Sunday, May 30, 2010

Checking out

Our last night was short since we had to leave the hotel by 12:30pm, but we did walk down Wangfujing street again to get a meal and take it all in once again.

I hope to someday visit China again, whether it be Beijing again or another city, because it was such an amazing trip!!

I was amazed with myself, because I have such a hard time with food, but I tried new things and was much more adventurous than normal. The food (for the most part) was good and I had a wonderful hotpot meal as well as a good meal at a hidden local restaurant on a side street. We had to point to dishes since none of them spoke English but it turned out to be very good.

Throughout our trip, people kept referring to the meaning behind specific colors, especially in the clothing for emperors as well as silk. I decided to do a little research to find out more about it and here's what I came out with.

The five basic colours of the Chinese tradition are arranged according to their equivalents:

  1. Red: fire, reaching upwards, corresponds to the south as dictated by the traditional Chinese cardinal points, and coincides with the warm season of summer.
  2. Black: water, delving into the depths, is in the north. Its season, winter, is marked by the absence of water, which at this time gathers in the northern "shallows of the world".
  3. Green: wood, is in the east and relates to spring. Green is also the colour of the world of plants.
  4. White: metal, is in the west, with its season autumn with white as its colour: a white with a blue tint. Incidentally, contrary to Western colour-systems, black and white are part of the same circle in Chinese colour-systems.
  5. Yellow: earth. In the code of the five elements, the earth has a carrying, supporting function, and thus also assumes the function of primary source and nutrition: the plants sprout from the earth, from where fire, too, breaks out; metals are extracted from its mines, and water flows from its wells. The earth is the centre — the colour yellow; its taste is sweet, and its aroma is that of perfume. Mankind as the yellow race, the inhabitants of this world, stems from this equivalent.

The colors yellow (or gold) and blue were the colors of royalty, worn by the emperor and empress. Also, a lot of the buildings are colored in red and yellow. Click here to see a Color Chart of all the different colors and their meanings with differences between Eastern traditions and Western traditions.

Day 6 - Markets & Hutongs

Our last full day, we were all exhausted, so we had a late start before heading out. We wanted to check out the market street that is antiques and other goods. We didn't end up buying much except for a handmade Chinese musical instrument, but it was an enjoyable visit and Juliana kept sitting on all of the shopkeeper's stools!
The instrument is called a Xun, one of the earliest instruments in China with a history of over 7,000 years. The one below is similar to the one we bought, but a different design, however they were made with different materials over time. The sound it produces is elegant and graceful, harmonious with nature. Jia pingwa, a well-known Chinese author, described the music played by Xun as the "Sound of the Earth."
After this, we wanted to walk through the Hutongs, which are traditional narrow alleys and lanes lining both sides of the streets with courtyard houses. The "hutong" and "siheyuan", with their unique atmosphere and scenery are a major part of the city's tradition, architecture and culture. Of the traditional narrow lanes, which housed communities of close-knit families for many generations, many have disappeared, being flattened and rebuilt with markets, department stores, widened boulevards and commercial streets. Another walk through the park on our way back to the hotel at the end of the dead, ready for food!
This was the one and only day we ended up eating at the hotel since it was getting late and our little girl was so tired. I must admit though, it was pretty good food!

Day 5 - Lama Temple & Beihai Park

On our way in to the Lama Temple, a very sacred place for the Chinese people...
This temple is also known as "The Temple of Peace and Harmony." It is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. The building and the artworks of the temple combine Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.
Inside each building, where pictures were not aloud, were all different styles and sizes of Buddhas for the Chinese people to pray and pay homage to their Buddha. They would light incense and burn it as well as give money offerings at the foot of many of the statues.
This was funny, because while I posed for this picture, about ten Chinese people took my picture!!
Jacob standing in front of the beautiful buildings. We walked away wishing we understood more about the beliefs of Buddhism and the meanings of their sacrifices. Of course, now that I'm home, I've been reading about it and it's quite fascinating.
Next up was the Beihai Park - 北海公园 - is an imperial garden to the northwest of the Forbidden City which was built in the 10th century. It is one of the city's largest parks, containing numerous historical structures, palaces and temples. More than half of the park is covered with a lake. Beihai literally means "Northern Sea" and the structures and scenes in the Park are described as masterpieces of gardening technique that reflects the style and the superb architectural skill and richness of traditional Chinese garden art.
The stones lining the staircases were amazing... Up at the top...
After a late night, Juliana and I stayed at the hotel for her to sleep while Jacob headed out to see the city at night time and explore the antique market. He picked up a nice chess set as well as a Chinese chess set. For those of you who don't know Jacob, he collects chess sets from all of the trips we've taken. Someday when we have the space, we'll get to display them all!!
All of the city's buildings are lit up at night and I wish I could have seen it...

Day 4 - The Great Wall & Ming Tombs

Chair life up to the wall, because the idea of walking up with Juliana was way too overwhelming.
Death grip on Juliana, because we were so high!!
This is a small part of the toboggan ride we'd be taking back down the mountain...
Isn't this amazing??
A view with a watchtower behind us...
A view with the wall way behind us...
She kept saying, "I'm on the great great wall!"
Juliana asked if we could bring the Pooh family onto the wall, so of course we did. We can't wait to get this printed, framed and hung in her room!
The second watch tower we got to, we got to climb up top for an even better view!
Jacob and I peaking out :-)
WOO HOO!!! We're on the Great Wall of China! I can't believe we made it to one of the Great World Wonders, walked along it and took in the beautiful scenery.
We nearly did this walk way down and way back up, but it was so hot and Juliana was exhausted! It was nice though, because you could still see the watch towers and wall for miles up there.
Jacob up on the wall...
I had so many more pictures of the Great wall as well as video, but I tried to pick out the best ones to show. More are on our shutterly photo site in case you're interested. After taking the toboggan ("giant slide" to Juliana) down the mountain, we headed to lunch at the city's well-known Jade Museum. I have never seen so much Jade in my life, in all shapes and colors, in decorations, statues, jewellery, ornaments and so on and so forth. I wanted to buy a few pieces, but the prices were very, very expensive.

Next up was the Ming Tombs where 13 of the city's emperors are buried. The amount of land and work put into creating one single tomb for an emperor was so hard for me to wrap my head around. The first two emperors are buried elsewhere before the third emperor chose this site to create the Ming tombs and the seventh emperor was lost and no one ever knew what happened to him.

Here's a great view of the outside of the Ming Tomb...
This is the "Gate of Death," which means those on the inside are deceased and those that come out are still alive.
This massive building houses the entrance, now closed off, into the tomb for the emperor, empress and all of their belongings, (gold, silk, clothing, furniture, etc.) because the Chinese people believe that when someone dies, they take these things to their next life.

Inside here was a massive tower with the emperor's name inscribed on it.
Our driver and tour guide made a quick stop so that we could see the Olympic buildings from 2008. The bird's nest was amazing...
So was the ice cube where Michael Phelps got famous!
Finally, after a 9 hour day, they stopped at the Silk museum and although I did not take pictures, it was fascinating to see how pure silk is made and how incredibly expensive it is. In ancient times, locals were not allowed to have silk or else they would be beheaded. It was reserved solely for royalty.

PHEW! This was byfar the most amazing day of our trip and we got to see so many different things including some I just couldn't get to. We were thankful to have spent the extra money on a private tour, because we could get all of the descriptions and history about each site we stopped at as well as drive through the local villages and fields.

Day 3 - Forbidden City

Monday was devoted to the Forbidden since it was gigantic as you can see from a bird's eye view below... There were hundreds of buildings of all shapes and sizes that housed the emperor and empress. Different buildings to sleep, eat, pray, dress, bathe, etc.
Showing a small part of the moat that surrounds the entire Forbidden City...
Passing through the first gate...
Even on a weekday, it was crowded! But here's Juliana posing just inside the first gate...
She had a lot of fun, but it was tiring with all the stairs and walking. We were exhausted once we finally got to the garden at the back to rest!
These gigantic vats were to catch rain water in case there was a fire, then they would have plenty of water on hand. There were placed all throughout the Forbidden City.
"I'm the princess!!!"
These stone carvings were placed in the center of each staircase, but this one is a single piece of stone. In order to get it there, they froze the road in winter time and men dragged it along the ice to be placed here. It was gorgeous.
Although the Forbidden City was magnificent, there was a gorgeous park in the back and we really enjoyed the scenery and trees as well as a bride and groom having their photos taken. Juliana liked this "seat."
This was a lover's tree, so we stood inside it with our family for a blessing!
Just to show you how detailed all of the buildings throughout the city, here are a few pictures of the handmaid painting done on every inch of the buildings...
Another amazing day! We finished it up with some local shopping before grabbing a late dinner and heading to the room after a napless day for Juliana.