China has grown up alone and aloof, cut off from the rest of Eurasia by the Himalayas to the south and the Siberian region to the north. For the last three millennia, while empires, languages and peoples in the rest of the world rose, blossomed and disappeared without a trace, China has been busy largely recycling itself.
Until the late nineteenth century, the only foreigners China saw ~ apart from occasional ruling elites of Mongol and Manchu origin, who quickly became assimilated ~ were visiting merchants from far-flung shores or uncivilized nomads from the wild ~ peripheral, unimportant and unreal.
Today, while there is no sign of the Communist Party relinquishing power, the negative stories surrounding China ~ the runaway pollution, men far outnumber woman, the oppression of dissidents, the harsh treatment of criminal suspects and the imperialist behavior toward Tibet and other minority regions ~ are only part if the picture.
As the Party moves even farther away from hard-line political doctrine and toward economic pragmatism, China is undergoing a huge commercial and creative upheaval.
80% of China is farm land and the remaining land is covered by city
Beijing, also known as Peking, is a metropolis in Northern China, and the capital of the People's Republic of China. Having served as the political and cultural center for centuries, Beijing is truly "one of the world's great cities."
Tiananmen Square
The world's largest public "square" designed and built in 1651 and has since enlarged four times its original size in the 1950s.
Monument to the People's Heroes and the Great Hall of the People
The Tiananmen Gate to the Forbidden City was built in 1415 during the Ming Dynasty.
Still today the Republic of China reserves the right to limit speech it sees as disruptive to public order or detrimental to the hold of the Communist Party of China and while we stood in Tiananmen Square our tour guide made clear that he could not speak negatively of China or tell of his personal protest during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Once back on the bus the tour guide told us that even though he studied in the US and was a qualified history professor, after his participation in the 1989 protest the Chinese government deemed him unfit to teach children and he was not allowed in schools. He is happy today as a tour guide where he meets many people and speaks a bit more candidly than he could only a short time ago.
Enter the gates of The Forbidden City, so called because it was off limits for 500 hundred years except for whom the emporor approved, is the world's largest and best preserved palace complex (built in only 14 years!) and covers nearly 180 acres in Beijing.
Moments before passing through the gateway to the Forbidden City I spotted a coin at my feet, ushering in good fortune and opportunity.
A lion in front of the Palace of Tranquil Longevity
Imperial roof decorations of highest status on the roof ridge of the Hall of Supreme Harmony
Inside one of the temple rooms. No, my camera lens was not dirty...those orb spots on the image....perhaps lingering spirits of centuries ago
A vast complex of pavilions, gardens, and courtyards filled with fine Chinese bronzes, porcelains and paintings that exude an air of oppressive formality and ritual that was so much a part of the royal court.
Garden of the Forbidden City
The Great Wall
The Great Wall construction, once spread over 7000 miles,
was erected from 221 BC until the end of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. Less than 30% of The Wall remains in good condition today.
Separate walls that had been constructed by independent kingdoms to keep out marauding nomads, were linked together.
The effort required more than a million workers ~ many who were political prisoners and died in the process.
Locks of Love placed at The Wall
The Great Wall built in the name of fear, stands today as a place of pilgrimage of Unity to reclaim
Love that which is sacred to ALL
Once I reached the top a beautiful Chinese family gathered around me, taking my arm in theirs and happily we snapped a gazillion photos together in the name of peace and harmony.
Beautiful artwork around Beijing
Hand painted from the inside of this "twin" crystal bottle
Hand painted with jade powder
Beyond the mask, the smile is seen in this young woman's eyes
No comments:
Post a Comment