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The Forbidden City was the imperial palace from the mid Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It now houses the Palace Museum (Gugong Bowuguan). It lies in the center of Beijing and is surrounded by a moat.
The entrance to the Forbidden City is the Meridian Gate.
This opens to a square which leads to the Gate of Supreme Harmony. It was originally built in the Ming Dynasty.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony lies in the center of the Forbidden City and is the largest hall in the Forbidden City. It was originally built in 1406 and was last rebuilt in 1695-1697.
In the northern end of the Forbidden City is the Palace of Heavenly Purity. It is the largest hall of the Inner Court.
The Gate of Divine Might is the northern gate of the Forbidden City and leads to Jingshan Park.
Tiananmen Square is the largest open urban square in the world.
The name Tiananmen means the “Gate of Heavenly Peace” and the first gate was built in 1420. It sits on the north side of the square. It is the entrance to the Imperial City.
At the south end of the square is the Zhengyangmen or Qianmen which means Front Gate. It was built in 1419 and was originally the front gate to the Inner City of Beijing.
Near the center of the square is the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong and his body lies in public display. Long lines of visitors wait to visit the site.
Originally the Zhonghuamen or Gate of China stood there but it was demolished in 1954.
The Monument to the People’s Heros s a ten story obelisk that sits in the center of the square. It was built in the 50s.
To the west of the square is the Great Hall of the People which is the home of the National People’s Congress.
To the east is the National Museum of China. The south wing holds the Museum of Chinese History (which covers Chinese history from the Yuanmou Man of 1.7 millions years ago to the end of the Ging Dynasty in 1911) and the north wing of the museum holds the Museum of the Chinese Revolution (which covers 1840 to the present).
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There are two places to visit the Great Wall when visiting Beijing. Northwest of the city, Badaling is the most popular place to go. It is fairly crowded. We visited there on our last trip. This visit to Beijing we plan to go to Mutianyu, located in Huairou County about 45 miles northeast of Beijing. It is not as busy with visitors as Badaling.
The Mutianyu section of the great Wall was used as a northern barrier to protect the capital and the imperial tombs. It was originally built in the Northern Gi Dynasty (550 – 557) and then was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). It is in a strategic pass in a mountainous region and so is very steep. It is built mainly of granite and very well-preserved. The area is surrounded by forests and streams and perhaps we’ll be visiting at a time when the leaves are still changing color. This area of the wall is known for its scenic views.
There is a fairly long and arduous hike to the wall. Fortunately there is a cable car to take visitors up to the wall. With two young children (and maybe an out of shape adult or two) I expect we’ll make use of the cable cars.
Here’s an AP story about the Great Wall that was shot at Mutianyu.
There’s also a toboggan ride at Mutianyu.
It looks like a lot of fun but I suspect it will be closed at the end of November. Actually in 30°F temperatures, even if it is open, maybe it won’t be that much fun.
Since I’ve already described the hotel that we will be staying at in Guangzhou, I should probably take a look at the two hotels that we’ll be at in Beijing and Nanchang. During our stay in Beijing we’ll be at the Novotel Peace Hotel. It is a four star hotel located near the Wangfujing commercial district. On our first trip to Beijing, we originally were going to stay at the Beijing Peace Hotel but the hotel was booked and with the size of our group we ended up staying at the Beijing Oriental Culture Hotel. It was a nice hotel but not quite as conveniently situated.
It is very near to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and not far from Beihai Park or the Temple of Heaven. We’ll be able to walk to the Wangfujing branch of Quanjude Restaurant so we will certainly get Peking Duck one evening.
The hotel has an indoor swimming pool so that will be great for the kids. They have a restaurant called the Square which provides an Asian and international buffet with multi-cuisine cook stations. This sounds similar to the restaurants at the hotels we stayed at previously. Last trip we typically ate two meals a day, breakfast at the hotel buffet and dinner at a restaurant somewhere. We would only need snacks during the day to tide us over for dinner.
Here’s a picture of Karen and me on Wangfujing Avenue during our last trip.
Based on average daily weather data for Beijing, Nanchang and Guangzhou, we can get an idea of the high and low temperatures that we can expect for our trip and thus pack appropriately.
For Beijing, from Nov 19th to the 23rd, the average high is 47°F and the average low is 30°F. This will be similar to early Nov weather for Minneapolis. A jacket and a sweat shirt will be just about right for the evenings.
For Nanchang, from Nov 23rd to the 29th, the average high is 60°F and the average low is 47°F. This is about the weather that we are currently experiencing in Minneapolis or maybe more early October so short sleeves in the day and jacket in the evening perhaps.
For Guangzhou, from Nov 29th to the Dec 4th, the average high is 72°F and the average low is 57°F. This is early September weather in Minneapolis so I might even bring a pair of shorts along.
Of course when we return to Minneapolis on Dec 4, the average high is 30°F and the average low is 16°F.
Just off of Wangfujing Avenue on Dong An Men Avenue, food stalls open during the evening and serve street food to passersby. This is a very popular area. In addition to such fare as jaozi and guotie (dumplings and potstickers), baozi (steamed buns filled with roast pork, bean paste or other fillings) and noodles, there are also a lot of offerings that are served on a stick. You can find meat kabobs and fruit. Alas, there are no corn dogs or pork chops on a stick. They did, however, have a few offerings that I suspect will never be offered at the Minnesota State Fair.
I wasn’t at all tempted to eat the deep fried scorpions, grasshoppers or insect pupae although we did see streetgoers happily consuming them. Then, again, they might have turned up their noses at twinkies or hot dish on a stick. 
Here is a video of some folks who are much braver than I:
We will certainly go to eat Peking Duck when we visit Beijing. We will probably go to Quanjude Restaurant. The original Quanjude was established in 1864. It is located south of Tiananmen Square. The last time we went to Beijing we visited the branch located at Wangfujing which opened in 1959. The area around Wangfujing Avenue near Tiananmen Square is the central business district and shopping area of Beijing.
Quanjude uses the traditional method of roasting duck that they learned from imperial chefs from the Forbidden City. The duck is rubbed with salt, sugar and spices. The skin of the duck is inflated like a balloon to separate it from the fat underneath. It is then hung on a pole over a non-smoky hard wood fire (such as date, peach, and pear trees) until the skin turns golden brown and crisp. When the duck is served, a cook comes to the table to carve the duck by cutting off slices of crispy skin and tender meat.
The dish is eaten by placing some crispy skin and duck meat on a bao bing, a thin small tortilla-like wrapping. A slice of scallion and some sweet paste made of hoisin sauce.
At the end of the meal a bowl of duck broth is served.
Last time we just ordered Peking Duck. Next time I hope we order a couple of additonal dishes. Other duck dishes available are: duck foot webs with mustard, Brine duck liver, stewed duck liver and gizzard, duck rolls in Maotai wine, duck slices in wine essence, duck with all flavours, duck wings in brown sauce, assorted four delicacies from the duck, deep-fried duck liver and gizzard, grilled duck heart, four delicacies from the duck in hot sauce, three delicacies of duck in rice wine, white grilled three delicacies of duck, duck tongues with egg-white, Beijing duck rolls, egg custard with duck grease, shark’ fin with duck, steamed duck, steamed duck breast in unglazed pot, mushroom stewed with duck wings, snow mushroom soup with duck tongues, bird’s nest and duck tongues, duck hearts with chrysanthemum, sauted duck intestine, fresh mushroom with duck slices, duck-like pastry, stuffed dumpling with duck meat and crepes with vegetables oil.
One restaurant that I really hope that we can visit in Beijing is the Fangshan Restaurant located in Beihai Park. The restaurant is located in Yilantang Hall on the north side of the Jade Isle. The Empress Dowager Cixi(1835 – 1908) used to take her meals in Yilantang Hall after sight – seeing in the park, which was once an imperial garden. Fangshan Restaurant is well-known because it serves imperial court cuisine from the Qing Dynasty. The restaurant was opened in 1925 by chefs of the imperial court. This was a year after Puyi, “the Last Emperor,” was driven out of the Forbidden City. The restaurant is known for their “ManHan” banquet which is composed of Manchu and Han dishes. Stewed camel’s hump and deer tendon are some of the exotic dishes that they offer. They are also known for their pastries such as the Empress Dowager Cixi’s favorite sesame buns stuffed with minced pork and wan dou huang, a sweet made from dried peas and sugar.
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The weather in Beijing in Nov and Dec will have highs in the 40ºF to 50ºF range and lows in the 20ºF to 30ºF range. Given the expected weather in Nanchang and Guangdong, we’ll need to bring along a fairly wide range of clothes. We’ll probably be flying in to Beijing and spend three to four days to acclimate and sightsee.
When we last visited Beijing, we visited the Summer Palace:
the Forbidden City:
the Great Wall:
and the Ming Tombs:
These trips were arranged by our CHSFS contact and guide Peter. He also took us to some Friendship Stores and a pearl market. I’m sure we’ll try to go to the same sights since this will be the first time for Grace, Laurel, Abby and Hua Mei. I’ll make sure that we also return to Quanjude Restaurant for Peking Duck.
This trip though I really want to go to Beihai Park. My dad said that in his youth he spent a lot of time there. There’s also a restaurant in the park called Fangshan restaurant that serves dishes based on imperial recipes.
I also want to go see the Temple of Heaven.
It might also be fun to go see the Olympic Park. Obviously, it will depend on time and weather.
Last time we went to China, we were really focused on preparing for receiving Hua Mei. We had no expectations regarding being tourists and had very little idea or plans about what to see. Now that we’ve gone through the process once, we are a bit more prepared and kind of know what to expect. It’s kind of funny to think about planning out places to go visit. I suppose that a lot has to do with showing Hua Mei China too.
Karen submitted the signed papers to CHSFS today accepting the referral. We now sit back and wait for the next step. An appointment will be made for us at the US Consulate in Guangzhou and then we learn where and when we will need to be to receive Xia Mei. This will probably take place in Nanchang. We will have quite the entourage since my older sister, Grace; Karen’s sister-in-law, Laurel; and niece, Abby, will also be going with the three of us. We plan to fly into China a few days early to visit Beijing and sightsee. It’s possible that we may be traveling to Nanchang with another family.
When we got Natalie, we were in a very large group. Quite a few of us met up before we went to China and then we met up again in Beijing. We became a pretty tight group. After sightseeing in Beijing, half the group went to Wuhan and most of the remaining half went to Guangzhou to receive children. We all later met up in Guangzhou for our consulate appointments. Since returning from China, our group meets once a year during the summer for a reunion. It’s been great forming this extended family.
