We had a big rain last night, and today we can actually see the sky - blue skies! I think it is rare to be able to see the sky in Beijing. Tom tells us with the way the winds blow the clear days really only fall into two months of the year. SO.MUCH.SMOG. Ew.
Today we saw the Imperial Palace - the largest and oldest in the world. First we went to Tianneman Square. It is the square in the middle of the Imperial Palace, Congress, Mao’s tomb, and a large museum. the square became a place of historical significance during Mao’s reign as dictator. And then there was the 1989 demonstration. Which made it world famous - in a not-great-way. Our guide is my age and he says it was the only time he has ever heard a gun. As soon as he said most Chinese who know what happened would say it was unnecessary to use force and tanks, he said he is not allowed to talk about what happened in 1989. It is not written about in Chinese history books, and most people younger than Tom have no idea it even happened. Another taste of communism.
Random Observation - there are so few children around for such a large city. And I see almost no babies. So different from what I would see in a large American city.
The biggest festival in China is the Chinese New Year. They run off a lunar calendar, so Chinese New Year usually occurs sometime in January or February.
The Imperial Palace - it is 7 million square feet. We walked through “gate” after “gate” after “gate” to get into the Forbidden City. Took us about 30 minutes. It was constructed in the 15th century during the Ming dynasty, and it took 30 years to complete. Over 500 years, 24 rulers lived here. and in 1925 it became open to the public and called The Palace Museum.
A Typical Beijing Neighborhood - multiple rooms/ houses with a common courtyard. Up to 3-4 families will share an area like that. And the bathrooms are all public bathrooms. 20% of Beijing still lives this way. Most of the younger people are moving to the high rise buildings. Over 90% of this type of house is now state-owned. Get this - 4 “houses” and a courtyard would sell for $15 million today. And it looks like sheer poverty. And to be clear, a “house” is really just one or two rooms.
My observations - not much in Beijing “rhymes” or “matches”. There is such extreme wealth contrasted with some of the worst poverty I’ve ever seen. While I know there isn’t anything simple about this, it occurs to me to wonder if communism actually causes there to be a much bigger gap between the haves and the have-nots. The opposite of the equal sharing of wealth. I see a much starker contrast here than I do at home.
Back to the neighborhood. The house we toured is the same house that Obama and his daughters toured when they were last here. There is actually a picture of the the president’s daughters with the man who lives in the house - teaching them calligraphy. We had lunch in a local home - one of the ones I mention above. The man who made our lunch used to be one of the President’s chefs. One of ten chefs. The lunch was absolutely delicious. There really wasn’t anything I didn’t enjoy. And I definitely went back for seconds on the vegetables - so yummy! Something interesting - at every lunch, no matter where we go, they serve us a big bottle of beer and a big bottle of Coke. And sometimes a big bottle of water. The beer tasted good with lunch today - and I’m not a beer drinker at all! The house - I’m still amazed by how primitive. So so primitive.
We took a rickshaw to lunch and back to our bus. What a crazy way to ride! There are 300 rickshaws in Beijing. 30 years ago they were taxis - how people got around. Today they are only for the tourists. (Even the rickshaw drivers have smart phones. And they use them while they drive!) My take - Rickshaws + Bikes + Cars = DISASTERS. It is every man for himself on the roads here.
Enough about touring for the moment. We pick up Claire tomorrow. The whole reason we are here. And the emotions are running high again. Kyle and I went down to dinner and for the first time since we arrived the food was just gross to me. Buffett dinner - congealed meat in a salad, fish, mussels, shrimp, beef that had been sitting out for who knows how long without being heated or cooled - just raw and ready to be cooked to order. I ate every vegetable I could find. And I had a really bad glass of red wine. Tried almost all the desserts, and none of them tasted good to me. All very dry. I think the emotions are just running high.
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