Tiananmen Square
Today, my last day in Beijing, will be a trip from south to north, visiting many historical sites. My new tour guide and I started in the morning, caught a bus, and went to Tiananmen Square. She explained about the history and purpose of the square, a place where a million people can gather to listen to the words of the government leader. In the square, there is the tomb of Mao Zedong, where his body is preserved and you can actually see it. It was fascinating, encased in a glass tomb, with a red hammer and sickle laid over him and a red light shining on his face so it looks like he is glowing red from the inside. Everyone lays yellow chrysanthemums in front of his marble statue before visiting his body. In and around the square, there are many stone carvings, mostly focused on the workers of China, as well as a monument to all of the Chinese soldiers who died in the wars, the National Museum, very patriotic things.
Forbidden City
From here, we walked north to the Forbidden City. This is an enormous palace and grounds where the emperor and his concubines lived and no commoners were allowed in, hence forbidden. It is staggering in size. My guide told me stories of the many emperors and the empress known as the Dragon Lady, part feminist icon, part symbol of the downfall of the monarchy. We looked in on the emperor’s quarters, where he held business meetings, and where the concubines lived. Everything is symbolic and made with such craftsmanship and precision. Every time there were multiple things: knobs on a door, arches in a bridge, dragons carved on a roof, there are always a specific number of them, with the number 9 representing the most powerful, and everything that the emperor himself lived in. The statues all are symbols. Lions, always flanking entry ways, are always 1 male and 1 female lion, with the male lion holding a ball of yarn for power and the female lion holding a baby lion. My favorite symbol was the lions that are before the entry to the concubine area. All the other lions have their ears perked up. But these 2 have their ears folded over because they do not like to listen to the quarreling of the concubine women. Here we also learned of the Dragon Lady, who was taken as a concubine at age 16, produced a male heir at 19, and became empress. When the emperor died, her son rose to the throne, aged only 5. So she ruled the country for almost 50 years after assuming power and maintaining her son as emperor, then her nephew.
Lunch at the famous DaDong Duck
From there, we took another bus and headed off to lunch. I had wanted to try the Peking duck, so we went to the fanciest shopping district to have lunch at DaDong Duck. We were seated quickly and opened the giant menu. It’s a book. We ordered a half duck, another eggplant dish, and I ordered the dessert sampler, which was…. huge. The eggplant arrived first, and was very similar to the one I had yesterday. Still no idea what sauce is on it, but it’s delicious. Then the duck arrived. A chef arrives with the duck on a fancy tray and slices the meat off the duck right in front of you, with great flare. Then my guide showed me how to eat it properly. We took pieces of duck, dipped them in either soy paste or sugar mixture, and placed it in a little pancake. Then we added cucumbers, radishes, leeks, garlic paste, cabbage, any number of little condiments provided to us. The fold up all 4 sides to make a little pocket, and enjoy! It was so good. The skin is so crispy and smoky and like duck-bacon. After that, our dessert course arrived. I didn’t quite realize how much food it would be, but it was a LOT. There were 8 things to sample, and 5-6 pieces of each one. Already quite full of duck, I tried 1 piece of each one and they packed the rest for me to take on the train or snack on now at 3 a.m. because I am still waking up at 3.
Summer Palace
Onwards with our adventure, as we took the subway for nearly an hour to get to the Summer Palace. This beautiful palace, situated atop a mountain, on the side of a lake, is in a much cooler region, and where the emperors would go to escape the summer heat. This is where I learned of the Dragon Lady’s eventual downfall, as she lived in this palace every summer, eventually having her nephew imprisoned, and continuing her rule. But the people were unhappy with her opulence, as we looked into the palace to see the bowls that were used for fruit….fruit that was not to be eaten but only there for the fragrance…and I heard stories of her daily feasts of hundreds of dishes. When she died, her tomb was raided, her expensive clothing stolen, including her underwear, which apparently contained nearly 100 black pearls. The palace is beautiful, and we walked along the longest corridor in the world, with every arch and every beam painted with a different unique painting, inspired by artists in the provinces and Chinese classical literature.
Arrival
We took the subway back to my hotel and this is where my amazing guide dropped me off. I dropped off my sweets in my hotel room and changed into my fancy coat for my evening adventure. I had reserved a dinner, knowing very little about the place, because the tour listing said there was an option to wear the historical Chinese dresses. I am so there for that. The driver picked me up at 6 p.m. and off we drove into rush-hour traffic. It took just about an hour to get to the restaurant. I was so exhausted from my 3 am writing sessions that I took a nice nap in the car. Finally we arrived at the restaurant, as the driver turns off the main road into the courtyard of the restaurant, which is lit by hundreds of beautiful lanterns. All of the people who work there are in historical costume, and a lady with a lantern greets you at the car and guides you with her lantern into the inner courtyard, which is full of rocks and fountains and lanterns and so many beautiful historical things.
Performance
I was seated at my table and the driver helped me order food. We selected a deer dish, a beef dish, and asparagus. I tried to show him in the tour voucher where it says that there is an optional upgrade to ’emperor/empress dress’, but I don’t think he understood. So he left and I sat at my table, enjoyed dinner, and enjoyed the show. This is essentially a luau. There were fan dancers and a very cool mask changing guy from the Peking opera, live music on traditional instruments, and a tea ceremony. Lots of beautiful performances.
Costumes
Between performances I kept looking around. I assumed the dress-up thing was just going to be a room somewhere off to the side and be like the other historical photos: fake clothes that just drape over you and fasten in the back. Boy, was I wrong. I eventually called the phone number of the tour company on the voucher, and they had the driver come back and arrange it for me. The waitress arrived at my table with an iPad menu of dresses to choose from. I scrolled through the images, with dresses ranging from $30 to $200 for the rental. I picked one, and she said she would go get it ready. I assume there is a dressing room and I will be going there to change once she has the dress. They even asked my shoe size for the wooden platform shoes. Finally, she arrives with the dress and she proceeds, along with three other women in full costume, to surround me and put the costume on me right there at the table. Other tables are staring in amusement. My driver is laughing and taking pictures. There are cool epaulets, a giant collar, and a ginormous headdress. The headdress actually fastens to your head via a hairstick, so they helped put my hair into a bun on top of my head, but I was a bit unprepared for that part and had trouble keeping the headdress level. Finally, they brought the shoes and I had to very carefully, so as not to lose my hat, take off my giant snow boots and put on the platform shoes.
Photo Shoot
All dressed and ready, my driver volunteers to take photos with my camera. One of the ladies in costume stays with me at all times and leads me around so I don’t fall down, as those shoes are very challenging to walk in. I did eventually get the hang of it though. We took a few pictures near the table, then he suggested going over near a painting, then he asked if I’d like to go outside and take some pictures in the courtyard. Of course I did! The 3 of us tottered around outside for nearly half an hour take photos in front of all of the cool things outside. These 2 people stood with me in the 20 degree cold, the costumed lady and myself having no coats on, just to take a bunch of pictures. It was amazing. I had so much fun. This is one of my favorite things to do. We eventually wrapped up our photo shoot and drove back to the hotel.
