Walk the Line
Beijing, China
June 04, 2009
We were up at 7:30 and went for our job 4-16-4 (walk-run-walk). We showered and went then buffet. I tried one of each of the buns - plain, pork, veggie, had a piece of brie, some fruit, whole wheat toast, egg whites and tea. Bill had a croissant, scrambled eggs, bacon, watermelon, walnut bread, juice and tea. It was all good!
We used the internet for a bit, grabbed our stuff and walked toward the Forbidden City with the "art students". It was lovely talking to them, but they were not happy when we did not go to the "art fair". Bill had read about this scam on Wiki Travel.
We went to the Gate Tower, Zhengyang Men and took the audio tour. It took a long time because there were 44 different segments. The gate was known as Lizheng Men (Sun and Moon are as Beautiful as Heaven) during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) and was given it's current name during the reign of Zhentong.
The Gate Tower was used for defense, it has a moat, pont levis, lock gates, a watch tower, tower battlements, soldiers and weapons. It is located on the Core Line. At the South end of the Core Line is Yongding Men and at the North is Zhengyang Men, Tian'an Men, the Forbidden City and all of the most important buildings in the ancient city. It is 8 km long and reflects "middle culture". Whatever is in the middle holds the highest position in society - Emperors would stand on the core line.
In 1406 the capital moved from Nanjing to Beijing during the Ming Dynasty. the Palace was built in Beijing and it became the official capital in 1421.
There used to be many gates to the ancient city. They are now all gone, but the names remain. There were temples built under the gates for good luck and fortune, so there must have been a lot of temples too.
Qian Men "front gate" was the South gate in from of the Forbidden City. It was used for ceremonies by the Emperors.
Chongwen Men was known as the "custom gate" because it was the location of business men and vendors. It later became the area of wine stores, so it was also known as "wine gate".
Zhengyang Men had 2 gates on either side. On the left was Chongwen and on the right was Xuanwu Men. Iron cannons went off at noon each day to precisely measure the time. Those to be executed had to pass through this gate. This gate was burned down or destroyed 5 times. The last time it was rebuilt (1910 - 1920ish) the blueprints were lost, so the German architect infused some Western style into it.
Chaoyang Men was in the East and means "sunlight". All food supplies passed through this gate. The storage barns were Lumicang, Beixincang and Dongmencang.
Fucheng Men gate in the West was where the coal was transported. A carving of plum blossoms was on this gate. It used to be known as Pingze Men meaning "peaceful life", but there were many fires here from the Forbidden City. So the name was changed to mean "frightening gate".
In the North East, Dongzhi Men gate was where wood and bricks were brought into the city.
Xizhi Men was the water gate for the Forbidden City. The water came from Xishuan Mountain.
Deshengun gate is where all the armies left for war and it was the first one that was dismantled. Anding Men meaning "peace" is where the armies crossed when they returned.
Yongdi Men is the middle of the South rampart. It was the signal building and was recently rebuilt.
After our tour of the gate and our intensive audio guide we walked to Dazhalan and Liulichang Hutongs (alleys). Hutongs run East to West and are created as the space between courtyard walls. It is now an area that has lots of shops with clothing, shoes, tea and souvenirs.
We toured about and I tried on some orange shoes (for the ball games), but did not buy them. They were inexpensive, but not comfortable. We did buy some shirts for our nephews though.
We went to Goubuli Restaurant which has been around since 1858. It is very famous for steamed buns, but I did not realize this when we ordered. The story goes that the buns were the favourite of Empress Dowager Cixi. We ordered meat with tofu (mostly tofu), rice and beef with fungus. The beef was really good. We had Yanjin Beer and water too. I took the leftovers with us and gave them to a guy begging in one of the tunnels. I don't think he was too thrilled...
We walked back through a brand new block that is made to look like an ancient city. No one has set up shop yet...
We went to a tour office to book a Great Wall trip, but the lady did not speak English and did zero to help us.
We had our passports checked again by a police officer in the street. We had already showed our passports and had our bags scanned earlier.
We went to the ticket office for the Forbidden City, but it closes at 5:00 and it is already 3:30. So, we decided to go to the Art Museum instead. Along the way we bought a tour to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs for tomorrow. It was 200/person ($33) and the group will be around 15 people.
By the time we made it to the museum (after 4:00), the ticket office was closed. We are running a bit behind today!
We bought some hats for Bill's nephews. I can't wait to get pictures of them with the hats on!
We went back to the hotel. Bill relaxed while I used the internet to finally finish the Lhasa blog. Whew!
During happy hour I had a vodka and soda and Bill had gin (that won't be good tomorrow). We had beef satays, spring rolls, nacho chip and mushroom salsa, watermelon, musk melon, dragon fruit, peanuts and raisins.
I used the internet all evening, but were in bed before 10.