the forbidden city--part one

This was definitely my most favorite part of Beijing! The history, the culture, absolutely everything about it sparked my intrigue and I found it to be so fascinating. Absolutely amazing! It's surrounded by 26-foot-high walls, and has a 170-foot-wide moat.

Here's a reference guide for you:
A. Meridian Gate
B. Gate of Divine Light
C. West Glorious Gate
D. East Glorious Gate
E. Corner Towers
F. Gate of Supreme Harmony
G. Hall of Supreme Harmony
H. Hall of Military Eminence
J. Hall of Literary Glory
K. Southern Three Places
L. Palace of Heavenly Purity
M. Imperial Garden
N. Hall of Mental Cultivation
O. Hall of Tranquil Longetivity
Talk about Fung Shui! The axis line runs through the entire City, and extends throughout China. The Bird's Nest was actually built along this axis line to help Olympians with peace and health for their competitions. Cool, huh?!

Construction for the Forbidden City began in 1406 and lasted 15 years. It required over one million workers!

After being the home of 24 emperors—fourteen of the Ming Dynasty and ten of the Qing Dynasty—the Forbidden City ceased being the political center of China in 1912 with the abdication of Pyui , the very last Emperor of China.

We're standing in front of the Inner Golden Water River. Huh, didn't even know it. It was frozen solid.

One of the Glorious Gates, can't remember which one honestly. I get turned-around pretty easily. You're supposed to step over the gate threshold with your right foot for luck or something, I was a rebel and stepped with my LEFT foot. Ha!
Me in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In the beginning it was used for court proceedings, but in the later years, it was only used for ceremonial purposes; such as coronations or imperial weddings. It's the tallest building in the Forbidden City, raised 98 feet taller than the others.


Before the Beijing Olympics last year, the government came in and repainted and resurfaced a lot of the City because it's a huge tourist attraction. Some places are "brighter" than others.

These pots were gigantic! I imagined they were used to heat water in, there was a place to light a fire underneath each of them. The Chinese love their tea, maybe these were their teapots.

The Throne in the Hall of Preserving Harmony! It is the ceremonial center of Imperial power and the largest surviving wooden structure in China. In the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor held court here to discuss affairs of state. During the Qing Dynasty, as Emperors held court frequently.
(sorry it's a little dark)
Don't mind me being a dork, look at the structure's colors behind me.

This is the Throne in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. The Emperor, representing Yang and the Heavens, would occupy the Palace of Heavenly Purity. The Empress, representing Yin and the Earth, would occupy the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. In between them was the Hall of Union, where the Yin and Yang mixed to produce harmony. (sound familiar?)

This is an example of the paintings seen in the Ming Dynasty. Lots of golds portraying wealth and fortune.
Part of the Imperial Way, the steps that only the Emperor could walk (and occasionally some others at very certain times in history) is awesome. This is why it's so incredible:
-elaborate and symbolic bas-relief carvings
-carved from a single piece of stone 54 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 5 1/2 feet thick.
-it is on the axis that passes through the Forbidden City




And there's a PERFECT spot to sit down! They have only two exits from the courtyard into this huge garden; and the hoards of people are funnled through them! When my Mom visited the first time, there was a man just sitting here and people were tripping over him to get out the door. So, get out of the way, Aim!

"gate of heavenly peace"

Considered to be the "front door" to The Forbidden or Imperial City, is Tienanmen Square! This was incredibly awesome to experience, as we were the ONLY European-looking people. The ONLY Americans. A little intimidating.

I had pictured things differently. Kinda like this:

Only because this was the only picture I had seen in regards to the Square. It really wasn't at all what I had imagined. It had a different spirit and feel to the Square. I thought there would be more guards and more militants, but there were only a handful and it was pretty much low-key. Very interesting history to it. We crossed this gigantic street, by the way.

I laughed at this sight, why do they need a guard to keep this stone lion tame?
At the north end of the Square, is Tienanmen Tower. It was initially built in 1417 in the Ming Dynasty. (1368 A.D.-1644 A.D.) It's HUGE!

Here's the base of it. It doesn't show the sheer size of this monument.

The Mao Zedong Memorial Hall is at the south side of the Square. Chairman Mao's body lies in a crystal coffin in this Hall and it costs money to see; so we didn't go in. But I wanted to! The line was very, very long and sure didn't move very quickly.
The granite Monument to the People's Heroes is in the center of the square. Built in 1952 it is the largest monument in China's history. Chairman Mao wrote the words engraved on it, "The People's Heroes are immortal." It portrays unusually large figures engraved into the granite as show the development of modern China.


We walked by the Totem pole with the dragons and Phoenixes on it and there was a guy that had his arm raised and was shouting; getting people's attention. I didn't know what he was saying, but his body language certainly suggested he was praising and hailing Mao.
Mao's picture hangs where all can see it. You get into this line made up of hundreds of people. (truly amazing, we were always in a line anywhere we went. Just a lot of people)

We crossed the bridge,

And went through the entrance to The Forbidden City!

a seed was planted

Last night when we were reading scriptures, Ryan read 1 Nephi 12:14: "And the angel said unto me: Behold thy seed, and also the seed of thy brethren."

Noticing that the word 'seed' is laced throughout chapter 12, Ryan stopped a second to explain. He asked Ryanna if she knew what this meant and she shook her head.

He said, "Well, it's children. You guys are MY seed. You know, kinda like my little appleseeds!"

Ryanna nodded in agreement and Ryan started reading again.

Dawson's face was pensive as I think he understood. He looked up at me and said, "Momma, you're my pickle."

I couldn't control my giggles, thus not making scripture reading very reverent at all. I blame my four-year-old.

a beijing hotel adventure

Oh I wish you could have seen it in person. Only telling about it doesn't do my story justice! All the sights and smells are very important to this tale:



We stayed in a fantastic four-star hotel in Beijing. NOT! It was a teeny little hole and it was terrific. After climbing the Great Wall, we were exhausted and ready for a nice warm bed.

We got to our hotel and had to climb two stories worth of stairs. We entered the rooms which smelled like sewer and cigarettes. The windows were double-paned, but they were still open thus the noise of the street was incredibly loud. At least the bed was going to be nice and comfy, right? Nope! The BED was a box spring with a sheet on top of it!

We sat down on the "bed" and it didn't move.

Didn't bounce. Oh well, at least the room was going to be warm and we could get a nice night's sleep right? Heck no! The room was chilly, but slowly heated up. There wasn't any warm water, unless you were in the shower. And even then, you only had a few minute's worth of hot water.

The room key had to be in a special slot, otherwise you didn't have electricity or heat! If you left your room, you had to take your key with you, and your room couldn't warm up....unless you had your Idaho Driver's License. After pulling an Indiana Jones move, I switched the cards and our room heated up. I'm so clever!

Needless to say, we fell asleep (thank you to earplugs!) and slept for a good 8 hours on this hard mattress. It was certainly a wonderful adventure. The floor was actually softer than our bed!

In the lobby of our fabulous hotel, this was the sign. HUH? Can you translate that any better?

The next morning we were hungry so we wandered to alley where we found a little market. We had fresh scone-like things and delicious Sunkist oranges.

The fruit were fresh, especially the ones that had cigarette ashes on them. Mmmmm!

Heeeeeere's breakfast! One kuai each. About 43 cents in REAL money.

What's with the pot outside our hotel? No clue.

This little cutie watched us the entire time we were out front. Cute little cheeks!

I have more pictures but can't find them! I need to find the other memory card and then I can post pictures showing the view and the room...you gotta see it.

intermission

I pause the regularly-scheduled programming to bring you this important message: I will post about Beijing! Tomorrow.

Today is Trash and Laundry Day! So I have to do the Motherly duties and get that done.

I would rather be blogging.

injured left eyes and a haircut

I know, I know these certainly aren't pictures of our trip to China. Taking a little break for tonight for our FHE and weekend updates.

Carter's first day of Nursery was yesterday. He may have a slight sour taste in his mouth as a result of a nasty fall into the door as he bolted for it after we dropped him off. Ryan and I are both in the Primary so we had to get to our various locations.

I had a couple phone calls today from members in my ward asking about Carter's head! I guess that since people were in the Library, right next door to the Nursery, they heard a loud crack followed by screaming. One account was told to me, "It sounded like a sledgehammer hitting the door!" and echoed through the hallway. Needless to say, he still has an incredible headache and bump; but he's fine! Thank goodness for wonderful Nursery leaders, they loved on him and kept him safe and secure while we were in our callings. I felt bad that I couldn't pay more attention to my sobbing child because I was distracted with my calling. Nice shiner, eh? (oh yeah, and then he tripped and fell again at Ryanna's school this morning, causing a purply-tinted ring around his eye!) Poor little dude.

Go C.T.R. POWER! Dawson is now in the CTR 5 class and absolutely loves his new CTR ring. He even took it to school today and actually came home with it. I'm going to see how many days in a row he can keep it on without losing it.

He's doing great at school, he's getting better at his writing and is such a smartie. As you can see, he also has a injured left eye! He went to his friend's birthday party and was attacked by the pinata or the bat hitting the pinata or something. It was a good swollen eye for a couple days, but he consoled with a HUGE bag of candy! Whew! As long as there's sugar...that can cure any ailment.

Ryanna got her haircut and loves it. She is paying a lot more attention to fashion and is growing her bangs out because "it's not cool to have bangs anymore." (she's only in first grade, what's up with that?!) She loves the Gifted and Talented program and is also in Chess Club after school on Mondays. She's one of three first graders that participates in it.

I asked her when she got home today what she had learned in Chess Club. She casually responded, "Oh, just ranks and files."

Oooookay, looks like she's going to be teaching me how to play! I'm so proud of her, she's such a neat kid. She can read like nobody's business, she's always knocking my socks off!!