cocoon' together. Even though that would make for twice the silk, the strands would be all tangled, showing-- two worms don't make it right.

Silk is removed from around the worm in one of two ways....
With the silk cocoons in bowls of water, these machines are unwrapping the silk creating silk threads used for scarves, ties, robes, etc. You could barely see the threads in mid-air as they are so fine. The cocoons in the water looked like jumping beans as they'd get pulled out of the water as the thread was removed.

 

The other removal is by hand, removing the cocoon and stretching it out over these wooden arches. Before being stretched, it would look like a finger-tip cover.

 

Our host was showing us just how strong the silk is!

When the silk casings have been removed and stretched out some, they carefully spread them out, looking like a spider web, and lay it atop a stack of other silk layers. These will be used as filling for a duvet. The duvets are varying thicknesses depending on the level of warmth needed. Extremely light, yet very snuggly warm!!

Again, the kids got a try!
The adults got to try this one, too. It really was amazing how much it could be spread without breaking!!

Following the demonstration, we were given thirty minutes to shop, which was not near enough time to investigate all the lovely items they had for sale!! We did learn, they were right--- they prices at the government 'factory' were MUCH better than at other stores having to pay middle-man fees.

Then it was off to lunch....
Sunny informed us the Chinese eat everything--
everything with four legs except the table
and everything with two wings except a plane :0)

Our first lunch was at the WaHaHa Hotel, which is owned by the richest man in China!!

Sunny was telling us about the 'gifts' placed before the Buddha statue.

Isn't that just a lovely sink??

Our dining room and our lunch...
(This is Flat Stanley from Lawson, Missouri!)

Served in traditional Chinese style-- on a giant lazy susan in the middle of the table. At this meal we had sweet and sour pork, beef and potatoes, bok choy, steamed fish, soup, tofu and celery, and chicken and carrots. And, traditionally accompanied by rice and hot jasmine tea!! Fruit comes out last as dessert.

This place really had some interesting light fixtures!!

 

Following lunch, we were off for two more adventures:
Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City!!