Seven hours and three sets of meal vouchers after our China Southern flight should have taken off from Seoul, it finally did. Maybe we should have paid more attention to the delay as an omen of things to come (for better or worse, we were about to be slowed to a crawl by China’s queues and systems), but we were excited to take off and start the next adventure. Our bellies were still full of kimchi as we arrived after Beijing airport. So far so good. There were no issues with visas or customs, and we waltzed right over to the subway sign after leaving baggage claim. The ATM dispensed some yuan, and buying a ticket on the airport line was simple and relatively cheap. Less than an hour later, with only one transfer, we found ourselves at Qingmen Station, just south Tiananmen Square. It was around 10th pm, so everything was illuminated. Colorful Christmas-style lights, red lanterns, or soft white spotlights adorned every building in sight, a regular summer wonderland. The directions to the hostel were quite good, leading us down one main thorofare and a big side-street before coming to a fork in the road beyond which was a  darkish alley in either direction. We agreed to walk a few hundred feet, and if we didn’t see the place we’d turn around. Fortunately, there it was, the Emperor Guesthouse, just where it should be. The building is a couple hundred years old, and built in the courtyard style with rooms on two floors facing a huge, open courtyard. The courtyard was roofed, so it was dim no matter what time of day. Along the edges of the courtyard were a few tables, and in the middle a pool table and ping pong. We often saw small groups of Chinese tourists being led in and given the building’s historical tour.

Bright and early, Tiananmen Square beckoned with its wide open spaces and historical significance. Originally, part of the square was taken up by the  Imperial City Wall. Later, Mao conceived of the square as a demonstration of the greatness of the Communist Party. Maybe most notably to the outside world it was the site of pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 that ended in many deaths and the detainment of hundreds of protesters.  There was lots of security, bag scanning, cameras and the like (they even made me sip from my open water bottle to be sure it was nothing crazy), which was a bit unnerving, but once inside the gates it was more relaxed. A huge screen took up the south end, while statues of proud workers in front of one building, and a Monument to the People’s Heroes in the middle. There are big buildings and museums on either side, including the National Museum, Chairman Mao Memorial Hall and the Great Hall of the People. They say that a million people can fit in the square. Somewhere beyond, of course, is the enormous portrait of Chairman Mao near the Gate of Heavenly Peace. There seemed to be more foreign tourists here than we has seen anywhere else so far, with many families and big groups. Exiting to the north, we head for  the Forbidden City.

Beijing is set up on sort of a grid, with everything aligned with the Forbidden City at the center. There are seven concentric circle roads radiating out from this center, some with a corresponding subway line. The subway system is very good, if terribly crowded most of the time. For 2 yuan (about 33 cents) you can get close to pretty much anywhere. Buses are a great deal too, at 1 yuan, but traffic means they crawl along at an exceuciatingly slow pace.

The Forbidden City is truly amazing. Some buildings dating back to the 15th century, emperors of both the Ming and Qing dynasties called the Forbidden City home. The grounds seem to go on forever. Entering through the Meridian Gate, and continuing through the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Supreme Harmony and its two little sisters, the Halls of Middle Harmony and Hall of Preserving Harmony form the center of the Forbidden City. These buildings served different purposes, from making imperial decisions to holding banquets. Gone were the greenish cellon tile roofs we’d grown accustomed to in Korea. These buildings were all about the red and gold. Restorations aren’t always so authentic, but the colors throughout the Forbidden City are striking. It helped being set off by a gorgeous day with clear blue skies. The courtyard surrounding these buildings is massive and completely empty. You can imagine how many guests the emperor could address in this space.  There is a lot more stonework here than anywhere else we’ve seen. There is another set of buildings further north, each with decorations, thrones, furniture, etc. to observe if you can muscle your way to the front.  On either side of these  buildings are a labyrinth of living quarters now housing exhibits of all kinds of artifacts. Running down almost the length of the Forbidden City, north-south are corridors so long you can hardly see the other end. At the northern end is the impressive Imperial Garden with other-worldly-looking rock formations, a pagoda, statues of elephants and lots of twisted cypress trees. It could take a full day to explore all of the City, and there are plenty of vendors with snacks, refreshments, and countless popsicles for when you need a break.

We exited through the northern Shenwu Gate and walked along the palace moat. On the way home we explored some of the many hutong (networks of narrow alleys, ancient neighborhoods of small houses and old courtyard-style dwellings). Each was different from the next, and there were lots of characters about, just as curious about us as we were about their neighborhood.

The Confucian Temple of Heaven was another day-long trek. This walled park was filled with stone gates, altars to pray for a good harvest, halls, gardens and long paths connecting each. The Round Altar, which dates from 1530, is made of white marble. Each of its three tiers is tied in to the heavenly number nine. At the center or the top tier, in the middle of another nine-ring design is a centerpoint from which sounds, especially voices are said to resonate beautifully. Near the Imperial Vault, in another area of the park is an echo wall with interesting acoustics. The most striking structure in the park is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. It’s a unique shape, and set on top of a three-tiered marble terrace.  Somewhere on the grounds there was a small door that Emporer Qianlong had built when he was 70 years old and in failing health. It made it more convenient for him to come and go about his tasks there. He was worried about his sons abusing the convenience out of laziness so he issued a decree saying “From now on only he among my offspring could enter and exit by this door who has reached the age of 70 years old.” It was thus named the Seventy-Year-Old-Door. Unfortunately none of the other Qing emporers made it that long, and Emporer Quianlong was the only one go ever pass through the doorway. Our favorite part of the park was sitting and watching people go about their Saturday rituals in different areas. Some were dancing; one woman sang, accompanied by a guy on the sticks and the audience clapping. Some younger folks kicked around a hacky sack-looking toy. Around the platform surrounding on open hall, older ladies were stretching to some classic oldest-sounding tunes and doing yoga-like poses or meditating. Nearby two women practiced martial area, one with a sword. Elsewhere people played cards, while a few men used a water bottle to wet a brush or stick and practice the brush strokes of their Chinese characters in the dust.

In the evening we walked through Wangfujing and some of its famous snack and food streets. There were skewers of fruit covered in caramelized sugar, skewers of grilled squid, scorpion still trying to wriggle off and escape the heat, a few pitiful seahorses on sticks, unnamed organs and entrails, meat sticks, bowls of noodles, buns and so on.  We played it pretty safe and went for some sort of a fill-up with a crepe-like outside and something resembling bean sprouts inside. We also had some octopus doughballs and other small, unidentifiable snacks.

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