Alright, so these next however-many blogs are going to be all about China, starting with... my disastrous attempts to get to Val’s apartment. I left for the bus station with barely enough time to catch my bus, and seriously, I hailed the only cab in town that is all about the scenic route! And stopping for yellow lights! Eventually we made it to the station, where I had missed the 8:30pm bus to Seoul, so I got my ticket for the 11pm bus. With nothing else to do, I took another cab to my house and waited. Well, somehow I got back to the station, on time, but without my bus ticket. Seriously, I was so mad at myself. So I bought another bus ticket from the man at the counter I’ve learned to loath, but that’s beside the point.
After my 3-hour bus ride, I took a cab to Val’s house, the subway had long since closed. And the cabbie had no idea where I was talking about, or really, any command of the English language, and opted to drop me off under a random overpass by an unknown expressway. Hmmm... well, I tried to hail down another cab for about 45 minutes before I commandeered one by just propelling myself inside the car. Finally, 7 hours later, I made it to Val’s.
The next morning, bright and early, we walked down to Anne’s apartment and then to the airport shuttle bus. I’ve met Anne on a number of occasions, and was definitely looking forward to experiencing China with these two. Unfortunately we had different flights after our layover, so I went on to Beijing alone.
In case you’re not aware, I have a built-in GPS system that allows me to navigate anywhere with limited language skills. Who am I kidding? Limited? No, my foreign language skills would be most aptly described as non-existent. Anyway, my mad navigation skills, combined with easily discernable directions to our hostel, allowed me to walk straight there. The girls weren’t scheduled to arrive for a few hours, so I walked around, got some meat on a stick that was identified as chicken, but definitely was not chicken, and a few bottles of water so I could brush my teeth. By the time they stumbled into our private 3-bed abode, I was fighting to stay awake in order to read Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Slaughterhouse Five.
The next day we walked through Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and holy guacamole, it’s humungo! Seriously, combined, they’ve got to be bigger than Central Park! So there’s loads of history about these places, and if you’re interested in random Chinese dynasties and dates, then by all means, look it up. For me, the historical account that caught my fancy was that of ‘Tank Man.’
We’ve all seen this photo. Aside from knowing it was some form of protest, I knew nothing about it. So according the good ol’ trusty Wikipedia, this is the story of Tank Man:
There was a violent crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square the day before, June 4, 1989, and this guy was there in objection to the treatment of his fellow demonstrators. As the tanks approached, he walked directly in front of the armored vehicles. The lead tank tried to drive around him, but he kept stepping into the path of the tank in a show of non-violent action. After repeatedly trying to go around the man instead of crushing him, the tanks turned off their engines.
Having successfully brought the column to a halt, the man climbed into the hull of the lead tank and spoke to the dude inside. At the end of their conversation, the man dismounted and stood quietly to the side. Once the tanks started back up, he continued his man-tank standoff, and once again leapt in front of the line.
Video shows two people came and pulled him away. Some say it was concerned citizens, others conspire that it was the secret police. He was never properly identified, though newspapers reported his name was Wang Weilin, a 19-year old student who was later charged with ‘political hooliganism’ and ‘attempting to subvert members of the People’s Liberation Army.’ Regardless, the Communist Party of China said they never did find the lone demonstrator in their records and can’t confirm he ever existed. I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but seriously, you just know this guy was executed hours later.
So yeah, we walked through this notorious square and saw these cool monuments in front of Mao’s Mausoleum.
And no account of the square would be complete without this image, the infamous Tiananmen Gate to the Forbidden City.
Not knowing one side from the other, we started our tour in the garden outside the Forbidden City, which, as you can see, was quite lovely.
And of course, what else do you do at the Forbidden City but ride bumper cars?
Now that's the look of eminent death!
I have to admit, my knowledge of China is woefully ignorant. That being said, I’ve always enjoyed the movie, ‘The Last Emperor’ and appreciated seeing this monumental palace, especially after watching the extended version of this movie not too long ago.
So the Forbidden City was home to the emperors for almost five hundred years. It has 980 buildings, took 15 years to build and a million labors to do it. It was designed to be the center of the ancient walled city of Beijing. There are walls and gates, towers and gardens, inner courts and outer courts, but really, the scope of this city is hard to conceive of on paper (or computer screen.) At first I was like, yeah, this is cool, but then you get farther into the city, and it’s hard to imagine how it can get more... well, more! But it does! More buildings. More detail. Just more!
A happy couple decided to take their wedding photos here, which I thought was pretty cool.
There is heaps of symbolism everywhere because the city was designed to reflect philosophical and religious principles, and above all, to symbolize the majesty of Imperial power. For instance, the color yellow represents the Emperor, so all the roofs have yellow glazed tiles. I remembered this detail from the movie, ‘The Last Emperor,’ when the Emperor has a playmate (or servant, I don’t remember) who wears the color yellow in front of him and he goes bananas.
Another detail connected with symbolizes are the statues that line the roofs of buildings. A man riding a phoenix, followed by an imperial dragon, leads them all. The number of statues represents the status of the building, the more, the more prestigious the building is.
So yeah, the Forbidden City...
After walking forever, we were eager to relax for a spell, but we didn’t have too long, because we also went to an acrobatic show that night. We got tickets through our hostel, which conveniently picked us up there. I’ve seen Cirque du Soleil in Vegas, so I have to admit, the bar has been set rather high for me. And this was nothing compared to the shows that line the Vegas Strip. Nonetheless, it was entertaining and mostly good, though the dance routines seriously lacked and made me think of my old high school friend, and how his mad dancing skills would help their routine immensely. There were little Chinese men jumping through hoops, a crafty juggler that turned his skill into an art, and interesting props used, like yo-yo’s and hats. But the act that stood out the most was the metal ball with motorcyclists zooming about. The first guy that went in was, you know, pretty cool, but more and more cyclists clambered inside this tiny ball of death, zooming much too fast for any of their mothers. Finally, after the 5th guy rode inside, I was convinced we’d just paid to watch someone die, but thankfully, that was not the case!
All in all, it was a pretty memorable first day in China!
Poor tank man :(
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