The Martin's Blog

Tom – Today was a cool/cloudy day and it was spent at the Ming Dynasty Tombs an hour NW of Beijing.  It was a huge area (as usual) tucked in below the mountains.  The picture of the map will give you some idea of the size of the Ming Tomb area.    

Thirteen emperors are buried here, each with his own burial mound, wall, gates, towers, pavilions, etc.  Three of the tomb areas are open for visitors.  The turtle is a common feature at the base of columns.

We started at the tomb of Ding Ling. 

It was excavated in the 1050s and you are allowed to descend into the underground vault.  There is also an impressive museum with various burial artifacts. 

It took ten minutes to drive to the next burial complex, that of Emperor Chang Ling.  This Sacred Silk Burner (small yellow-tiled building) is in the courtyard. 

You enter an impressive yellow-tiled gate and then walk through a series of large halls (each a separate building).  There is a large statue of the emperor seated upon a three-tiered marble terrace in the Hall of Eminent Favors.  The roof is supported by at least 20 huge (3 ft diameter) solid cedar wood columns.

Earthquake:  I was reading a description of one of the golden crowns when the words started moving on me – I thought I might be getting dizzy and couldn’t figure out why.  When driving home Joe got a call from his office saying a 7.9 earthquake had hit in Sichuan Province outside of Chengdu and they had sent everyone home because their 24 story building in downtown Beijing was swaying.  The time of the quake was 2:30pm – when I had trouble reading the sign!  The current estimate (May 22^nd) is that 75,000 people were killed.

View of the valley and other Ming Dynasty tombs below Da Yu and Tianshou mountains

Our taxi driver, who was with us all day, then drove us to the entrance to the entire tomb complex.  It is called the Spirit Way and is about 4 miles long.  He dropped us off at the entry triumphal arch and later picked us up about a mile north.  We walked through the Great Palace Gate (Red Gate) and proceeded up the Sacred Way (God Street) along the route the burial processions would take. 

The largest stelae (inscribed tablet) in China is located here inside of a pavilion.  Like many in China, it is supported by a mythical tortoise-dragon-like animal. 

The “Sacred Way” has two large columns with a cloud design on all sides and then is guarded by a series of large stone animals and officials.

We had fun taking our pictures with some of them.  There were a couple of animals (mythical) you may not be familiar with

I am sitting in front of a Xiezhi

and Helen appears to be rubbing noses with a Qilin. 

These were followed by recognizable statues

After passing through the Longfengmeng Gate (Gate of Dragon and Phoenix) we were picked up and headed back to Beijing. 

Tom – We took the 7:15 shuttle from River Garden Villa to the US Embassy and then hopped a subway to the Forbidden City.  It was crowded today and on the platform there were several official subway pushers to cram as many people on the trains as possible.  We felt like sardines! 

Just inside the Meridian (south) Gate of the Forbidden City (also known as the Imperial Palace) we hired a young man named Wong to serve as our guide. Helen and Wong are standing in front of the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

The Forbidden City was the ritual center of the last two dynasties, the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911).  The size of the complex is mind boggling (1,000,000 square meters)! 

Imperial Throne

We spent two hours and just covered the structures along the north-south axis of the city. 

Impressive bronzes

Each symbolic

Our guide insisted that he take our picture in front of a symbol for the “Happy Family.” 

I also took a picture of a Chinese couple in a favorite spot of the Imperial Garden in front of the North Gate.

“Cool” elephant

After our tour we walked through the Hutongs on the east side of the Forbidden City and ate a lunch of beef and noodles and a delicious circular fry bed stuffed with greens for $2 at a local restaurant.  Before getting on the subway some students corralled us into seeing their art school exhibit, which was interesting until they hit us up to purchase something!  We continued to the Silk Market and bought three Peak light weight stretch jackets for the boys (Peter, Chad and Brad).

Because of all of the construction and closed streets, it took us an hour to walk back to the US Embassy to catch the last shuttle to Joe’s house.  When we finally got there two men from the political office were leaving and, as luck would have it, were driving back to River Garden Villa and volunteered to give us a ride.  Joe and Linda were waiting for us having just returned from the Philippines.             

Tom –  As usual, we ate our breakfast at the hotel buffet and then again tried to go to the bazaar.  It was raining but in the square across from the Bell Tower there was a pre-Olympic rally taking place.  It began by introducing the “Five Friendlies” –  Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini – the Olympic Mascots.

It was exactly three months before the opening of the games in Beijing.  The “Friendlies” were followed by an honor guard, dancers, the Olympic Torch,

children performing,

martial arts performers,

Chinese “cheer leaders”

recognition of local athletes and of course political speeches.

Summer, our guide, picked us up at 9:30 for a tour of the Shaanxi (Province) History Museum.  As mentioned earlier, Xian was the capital of many early Chinese Dynasties and these were covered in some detail. 

Afterward we were taken for lunch to a nice buffet restaurant; however, our schedule stated that we would be eating lunch in a private room of a farmer’s house.  We were then driven an hour outside the city to the home and studio of a family of Chinese folk artists. 

Another sales pitch followed and we were upset that our last half day was wasted in this way.  This trip was expensive!  After expressing our displeasure to our guide, we were driven to the airport early (3 hours) to wait for our flight back to Beijing.