3 - The Forbidden City

To the Forbidden City, many tourists, Chinese and a few westerners.

Renovation and repair are constant.

7 marble bridges lead across the Golden Water River to Tiananmen Gate.

A carved huabiao pillar outside Tiananmen Gate symbolizes dialogue between emperors and subjects. The design reminded me of Mayan art.

The court of the Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City, which was the center of the Chinese empire for almost 5 centuries.

The complex is said to have 9,999 1/2 rooms because only heaven has 10,000. In fact, the Forbidden City has 8,706 rooms.

Between 1406 and 1420, some 200,000 people worked to build the palace, which was occupied by the Ming rulers in 1421.

I was never overcome by the physical presence of people in China but I was very often overcome by the IDEA of 1.3 billion people. As Irene says, China has the 1.3 billion and we in the U.S. have the .3 side.

A counter-feeling to the idea of big population and big big buildings for everyone to live in is: at any moment, it is possible to stop and attend to the beauty, in human creation such as this, in nature. And you can take as long as you want; no need to hurry (as long as you can take the sun -- "very warm," as Jolanta put it).





The emperor could not leave the palace grounds without an official escort. The empress and concubines led even more sheltered lives and were not to be seen by any males outside the family circle.

The buildings of the palace are mostly wooden and fire always has been and is a threat.

When the emperor moved from one building to another, it was a major expedition involving many people -- including 9,000 maidservants in the Ming dynasty, and eunuchs -- and much organization.

The gridlike and geometric pattern of the palace complex reflects the strongly hierarchical structure of imperial Chinese society. Its fixed and ordered harmony aimed at expressing cosmic order.

The buildings are aligned on north-south lines, the most important facing south and the sun. / And look at this gorgeous deep coral, presented by greens.

The emperor held official audiences from this imperial chair.

1 - Are you going to China?

Sometime in May, Mary Bendyna, who heads up CARA where I work 3 days a week, asked me: Are you going to China? No, Wisconsin, maybe, but not China, I told her. She had dreamed I was. I forgot all about it.

So I was emailing my cousin this-and-that in late June when he wrote: Want to come over to Beijing? Bob works there, moved in May.

The first thing I did was check my passport. Yup, good til 2015. Then I checked at work: Could you do without me? Not a problem.

Ok, sure! I wrote Bob back.

With his advice and that of his assistant in Beijing, Lin Yawen (Lin her surname, Yawen her given name), I hotfooted over to the Chinese Embassy visa office (conveniently across from CARA, which I had not known), got a two-day expedited process going, bought some summer clothes (made in China, of course), and got some advice from friends who've been to China.

My neighbor Marti had been to the Olympics in 2008. Her tips: kleenex, handiwipes, carry an umbrella for rain or sun. She lent me Beijing guides by lonely planet and Mobil. An adapter not needed; all chargers worked.

Marti took over power bars in case they were hungry and didn't want to leave an event. I took over baggies of oatmeal, dried cranberries, and a carton of almonds -- perfect for breakfast and a nosh. Otherwise -- food is a feast in China for travelers.

Irene and I dropped into Barnes & Noble and looked at a lot of the travel books about China -- incredibly beautiful. She described her trips there in 2004 when there were virtually no signs in English, and 2007 when there were many. If you can, get to Xian, she said.

I checked a map. It looked like the distance from New York to Chicago. Not too likely, I thought. It sounded like a Beijing-based journey. Bob was going to be working. His wife Jolanta and I would be touring and he'd join us when he could.

No one could know less about China than I did. I read the paper; that's it. With a week to go, I started to read Chinese history -- the dynasties; the long millenial view on things; the Confucian goals of social harmony; the colonial interloping by European powers in the 19th and 20th centuries; the revolutionary change in the 20th; Communism; the Long March; and the remarkable economic growth underway now for many, but by no means all. Remember the '08 Olympics -- the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony. 1.3 billion people. Where does everybody live?

Bought a book, Chinese in 10 minutes a day. Gave me some security. So American. Presto!

 

I really had 2 big questions. How can you relate to people who speak a language so foreign to your ear and eye that the very consonants and vowels don't follow your sound conventions since the womb but a wholly different teacher? Are you doomed to wandering their streets, speaking with and understanding only people who look western?

And the streets were my second question. Marti had terrified me. With Beijing's wild traffic, how in the world do you get across any of them?

I packed and left on July 8, flying through Chicago where I met Jolanta and we boarded the same United flight for Beijing.