Here I am at the Forbidden City, which is one of the most glorious places in the world. " ' China! There lies a sleeping giant. Let him sleep on. When he awakes he will shake the world.' This statement is attributed to Napoleon and was therefore probably made at the end of the eighteenth century, when the mercantile imperialism of the West was eagerly searching for new markets." (1) This trip for me has made a very big impact on my life. It was in 1989, when on dianshi (TV) I saw the incident which took place at Tienanmen square. I made a promise too myself to visit China and I kept it! " The Imperial Palace in Beijing, the place where the Emperor sat on the Dragon Throne and ruled the Middle Kingdom, was, for a long time, considered the centre of the world by the Chinese. The Inner Palace was called the 'Purple City' after the constellation of purplish stars that has the pole in the centre, thus putting the residence of the rulers on an equal footing with the centre of the universe. The life of the emperors, as was considered appropriate in Chinese thinking, given their position as Sons of Heaven dealing with earthly matters, was strictly regulated. The emperor was the measure of all things in the cosmic trinity of heaven, human beings and earth. He was supposed to be the intermediary between heaven (yang) and earth (yin) and thus incorporate the Mandate of Heaven earth. " Standing here was just incredible I mean the place has an aura which just takes your breath away. China was by far the best place in which I have traveled. The people were so friendly, many came up to me and wanted to practice their English. They were even more impressed when I wanted to practice my Chinese.
Outside the Temple of Heaven is a map illustrating the grounds where I took this picture. " The Temple of Heaven lies in the southeastern part of Beijing, in the Chongwen district. The temple complex, with its total area of 675 acres (273 hectares), is one of the most visited parks, both by the people of Beijing and by tourists. You can easily get to the complex from the inner city by bus or by taxi, and here you will find one of the most impressive buildings in China, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, Qiniandian, with its magnificent blue roof In the centre is the Hall of Heaven, and to the south the round Altar of Heaven." (2)
On the left top is a picture of the roof of temple from the inside and directly in the middle is a gold dragon. The pictures on the right are taken while I was standing on what was considered to be the center of heaven. You can see that the buildings in the background are slowly closing in on this important location. However, I was told that there is a limit to how close they can build to the center of town. The dragon which is pronounced lung in Chinese is one of the most important of there many symbols. Here the emperor would make offerings to the gods and the spirit world asking for rain, so as to bring a forth a good harvest.
On the left top is a picture of the famous marble boat. which is located on the lake below the Summer Palace. " The dynasty looked for a replacement, and found it in the grounds which had also been laid out by Qianlong, as a place of retirement for his mother. The new summer residence found its definitive form from the famous (and infamous) Empress Dowager Cixi, who realized a wonderful, if rather expensive, dream in 1888. With money that had actually been intended for the building of a navel fleet, she had made the Garden of Cultivated Harmony (Yiheyuan), or the Summer Palace as it is known in Chinese. It was a far cry from the sternness of the Forbidden City. Originally a concubine of the third rank, Cixi placed herself on the Dragon Throne after the death of the emperor and ruled in an unscrupulous and self-centered way for 50 years, in the name of her young child and one other child emperor."(3) However, before you get to the marble boat you should walk down the longest corridor in the world. This was what I was told from Wang xiansheng, bottom left, who helped me along on my trip. He worked for C.I.T.S. which stands for (China International Travel Service). The right top picture is of course me standing on the Great Wall. " The only work built by human hands which is visible to the naked eye from the moon, the Great Wall (WanliChangcheng) winds its way like an endless slender dragon from the Yellow Sea through five provinces and two autonomous regions right up into the Gobi Desert. The very earliest stages of the building of the Wall date from the fifth century B.C., but the present course was basically determined around 220 B.C.BT Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Chinese emperor and the founder of the empire. He had the old sections linked and extend northwards to ward off the horse riding, very mobile nomad peoples. Soldiers and peasants from all parts of the country were conscripted to spend several years of their lives building this ' Wall of ten thousand li' (1li=547 yards or 500 meters). Blocks of rock weighing several hundredweight had to be heaved up the steep slopes and many people paid with their lives for this project." (4) Middle right I'm riding a bike which I found, as the best way to see Zhongguo (China). At the bottom right is a school which is located in downtown Beijing. The most interesting thing about the front of the school were the basketball courts which I saw here. In fact I saw them all over. The children at this school all got a kick out of it when I dunked a basketball.
This token which was given to me after my visit to The Summer Palace. I hold it very dear to me and I highly recommend ni qu Zhonggua (you to go to China). There is a famous Chinese proverb " You shi zhe shir jing cheng " this is of course pinying and translated means, where there is a will, there is a way. The greatest research project in my humble opinion is to actually do some traveling. So start saving your qian (money). P.S., xiexie baba (thank you pop) for making this happen. I hope to be half the man you were and I will be all right.
