China Day-2 Forbidden City

The Forbidden City! The name alone is pretty intriguing. We'd also seen "The Last Emperor" so we were even more intrigued to see this site. We took off on the subway and came close to the entrance to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

Did I mention the streets are WIDE!?

As we worked our way through the sales people, we were propositioned by an english speaking guide. We worked out a deal for a two hour tour (figuring that is as much as William could stand) and we headed out. Chinese tour guides usually choose an English name to use that is much easier for their customers to say. When he introduced himself to us, both Caroline and I heard "John Wayne". We thought that was pretty funny. We found out later on that it was actually his Chinese name "Chang Wang" and we just misheard... Our first stop was the river that goes through the compound.

To keep William occupied, he brought along his Thomas engine. I and Thomas tried to keep William occupied and out of trouble while Caroline took in most of the information and sites.

The expanses in the place are truly impressive. There are many courtyards similar to this just getting to this one. It is layers of bureaucracy in a way. A visiting official would have met higher and higher ranked personnel and would likely have been sent on at those levels. If the visitor was to actually see the Emperor, he would have finally gotten to this area of the compound.

The place looks like it is in original, yet well maintained, condition. Some buildings and stone work have been restored. You can see from this stone carving, that it has been around for a while.

As you get deeper into the Forbidden City, you get into the living areas of the Emperor and it gets a little bit more reasonable in size. The ornate buildings are stacked together to make some truly interesting views.

This is the emperor's throne room. It is where he did most of his work. The entire place is filled with original furniture and artifacts. Most of the architecture used to be open to the courtyards, but have been closed up with windows to protect the artifacts.

We learned that the color yellow was reserved for the Emperor. Nobody else could wear yellow, or use yellow in their architecture under pain of death. William wondered if he should be wearing yellow...

This is another throne room. We'd heard so much about the Dragon Lady by this point and how she used to run the country by instructing the Emperor from behind a yellow curtain that was behind the Emperor. You can see the whole set up here with the yellow curtain raised to show where the Dragon Lady sat behind the Emperor's throne.

These are some tied together shots of the last large courtyard prior to entering the living areas. Click on it to bring up the large photo. It gives you an idea of how intricate and expansive the Forbidden City really is.

Some more interesting architecture... and William occupying himself with some exercise. Not so sure he should be worried about wearing yellow... people can see your underpants!

Dragons represent long life and power and the guide insisted that we take a picture of William with the dragon.

The number 9 is apparently also representative of long life and power (a theme repeated many times in the Forbidden City...) and the brass knobs on the doors were 9 across and 9 high and people touch them for good luck. As you can see, they've been worn down. William gets a double dose of luck... This picture may be useful for blackmail later in life...

One of the salesmen really knew who to sell to. This is a top that lights up, screams an annoying song and even has a laser that spins around and lights up the area. The price was right, so we couldn't resist. You know, it didn't sound so loud out in the open, but inside...

So, those were the highlights of our Forbidden City tour. In the afternoon, we headed to a really terrific Chinese acrobat show.

On the way, we marveled at some of the impressive new architecture. This building just looks wrong.

Not as wrong as this building right next to it, though. It apparently was burned completely up when the builders set off a new-year's fireworks display too close to the unfinished building. One fireman was killed, lots of people lost their jobs, and several people went to jail. To this point, nobody knows what to do with the building. A sad story in any country.

The acrobatic show was truly incredible. I'd seen Chinese acrobats as a child in Portland when they came on tour. They've made their shows a bit more flashy which I assume is due to the influences of Cirque du Soleil. We had fourth row seats for the hour long show and truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures or video, so we only have this picture of a poster to show you. We have the DVD we bought, though, so ask to see it when you visit!

Day 2 complete. Coming up: Temple of Heaven and the train to Xi'an!