Forbidden City

The 26th we headed out to see some of the main city sites. We caught a taxi to the Forbidden Palace with dad’s trusty book of destinations. Because not many people speak English, including taxi drives, there are a set of cards with major Beijing destinations written in English, Pinyin (Anglosiced Chinese) and Chinese. Most Chinese can’t even understand Western attempts at speaking Chinese because it is so tonal and we are basically useless! So the set of cards come in very handy!

So, we arrived at the impressive north end of the Forbidden City, took some pictures around the moat to find someplace to eat and enter from the front gates (to the south) bordering Tiananmen.

Emily at the north west corner of the walled Forbidden City

We found a great little restaurant near the eastern gate and again ordered up big! Noodles, rice, bamboo and spinach, chicken and beef! It was way too much food but very delicious. This gave us the energy to continue walking along the beautiful hutongs (traditional narrow streets) down towards the entrance with a couple of divergences into an art gallery and a pretty little park.


One of the nice little art galleries along the side of the Forbidden City

Neil being a lion


Emily in front one of the nice little gardens

Walking up to see the front gate of the Forbidden City with Mao’s large portrait hanging at the front was very impressive. And looking south across Tiananmen was also awe-inspiring. It is one enormous square framed by impressive large buildings; the National Museum to the east, the Great Hall of the People to the west and Mao’s mausoleum in the middle looking south. We took in Tiananmen for a few minutes and then went over to enter the Forbidden City through the Gate of Heavenly Peace. We purchase entry tickets and got the Roger Moore audio guide describing some of the main elements of the Palaces.

Neil with Mao's portrait on the Gate of Heavenly Peace

After a not so quick bathroom stop for poor Neil we started going through the huge Palace complex - it was huge and there was so much to see

The first courtyard of the Forbidden City

Off limits to commoners for 500 years, the Forbidden City is the largest and best preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China. Home to the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the rest of China was governed from here until the 1911 revolution. Originally built between 1406 and 1420, most current buildings are actually from the 18th century. Made mostly of wood, the palace has gone up in flames many times in its history. During the 20th century there have been 2 main lootings of the Palace - by Japanese forces and the Kuomingtang. Apparently there are a large number of old Palace relics in the National Palace Museum in Taiwan - some say that this was not necessarily a bad thing as the subsequent Cultural Revolution destroyed much of China's artwork.

Apparently there's a permanent restoration team moving around the City repainting and repairing the place. It is estimated that it will take about 10 years for a full renovation by which time it will need to start over again! The place is definitely huge!

Neil starting to feel a little tired at the back end of the City

Neil at the back end of the city - where we both started and ended the day

posted by batik billy @ 3:43 pm