"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.