Shopping for Jade and Pearls in Beijing (August 17th and 18th, 2018)

One of the things that our tour company is very good about is giving people time to shop and pointing them in the right direction for quality purchases, so while we were in Beijing we got to tour both a jade factory and a pearl shop.

The first thing they do at a jade shop is look at the color of the jade.  The color of the jade will determine what it is turned into.



Then they can start working on the jade to turn it into a masterpiece.  

In the jade factory, we were shown how the jade is cut and shaped.  A family secret passed down through generations, so if you want to get into the business but it's not in your family, you are going to have to marry into it. 😕

After a quick overview, we were given time to shop, or just browse.  Steve and I are more the browser types, so I took some fun pictures for you.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the jade jewelry, including the solid jade bangles.

And in the jade shop, they just happened to have a coffee bar with coupons for a free latte for Gate-1 customers!

The other shopping we had a chance to do before we left Beijing was pearls.  The shop we went to had everything from inexpensive and odd shaped pearls cultured pearls, to the finest yellow salt water pearls.  Here is some of what we saw.

I had no idea there were so many colors colors of jade, or so many shapes and colors of pearls.  Shopping in Beijing was a fun and educational experience!

Beijing The Forbidden City (Saturday, August 18th, 2018)

The Forbidden City of Beijing was built from 1406 - 1420.  It was built on 180 acres, consists of 800 buildings and contains 9,999 ½ rooms, because nine is the "lucky" number of emperors. 

It is surrounded by the Imperial City, which is the gateway to the Forbidden City and is where the governmental offices were, and where the emperor would meet with common people. 

From the Imperial City, we could see the Jingshaw Park Pagoda that we visited on our first day in Beijing.

 In the Imperial City, we crossed the mote that surrounded the Forbidden City.

In Chinese culture, 10 is the highest number, and is only suitable for God, but since the emperor thought he was the son of the God, he believed that he was worthy of the number 9. As we entered both the imperial city and the forbidden city, there were huge doors, each with 81 knobs on them (9 across by 9 high). Another way that the emperor showed his power to the people. 

The imperial city was quite pretty, with trees and flowers, etc., but as we entered the Forbidden City, we noticed that it had a brick floor (15 layers thick), it had no trees, no flowers, nothing homey at all. This was for security reasons. The floor was so thick that no one could dig through it, and there was nothing at all in the forbidden city that an assassin could hide behind. It was a very plain, boring, almost depressing environment. I couldn’t image being a child of the emperor having to grow up like that. 

Between the Imperial City and the Forbidden City, we went through the Gate of Harmony. As we entered the Forbidden City, we noticed that there were small animals on each corner of the roofs. The more animals, the more important the person who lives there. So the Emperor always had 9 animals on each corner, but once in a while, he would throw in 10 (because he could). 

The forbidden city contained everything that the emperor and his family needed to live. It had the family residence, a library, a school, etc. It even had a residence for the concubines of the Emperor. 

This is residence of the concubines.  

Concubines were young women who were given to the emperor by the woman family in hopes of elevating the families status.  If the Emperor was not able to have a boy with the empress, a boy would be chosen from the sons of the concubines (the emperor's mistresses) to be the next reigning emperor. 

The buildings in the Forbidden City are beautiful, but the surroundings are so stark!

The Forbidden City is currently undergoing significant renovations with all of the floor tiles being replaced.

These marble dragon heads were "down spouts" allowing water to drain from the walled courtyards.

The thrown of the emperor.

The movie, “The Last Emperor” is the only movie ever filmed in the Forbidden City, and it is about the last emperor of China. He became emperor when he was three, and was the son of one of the concubines that later became known in China as the Dragon Lady. She used her son (the last emperor) as a puppet, ruling the country from the back seat.

When we emerged from the Forbidden City, we were once again in the Imperial City (which surrounds the Forbidden City), where we could once again enjoy the beauty of the gardens.

The Forbidden City was massive and stark, and no where that I would ever want to live.  It is hard to imagine being so fearful of assassins that you would force yourself and your family into such a gloomy existence.  It was very interesting to see, and even more interesting to reflect upon.  It shows me that money and power definitely don't always equate to happiness.

Beijing Tiananmen Square (Saturday, August 18th, 2018)

Our tours of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City was a combined walking tour, so before we left Jason (tour director) warned us of how much walking would be involved.  I thought it was really nice of him to do, so we all wore our good walking shoes, and no one backed out.  We had a full group for our big walk. 

We got to Tiananmen Square right at lunch time, so the crowds were minimal and the walk was enjoyable. It was also a cloudy day, so it was nice and cool (comparatively speaking). There was a lot of security to get into the square. The lines to get in were very long, but since we were with a group, they checked our guides credentials and let the rest of us bypass the security lines (woo hoo!).  Since Steve and I had already been through this security check on accident (see Lost in Beijing post) we were glad to not have to go through it again.

Tiananmen Square is the largest public square in the world, holding half a million people during times of public celebration. The square's Gate of Heavenly Peace was once used as a staging ground for imperial edicts and by Mao Zedong himself to declare the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.  It is surrounded by four buildings, one on each side. 

The National Museum of China is the second largest museum in the world, following the Louvre in France. It is five stories high and takes about five days to thoroughly enjoy. 

The Mao Mausoleum houses the remains of Mao Zedong , the founder of the People's Republic of China. It is open each morning for the public to pay their respects to this great leader, but typically the line to get in will circle the building three times.



In the middle of Tiananmen Square stands a large monument to honor all of the people who helped to liberate China. Each memorial day a big celebration is held at this monument.



Across from the National Museum of China is the Great Hall of the People. This is where the Chinese Congress convenes for several months of the year. When congress is not working, this building is used for concerts and other events. The next scheduled event at this venue is the musical “Cats”, which will be here in September.

The grounds around Tiananmen Square are elaborately groomed.  Not something that comes to mind when I think of Tiananmen Square.

 On the final side of Tiananmen Square is the National Flag Pole where a celebration is performed every morning and every night. In the morning at sunrise the flag is raised, and in the evening at sunset it is lowered. As we were doing the tour we realized this was the commotion we saw a few days earlier with the huge crowds at the square. The people were gathering to watch the lowering of the flag. Once the flag is raised in the morning, it is guarded all day by three guards. One from the Navy, one from the Air force, and one from the Army/Marines. The guards of the flag have to be six feet tall. It is an honor for them to do this.  Behind the National Flag is a large picture of Mao Tse Tung, hanging at the entrance to the Forbidden City. This picture is repainted every six months and weighs two tons. Mao Tse Tung ruled China from 1949 until his death in 1976. He was the first chairman of the People’s Republic of China.

When we finished our tour in Tiananmen Square, we used a huge under ground corridor to cross a road from the square to the Forbidden City.

On the final side of the square, behind the National Flag Pole is the entrance to the Forbidden City, with a large picture of Chairman Mao.

When people hear the words Tiananmen Square the thing that comes to mind for most of us is the 1989 uprisings and student protests.  But today the square is a very peaceful, busy public square used for celebrations and gatherings. 

Beijing Temple of Heaven (Saturday August 18th, 2018 )

Today was one of our biggest walking days on the tour. We started out at the Temple of Heaven, followed by a morning in the park, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. 

The Temple of Heaven was built on 500 acres, and is the largest imperial temple in the world. It was built in 1420 by the third Ming Emperor.  

We entered the Temple of Heaven through a heavy archway with 9 rows of 9 knobs each.  Nine is the number of the emperor.

The emperor believed that he was the son of the God of Heaven. The big round building is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. It is the location where the emperor would perform sacred ceremonies. This temple is built entirely of wood without any nails.  

Each of the pillars is a single tree trunk of the Thuja tree. These trees are now extinct from over cutting. 

When Mao Zedong, founder of the Peoples Republic of China took command of the country, he outlawed all religion.  It is no longer illegal to practice religion, but to this day, religion has really not been restored in the country.  There are small groups of people who practice Buddhism, Taoism or a few other religions, but it is not wide spread.  So although the Temple of Heaven used to be a sacred temple, it was turned into a city park and museum in 1919 just like so many other ancient temples in China. 

We encountered some rain at the temple, but it wasn’t bad at all.  It made for great pictures and it kept the temperatures much cooler than they had been.

When we left the temple and went out on to the grounds, there were many older people outside playing games and exercising on the equipment. This seems to be where they meet for their social interaction. They did everything from cards, to hacky sack to stretching.

It was fun to see that the grounds of the temple are still so heavily used, but it was sad to see that this is no longer a scared sight to anyone.