Thursday, June 22, 2006
Ni Hao!
Ni Hao is the Chinese greeting for "How do you do?" (Morgan will be writing this time just to avoid any confusion from here out...) After an early bed time last night, Mom and I woke up around 6:15 AM refreshed and excited to see the city of Beijing. We went to the lobby and had a western style breakfast, but there were also Chinese foods available to eat, like Chinese fried noodles and spring rolls. I was happy to have fresh fruit and vegetables! At 9:00, we met with our tour group to head to the Forbidden City, which was where the emperor of China used to live. We entered through the back gate and saw the gardens, where there were 4 pagodas, one for each season. Every gateway to enter or leave an area in Chinese architecture has a raised hearth that you must step over, not on. According to Feng Shui, this raised hearth is to keep out the evil spirits, which are only a few inches high, and cannot get over the raised hearth. Women step over the hearth with their right leg first, and men with their left leg first. Women must step over right leg first, because (according to our tour guide, Emily) women are always right! So there! When the last emperor received his birthday gift from his English tutor, he was disappointed that the raised hearths blocked the bicycle speed, he had several of the hearths removed from the garden. However, since he was forbidden to leave the Forbidden City, no evil spirits could get in anyway...
The president of Ghana was visiting today and arrived at the Forbidden City just after we did, so parts of the city were blocked off to us at first. We learned of his visit because we saw the Ghana flags posted along side the Chinese flags surrounding the Forbidden City. We didn't get to see him though. Silly security. Once the doors were open to us again, we walked along to see the residential areas of the emperor and his family. We saw the rooms where the emperor would receive officials and discuss Chinese policy in the building of "Intellectual Cultivation". In the courtyard behind the building of "Intellectual Cultivation", the emperor would receive his concubines. This courtyard had a large crystal because the emperor wanted his "sweet girls" to be pure as crystal. There were several bedrooms for the girls to prepare themselves to see the emperor. We were not allowed to enter the rooms because much of the furniture and textiles are original. We viewed them through the windows.
We then moved onto the large courtyards where there are 3 large temples, and also the long marble walkway carved with dragons that only the emperor was allowed to walk up. (You know... where all the pictures are taken). All the buildings in the Forbidden City have animal characters on the rooftops to signify how important the building is. The main temple (the tallest building in the city used for major ceremonies such as the New Year celebrations, the emperors birthday ect..) is the only building with all 9 animal characters descending to the each of the roof's 4 corners. The most important character is a monkey.. go figure. This building is currently under renovations for the 2008 Olympics, however. Speaking of the Olympics, they are going to begin on August 8, 2008 (8/8/08). The number 8 in Chinese shares the same pronunciation as the word for "making money" so it's a good luck omen for Beijing.
When we left the Forbidden City, we were told about the hierarchy of the 5 gates leaving the city. The central (and largest) gate was for the emperor only, but could also be used by the empress on their wedding day as she entered the city, and also by the 3 top scholars of China as they left the Forbidden City after taking their scholarly examinations given by the emperor that year. The gate to the right was for the royal family, and to the left was for high ranking officials. The 2 outer gates were for the lower ranking officials that came into the city.
We left through the center gate! and continued out to Tiananmen square. We walked under the main avenue to get there and had a group photo in front of late Chairman Mao's portrait. We wandered around the square, and saw about one Chinese guard every 25 meters or so. On the opposite side of the square is the mausoleum where Chairman Mao's body is embalmed (against his wishes.. he wanted everyone in China to be cremated). On one side of the square is the People's Republic Government building, which shares some of the same functions as the White House (but the government people don't live there) and also has a small parliament function. To the opposite of this building is the National History of China museum, where we ate lunch. As you walk in, they have a few of the Terracotta Warriors to greet us. Our lunch was all Chinese food that was placed in the center of the table on a Lazy Susan and eaten buffet style. We also saw Eric, Hila, and Esh on our way out (the Whitacre family). Eric doesn't get any credit for Esh's stunning beauty; he's all Hila's baby!! (he is about 1 yr old now). Eric gave us a friendly greeting and we left them to eat in peace (and air conditioning).
A smaller group stopped off at one of the Hutong communities, which were the type of community that has existed in the city for hundreds of years. Each Hutong used to house one family, however now it houses anywhere from 2 or 3 up to 15. The one we visited had 15 families, or about 50 people living in it, all sharing 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms. Cricket Liu was the patriarch, who hosted us. He raises crickets to fight, much like cock fights in the US. We met his champion cricket (who is mourning the loss of his late wife). We also met 2 of his grasshopper friends, a green one and a black one. He claims he trained them not to jump away, and they didn't jump into any of our hair, thank goodness. We would have met champion grasshopper squish if it went into my hair. He signed autographs, so Michael Vigiliante signed the back of one of our group photos and gave it to him as well. We also got to go to the top of the drum tower, which was constructed in the 13th century. This tower was used to keep time in China before clocks were widespread. There was a very intricate time device at the top of the tower that used some sort of water flow system to fill a tank and float a wooden stick to the top and activate a bronze statue to clash some symbols. When this happened, 5 people came out and started a drum symphony on these HUGE drums (like 100 Chinese people could fit inside this thing. that's 50 US people. We're bigger.) Umm the staircase to climb to the top of the tower is why they are smaller. Each step was about 14 inches high, but about 8-10 inches deep. They have smaller feet than us too. Maybe that's why the foot massages are cheap. Anyway, the staircase goes straight up. Our entire group made it to the top.. and then those crazy football players did it again for training or something crazy like that.
Some of the group who decided to return to the hotel instead received massages from the hotel, which they shared are very different from massages that you receive in the US, and much cheaper as well. I want a foot massage before I leave! $5. I think I can afford it. My feet will definitely be able to chip in for that.
We met at 6PM to go sing in a pedestrian shopping area called "Beijing's 5th Ave". We sang 2 songs and drew such a crowd of Chinese people that the police came and broke it up. I have no idea how they knew we were foreign. We were wearing red and everything :). We sang Wanna Baraka and Blackbird though. And then off to the Hard Rock Cafe. So Chinese (not). It was arranged by the tour company, but they had a live band that performed several American songs, and they were very good. I can't think of any other time I'm gonna see a Chinese man rocking out to "Sweet Home Alabama" on the electric guitar. We ate western food, but the mud pie for dessert was wonderful. And cold. It is not cold outside. It is hot. And we sweat all day. By the way, there are no drugs or nuclear weapons allowed in this Hard Rock Cafe. The sign outside said so. Sorry boys and girls, save your WMD's for another day.
We all made it back by 10PM for the USA vs. Ghana soccer match, and John is upstairs watching it right now in Chinese. Tomorrow we get to see the Pandas, the Summer Palace, eat more Chinese food yum! and rehearse for the first time with Eric Whitacre. Another perfect day. For those of you that have not finished digging those holes in your back yards, you still have 11 more days to dig. Hope to see you soon!
Goodbye (you can translate that to Chinese yourself, I forgot).
The president of Ghana was visiting today and arrived at the Forbidden City just after we did, so parts of the city were blocked off to us at first. We learned of his visit because we saw the Ghana flags posted along side the Chinese flags surrounding the Forbidden City. We didn't get to see him though. Silly security. Once the doors were open to us again, we walked along to see the residential areas of the emperor and his family. We saw the rooms where the emperor would receive officials and discuss Chinese policy in the building of "Intellectual Cultivation". In the courtyard behind the building of "Intellectual Cultivation", the emperor would receive his concubines. This courtyard had a large crystal because the emperor wanted his "sweet girls" to be pure as crystal. There were several bedrooms for the girls to prepare themselves to see the emperor. We were not allowed to enter the rooms because much of the furniture and textiles are original. We viewed them through the windows.
We then moved onto the large courtyards where there are 3 large temples, and also the long marble walkway carved with dragons that only the emperor was allowed to walk up. (You know... where all the pictures are taken). All the buildings in the Forbidden City have animal characters on the rooftops to signify how important the building is. The main temple (the tallest building in the city used for major ceremonies such as the New Year celebrations, the emperors birthday ect..) is the only building with all 9 animal characters descending to the each of the roof's 4 corners. The most important character is a monkey.. go figure. This building is currently under renovations for the 2008 Olympics, however. Speaking of the Olympics, they are going to begin on August 8, 2008 (8/8/08). The number 8 in Chinese shares the same pronunciation as the word for "making money" so it's a good luck omen for Beijing.
When we left the Forbidden City, we were told about the hierarchy of the 5 gates leaving the city. The central (and largest) gate was for the emperor only, but could also be used by the empress on their wedding day as she entered the city, and also by the 3 top scholars of China as they left the Forbidden City after taking their scholarly examinations given by the emperor that year. The gate to the right was for the royal family, and to the left was for high ranking officials. The 2 outer gates were for the lower ranking officials that came into the city.
We left through the center gate! and continued out to Tiananmen square. We walked under the main avenue to get there and had a group photo in front of late Chairman Mao's portrait. We wandered around the square, and saw about one Chinese guard every 25 meters or so. On the opposite side of the square is the mausoleum where Chairman Mao's body is embalmed (against his wishes.. he wanted everyone in China to be cremated). On one side of the square is the People's Republic Government building, which shares some of the same functions as the White House (but the government people don't live there) and also has a small parliament function. To the opposite of this building is the National History of China museum, where we ate lunch. As you walk in, they have a few of the Terracotta Warriors to greet us. Our lunch was all Chinese food that was placed in the center of the table on a Lazy Susan and eaten buffet style. We also saw Eric, Hila, and Esh on our way out (the Whitacre family). Eric doesn't get any credit for Esh's stunning beauty; he's all Hila's baby!! (he is about 1 yr old now). Eric gave us a friendly greeting and we left them to eat in peace (and air conditioning).
A smaller group stopped off at one of the Hutong communities, which were the type of community that has existed in the city for hundreds of years. Each Hutong used to house one family, however now it houses anywhere from 2 or 3 up to 15. The one we visited had 15 families, or about 50 people living in it, all sharing 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms. Cricket Liu was the patriarch, who hosted us. He raises crickets to fight, much like cock fights in the US. We met his champion cricket (who is mourning the loss of his late wife). We also met 2 of his grasshopper friends, a green one and a black one. He claims he trained them not to jump away, and they didn't jump into any of our hair, thank goodness. We would have met champion grasshopper squish if it went into my hair. He signed autographs, so Michael Vigiliante signed the back of one of our group photos and gave it to him as well. We also got to go to the top of the drum tower, which was constructed in the 13th century. This tower was used to keep time in China before clocks were widespread. There was a very intricate time device at the top of the tower that used some sort of water flow system to fill a tank and float a wooden stick to the top and activate a bronze statue to clash some symbols. When this happened, 5 people came out and started a drum symphony on these HUGE drums (like 100 Chinese people could fit inside this thing. that's 50 US people. We're bigger.) Umm the staircase to climb to the top of the tower is why they are smaller. Each step was about 14 inches high, but about 8-10 inches deep. They have smaller feet than us too. Maybe that's why the foot massages are cheap. Anyway, the staircase goes straight up. Our entire group made it to the top.. and then those crazy football players did it again for training or something crazy like that.
Some of the group who decided to return to the hotel instead received massages from the hotel, which they shared are very different from massages that you receive in the US, and much cheaper as well. I want a foot massage before I leave! $5. I think I can afford it. My feet will definitely be able to chip in for that.
We met at 6PM to go sing in a pedestrian shopping area called "Beijing's 5th Ave". We sang 2 songs and drew such a crowd of Chinese people that the police came and broke it up. I have no idea how they knew we were foreign. We were wearing red and everything :). We sang Wanna Baraka and Blackbird though. And then off to the Hard Rock Cafe. So Chinese (not). It was arranged by the tour company, but they had a live band that performed several American songs, and they were very good. I can't think of any other time I'm gonna see a Chinese man rocking out to "Sweet Home Alabama" on the electric guitar. We ate western food, but the mud pie for dessert was wonderful. And cold. It is not cold outside. It is hot. And we sweat all day. By the way, there are no drugs or nuclear weapons allowed in this Hard Rock Cafe. The sign outside said so. Sorry boys and girls, save your WMD's for another day.
We all made it back by 10PM for the USA vs. Ghana soccer match, and John is upstairs watching it right now in Chinese. Tomorrow we get to see the Pandas, the Summer Palace, eat more Chinese food yum! and rehearse for the first time with Eric Whitacre. Another perfect day. For those of you that have not finished digging those holes in your back yards, you still have 11 more days to dig. Hope to see you soon!
Goodbye (you can translate that to Chinese yourself, I forgot).
