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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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Also known as the Liurong Temple, the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees was originally built in 537. The pagoda in the temple is known as the Six Banyan Pagoda or the Flowery Pagoda. Buddhist relics are placed in the pagoda.
In the main hall of the temple are three large copper Buddhist statues. They are the biggest and most ancient Buddhist statues in Guangdong. The middle statue is of Sakyamuni Buddha, on the left is Amitabha, and on the right is the Apothecary Buddha. A row of pillows are set in front of the statues so that worshippers can bow to the statues.
Joss sticks are sold in the courtyard of the temple and visitors can burn them before the idols or shrines as offerings.
Many families participating in the international adoption of children from China visit this temple where they receive blessings for their newly adopted children in front of the statue of Guan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion. During the ceremony a monk chants and then sprinkles water on the babies.
We had a really nice visit there.
A site to visit in Guangzhou is the Chen Clan Academy. It was established in 1894 in Qing Dynasty by the 72 Chen clans in Guangdong as a place for their clan members to study and prepare for provincial examinations. We visited it during our visit in 2005.
It is known for its architecture, courtyards and carvings.
In 1959, the academy was designated as the Guangdong Museum of Folk Art in 1959 and contains collections of paintings, embroideries, sculpture, calligraphy, and other folk art.
There was one artist there who used his fingers and the side of his hand to create paintings of Chinese scenery. He was amazing and we purchased a couple of his works.
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.
Mount Lushan is located on Lake Poyang about a 3 and a half hour bus ride north of Nanchang. The national park covers an area of 500 square kilometers (about 320 square miles) and has more than 90 mountain peaks. The tallest of these is Hanyang Peak which soars to a height of 1473.4 meters (4,834 feet). Lushan owes its reputation to its wonderful, elegant, steep and spectacular features that embrace ravines, waterfalls, grottoes, rocks and rivulets.
There are 12 main scenic areas, together with 37 attractions, over 900 cliff inscriptions, and over 300 steles. The major spots include Wulao Feng, Sandie Spring, Lulin Lake, Flower Path, Ruqin Lake, Jinxiu Valley, Xianren Dong and Donglin Temple. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is a well known summer result in China.
One trip when my mom returned to China to visit her family, she took a trip to Huangshan (Mount Huang or Yellow Mountain) which is quite famous in Chinese paintings. Seeing the pictures my mom took, it was quite apparent that Chinese paintings, which are praised for being so impressionistic, actually are quite realistic.
It looks like we may have the opportunity to visit Mount Lushan (or should it really be Mount Lu?) and see Lake Poyang along the way.
Lake Poyang (Poyang Hu) is the largest freshwater lake in China. It has a surface area of 3,585 km² (1400 square miles) and an average depth of 8 meters (about 26 feet). It is fed by the Gan and Xiu rivers, which connect to the Yangtze River (Cháng Jiāng) through a channel. The lake actually is composed of a system of lakes and marshes and can vary in size greatly depending on the season and the amount of water that feeds into it. In the summer, the region becomes flooded as the lake serves as a retention lake for flooding from the Yangtze. In the winter, the whole area becomes a huge marsh. Over the centuries the lake has been silting up. Nanchang originally was situated on the lakeshore but is now about 15 miles from the lake.
There are 102 species of aquatic plants and 122 species of fish in the Lake. There are over 280 species of bird of which there are 115 species of waterfowl. This accounts for over half of all the species of waterfowl found in China. In late autumn and early winter, thousands and thousands of birds migrate from Siberia of Russia, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, and northeastern and northwestern China to winter at the lake. Lake Poyang is known for having the biggest wintering population of white cranes in the world, more than 95% of the total white crane population. Other protected birds include the white stork, black stork and swan.
Lake Poyang has numerous scenic sights such as the Fallen-Star Boulder and the Big Solitary Hill in the lake and Zhouyu Dianjiang Platform (the platform for Zhouyu, a famous senior official in the Three Kingdoms Period, to name his soldiers for particular posts) and Lake for Viewing Pavilion along the bank.
A famous naval battle took place on Lake Poyang in 1363 during the Yuan Dynasty. The Ming rebel forces defeated the Han fleet and five years after the battle, the commander of the Ming fleet became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
The final stop in China will be Guangzhou. All adoptive families go through Guangzhou because they need to visit the U.S. Consulate to get a visa for their newly adopted child. This means staying at the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island.
The hotel is a five star hotel. The hotel has an indoor waterfall.
It has three very nice restaurants. One is an outdoor restaurant with a buffet where you choose meats and seafood and the staff then grill it and serve it to you. Another is a dim sum restaurant. We quickly learned that Hua Mei liked dim sum.
On arriving at the hotel, each family will find a “Going Home Barbie” in their room as a gift from the White Swan. It’s a Caucasian Barbie doll holding an Asian baby. Mattel only makes these for adoptive parents who stay at the White Swan.
Shamian Island is a sandbank island on the Pearl River. It used to be the safe haven where foreigners gui lao (aka yangguizi) resided during colonial European times. Colonial architecture is still evident on the island.
There are some interesting odd bronze statues dotting the island that depict colonial times.
Here’s an article about the White Swan in the Times.
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.
This past May we took a family trip to the National Parks in Utah. We flew into and out of Las Vegas. During the one day we had in Vegas, we went over to the Bellagio to view the fountains. As luck would have it, that day the winds were too high for the fountains to run. I think it was supposed to look something like this:
Evidently Nanchang also has nice fountains with a show in the manner of the Bellagio. Of course, in Nov or Dec, it may not be running.
Here’s a video of it that I found on Youtube:
