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| Ms Waterman (teacher) |
Once we had limbered up a bit, we walked through the grounds of the Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420, it was used by the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to pray for good harvests for their people. The grounds of the temple are three times larger than the Forbidden City which, having just visited that huge site, is impressive! The temple itself is a unique shape among the many other temples that we have seen in China because this temple is round and three levels high. Why round? The temple is round because the Chinese belief is that the heavens are round and the Earth is square. The temple roof has three layers of painted carvings: blue (heavens), yellow (emperor), and grey (common people). I loved the painted carvings of dragons and phoenixes on the walls surrounding the temple. We’ve learned that these two animals can have a few meanings: dragon is male and phoenix is female, or a dragon means power and a phoenix symbolizes longevity.
In another part of the temple grounds, we found the altar where the emperor could pray directly to the God of Heaven by standing on the hearthstone altar. It is a raised flat circle made of white marble and surrounded by white marble stones in 9 concentric circles with large floor tiles in multiples of 9 (and steps leading up to altar are in flights of 9). 9 is the emperor’s number and it is used to show the emperor’s respect for the God of Heaven. Like the buildings in the Forbidden City, the altar and Temple of Heaven are not surrounded by trees or greenery, so the geometric patterns and shapes are that much more obvious and striking.
Next, we visited the Rainbow Pearl Market. It is the oldest pearl market in Beijing, a city which is known for its pearls (both saltwater and freshwater). We stopped in a jewelry store where I met a salesperson who has the same birthday as me and showed us many colors of pearls that I had never seen - lavender, champagne, yellow, and pink. After shopping, we had a delicious lunch of noodles (with meat, eggs, eggplant, and various sauces) at one of the few traditional-style noodle restaurants in Beijing. It was great to have a different kind of lunch than we’ve eaten for the past month.
After lunch, we spent a few hours in the Summer Palace, the summer residence of past emperors which was originally constructed to honor the emperor’s mother in her sixtieth birthday. Between its initial construction in 1750 and its restauration in 1903, it was destroyed (looted and burned) twice. You’d never guess its history while you are walking around the human-made reservoir, residences with bronze statues of animals to represent longevity, and covered walkways painted with beautiful scenes of nature. Our walk was very relaxing!
When we returned to the center of Beijing, we went directly to the Old Town to start our rickshaw tour of a Beijing hutong. The hutongs are a part of Beijing’s history that is preserved by the government in the same way that we have historical areas in old cities in the US. The name of the type of residences means “water well” in Mongolian and the residences are built around a central courtyard that is shared by the family or families who live in the rooms on all four sides around it. In Beijing, the hutongs are located along the canal which connects this city and Hangzhou.
We spent an hour wandering a huge shopping street in central Beijing that is a combination of traditional street food stalls and expensive clothing stores. Liz and Iona looked on as Kelby ate 3 fried scorpions (she reports that overall, the crunchy, salty, and oily taste masked the insect taste, but that there was also a strong guts taste, too) and Kelly and I went in search of fruits for us to take on our last sleeper train ride tomorrow (Tuesday) evening!
We finished our day with Iona’s uncle who graciously took us out to dinner in Beijing. He told us that the two main things visitors to this city have to eat are Peking duck (which we already ate with Kelly) and hot pot with lamb. It was a delicious and gigantic dinner that was unlike the hot pot we had in Xi’an because we had sesame sauce for flavor and different meats and vegetables. We had a great time with Iona translating when needed and Liz was so excited to understand a lot of what they were discussing in Chinese- go Liz! We really have enjoyed meeting people in every city, even when we can’t communicate fully in both languages!
Next, we visited the Rainbow Pearl Market. It is the oldest pearl market in Beijing, a city which is known for its pearls (both saltwater and freshwater). We stopped in a jewelry store where I met a salesperson who has the same birthday as me and showed us many colors of pearls that I had never seen - lavender, champagne, yellow, and pink. After shopping, we had a delicious lunch of noodles (with meat, eggs, eggplant, and various sauces) at one of the few traditional-style noodle restaurants in Beijing. It was great to have a different kind of lunch than we’ve eaten for the past month.
After lunch, we spent a few hours in the Summer Palace, the summer residence of past emperors which was originally constructed to honor the emperor’s mother in her sixtieth birthday. Between its initial construction in 1750 and its restauration in 1903, it was destroyed (looted and burned) twice. You’d never guess its history while you are walking around the human-made reservoir, residences with bronze statues of animals to represent longevity, and covered walkways painted with beautiful scenes of nature. Our walk was very relaxing!
When we returned to the center of Beijing, we went directly to the Old Town to start our rickshaw tour of a Beijing hutong. The hutongs are a part of Beijing’s history that is preserved by the government in the same way that we have historical areas in old cities in the US. The name of the type of residences means “water well” in Mongolian and the residences are built around a central courtyard that is shared by the family or families who live in the rooms on all four sides around it. In Beijing, the hutongs are located along the canal which connects this city and Hangzhou.
We spent an hour wandering a huge shopping street in central Beijing that is a combination of traditional street food stalls and expensive clothing stores. Liz and Iona looked on as Kelby ate 3 fried scorpions (she reports that overall, the crunchy, salty, and oily taste masked the insect taste, but that there was also a strong guts taste, too) and Kelly and I went in search of fruits for us to take on our last sleeper train ride tomorrow (Tuesday) evening!
We finished our day with Iona’s uncle who graciously took us out to dinner in Beijing. He told us that the two main things visitors to this city have to eat are Peking duck (which we already ate with Kelly) and hot pot with lamb. It was a delicious and gigantic dinner that was unlike the hot pot we had in Xi’an because we had sesame sauce for flavor and different meats and vegetables. We had a great time with Iona translating when needed and Liz was so excited to understand a lot of what they were discussing in Chinese- go Liz! We really have enjoyed meeting people in every city, even when we can’t communicate fully in both languages!
1 comment:
What a day, Rebecca! You certainly have created a lot of memories for yourself. Nice that you could have dinner with Iona's uncle, too. What a nice connection. Dad
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