Forbidden City

Who hasn't heard of the Forbidden City? Construction finished in 1420 and it was the palace for the emperors of the Qing and Ming dynasties until 1911. Like many historic buildings in China, though, what you see is not the original. Many of China's buildings were made of wood--fires and wars over the centuries destroyed most of the original structures. It's hard to imagine the scope of the palace...but at 7.8 million square feet, it's BIG. Big enough, at least, that the millions of Chinese that were there didn't make it seem too crowded!

As the sacred residence, the Forbidden City was well-fortified. In addition to the Great Wall up north, the city (Beijing) at that time was surrounded by a wall (which was torn down to make the 2nd ring road). The palace itself is surrounded by a huge stone wall and moat. Inside, the City is a huge series of courtyards and gates. Interestingly, it's all paved...the imperial garden is a small patch at the back. It's hard to imagine the thousands and thousands of people that lived there, never venturing outside the walls. The emporer's walkway runs down the north/south axis of the palace and only the emporer was allowed to walk there.

Thousands of pieces of art and history are housed in the City. During the Japanese invasion in the 1940's, many of the pieces were pillaged or sent to Taipei. Enough remain, however, to get an idea of what was happening during the time. The science displays, although small, show the people's interest in astronomy. And the clock display, with clocks both made in China and given as gifts from Europe during the19th and 18th centuries, was spectacular.

Beijing was typically sweltering. It was great touring with Cameron. I've said this before, and he'll wilt with embarrassment (again) when I say that he is a great date for travel. He's easy going, is interested in art and history, knows a lot about a lot of different things, and has stamina. It was fun to have the just the two of us along for the ride today. With life and kids it's hard to get time with just one at a time, especially for a whole day, making this a great day!

I've complained that we haven't seen much of Beijing since we've been here. With Cameron's schedule, he'll have a couple weeks with no work before school starts, so I plan to take in as many sights (a couple a week) as we can. I'm sure Noah will be thrilled when he hears that, knowing how he loooooves to go sight-seeing!