May 30, Beijing: The Forbidden City is NOT Impressive

We had about half a day left on this, our last in Beijing. With an overnight train journey to Shanghai looming, we spent the better part of the day navigating scattered showers (this was the first time it has rained, although it was still almost 95 degrees F) and trekking up to the Forbidden City, which is the district that formerly housed the emperors and their families. Before 1967, when Mao gave his famous rant from the gate to the City - which is the north end of Tianemen Square - commoners could not even look at the city, having instead to avert their eyes out of respect.


What has happened to this area now is an influx of heavy tourism, the re-making of several sites, and the commercialization of the area. Getting into the city and getting a map ran almost 17 dollars (100 yuan), and the concentration of beggars, vendors, people-wheeling-themselves-on-a-cart-like-the-human-pretzel and asking for money, along with an incredible number of tourists was staggering.


Once inside, the city was, well, pedestrian, especially when compared to the summer palace two days previous. Here's a picture or two:Much like the star-system of movies, where more stars is a higher rating, the ancient city's animals on the corner of the building marked its importance. The maximum number is 9, shown here over the emperor's living quarters:

But perhaps most ironic was that here, in the middle of Beijing's most historic place, dating back thousands of years, was a real old-fashioned, down-home, classically Chinese coffee joint:


We headed out of the city, back to the hostel, grabbed a bite, and headed to the train station. The smog - which I haven't mentioned much - was palpable. Sight was limited to about 200 yards; skyscrapers directly in front of us became visible only as we drove towards them. The smog and visibility has been poor during the trip, but today was the worst. Rumor has it that during the Olympics, China will shut down all industry to cut down on the smog, and make it rain for a week before the Games by shooting a special missile into the air, creating moisture and clearing the sky.

Anyway, we made it to the train station just fine and headed out on our journey. The 7:44 PM express to our next destination, Shanghai.

Thanks for reading.

Mike