Inside we were blown away by the enormity of the Palace - made up of dozens of halls (such as the Hall of Preserving Harmony), gates (such as the Meridian Gate), pavilions and the Imperial Garden. There were so many things that we spent the next three hours drifting in and out of exhibitions displaying ancient treasure, but since we had seen lots of things like this before we spent our time engrossed in the finer details of the grounds and buildings.
With the 2008 Olympic games on its way Beijing is in a state of constant renovation, and sadly (for us) some of the beautiful buildings were covered with scaffolding and sheets that prevented us from enjoying them. We noticed from high up on one of the walls we noticed the clear difference between an aged weather worn temple and a repainted rejuvenated one. In our minds, both are gorgeous and it depends on what view of China you're after.On the recommendation of the Lonely Planet we paid a little extra to go into the Clock Exhibition (housed in the Hall of Ancestral Worship) and while the exhibition itself wasn't particularly exhilarating the clocks were interesting illustrations of the time-telling process of a past age - not to insult the exhibition but more interesting was the hall itself with its beautiful wooden pillars and carved roofing.
Eventually we recrossed the frozen Golden Stream that is spanned 5 marble bridges and made our way across the road to Tianamen Square, which post 1989 is occupied by hundreds of police officers and security guards.
A gigantic Chinese flag flaps in the wind of what the Chinese consider the symbolic centre of China and the place that Mao thought of as a representation of the enormity of the Chinese Communist Party.Leaving the largest public square in the world behind us we then ventured towards food, which by 3pm we were in desperate need of. We filled our tummies with potatoes and eggplant and beer and wandered the last few kilometres back home.
We spent our evening indulging in some Chinese culture at a Beijing (Peking) Opera performance, where we got to witness 2 separate performances. The first was dominated by the famous shrieking of the Peking Opera, which was so much more enjoyable than we had both anticipated. A humourous aspect of the show was that after nearly a minute of singing, English subtitles would come up on the screen only to inform us that the actor had just said "Yes" or something similarly short winded. The second show had a much more dynamic martial arts and acrobatic edge with the actors flying across the stage during the constant battle scene, telling the famous Monkey King story. 
Our short walk home to bed was filled with excited chattering after a magnificent performance and our dive into China's historical past..Adlibing dynamic Chinese history.
No comments:
Post a Comment