The mind boggling Forbidden City is the quintessence of ancient Chinese architectural art. Other attractions in and around the city include Tian’anmen Square, The Tanzhe Temple, the Summer Palace and the emperors’ tombs. However, something from the past that is becoming less visible is Chinese people in Mao suits, bicycles rolling the streets and old residential areas of Hutong. Beijing is now a modern city and its modernity is expanding at rapid pace. Gleaming high rise buildings, extended subway routes, western food restaurants and cafes, luxurious hotels and upscale department stores flank wide manicured streets. With the influx of technology and foreign culture, people living in Beijing have seen their life style changed for the past ten years. The roads in rush hour are filled with cars in stead of bicycles. Mobile phones are an essential part of everyday life.
Attractions
Forbidden City
Covering an area of 720,000 square metres with more than 9,000 rooms, this is the Palace Museum. It is also known as the Purple Forbidden City. It is the largest and most well preserved imperial residence in China today. Under Ming Emperor Yongle, construction began in 1406. It took 14 years to build the Forbidden City. The first ruler who actually lived here was Ming Emperor Zhudi. For five centuries thereafter, it continued to be the residence of 23 successive emperors until 1911 when Qing Emperor Puyi was forced to abdicate the throne. In 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recognized the Forbidden City as a world cultural legacy. It is believed that the Palace Museum, or Zi Jin Cheng (Purple Forbidden City), got its name from astronomy and folklore. The ancient astronomers divided the constellations into groups and centered them around the Ziwei Yuan (North Star). The constellation containing the North Star was called the Constellation of Heavenly God and the star itself was called the purple palace. Because the emperor was supposedly the son of the heavenly gods, his central and dominant position would be further highlighted by the use of the word purple in the name of his residence.
The Tian'anmen Square
Tian'anmen square, or Gate of Heavenly Peace, sits at the entrance to the former Forbidden City, the imperial residential quarter of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and towers over the immense square of the same name. The gate, first built in 14167 as the front gateway to the imperial capital, consists of a double-roofed tower with nine frontal columns, elevated upon a red platform with five vaulted gateways. From base to rooftop the structure stands 33.7 metres in height. The vermillion platform beneath the tower rises more than ten metres high upon a white marble pedestal. The tower looks majestic with its double roofs and flying eaves, yellow glazed tiles and vermillion walls, elaborately carved brackets and beams and painted pillars. Tian'anmen is a symbol of New China. A rendition of it forms the centerpiece of the Chinese national emblem. The ceremony to inaugurate the People's Republic of China took place at Tian'anmen on October 1, 1949.
The Great Wall
The Great Wall, symbolizing China's ancient civilization, is one of the world's most renowned projects. It is a distance of 75 kilometres northwest of Beijing. Its highest point at Badaling is some 800 metres above sea level.
Construction of the Wall first began during the period of the Warring States (476 - 221 BC). Formerly, walls were built at strategic points by different kingdoms to protect their northern territories. In 221 BC after the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty unified China, he decided to have the walls linked up and extended.
Historical records show that about 1 million people, one-fifth of China's population at the time, were involved in the project which took more than ten years. When it was finished we call it "Wan Li Chang Cheng" which means "Ten Thousand-Li-Long Wall". Now, nature has taken over most of the Great Wall. The Great Wall which we are going to visit was rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century. It extends from Shanhaiguan Pass, a seaport along the coast of Bohai Bay, to Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu Province. Its total length is more than 6,700 kilometres.
There were many places of strategic importance along the Wall. Fortresses were constructed at strategic points. Beacon towers were built on both sides of the Wall at commanding points. Whenever the enemy was sighted, bonfires were lit on the towers to signal warning messages.
Before the Ming Dynasty, the Wall was built mainly of earth and rock. Under the Ming, it was rebuilt in most places with bricks and stones. For instance, the section at Badaling near Beijing was faced with slabs of rock and large bricks and filled with earth and stones. It is 6 to 7 metres high.
At regular intervals along the southern side of the Wall, there are gates with stone steps leading to the top of the Wall. The top surface of the wall is paved with three or four layers of large bricks. It is 4 to 5 metres wide, enough for five horsemen to ride abreast. Along the Wall, there are parapets and battlements built of bricks and turrets and watchtowers at regular intervals.
The Wall traverses mountains and gullies. It was extremely difficult to build along steep slopes under harsh conditions. Some of the slabs of rock were as long as two metres and weighed as much as one ton. All the rocks, bricks and lime had to be carried up the mountains at the cost of backbreaking labour. The earth and bricks were passed up from hand to hand or carried in baskets by donkeys and goats. The large slabs were moved up slopes by means of rolling rods and hoisting bars. According to rough calculation, the amount of bricks and rock used to build the Wall would have been enough to build a wall five metres high and one metre thick around the world.
