Zhonguo Shi (China Ten)
November 15, 1999

We arrived back from our two-week tour of China last night. It was an incredible journey which took us to Beijing, Xian, and Lhasa. The weather was splendid! I wore mostly short-sleeve shirts and maybe a sweater in the morning and evening. We didn't see the sun in Xian, but it didn't rain. We met up with my wife (Denise), Rita's mother (Yvonne), and Robert's mother and brother (Vicki and Mark) in Beijing, and they joined us for our two-week adventure. Matthew and Scott decided not to come on the trip, but Norma Jean Krim accompanied us for the first part in Beijing.

In Beijing we saw a Peking Opera, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, the Fragrant Hill, and the Panda Exhibition Hall at the Beijing Zoo. We toured the Confucian Temple and the Yonghe Temple, and we got a close up look at the Hutongs (the traditional narrow lanes with houses in the form of quadrangles on both sides). Some of us also visited the Museum of Chinese History and Beihai Park.

In Xian we toured part of the City Wall, the Big Goose Pagoda, the Terra Cotta Warriors, the Huaqing Pool, the Banpo Museum, the Stele Forest, the Qian Tomb, and the Tomb of the princess of Yongtai.  Finally, in Lhasa we visited the Drepung Monastery, Ramoche Temple, and Norbu Lingka (the People's Park). We toured the Potala Palace, the Jokhang Temple, and the Ganden Monastery. We went shopping on Barkhor Street, and some of us even climbed to the top of a Tibetan Mountain (and we are alive to tell about it).

In our two weeks of travel, we saw and did so much that it was simply overwhelming. If one tours China, one would expect (and others would too) to see the Great Wall, the Terra Cotta Warriors, and the Potala Palace. I know that when I return home people will be anxious to see pictures of these things. But, more important than what we saw is how we were transformed by our experience by what we learned and by how we reacted to our experiences. It is this that will be the focus of this newsletter from China.

We began our journey on the train from Guangzhou to Beijing on Sunday, October 31. Our relatives from back home arrived in Beijing by air on Friday, October 29, so they had a couple of days to recover from jetlag and explore on their own. After our trip to Kunming for the National Day Holiday, we knew what to expect on the train ride, and so we were better prepared. It was a long ride (24 hours). We left at 11:30 AM on Sunday, and arrived at 11:40 AM on Monday. There were eight of us (including Peter our tour guide), and Rita and Pam rode in a soft sleeper car, while the rest of us shared a berth in a hard sleeper (six to a berth, so it worked out perfectly). We played cards, sang songs, talked about our trip with great anticipation, ate junk food, and I probably drove everyone crazy with my countdown (in 8 more hours there will only be 12 more hours to go, 3 hours ago there were 20 hours to go, etc, etc).

We finally arrived in Beijing and met up with the local tour guide and her bus driver. We loaded up and headed off to the hotel. We got to the hotel and met up with our relatives from home. It was good to see Denise! It had been two months since I left for China, and that is a long time to be away from someone you love. It was the same for Rita and Robert, I'm sure. It was a joyous reunion. The only glitch was that we fully expected them to meet us in the hotel lobby, but when we arrived, they were not there. They came down as we were checking in. They were late because someone (I won't mention names because I don't want to sleep on the sofa when I get home) thought they had plenty of time and stopped to make another cup of coffee. As we were checking in, they discovered we were short a room. The hotel was booked, so we ended up having to change hotels. It was a shame because it was a nice hotel with a good location (right in the heart of the city). We were moved to the suburbs in a commercial area to a hotel that was not as nice, but we weren't there to sit in a hotel; we were there to see Beijing!   So, it really was not that big of a deal, other than the hassle of loading the bus back up and moving out.

That evening we were taken to a Beijing Opera. It was an Opera put on for foreigners. Normally we are not happy with tours designed strictly for foreigners, but this was an exception. A REAL Beijing Opera lasts about 6 hours, after two of which the audience gets bored and hostile. We got the abbreviated version (only two hours), and we got a running commentary on a screen with what was going on in the plot. Since we had just finished a day after riding 24 hours on a train and others were still struggling a bit with jet lag, it was good to be out of there by 9:00 PM and get back to the hotel for a good night's sleep!

The next morning (Tuesday, Nov 2) we were off to Tiananmen Square. Everyone in America knows about Tiananmen Square from the events of 1989, but there is more to Tiananmen Square than those events. Tiananmen Square is the largest public square in the world. It is bordered on the south by the South Gate (there use to be a wall surrounding both the Square and the Forbidden City. To the north of the Square lies the Forbidden City, which was the home of the emperors for 500 years. On the east of the Square sits the Museum of Chinese History and on the west is the Great Hall of the People (the equivalent of the US Capitol). In the middle of the Square is a 36 meter (118 feet) tall obelisk that is the Monument to the People's Heroes and an imposing building that is the Mao Zedong Mausoleum where Chairman Mao's body lies in state. We did not go through the Mausoleum to view the body as the Mausoleum is only open two hours every day and the line to get in was very long.

Tiananmen Square is the heart of Beijing. One can feel the pulse of the city as one stands in the Square. There are four "Rings" to the city, and Tiananmen stands at the center. China's history, culture, and politics all move from this center point outwards. From the rostrum at Tiananmen Gate (the gate leading into the Forbidden City where the giant portrait of Mao hangs) is where edicts from the emperors and Mao were proclaimed to up to a million people gathered in the Square. People come to Tiananmen for government business, to sightsee, to fly kites, and to take a leisurely walk. It seemed very appropriate that this was the starting point of our tour of Beijing.

From the Square we moved north to the Imperial Palace, or Forbidden City. The Imperial Palace was called the Forbidden City because it was off limits to commoners for 500 years. The Palace was originally laid out between 1406 to 1420 (70 years before Columbus sailed to America), but, due to many fires, the buildings that one finds there date from the 1800's. From this Palace the emperors of the Ming (1368-1644 AD) and Qing (1644 to 1911) Dynasties ruled China -- or at least they gave the semblance of ruling China. The emperors were isolated from China from behind these walls living in their own made up world, so it was the lower court officials who actually ran China. The whole City is surrounded by a moat and a wall. Once inside, one passes through several more gates before finally arriving at what was once the center of activity. The architecture and the beauty of the Palace is everything that one would expect from such a place. However, rather than evoking a feeling of Imperial Splendor, it felt more like one was standing within a prison. The outer walls are built so high, not only to keep the commoners out, but to keep them from seeing in. Yet these walls did not save the Ming Dynasty from the Manchu invasion when the last of the Ming emperors killed his whole family before hanging himself in 1644. These walls could not keep the Japanese out during WWII when they looted the Palace, nor did the walls protect the remaining treasures when in 1949 Chiang Kaishek took what was left and headed for Taiwan. The only thing the walls seemed to accomplish was to separate the emperor from the empire -- no wonder the empire fell in 1911!

If there was anything regal about our visit to the Forbidden City, it was our student Rachel Halsey. She is tall (5'10"), blonde, and beautiful. Wherever she goes the Chinese want to take their picture with her. The Forbidden City was the worst! Shiela, our local guide, got quite frustrated with it all, and would yell at the Chinese, "Enough!" (in Chinese, of course) But, they would always insist on one more. We tried surrounding her to shelter her, but to no avail. My guess is that by the time we come home, there will be more pictures of Rachel in Chinese homes than there are of Chairman Mao!

In the afternoon we went to Tiantan Park, or the Temple of Heaven. This is where the emperors, beginning in the Ming Dynasty, came to pray and offer sacrifices to heaven for good harvests. The Temple really exemplifies the old Chinese views of the relationship between Heaven and Earth. All the temples are round, but they sit on square bases. The Chinese believed that Heaven was perfect (and hence, round), and the earth was imperfect (and hence, square). Hence, the architecture is designed to show the order of heaven being imposed on earth -- the whole point of Chinese religion. The southern end of the long rectangular park is square while the northern end is a semi-circle.

The Round Altar was built around the number 9. Odd numbers symbolized power and manliness, and since 9 is the largest single digit odd number, it came to signify the emperor. The altar is 5 meters high and is built on three tiers. There are 9 steps to each tier. The top tier (round to represent heaven) has 9 rings of stone, each of which has a multiple of 9 number of stones in it such that the first ring has 9, the second 18 . . .  until the 9th ring which has 81 stones. As one moves north from the Round Altar, one comes to the Echo Wall that surrounds the entrance to the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The wall is 65 meters in diameter and, standing along the wall, a person's whisper will travel all the way around the wall (provided there is no one standing in the way).

The Imperial Vault of Heaven was used to store the tablets containing the names of the emperor's ancestors. These tablets were used in the religious ceremony during the winter solstice.  The dominant building of the complex is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests which sits just north of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. This temple is 38 meters high and 30 meters in diameter. The wooden pillars support the ceiling without the use of nails or cement. It was in this temple that the emperor would come to pray to heaven for a good harvest. It sits at the northern end of the park (which is semi-circular) and is truly the heavenly part of the entire complex.

Unlike the Imperial Palace, which I stated above did not evoke any regal feelings for me, the Temple of Heaven did inspire in me the feeling of sacredness. The emperor could not isolate himself from heaven like he could from his empire, and this temple's design did express the humility of the emperor before heaven. Its rational layout helped to convey the idea of the perfection of heaven above earth. It created a sense of awe and reverence.

The next day (Wednesday, November 3) we were off to the Chang Cheng (Great Wall)! Perhaps, this is the one thing in China that all Americans know about, and certainly it is the one thing that I'm sure everyone expects to see a picture of. As impressive as it is to see (and one can only see part of it at a time as it stretches some 3,000 miles across China), there is more to it than just seeing it or taking a picture of it. There is an old Chinese saying that goes, "You are not a real man until you have been to the Great Wall." This puts the Great Wall in the soul of the Chinese. Ever since we arrived in China, students and teachers have been asking us if we were going to the Great Wall. There were even a group of four students that came to me shortly before we left to ask me to bring them back something from our trip. My first reaction was my gosh, if I bring something for them, I will have to bring something for all 160 students in the English Department. Reluctantly I asked what it was they wanted, and their simple request was a picture of me on the Great Wall. While it is not possible for them to go to the Great Wall in the immediate future, they could live it through me! This made our visit to the Wall of critical importance. I was not going just for me, but for all those back at the school who had never before been there themselves.

It was a beautiful day with a temperature in the upper 50's to lower 60's and clear blue skies. On the way we saw a very frightening sight. Disneyworld is coming to Beijing! We saw the construction sight, and the frame of the Disney castle. (When we returned to Zhaoqing, we were told that Disney is going to build near Hong Kong, and not near Beijing, but we were pretty sure that this looked like a Disney layout.) When we arrived, Shiela, our local guide, gave us three hours to explore. We could go in either of two directions. One way was not very steep, and hence, not very challenging, and all of us, without hesitation headed the other way into the mountains. "To the Top!" was the battle cry as we took off. The young long-legged ones in our group (Mark, Robert, and Rachel) soon disappeared out of sight. Jen kept up with them for a while. Denise and I were next, followed by Vicki (Robert and Mark's mother) and Pam, and then Rita, her mother Yvonne, and Norma Jean Krim. After a while Denise and I finally caught up to Jen, and a little later we caught up to Robert and Rachel. We passed Mark (he was headed back down after getting to the top), and we, as a group, were headed to the top. I was in a short sleeve shirt, but had my jacket in my day pack (just in case), but others were wearing long underwear and their coats in anticipation of it being cold on the Wall. I soon had Denise's, Jen's and Rachel's coats in my daypack, but we kept heading up! We were nearing the top when we noticed Vicki not to far behind us. We decided to wait for her (good excuse to take a break), and then the valiant six of us continued our ascent. We made it to the top (the wall ends at this particular point with no explanation why). We climbed to the top of the tower and patted ourselves on the back for our achievement. From the top we enjoyed a magnificent view in all directions for miles on end! There was another tour group up there so we were able to get a group picture at the top (to go along with the countless pictures we took on our way up and on the way down). We had about a half an hour left, so we had to hustle back down. While going down might seem easier, it is incredibly difficult because of the steepness of the slopes in some places -- not to mention the fact that the leg muscles had tightened up. But, we made it down in time to buy some "I climbed the Great Wall" T-shirts. We were now all "Real Men." But, even the Chinese have a politically correct saying for climbing the Great Wall, "Women shi yingsheng." (We are heroes.)

Just like the Wall surrounding the Forbidden City, the Great Wall never really served the emperor of China well. Qin (the first emperor to unite all of China in 221 BC) was the first to build the wall to keep invaders from the north out. But shortly after its completion Qin died and his dynasty fell to a peasant uprising which ultimately led to the Han Dynasty (207 BC -- 220 AD). Later the Song Dynasty would fall to the Mongol invaders, and the Ming Dynasty would fall to the Manchus. But, perhaps more importantly, the Great Wall could not protect the emperor from the enemy within. Confucius said that if a Prince led from moral virtue the people would willingly follow. Unfortunately, the emperors did not always lead from moral virtue.

On the way home we stopped to tour the Summer Palace. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to spend here to give the place what it deserves. The Summer Palace was a summer residence for the emperors. It was enlarged in the 18th Century by the emperor Qianlong to its present size but later abandoned. It was later rebuilt by the Empress Dowager Cixi and a lot of its history is focused around her intrigues. The Summer Palace (yiheyuan), unlike the Forbidden City really does have the air of regality about it. There are walls to be sure, but they are not as imposing as what one finds at the Forbidden City. The Summer Palace is divided into four parts: A reception area, residences, temples, and gardens. We strolled along the gardens through the Long Corridor, which is a covered walkway some 700 meters long decorated with paintings depicting mythical scenes. On our right were the gardens and on our left was Kunming Lake. Across the lake one can see the 17 arch bridge (9 arches from either side to the middle) that connects the mainland to South Lake Island. At the end of the Corridor we came upon a marble boat that Cixi had rebuilt and sits immobile at the edge of the lake. The Summer Palace seemed like an appropriate place for new heroes to visit after conquering the Great Wall.

That night, to celebrate our heroics Jen, Rachel, Mark, Robert, Pam, Vicki, Denise and I set off in two cabs to celebrate. We ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe. Mostly because we heard that there was good shopping nearby, but also so that some of us (not me) could get some Hard Rock Beijing souvenirs. After a brief stop at the Hard Rock, we set off to stroll the streets. To our dismay there was nothing of note to find. We ended up at a fast food restaurant to use the bathrooms (which were closed) and some wanted to get an ice cream cone. That's when we noticed that Pam and Vicki were missing!

Denise and I went looking for them (and a rest room), and we ended up finding them at a place called Mays. They were drinking a beer and playing Connect Four. We used the restroom and then sat down to wait for them to finish. Shortly thereafter Robert and Mark showed up. They started to play another game of Connect Four. At about the time I thought I'd better go looking for Jen and Rachel, they showed up. After a few minutes everyone finished their games and we went to find a taxi to head back to the hotel. Our taxi driver was the Chinese version of Mario Andretti! There are perhaps some Chinese who, seeing the Great Wall in the afternoon, would be ready to die that evening, but I am not one of those Chinese. This driver is the horror that one reads about in travel books about driving in China.  He drove as if it were an Olympic event, and every hundredth of a second was the difference between Gold and Silver! It was a good thing I had found the restroom at Mays! He was swerving between lanes at ungodly speeds missing other cars by millimeters. By the time we made it back to our hotel, my heart was beating faster than I think it has ever beat before. Thankfully, we made it, and we were able to continue our adventures on the following day.

Thursday, November 4 we set out for the Fragrant Hills. The "Hills" are in the northeast part of Beijing, and use to be yet another resort for the emperors. We had a leisurely stroll through part of the park, and, of course, many people had their picture taken with Empress Rachel. Our visit here did make me think about how much of Beijing was devoted to the life of the emperors (The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and other parks as well). But, since the fall of the emperors in 1911 and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China has, rather than razed the structures and built high rises and factories, turned all of these "Places for the Emperor" into magnificent public parks where anyone can enjoy the natural scenery and the splendor that was once reserved only for an elite few.

After our visit to The Fragrant Hills, we stopped at the Beijing Zoo to visit the Panda Exhibition Hall. At first I was not all that excited about this stop. Pam, Rita and I had visited Ocean Park in Hong Kong and seen a couple of Pandas there. In the travel books it mentions that the treatment of animals in Chinese zoos is not very humane, and who wants to see that. But we went, and, for what I learned, I am glad that I did! Pandas are more than just cute little black and white bears. They are China's national symbol of Peace. We learned that China had just sent another pair of Pandas to the United States, and that this is a standard offering of friendship on the part of China in their relations with other countries. Just as the Bald Eagle, our national symbol, has struggled as an endangered species, so too China has had to struggle with the panda. Its fragile natural habitat is being destroyed by development, and China is struggling with the ecological issues of trying to save the panda. Perhaps one could compare this to the spotted owl vs. the lumber industry in the northwestern part of the US, although the spotted owl does not represent a national symbol.

Friday, November 5 was a free day for us to explore Beijing on our own. Peter, our tour guide from Zhaoqing, had offered us the opportunity to go to the Great Wall at Simatai, but in order to get a bus, we would need 6 people (including him) to go. Simatai is a part of the Great Wall in its natural state of decay. Unfortunately, Peter could not get a bus, but suggested taking two taxis (about a three-hour ride). Well, that killed the idea of going to Simitai, but there were other things to do in Beijing, so off we went in search of great adventures. Vicki, Mark, Robert, Pam, Jen, Rachel, Denise and I set off back to Tiananmen Square. We thought we'd try and see if we could visit Mao in his Mausoleum. But, alas, we got there just as it was closing. So, instead we visited the Museum of Chinese History on the east side of the Square. The museum was fascinating. We started with some of the fossil remains of Peking Man (the site where they found Peking Man, the oldest recorded human fossil remains, is some 40 kilometers from Beijing). And the museum continued through Chinese history until 1919.

There was another section covering 1919 to the present, but by the time we finished it was 1:00 PM and time to find lunch. Mark (Robert's brother) refused to eat Chinese food through most of the trip, so we set out to find a McDonalds for him (it seems there is a McDonalds on every third block in Beijing). Unfortunately, we were in the part of Beijing where they were scarce so we had to do some considerable walking. We found one, but Rachel, Jen, Denise and I decided to try and find some Chinese food. We would meet back at Macs in an hour, and off we went. Luckily, we found a small Chinese Buffet down an alley way, and we ended up having a fabulous lunch.

After lunch Vicki, Mark, Pam and Jen wanted to do a little shopping and then head back to the hotel. Denise, Robert, Rachel and I decided to go to Beihai Park. Since, Denise wanted to ride in a rickshaw, we took bicycle powered rickshaws over there. Beihai Park has its origins in the reign of Genghis Khan (early 13th Century). It was the sight of his palace, although nothing remains of it. It is just to the northwest of the Forbidden City. About half of the park is a lake, and in the middle of the lake is an island with a huge white pagoda on top that was built for a visit by the Dalai Lama in 1651. From the top of the hill one can see the rooftops of the temples and gates from the Forbidden city (one cannot see down into the city because of the foreboding walls). One also gets a breathtaking view of the Beijing skyline. Unfortunately, it was a little hazy that day, but that made the view of the Forbidden City almost surreal.

That night was our last night in Beijing. Pam and Vicki (Robert's mother), who were rooming together in the hotel, wanted to go back to Mays Cafe for one last farewell beer. They wanted Denise and I to go along. I was too tired, but Denise felt like she had to go, although she really didn't want to. I told Denise to talk them into going to a local pub rather than take a taxi back to Mays -- later I would realize what a mistake that was. They ended up walking around the corner from our hotel and spotted a place that looked like a bar. The man at the door was reluctant to let them in, but because they persisted, he did. Everyone was staring at them in the bar, and they soon realized why -- they were not in a bar, but a brothel! As they left, everyone was laughing at them, and they hopped in a taxi and headed off to Mays.

On Saturday, November 5 we finished our tour of Beijing with a tour of Yonghe Temple. This temple was the private residence of Count Yin Zhen, but in 1723 (Qing Dynasty) he was made emperor and he moved to the Forbidden City. His name was changed to Yong Zhen and his former residence became Yonghe Palace. In 1744 he donated it to a group of Tibetan monks who converted it into a lamasery. It is the largest and best preserved Tibetan Buddhist Temple outside of Tibet. It miraculously escaped damage during the Cultural Revolution! It is filled with beautiful gardens, decorative tapestries, frescoes and other relics. In 1949, at the formation of the Peoples Republic of China, it was declared protected as a major historical relic, and it is still today a functioning lamasery -- right in the heart of Beijing! What a city of contrasts! Emperors, Tibetan monks, communists, and capitalists all packaged together in one city. Not all of us went to the Temple however. Robert and Rachel wanted to see Chairman Mao. So as the rest of us headed off to the Temple, they took a taxi down to Tiananmen Square to go to the Mausoleum. They got their turn, and got to see Chairman Mao lying in state. They then met back up with us just as we were finishing our tour of the Yonghe Temple.

After leaving the Temple we walked across the street and down a block to the Confucian Temple and Imperial College. Originally it was not on our itinerary, however, it was the one thing Denise wanted to see, and since it was so close to the Yonghe Temple, the local tour guide treated us to it at no extra charge. It is the largest Confucian Temple with the exception of the one at Qufu (the birthplace of Confucius). For two-thousand years the civil service exams in China were based on the teachings of Confucius (Kong Zi). Temples were established where people could come and prepare for the exams. Those who passed the exams had their names recorded on Steles (large stone monuments) which are kept at the Temple. The Temple is now strictly a museum that shows the impact that one man and his teaching had on an entire nation! So much of what China is today has been shaped by the Master and his teachings. Confucianism is the fabric of China's social structure, and while Chinese may no longer think of themselves as Confucianists, as they might think of themselves as Buddhists or Taoists, it is not because Confucianism is no longer important, but rather because it is so ingrained in them that they cannot recognize it as an "ism." After our visit to the temples we had lunch, and then were turned loose to go shopping for our last couple of hours in Beijing before heading for the train station to go to Xian. We had seen and done so much in Beijing.

Here I am writing on page 8, and I am just finishing about our adventures in Beijing! And, I left so much out! I was hoping to be able to write about the entire two weeks in this newsletter, but it has taken nearly a week to write this -- not because I find it difficult to write, but because our reception since returning back to school has been overwhelming. When I do get a chance to write, the words just explode on to the page, but everyone wants to hear about our trip and see our pictures! Everyone wants to know if we saw the Great Wall.

Everyone wants to know what we thought was the best part of the trip. Most of these students have never been outside Guangdong Province. Those few who have traveled, have maybe gone to Beijing. No student I have talked to has been to Xian or Tibet. We are not only their window to the world, but, ironically, we have been their window to China! So I will finish off this newsletter, and you will have to wait to hear about our adventures in Xian, the ancient capital; and Lhasa, the "Rooftop of the World."

Zaijian,
Gordy