Arriving at the Beijing airport - the largest building we have ever been in - was just the type of thing we were expecting to see. After Joe and David had a taste of home at the Starbucks in the airport (Steve doesn't drink coffee), we were ready to start our month in China!
Although Beijing has a population of 17,430,000, we were pleasantly surprised by the how clean, orderly, and uncrowded it felt. This is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the Temple of Heaven which was first built 500 years ago.
The next day we made our way to the Forbidden City which was built 600 years ago as a palace for the Chinese emerors. The large open courtyards look like they'd fit a small airport into them. They had just repainted everything in the original vibrant colors and gold leaf paint for the Olympic visitors... it was spectacular!
We learned that Emperors had over 100 concubines who would line up every evening outside their community living quarters in the hopes that the Emperor would select them for his pleasure. But more than one tour guide told us that Emperors died young because they "used too much of their energy with the concubines". Only one emperor was long-lived (to 89) because "he spent much time in quiet and meditation". Our guide sternly warned us not to expend too much energy as the Emperors did... "only once every 7 to 10 days if you want to live a long life". (With 1.3 billion people, we don't think most Chinese took our guide's advice!)
Of course, we had to visit the Great Wall. We heard about a section of the wall farther from Beijing where it was rumored we could avoid the oppressive crowds. Sure enough, we had about 8 kilometers of the wall almost completely to ourselves. It was a breathtaking to see the massive wall stretch up and down mountains and curve like a snake over the horizon. It was built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 6th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese empire from attacks. The Great Wall stretches over 4,000 miles. At its peak, it was guarded by more than a million soldiers. It has been estimated that somewhere between 2-3 million Chinese died over the centuries to build the wall.
For our next experience in massive building projects, we visited the Summer Palace, where the Emperor would retire to be cooled by the breezes off the lake during Beijing summers.
And, of course, we had to visit Tiananmen Square to see the largest public square in the world and get a picture with Chairman Mao. We decided to skip seeing his pubblicly-displayed embalmed body since it's rumored that they sometimes switch it with a wax version instead.
After several days of spectacular sights in Beijing, it was time to mingle with a few million Chinese on the train system as we began to explore the history, culture, scenery, and people of this amazing country.
- David and Steve
