China Diaries – Day 5

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It was a very warm day for sightseeing. There were many umbrellas / parasols in evidence as we approached Tiananmen Square – the 4th largest public square in the World, named after the Tiananmen gate to its North separating it from the Forbidden CIty.

Leaving the relative cool of the minibus, we were immediately aware of the high security surrounding the whole area. The square itself is fenced off with security gates and detectors for bags at each corner. We duly waited in line and emerged into the melee of various indigenous Chinese who thronged to this meeting point. To our South we observed the seemingly endless queue of those wishing to pay their respects to the former Chairman Mao in his permanent mausoleum where he continues to lie in state.

Progress across the square was difficult. As westerners and with half of our party black, we were a novelty, particularly to those from the north west who had never actually seen species such as ours in the flesh before. They all wanted a photo with us.

Eventually we made it to the northern subway and emerged at the gates to the Forbidden City under the immense portrait of Mao. We joined the crowds walking through the impressive gates, already awed by the scale.

Some 10 minutes later, we met up with Ziang, clutching a handful of tickets by the paying entrance.

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As we proceeded into the inner courtyards, he gave us some facts and figures –

  • The “city” covers 1 km2
  • It took ½ million workers 20 years to build it
  • By the time of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor had up to 20,000 concubines living here
  • Kowtow comes from 2 words Kow – hat and Tow – floor, so literally hat to the floor, which is the position to be maintained in the emperor’s presence unless you wished to be parted from your head!
  • Chinese whispers derives from the communication lines associated with the palace hierarchy and the fact that what was originally intended was likely to be corrupted according to how the message would benefit the next in line.

It was a very impressive site. In the end we were exhausted by the heat and the walking but it was worth it.

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After lunch we visited a traditional Chinese medicine hospital. We observed various treatments with a very knowledgeable and informative doctor as our guide. These included acupuncture, cupping, massage and manipulation and a visit to the pharmacy for traditional herbal medicines where we were shown the wooden cabinets with over 300 different drawers containing ingredients ranging from root ginger through to dried scorpions.  These are selected, weighed and combined into a prescription which is boiled in a pressure cooker into a rather noxious smelling “tea” which the patient ingests.

In the evening we went to the Chaoyang Theatre to watch the acrobatics show performed by young people. The skill, strength and dexterity were very impressive. Just as we were about to leave for the theatre a lady arrived who had been contacted that day to see if our group could meet up with her whilst we were in Bejing. She joined us on the short journey to the theatre discussing her social enterprise model of community child development and care. She had travelled 4 hours to meet us for 15 minutes!

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