Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City

On our way back to the hotel, we saw several people dancing in the large open areas of the street.  This is where people come to exersize.  They play music and everyone is doing the same movements, it is beautifully choreographed.

We got back to the hotel and met Mr. How.  He will be our guide for the next two days.

He took us to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City.  These areas are quite fascinating.  The size of the square is overwhelming.  

 

It was used as a massive meeting place and has large lamp posts which are fitted with video cameras.  It is heavily monitored by guards and police.  It is also the home of the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.  On either side of the square are two huge ancient gates.

The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial Palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty.  It is in the center of Tianamen Square and it served as the home of the emperors.  There are 999.5 rooms (as close to the perfect number 1000 as they could get).  We were able to see their sleeping and eating areas as well as many artifacts.

Because of the holiday there was a huge fruit basket in the middle of the square.  The basket is a replica of a painting inspired by the Qing Dynasty.

 

We didn't stay too long because it was extremely crowded.  The Chinese people are celebrating National Day this week.  It would be similar to our Independance Day. The number of people here at Tianamen Square and The Forbidden City is record high.  People in China do not get vacation time from work.  they must use government holidays to vacation or visit family.  Many people took this holiday because it was in the middle of the week and included both weekends.  this allowed people to travel a greater distance.  People take their holiday to come here.  It is good luck to enter and touch the gates.

 

We left here and went to the Hutongs.  We had to travel by rickshaw to get in the neighborhoods. These are traditional homes of the Chinese people that are very narrow alleyways.  

 

The hutong itself is basically a courtyard surrounded on all four sides with homes.  The people would live in the homes and share the courtyard.  In the courtyard they had gardens that they would all take care of.  They would cook, eat, do laundry, and just sit and socialize on this area.

The area above our heads was part of the garden, which doubled as shade in the summer.

This is a sitting area

This is the bedroom.  The rooms are very small.  I am actually standing in the doorway taking the photo.

 

 

For lunch we ate at a typical hot pot restaurant.  The best way to describe it is the Melting Pot.  You have a metal kettle of boiling water in front of you that is over a flame.  The meat and vegetables are brought out to you raw and you drop them in the pot and cook them.  It was very tasty.

We went to the silk factory and saw how silk worms grow and are harvested to make the silk.  I actually got to hold a silk worm.  

They look like white caterpillars. They have feet with suction cups and feel prickly when they walk across your hand. The lady had to pull it off of my hand.

 

We saw that if there is one worm in a cocoon, there is a single strand of silk thread that can be used.  They take about 8 cocoons and use the single strands together to make one stronger thread.  They use this silk to make scarves and clothing. 

 

If there are two worms in the cocoon they can not separate the thread easily.  The strands of silk are intertwined.  They use this silk to make blankets.  

 

They go through a hand process of pulling the silk and stretching it over looms.  It is then dried out and then pulled by hand again to stretch it to use to fill for blankets and pillows.

 

We also went to the Temple of heaven.  Rachel and I stayed in the car, because during the drive she fell asleep.  Robbie and Elise went in.  I will let Elise tell you:

 

"The place is huge.  It is where the emperor of China gives sacrifices to heaven.  There is this huge dome with three levels.  The top roof is painted blue for heaven, the middle roof is golden yellow for the emperor, and the bottom roof is green for the common folk.  Now it is all painted blue because one emperor decided that everything should be for heaven.  There were large gardens around the whole temple and luscious green grass and trees that were all lined up in a row, many flowers and lots of gates."

We also went to the pearl factory. 

We found out how to tell if pearls are real.  You take the pearls and rub them together, if there is dust or residue they are real. 

The girls were able to open the shells to see how many pearls were inside.  The lady let them each keep a pearl. 

Then we went to the acrobat show, it was amazing.  There was a man who stacked chairs.  I took a video of it, but am unable to post it now.  I will have to wait until I get back home.

 There were some absolutely talented people.

 

I got very anxious at the motorcycles.  They would go around in this metal cage.  They continued to add one motorcycle after another, until they had eight motorcycles riding around inside.  I also took video of this, but will have to post once I return home.