The Forbidden City

November 15, 2009 (continued)

As we left Tiananmen Square we headed to the Tiananmen Gate for entry to The Forbidden City. The Square was a huge area and covers 109 acres and reportedly can hold 10,000,000 people. That's a really big square. Must be interesting when the big gatherings and celebrations are held there and the long columns of military soldiers and equipment come marching through with thousands of spectators watching.

As we passed through the Tiananmen Gate and into the Forbidden City there was a large courtyard and across the courtyard was the Hall of Supreme Harmony seen below. Quite a sight!

The Forbidden City was named that because only the Emperor could invite guests in and all others were forbidden to enter.



Yellow or gold was the color of the emperor and hence these were the prominent colors for roof tile and architectural details of the buildings in the Forbidden City.

And I thought that painting the detail on our Victorian house was a pain. Painting the detail below would be really a challenge.

The Chinese find beauty in nature and below in the emperor's garden you can begin to see the beauty in the natural stone brought to his garden. This garden area is considered a real treasure. The Forbidden City has been listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden strutures in the world. The Imperial Palace consists of the buildings within the Forbidden City perimeter, an area of 7,800,000 square feet, and consists of 980 remaining buildings with over 8,700 rooms. The construction of the Palace took from 1406 to approximately 1420 requiring a million workers for the project.

For five centuries this was the home of the Chinese emperors, notably the Ming emperors. The Palace housed the emperor's concubines numbering well over a thousand and the eunuchs required to run the whole operation. After all it probably took a lot of scheduling of all the business dealings let alone of the concubines. Those Ming guys were really something I guess.

Below a Chinese girl is posing for her friends.

When we left the Forbidden City Brian, the tour leader, had arranged for lunch in a private Chinese home. The home was in the historical Hudong area. This is an area still containing the homes built up in more recent history surrounding the old city. The streets in the area were narrow and quite a bit of construction work was being done in the area putting in electrical services to the homes to convert the old homes from heating with coal to electrical heat. The coal heat created a lot of pollution. The home owner told us that he paid for a third, the utility company paid for a third, and the government paid a third of the cost.

It was nice to actually visit a home in this area and talk with the homeowner through an interpreter. His son was an expert kung foo and karate trainer and is currently teaching in Texas. His son had followed in his footsteps and the dad had been in some movies as a stuntman.

Raising fighting crickets in China is apparently a popular sport and we were treated to a show and tell by one of the most famous local purverors of the sport. The man brought with him numerous magazine and newspaper articles about himself to verify his credentials. He was also quite a comedian of sorts. He bought him the tools of his trade and described them as to their function including the tiny "pooper scooper". He breeds and raises his collection of crickets and grasshoppers. Apparently they only live around 90 days so he can't get too attached to them but the blood lines may be important.

The home consisted of a small kitchen and then a dining room where we were seated at two tables for lunch. A very steep stairs led to a bedroom upstairs and that was basically it.

Below is one of the prized crickets.

The cricket man below-

Above and below we were treated to a rickshaw ride through the area on the way back to the tour bus.

It could have been a warmer day but still fun.

Below we were having a Peiking Duck dinner and the chefs were carving the ducks at our table.

The whole process of raising the ducks and preparation is interesting. The ducks are free ranged for 45 days and then force fed 4 times a day for 15-20 days ending up weighing around 15 lbs.

The ducks are roasted in a special oven fired by hardwood from peach or pear trees.

The meat is served with steamed pancakes and scallions and a sweet bean sauce along with cucumbers and carrot sticks. You take the pancake and put the sliced pieces of duck on it, pour some of the sweet sauce over it, add the vegetables and roll it up to eat. Pretty good!

Outside of the restaurant below.

A sign seen in a men's restroom over a urinal. Should have some of these in the states! Of course more of the restrooms there should have toilet paper like in the states.

Another interesting day spent in China.