|
Footsteps in China Intro or Index
|
|
Monday, November 20, 2000 Rose early at 7:30-ish to eat at the hotel buffet breakfast. Spent the first half and part of the second half of the day at Tiananmen Square. Tony the Tiger Tour Guide said it was the largest square in the world. It's surrounded on three sides by the Great Hall of the People, the Mao Zedong mausoleum or "Mao-soleum" :), and the Forbidden City.
We went to the Great Hall of the People first…where representatives or leaders from the various provinces (thirty-four if Taiwan is included) come to pass legislation. A grand ballroom, rooms for each province or such, and covered with artwork and sculpture. It was pretty but on the whole mostly unimpressive. The most interesting aspect was how all the references to socialism, pictures of Mao, or communist ideology had been removed. It seems as though the Party is not just trying to show the whole world that they are changing but have tried to make a clean slate somewhat from the inside.
Second stop was the "Mao-soleum". The Chairman was seen almost like a god, the father and only religious allowed under the former regime. His body was in a glass cast - too well-preserved for a twenty-four year old corpse. Dr. Landry said it was waxwork :). People bought fake flowers to place in honor of Mao, in front of a Lincoln-esque statue at the front of the tomb. What was funny was as soon as you exited the tomb, there were tons of little trinkets and pictures you could buy. Even the Chariman's death-home has been infiltrated by capitalism.
Mike Carr, Blake, Danny Guice, Caroline Tendall and I went to lunch at a decent Chinese restaurant. We had a lot of fun. No one spoke English and we managed to accidentally order an entire roast duck (Peking duck) that was wheeled in just as we were about to leave. Convincing them that we didn't order it was impossible so we gobbled it down (it was delicious!) and ran back to meet the rest of our group to go to the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City was enormous and everything was immaculately and intricately carved. I bought a book that explains all and more that I don't have time to write here.
After walking the length of the outer and inner palaces to the other side of the moat, we were shuttled over to the Sunflower Building to speak with a gentleman who works Reuters, a media source and info (financial) source. He spoke about providing and finding information in a censorship environment. It was long and too warm. Actually every building from then was too hot to bear. I'd go from freezing outside to burning up with my coat over my elbow.
We went to a seven-storied department store with pushy salespeople and mostly cheap merchandise. Some things were alright so I bought mother two little jade elephants and Angie some chopsticks for her hair. I couldn't find a thimble for Kelli, despite having learned the Chinese word for it, "ding zha." In another shop I got two packs of cigarettes for Matthew. A cashmere scarf came from heaven :), literally a store full of silk and cashmere fabric by the bolt. Oh! What money I could have spent there!
Caroline, Olivia, and I ate at McDonald's and had fun just kicking around the little shops. :) Must go to sleep…starting even earlier tomorrow - am sorry I don't have time to tell about how much I saw today. Next: Beijing University, The Temple of Heaven, and getting sloshed on Beijing beer. |