Beijing, China
Today Demi picked us up at 8 am. We owed her some money for expenses. PayPal was easy to do in the car.
Tiananmen Square was first. This the picture from 1989 that I remember.
I asked Demi about. She was just a child but could provide the Chinese peoples’ take on it. A large group of college students protested in the square. They sought more freedom. At the time only 5% of the Chinese population were college educated. These people were considered the intellectual elite and common people backed them.
The square today.
Tiananmen Square now has a gate and guards surrounding it. There have been several self immolation incidences here since 1989. Everyone must go through security to enter the square. Hundreds of cameras monitor this place. People on the street feel very safe because everything is being recorded.
The Forbidden City is where the Emperor of China and his servants, administrators, and concubines lived. It was called the Forbidden City because ordinary people were forbidden to enter. Construction began during the Ming Dynasty in 1406 and was completed in 1420. The last Emperor, Qing, was here until 1912. After 1912, China began to use it as a museum. Things here remain the same as they were in 1912. During its’ period of usage, fires destroyed some of the buildings and they were replaced. The intricate detailed painting is continually being repainted. It takes 30 years to complete and then is started again. One can see the brilliance of freshly painted detail on the buildings and the dullness of those that need to be repainted.
The Forbidden City is very large. We walked all the way through and took in what we could. Our next stop was the Temple of Heaven. Originally it was the Temple of Heaven and Earth but it was thought that heaven and earth should be separated. Items representing earth were moved to a different park. Heavenly buildings had a round top and earthly building had a square top. The Emperor we go here to pray each spring to the different god’s to ask for water or a bountiful harvest or other things depending on which god prayer was directed to.
The rock pictured with people praying on it was an area that had mathematical significance. 9 steps up to each landing. Each landing had 9 x9 stones. Around the center stone that people were praying had rings of stones. First ring was 9 stones, second ring 18, then 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 71, 78. There were short posts that can be seen in the picture. There were 360 of those going around the plaza.
There was no more time left to see the temple of earth. We finished here and went to lunch.
Demi ordered the food for us. The dumplings had beef in them. Very difficult to eat with chop sticks. Tomato soup, cucumbers with tofu and potatoes. Cabbage with peppers. All very delicious. Yanjing Beer. Yanjing is the old name of Beijing.
Demi asked if we needed her to come with us to the port. It is a 2 hour drive. I asked if the driver spoke any English. She said no. Just text me. We agreed and said goodbye here. Demi grabbed the subway and our driver took us back to the ship.
From the information given to us by both of our Chinese guides, Communism was a good thing for China. Hyperinflation was destroying the country. People loved Mao and the people believed he cared for them. Our experience is that China has more of a market economy than we are led to believe. The people here seem generally happy. The military and police are everywhere. Cameras monitor every move. I imagined myself on hundreds of screens with my name floating over the top of me while we visited.
We arrived back about 4:30 and prepared for dinner.
Team trivia was extremely difficult. All of the questions had to do with Kings and Queens. We can’t even remember any of the questions. Henry was a good answer for most of the King questions and Catherine for the Queens name. One team claimed to have all but one right. Thomas enjoys making these trivia questions too much.
The evening entertainment was vocalist Tim Tamashiro. A Canadian that is known for weaving stories into his performances. His show tonight was about the Rat Pack. He started with Sinatra and told a story about his birth and early years. Fascinating. He would then sing a number that was related to that time period. He started to include the other members one by one. Very interesting info on each one of the members. He did many Sinatra tunes and covered “That’s Amore” as Dean Martin and “The Candyman” as Sammy Davis Jr. He finished with “My Way” as Sinatra. I was fascinated by the story telling. The vocals were good but not a 10 in my opinion. A gave him a 9 and I would enjoy seeing a second set. Terri flashed me a 2. Not sure if she will be at the next one.…