more china journal
Thus 06/23/06
Today we visited the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square, had lunch at the NAtional Museum, did a rickshaw rout of a Hutong, climbed the Drum Tower, performed at Wafujeng St, and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Beijing and now crashing....
Forbidden City - Huge! HAs 2 moats... we learned about threshholds - they are about 6 inches high and keep out bad spirits who are too short to hop over them. You musnt step on it or you send a bad spirit to your family. The Palace was beautiful and I imagine even more so when water filled the gardens and you could actually see the sun. the smog is seriously ridiculous. My eyes are beet red every day from it, the dust, and other irritants.
Anyway the Palace was neat, the buildings beautiful. The emporers Palace has 9999.5 rooms... bc the Palace in Heaven where his father is has 10000 and he doesnt want to overhsadow that. There ar so many superstitions to be written but I am so incredibly tired. But it was HUGE, though Emily said that the Summer Palace is 4x as big.
I tried taking a picture of two of the animals lining the roof eaves. The more there are, the more important the building. Also, dragons (the sons of THE Dragon) are at the corners of the top of the roof. Dragons are for protection. One today was good for flying and a sword [through its head and into the roof] held it in place so that it would not fly away.
Tian'anmen Square was big also. I got a book on it all for 100 yuan. The chairman Mao is embalmed and during the day is open to see - at night he is lowered into an ice chamber so that he has a comfy sleep. no, seriously.
Lunch was good - my favs being "deep fried emporers hands" (meat and pastry that look like little bear claws) and carp fileted and deep fried to look like a crysanthemum. YUM.
The huton ride was nuts. 15 families share 1 court yard, 2 bathrooms and 2 kitchens. People return at 50 or 55... our host pays 100 yuan a month for rent. The mean excess income in Beijing is 14000 yuan, or 2 thousand dollars a year. Thats after they pay for their essentials, its what they have left over if they spend nothing more.
It is seirously like living in a slum. A slum that is 300 years old and still standing. The buildings really are amazing. [its not trashy like a slum, no graffiti or trash everywhere... but its just old and kind of falling apart. the insides were generally niec and they have some nice things, but its just really different here. inside the walls of the hutong, they dont really have doors, everythings just sort of out there, and everything is very very very old.]
We met Cricket Liu, famous for his fighting crickets and GIANT grasshoppers. EW. They sing beautifully howerever and that was cool to hear. He had all sorts of special tools for taking vcare of them.
The chinese have a different sense of matching. As in they often dont. But i may just ber that they do not have a lot of clothing. I am not sure. But the huton was serious poverty - but not seen that way! [again, its very different from the poverty here, its not TRASHY, its just having little... but needing little]
China has a 1 offspring policy and they try to give each kid their own space. The whole house was maybe the size of my living and family room. Or even my classroom at Renaissance... it was so dingy and HOT.
It seems like poeople here do not have jobs, so many people are around all the tims, its crazy. [There is such an excess of people in China, and since most people retire early, I think that this is the case... its not that they dont have jobs or something to do, there are just SO MANY PEOPLE, and families often take care of each other] I do not know how this city will handle the Olympics on 08/08/08. [8 is the number of wealth and good fortune! They ar ecleaning and renovating constantly to get ready for it, but I dont know how they can handle that many more people in the city of Beijing, its packed already]
We climbed the Drum Tower which is used to keep time and it is across from the Bell Tower. The stairs were at about a 70 degree angle, very steep. And approximately 1 ft tall steps. There were 75 in all, I think.
I am falling asleep writing this. Its 2219.
Today we visited the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square, had lunch at the NAtional Museum, did a rickshaw rout of a Hutong, climbed the Drum Tower, performed at Wafujeng St, and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Beijing and now crashing....
Forbidden City - Huge! HAs 2 moats... we learned about threshholds - they are about 6 inches high and keep out bad spirits who are too short to hop over them. You musnt step on it or you send a bad spirit to your family. The Palace was beautiful and I imagine even more so when water filled the gardens and you could actually see the sun. the smog is seriously ridiculous. My eyes are beet red every day from it, the dust, and other irritants.
Anyway the Palace was neat, the buildings beautiful. The emporers Palace has 9999.5 rooms... bc the Palace in Heaven where his father is has 10000 and he doesnt want to overhsadow that. There ar so many superstitions to be written but I am so incredibly tired. But it was HUGE, though Emily said that the Summer Palace is 4x as big.
I tried taking a picture of two of the animals lining the roof eaves. The more there are, the more important the building. Also, dragons (the sons of THE Dragon) are at the corners of the top of the roof. Dragons are for protection. One today was good for flying and a sword [through its head and into the roof] held it in place so that it would not fly away.
Tian'anmen Square was big also. I got a book on it all for 100 yuan. The chairman Mao is embalmed and during the day is open to see - at night he is lowered into an ice chamber so that he has a comfy sleep. no, seriously.
Lunch was good - my favs being "deep fried emporers hands" (meat and pastry that look like little bear claws) and carp fileted and deep fried to look like a crysanthemum. YUM.
The huton ride was nuts. 15 families share 1 court yard, 2 bathrooms and 2 kitchens. People return at 50 or 55... our host pays 100 yuan a month for rent. The mean excess income in Beijing is 14000 yuan, or 2 thousand dollars a year. Thats after they pay for their essentials, its what they have left over if they spend nothing more.
It is seirously like living in a slum. A slum that is 300 years old and still standing. The buildings really are amazing. [its not trashy like a slum, no graffiti or trash everywhere... but its just old and kind of falling apart. the insides were generally niec and they have some nice things, but its just really different here. inside the walls of the hutong, they dont really have doors, everythings just sort of out there, and everything is very very very old.]
We met Cricket Liu, famous for his fighting crickets and GIANT grasshoppers. EW. They sing beautifully howerever and that was cool to hear. He had all sorts of special tools for taking vcare of them.
The chinese have a different sense of matching. As in they often dont. But i may just ber that they do not have a lot of clothing. I am not sure. But the huton was serious poverty - but not seen that way! [again, its very different from the poverty here, its not TRASHY, its just having little... but needing little]
China has a 1 offspring policy and they try to give each kid their own space. The whole house was maybe the size of my living and family room. Or even my classroom at Renaissance... it was so dingy and HOT.
It seems like poeople here do not have jobs, so many people are around all the tims, its crazy. [There is such an excess of people in China, and since most people retire early, I think that this is the case... its not that they dont have jobs or something to do, there are just SO MANY PEOPLE, and families often take care of each other] I do not know how this city will handle the Olympics on 08/08/08. [8 is the number of wealth and good fortune! They ar ecleaning and renovating constantly to get ready for it, but I dont know how they can handle that many more people in the city of Beijing, its packed already]
We climbed the Drum Tower which is used to keep time and it is across from the Bell Tower. The stairs were at about a 70 degree angle, very steep. And approximately 1 ft tall steps. There were 75 in all, I think.
I am falling asleep writing this. Its 2219.
posted by FireWithin at 12:10 PM
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