Day 2 - 15 April, 2014

Beijing

I set the alarm incorrectly so we woke up early then we needed. There were also two showers in the bathroom. I saw the one over the bath and proceeded to shower. Michael thought this was funny as there was this big shower in the corner next to the toilet. Di and two others also had the same experience.

Today we begin by being bused to near Tienanmen Square and spending  some time exploring the square.
From there to the Forbidden City which is a walk through a gate from Tienanmen Square.
From there after a short walk we are to be bused to a park containing the Temple of Heaven.

The amount of  traffic and people was a level above what I had previously experienced, I guess I'll need to get used to the crowding. I don't think I want to drive in China, I'll be happy being a passenger

Shop on way to Tienanmen Square

Tienanmen Square is a large city square in the centre of Beijing China named after the Tienanmen Square (Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tienanmen Square is the fourth largest city square in the world (880×500 m ). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.

The Tienanmen Square Gate to the Forbidden City was built in 1415 during the Ming Dynasty. Towards the demise of the Ming Dynasty, heavy fighting between Li Zicheng and the early Qing emperors  damaged (or perhaps destroyed) the gate. The Tienanmen square was designed and built in 1651, and has since enlarged to four times its original size in the 1950's.

Some Photos from Tienanmen Square. There were masses of people in the square, I tried to pick photos to minimize the number of people in the frame.

 Zhengyangmen Gate Tower marking the south end of Tienanmen Square

Monument to the People's Heroes

 Tienanmen gate tower to the Forbidden City north of Tienanmen Square

Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

Monument in front of Mao's Mausoleum on Tienanmen Square

People in front of a building

Di, Alan and Michael in front of the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

The Great Hall of the People on the west side of the Square

Monument to the People's Heroes

 National Museum of China on the east side of the Square

Panorama National Museum of China on the east side of the Square

 Tienanmen gate tower to the Forbidden City north of Tienanmen Square

National Museum of China on the east side of the Square

Tienanmen gate tower to the Forbidden City north of Tienanmen Square

One of many poles with security cameras attached

The next site was the Forbidden City. It is adjacent to Tienanmen Square.



The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the centre of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of the Chinese government.
Built from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 72 ha. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.
Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Part of the museum's former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the same institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War.

The Forbidden City was even more crowded than Tienanmen Square.

Below are photos of some of the gates, buildings and artifacts associated with the Forbidden City.

The Inner Court was the administration and ceremonial part of the Forbidden City. 

Studded door leading to Forbidden City

Meridan Gate

Meridian Gate

The Gate of Supreme Harmony

Panorama of Inner Court

Panorama of Inner Court

The Palace of Heavenly Purity

Canal in Inner Court

Canal in Inner Court

Panorama of Inner Court

Photos from the Outer Court which was the living quarters of the emperor and his Family

The Hall of Central Harmony (foreground) and the Hall of Preserving Harmony(rear)

DSC03186 - The Hall of Supreme Harmony at the centre of the Forbidden City

Michael, Di and Alan

Dressed in Emperors Cloths

Old Wisteria Tree

Imperial Garden

Pagodas on the surrounding hills

Close-up of the Pagodas on hills in the previous photo

Structures beside the Canal when walking back to the bus

The surroundings of the Temple of Heaven are now a very popular park for exercising.

People making use of the park leading to the Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven

The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emporer, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The complex was extended and renamed the Temple of Heaven during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the 16th century. The Jiajing Emperor also built three other prominent temples in Beijing, the Temple of Sun  in the east, the Temple of Earth  in the north, and the Temple of Moon in the west . The Temple of Heaven was renovated in the 18th century under the Qianlong Emperor . Due to the deterioration of the state budget, this became the last large-scale renovation of the temple complex in the imperial time.
The temple was occupied by the Anglo-French Alliance during the Second Opium War. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight Nation Alliance occupied the temple complex and turned it into the force's temporary command in Beijing, which lasted for one year. The occupation desecrated the temple and resulted in serious damage to the building complex and the garden. Robberies of temple artifacts by the Alliance were also reported. With the downfall of the Qing, the temple complex was left unmanaged. The neglect of the temple complex led to the collapse of several halls in the following years.
The Temple of Heaven was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 and was described as "a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world’s great civilizations..." as the "symbolic layout and design of the Temple of Heaven had a profound influence on architecture and planning in the Far East over many centuries.


Inside the Temple of Heaven

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

Gate of Temple of Heaven

Gate in Temple of Heaven

Just a small crowd

 Historical timeline of the buildings for the Temple of Heaven

Mingtang of Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) period

Mingtang of the Western Zhou Dynasty

Mingtang of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Wan-Xiang Shrine of the Tang Dynasty

Great Sacrifice Hall

Looking up to cupola

 Artifacts in the Shop

On the trip back to hotel an amusing activity occurred.

A taxi , just ahead of us, stopped at the lights, got out of his car and whilst still in his lane on the road went around to the boot of his car and  pulled out a container and proceeded to fill his thermos.
He than got back in the car and started drinking from the thermos before driving off when the lights changed.

For dinner one of the dishes was Peking Duck, quite tasty but no better than I've had in Canberra. The rest of the meal was acceptable.