China Day 4

Today's tours were of the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. All impressively grand in scale and in history.

Admission to the gardens around the Temple of Heaven is free to citizens over 60 years old and it was busy with people socializing and enjoying themselves.

Playing music

Playing dominos, cards and mah jong.

Quietly knitting.

Practicing calligraphy with water on the sidewalks.

Cady kept a watchful eye on this gentleman's work.

The temple complex is gorgeous. The colors are vibrant blues, greens and gold. It sits on top of a small rise and has commanding views of the city.

Gargoyles for drainage along the terraces.

Tiananmen Square is a required stop on every tour of Beijing and, although it's impressive in size, it left me unimpressed. It's a huge open space with Mao's tomb taking up a big portion at one end and his gigantic portrait overlooking the opposite end.

Mao's tomb on the left and the Monument to the People's Heroes on the right.

It's the gathering space for the city, but mostly for state-mandated parades and national holidays. It's also where the students demanding freedoms gathered in 1989 and were subsequently shot, but no one talks about that. Both times I've been there the driver has dropped us off at one end, we've walked with the guide across the huge expanse and filed into the gates of the Forbidden City. It feels like walking across a really big parking lot with no cars and a recent history that's like a huge elephant sitting in the living room. Our guide on this trip was a child living in rural China in 1989 and said that his family knew nothing about the uprising, although he knows the rest of the world heard about it as it was going on. He was reluctant to say anything more about it and did not share his thoughts about how his government handled the situation.

On we went into the Forbidden City.

I have a picture from nearly 15 years ago of Dad sitting in this pagoda in the garden. It was a lot more crowded on this trip.