"Beijing China"
It was quite a shock, temperature-wise
once we arrived in Beijing, as we had left a balmy 20+ degrees to
discover -9 degrees but we were excited to see the sites we had been
dreaming of visiting. Our hotel was a converted Opera House and which
still offered a traditional Chinese Opera show. We bought tickets
for that evening's performance which gave you an opportunity of pre-show
viewing of the makeup application. The Chinese Opera is a mixture
of mime-like acting and acrobatics which we found quite spectacular.
We had arranged to do an organized three day tour which we felt was
the easiest way to see everything in the time we had allowed. We were
picked up at our hotel in the morning and firstly taken to the Temple
of Heaven. The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty
to offer sacrifice to Heaven. It is now a public park area where people
gather to exercise, play games, meditate and listen to local musicians.
Our next stop was Tiananmen Square, where you can visit Tiananmen
Tower, Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall of the People,
Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and see the national flag raising ceremony.
At the north end of the Square is Tiananmen Tower. Initially built
in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty, the Square was the front door of
the Forbidden City. The most important use of it in the past was to
declare in a big ceremony to the common people who became the emperor
and who became the empress. Until 1911 when the last feudal kingdom
was over, no one could enter the Tower except for the royal family
and aristocrats.
As we walked into the Forbidden City,
we were overwhelmed with the history. This was one of the main items
on my "Bucket List" and I was in awe. There has been a lot
of work done to restore the City and it is still continuing but it
is amazing that, after all this time, rooms are preserved in the exact
way they were last inhabited. Furniture, bedding, ornaments are as
they were hundreds of years ago. Evidence of damage from feuds are
evident and it was surreal to walk the courtyards where emperors and
their dynasties had walked before us.
As I had found no evidence of small, Shih Tzu-type breeds in any literature
or art I had looked through in Asia before, I was determined and positive
I would find something here, as the Shih Tzu had originated here and
was royalty owned and controlled. We entered several book stores filled
with artifacts and mementos but nowhere was any evidence of dogs.
I enlisted the help of our translator as she would be able to read
Chinese and may find something I could not. Finally in a little bookstore
off to the side, she found a small book with an excerpt stating the
Empress Dowager Cixi had a kennel of about 100 small dogs in the southwest
section of the Forbidden City. Attached to the text was a photo of
several people including the Empress and at her feet, was a small
coated dog. It went on to further say, she was given a large breed
dog and eventually emptied her kennel in favour of the new breed.
Finally, I had found evidence of our breed in its origin.
Our next stop was the Summer Palace. Constructed from 1115-1911, it
had become a luxurious royal garden providing royal families with
rest and entertainment. Containing examples of the ancient arts, it
also has graceful landscapes and magnificent constructions. The Summer
Palace is the archetypal Chinese garden, and is ranked amongst the
most noted and classical gardens of the world. Here we travelled the
longest corridor in the world and I found more evidence of dogs in
the paintings that adorned the walls and ceilings,although these were
all of a hound-type origin.
The next day, we were off to the Great Wall of China, another "Bucket
List" item and on the way, we stopped at a jade museum and factory.
Jade is a very important part of Chinese culture and many women wear
jade bangles for life on their left arm for luck.
The Great Wall, one of "the New Seven Wonders of the World",
did not disappoint and was awe-inspiring. It winds up and down across
deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately
8,851.8 kilometers from east to west of China. With a history of more
than 2000 years, some of the sections are now in ruins or have disappeared.
The thought of the hardship endured to build this magnificent structure
was amazing and although warned of the difficulty, we walked along
it for as far as we were allowed, with parts of it being very steep,
taking 1 1/2 hours to complete.
We next ventured to the Ming Toombs where the Emperors were buried.
This covers a vast amount of land and which, interestingly, has been
largely left alone. Several tombs have yet to be discovered and remain
buried and unknown of their contents. A stop at a silk factory on
the way back to our hotel was very interesting. The process was demonstrated
with the opportunity to have a try and many products were available
made on site of which Wendy purchased a silk duvet.
The next day we were on our own and took
a taxi to the site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We were especially
interested to see this as the 2010 would be hosted in Vancouver in
a few weeks.
We then went to the Yong He Gong Lama Temple, the largest and most
important still functioning Tibetan Buddhist temple where Buddhist
monks continue to worship and offer comfort to those seeking it. We
participated in the ceremony of saying a prayer and burning incense
which was easily purchased from stands on the streets.
Our last day in Beijing was a leisurely
walk in our hotel's vicinity. We had a late afternoon flight and so
used our morning to take in more of this amazing city's heritage.
It is a complete blend of the old and the new. Several ancient areas
remain enclosed in walled sections in the middle of a busy metropolis
area. We ventured into one of these areas and were transported into
days gone by. Stands of produce, nuts, meat and other wares teemed
from storefronts. Narrow paths between buildings led to the unknown.
Everyone was very friendly and we wandered until we came out into
a modern shopping area Qianmen Dajie, which was full of boutique shopping,
cobblestone streets and a Starbucks!
China was certainly a lifetime experience
and one we would love to revisit. Thank you to our hosts for an unforgettable
trip.
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