China Trip Report, Day 1: Arrival; Day 2: Imperial Palace (Forbidden city)

Day 1, March 16, 2018, Friday:

We arrived at Beijing airport by different flights, me at 12 noon and son at 6 pm. Immigration had a queue and took an hour, gave the filled up form to the officer at the counter and put bags thru Xray machine. I always carry a pile of home made paratas (tortillas made with whole wheat flour and smeared with butter) and the officer opened my bag to check it out. No issues. Withdrew money from the ATM. Bought a bottle of water to break a 100 CNY note. There is a clear signage for taxis and a queue which moved fast.

Handed over the hotel address written in Chinese to the driver. I had read several reviews of people complaining the hotel was not easily traceable by taxis. The telephone no on booking site is also wrong. So I also had the place pinned on offline map showing it near the Andingmen metro station, landmark being the Pedestrian bridge. The driver had already been there, so did not need additional info.

I had already seen the hotel surroundings on the street view of qq.maps.

The taxi meter was 78 CNY and I paid 88 including 10 CNY toll for the airport highway which the driver had paid.

Imperial Courtyard Hotel, Beijing:

The hotel is an authentic courtyard property with traditional décor and antique carved furniture  in the room as well as the lobby. Gave us a lovely feel of being in China the minute we stepped in!

 The hotel is in a hutong, quite clean and safe with rickshaw borne tourists. [ Beijing Hutongs (old lanes) have a very special place in the rich history and culture of Beijing. The alleys give a wonderful glimpse into yesterday's world, the old way of life and traditional Beijing culture. Many have been razed to the ground to make way for skyscrapers, so good to enjoy the few remaining ones ]

Very good local store on the main road after exiting the metro which came in useful for buying stuff for us vegetarians. One young man speaks a little English and is warm. Other Staff speak no English but are very sweet and helpful. We managed with our offline app and theirs.

On the whole an authentic experience at a great convenient location.

Checked in, they require a deposit of 200 CNY cash. They refund it when we check out after checking the room!

Son came in at 9 pm. That was the end of Day 1

DAY 2, March 17, 2018, Saturday: Forbidden City/Old Palace

We had downloaded the subway map. All our relevant stations are circled in red.

Main attractions are marked on the map
We were conveniently near Line 2. We started off at 7.30 am, took the metro from Andingmen and transferred to Line 1 to reach Tiananmen East station. Got out of exit A and reached the famous Tiananmen Tower. We had to go thru a security line, showing ID and putting bags thru machine before entering the square. Even at the early hour of 8 am, the place had a lot of crowds, mostly tour groups.

Tiananmen Square:

Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in the square on October 1, 1949.  The square is known for the Tiananmen Square Massacre, an armed suppression of a pro-democracy movement in June 1989.

Tian'anmen Tower (Gate of Heavenly Peace) is on the northern edge of Tiananmen Square. It was built in 1415 and served as the gatehouse of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The building is 66 meters long, 37 meters wide and 32 meters high. It is made up of a platform and a tower. The tower sits on the platform with five arch gateways. As the largest of the five, the center archway was the specific passage for Ming and Qing emperors while the side ones were passages for ministers and officials.  

Above the archway hangs a large portrait of Maozedong, on the east and west sides of which are two giant placards, the left one reading: "Long Live the People's Republic of China", the right one reading: "Long Live the Great Unity of the World's Peoples." 

The Chinese name of the gate, Tiananmen, is made up of three Chinese characters "heaven", "peace" and "gate", hence the translated version "The Gate of Heavenly Peace"

This is a Huabiao, ceremonial column used in traditional Chinese architecture erected in front of palaces and tombs. 

At the bottom is a square base, called a sumeru base, which is decorated with  dragons, lotuses, and other auspicious symbols. Above is a column, decorated with a coiled dragon and auspicious clouds. Near the top, the column is crossed by a horizontal stone board in the shape of a cloud (called the "cloud board"). The column is topped by a round cap. At the top of the cap sits a mythical creature called the denglong (Chinese: 蹬龙), one of the "nine children of the dragon", which watches the sky amd protects people.

We walked thru the gate to the Forbidden City. Went to the far end of the courtyard and on our right was the line for foreigners to purchase a ticket. Nobody there. We got ours in a second after showing our passports and paying cash. We bought separate tickets for treasury and hall of clocks later.

Forbidden City "Gu Gong", 故宫, "Old Palace") 8.30-16.30:

The Imperial Palace, also known as the Forbidden City, is China's most significant building and can trace its origins back to the Yuan Dynasty of the 13th century. Its immense size is the result of enlargements made during the Ming Dynasty between 1406 and 1420.

This palace has been home to 24 Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Emperors, earning its nickname of the Forbidden City due to the fact ordinary citizens weren't allowed access. The complex covers 720,000 sq m, surrounded by a 10-meter-high wall with towers in the four corners and a 50-meter-wide moat, and is divided into an area used for ceremonial and administrative purposes, as well as the private quarters used by the Emperor and his concubines. It consists of 90 palaces and courtyards, 980 buildings  9,000 rooms containing furniture and/or crafts, almost two million cultural relics, variety and level of craftsmanship on display: ceramics, textiles, woodwork, painting, calligraphy, stone-carving, bronze-ware, and the overall architecture 

The Outer Court is the southern section of the Forbidden City. This section is where the Emperor exercised his power over the nation by attending ceremonies and conducting state affairs. The Outer Court is composed of 3 main buildings:

The Halls of Supreme Harmony, central harmony, preserving harmony.

The Inner Court is the northern section of the Forbidden City. This Court was where the Emperor and his Royal Family and concubines lived, His Majesty handled everyday affairs and the country's future. That section is composed of 3 main structures:

The Palace of Heavenly Purity (乾清宫Qian Qing Gong) emperors' bedchambers, the palace is mainly filled with luxurious cupboards and relics of the royal family.
The Palace of Union and Peace (交泰殿Jiao Tai Dian) all the imperial seals were stored
The Palace of Terrestrial Tranquility (坤宁宫Kun Ning Gong) emperor's wedding room

Beside them, 12 more palaces stand: 6 on the eastern side, 6 on the western side. These were the residences of the emperors' concubines converted today into exhibition halls.

NOTE the architecture of terraces and the number of eaves. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has the highest level of the roof with ten mythical animals at each of its roof corners which shows the superiority. Yellow and red are imperial colors

Highlights include the Meridian Gate, built in 1420; the Golden River Bridges, five richly decorated white marble bridges; 






the 35-meter-high Hall of Supreme Harmony containing the gilded imperial throne; 






the Hall of Preserving Harmony, which functioned as the Emperor's banquet hall; and the Hall of Military Courage, a permanent residence and private audience hall for the emperors.

This is the sandalwood throne


Only the emperor, carried in a sedan chair, was allowed to pass over this elaborate stone ramp.

These urns contain water to put out fires

These are incense burners

 Doors have 9 rows of 9 iron bolts... 9 is an auspicious number

This is the famous nine dragon screen, only 3 of its kind in China

We had downloaded maps and read up on salient features, marked up must sees. 

This hand drawn map is lovely when we zoom in

We enjoyed the Treasury, thankfully had it to ourselves before tour groups descended.

These are Buddha niches... altars with Buddha inside

Cloisonné work...technique of creating designs on metal vessels with colored-glass paste placed within enclosures made of copper or bronze wires, which have been bent or hammered into the desired pattern.  

 Lovely drawing of the Palace 

Mother of pearl conch base studded with gems

This Phoenix Crown was worn by Empress Xiaoduan of the Ming Dynasty.

These big jade rocks are beautifully carved... This sculpture, Da Yu Taming the River, was finished in 1788 after a decade of carving. Weighing over 5,000 kg, the jade was quarried at Xinjiang, and freighted to Beijing, then to Yangzhou where it was carved. 

 Hall of clocks 

There was a separate ceramic display in another hall

This is concubine's well...

In the northern end of the Qianlong Garden, beside the Pavilion of Expecting Good Omen, is the Well of Concubine Zhen. In 1887,  Qing Emperor Guangxu (1877-1908), selected Dowager Cixi's niece as the empress under the threat of this powerful woman. Later, he fell in love with the kind and smart lady, Concubine Zhen who also supported his political reform. Dowager Cixi hated her. In year 1898, with tricky plans, Dowager Cixi made the political reform a failure so that she took power again.  Cixi confined Concubine Zhen in the small yard behind Jingqi Chamber and stopped her from seeing Guangxu.

In 1900, the Eight Allied Army attacked Beijing. Dowager Cixi did not forget to lay murderous hands on Concubine Zhen before she fled to Xian with Emperor Guangxu who was under house arrest. 

She ordered the deputy supervisor of the Imperial Palace to tell Concubine Zhen to jump into a well to commit suicide under the excuse of "avoiding the defilement of the foreigners". However, Concubine Zhen did not oblige. Full of rage, Cixi commanded some eunuchs to push her into the well. They took her to the Eight Treasures Glided Well (Babaoliulijin) but failed to throw her into the well as she held the marble column tightly. They then moved her to a bald well beside Jingqi Chamber and pushed her down to the well  and pressed a round stone to close the well. After Concubine Zhen was killed, her body remained there for a year.

There were sign boards on the grounds, of course no backtracking. 

This is a deer pavilion, paintings of deer hunt, a lovely throne with deer antlers, huge mirrors with deer carvings.

It was snowing.

We had our packed meal at one of the closed resting pavilions. 

After hours of roaming the palace, we reached the Imperial gardens and got out around 4 pm.

Our plan was to go to Jingshan gardens or Beihai. We crossed the road. It was a snowy, murky day, so no hopes of views from Jingshan Park. We decided on Beihai. Walked a lot but the southern entrance was closed.

Forbidden city

 We got help from local young men and security guards (all were very friendly and helpful with directions), boarded no 5 bus to reach metro station at Tiananmen square. 

We went on to Beijing main railway station, 

Collected our 2 sets of train tickets (Beijing-Pingyao and Pingyao-Xi'an) showing our passports and the confirmation numbers got when we booked from china diy site. 

We took the metro home 

and called it a day.

Video link:

Forbidden city:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UJ8gNcdM7Xc2wyLM6

Report on our visit to the Great Wall at Badaling is here:

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2018/04/china-trip-report-day-3-badaling-great.html