A full day of sightseeing today. David Wang, our guide, spoke excellent English and kept us well informed as we moved around. At 8.50am he took us to Tianmen Square which he said was the size of 90 football fields and could hold 1,000,000 people. There were big crowds there but nowhere near that many. He explained the meaning of the national flag. The red background is for communism, the large star is China and the four small ones are soldiers, intellectuals, workers and farmers.
We saw the war memorial with long lists of names and Malcolm asked whether those killed in the Korean War were included but he could not answer. We crossed the road to the Forbidden City which was slow to enter because of the crowds but is not so crowded inside because it is so huge. It took 1,000,000 workers 14 years to build and has a deep moat 50 meters wide around it. It is nearly a kilometer long and 750 meters wide. The last emperor lived here with his wife, 200 concubines, eunuchs and royal guards.
We found that each section was labelled some sort of "harmony" but it became apparent from the signs in English that "harmony" meant every one following the wishes of the emperor. We also visited the Heavenly Temple set in a lovely park where locals were dancing to boombox music on the pathways. There was a large elevated area where the Emperor celebrated new year. His garden was very peaceful and featured large slabs of stone.
One high piece was there for people to prove they were not "old" by climbing up it.
We went to the Yuan (Garden?) silk house where a cheery salesman took us through the stages of the silkworms and showed us the cocoons being spun. Single cocoons are used for fabric and double cocoons are used for doonas and pillows.
They stretch the spun silk into layers to make the doonas.
He convinced us to buy a doona and two pillows and organised delivery in Australia. Ken tried to bargain but everything was "fixed price".
Beautiful silk clothing at factory price?
Lunch was provided in a local restaurant. Off to a teahouse where a lovely young girl gave us a tea making lesson and we tasted four different types. There were many things we could buy but we resisted, to the disappointment of the girl and our guide. Finally we visited a market.
We saw the war memorial with long lists of names and Malcolm asked whether those killed in the Korean War were included but he could not answer. We crossed the road to the Forbidden City which was slow to enter because of the crowds but is not so crowded inside because it is so huge. It took 1,000,000 workers 14 years to build and has a deep moat 50 meters wide around it. It is nearly a kilometer long and 750 meters wide. The last emperor lived here with his wife, 200 concubines, eunuchs and royal guards.
We found that each section was labelled some sort of "harmony" but it became apparent from the signs in English that "harmony" meant every one following the wishes of the emperor. We also visited the Heavenly Temple set in a lovely park where locals were dancing to boombox music on the pathways. There was a large elevated area where the Emperor celebrated new year. His garden was very peaceful and featured large slabs of stone.
One high piece was there for people to prove they were not "old" by climbing up it.
We went to the Yuan (Garden?) silk house where a cheery salesman took us through the stages of the silkworms and showed us the cocoons being spun. Single cocoons are used for fabric and double cocoons are used for doonas and pillows.
He convinced us to buy a doona and two pillows and organised delivery in Australia. Ken tried to bargain but everything was "fixed price".
Lunch was provided in a local restaurant. Off to a teahouse where a lovely young girl gave us a tea making lesson and we tasted four different types. There were many things we could buy but we resisted, to the disappointment of the girl and our guide. Finally we visited a market.
No comments:
Post a Comment