The Forbidden City

Our friend Eric made the comment the other day that you only seem to be able to accomplish one or two tasks per day in Beijing. Despite our efforts to explore the city's many temples, parks and other attractions, we're finding this to be true. The city is so large - and the traffic so dense - that it takes a lot of time to get anywhere. What looks like an inch on the map can take an hour to walk (or an hour sitting in a taxi in traffic.) What we've managed to see has been wonderful, however. The other morning, we travelled from the uber-modern neighborhood where our hotel is located to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City - two sites that are side-by-side, but showcase the dramatic political and social changes in China over the last century. The Forbidden City was the heart of Beijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (until the early 1900s), and Tiananmen Square, a huge, flat expanse of concrete, was built by Mao in the 1950s on the former site of Chinese Imperial buildings.

We started at the south gate of Tiananmen and walked the length of it to get to the Forbidden City. Like everywhere we've been in Beijing, it was packed with people - many of whom were in line to visit Mao's mausoleum and catch a quick glimpse of the preserved Chairman in his glass case. We passed on that. At the north end of the square, after passing under a gate featuring a looming picture of Mao, we entered into the Forbidden City, a walled complex of restored temples, palaces and courtyards. The City is surrounded by a moat, and after our tour, we crossed the street to a park and climbed a huge hill to get a view of the Forbidden City from above. The hill was made with the dirt removed to make the moat.

Despite not having a clue how to read Chinese, we're finding Beijing relatively easy to negotiate walking and by subway. (And thanks to Eric, and the friendly hotel staff, who have given directions to taxi drivers on our behalf.) We are getting a kick out of some of the signs we've encountered (like the sign that seems to say "no exploding cars", or the "no bugles" sign. My favorite was a sign by a suspension bride at the Great Wall that warned that people "suffering from unconsciousness are not admitted".)