The Emperor Will See You Now

Thanks to the kindness and generosity of my school and my colleagues, I got some leave time from teaching this past semester when our oldest son Gus came to China for a visit. We were waiting for the right time to do the Big Tourist Thing here in China. Although I've lived here for close to two years, I hadn't seen the Great Wall nor Tiananmen Square, nor the Forbidden City.  We didn't want to go during the worst heat of the summer, nor during the crazy crush of the Chinese national holidays (when the mad migration is called "People Mountain People Sea"). So hurray - moderate fall weather, (but with the ever-present pollution haze), smaller crowds, and the chance to see China through the eyes of an intelligent and perceptive newcomer, namely our son.

I've mentioned this visit in a few previous posts but there are a lot more pictures and good memories, so here goes.... 

You've seen the Forbidden City in various movies such as The Last Emperor, but to really understand the scale of the place you've got to pass through the wall and walk into the first of several enormous courtyards. The idea of using size to impress visitors, to reduce them to the size of ants, did not originate with Communist totalitarians. Likewise, to create an otherwordly feel, there are no trees or bushes in the public sections of the Forbidden City. (The family had their own private garden which we'll visit in a minute.)

Speaking of being reduced to the size of an ant, Gus was an added bonus for the Chinese tourists. They gaped at his height and size and clamored to take pictures of him, particularly the older ladies who barely topped five feet. I got the feeling they were not Beijingers, but folks from interior cities and towns who seldom if ever saw a foreigner. Gus took his instant celebrity with good humor and even wore a Red Army fur cap which added to his height and helped keep his head warm in the cool drizzle.

Some of the tourists pointed out, through gestures and raised eyebrows, the disparity in height between Gus and his father. They would look back and forth between them, then look at me enquiringly. What can I say, we get that a lot.

So we passed through one gigantic courtyard to another and then another. I didn't keep track of the names and functions of the various buildings, but we did see various dimly-lit throne rooms and even some living quarters. I wouldn't trade my two room dormitory apartment for the queen's quarter's, not least for the lack of privacy that comes with living royal. The royal gardens, however, were a beautiful retreat and we were particularly taken with one enormous old vine:

The Forbidden City takes up a significant amount of Beijing real estate, as you can see.  It is across the street from Tiananmen Square, which is just a big empty plaza. A big empty plaza with a lot of guards and cameras. I confess I had always pictured Tiananmen Square as surrounded by high walls but the nearby walls are in fact part of the Forbidden City. Large buildings flank the plaza, including Mao's mausoleum. It is associated in Western minds with only one event, but it means something else, or something more, to the Chinese. 

The National Theater is not far away, We admired the "yin/yang" effect created by the reflection of the building in a shallow pool. 

Then, a little footsore, we ambled back to our hotel, a converted hutong, that is, a traditional Beijing dwelling with rooms arranged around a central courtyard. Getting around Beijing is such a chore that we were glad to find a hotel within walking distance of these major Beijing attractions. 

​We hired a car, guide and driver to take us to the Great Wall and to the Summer Palace, but more later....