Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City - April 5th

We left the Raffles promptly at 8:30 AM to beat the crowds to Tian’anmen Square and Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum. It worked. Here is Joani as promised in front of Mao’s Tomb, after we filed past his eternally preserved body in its crystal chrysalis. No photos were allowed inside.

Tian’anmen Square is bounded on the south by the Zhengyangmen, the original south gate of the city wall when Beijing was a walled city. The gate is the only part left standing.

Tian’anmen Square is huge; it can easily accommodate one million people for a rally or celebration, as you can see in this picture of Joyce and Joani

Here is a map showing the layout of Tian’anmen and the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is small on the map but actually much larger than Tian’anmen Square. We walked from the City Wall Gate to the far end of the Forbidden City and Joani and Joyce recorded 20,000 steps on their fit bits that day.

You can see that all the key buildings were built on a common axis. The Olympic Bird's Nest Stadium is 30 minutes away but if you extend the line it is on the same axis.

Here is Joani in front of the Monument to the Peoples’ Heroes, dedicated to the Chinese who lost their lives in WWII, between 15 and 20 million.

Here we are on the north end of the Square in front of Tian’anmen, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, with its portrait of Chairman Mao on the other side of Chang’an Avenue behind us. This is the widest road in Beijing, 5 lanes each way, and is where the military parades its tanks and rocket launchers on May Day in front of a million people with the country leadership reviewing from the balcony above Mao’s portrait. The Gate of Heavenly Peace was the entrance to the old Imperial City, inside of which the Forbidden City was located.

Below is the gate to the Forbidden City, which was built between 1405 and 1420, early in the Ming Dynasty, when the Emperor moved the capital from Nanjing (Nan: South; Jing: Capital) to Beijing (Bei: North). Yes, the Beijing South railway station is Beijing Nan.

Only the Emperor could use the center gate. Actually, not quite true. The Empress could enter once, on her wedding day. And once every three years, the three young winners of the national scholar competition could exit on their Selection Day before taking key positions in the government. The Emperor’s Court and family used the right gate; and high ranking government and military officials the left. There were side gates for anyone else allowed inside.

Commoners were prohibited. For those brought in as servants, guards and concubines, it was a one way trip. Once in, you could never leave, except by death.

The Forbidden City is no longer used for government offices or functions. Mao’s parents were farmers and commoners; and he saw the Forbidden City as a symbol of elitism and decadence. He would not live or work there. He built his presidential palace and offices outside, about a kilometer away. The grounds are now The Palace Museum, used only for tourism and sight-seeing (and revenue generation).

The Forbidden City has a massive Outer Area where the Palace Guard was garrisoned. Then after passing through yet another gate and wall is the Middle Area, where government affairs were actually conducted. This area was dominated by the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the tallest building in the city, elevated upon three layers of marble, where the Emperor granted audiences from his elevated throne. The building (above and below) is immense.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was filled with billowing clouds incense, so as to obscure the Emperor’s face, and making it appear that he was a god surrounded by heavenly clouds up on his throne. Pay no attention to that man behind the screen.

Then the Inner Area, where the Emperor lived with his extended family and his 300 or 400 concubines (one Emperor had more than a 1000). Another wall and gate. Like Russian nesting Dolls

Finally, we hiked and hiked and exited from the back (north) end of the Forbidden City. Here is the moat along the Rear Wall. All the dirt removed to construct the moat was piled up into a small man-made mountain, on top of which now sits a Buddhist temple.

Temple of the Glorious Moat Excavation???

A late lunch. We were thirsty. Our beer of choice in Beijing was Yanjing, the most popular local brand, in the generous 500 ml. bottle. Quite a capital beer!

Tomorrow: The Great Wall and the Summer Palace.