Tienanman Square

Yesterday we felt pretty ambitious.  After I sent off my e-mail to you we took the twenty minute walk to the subway and got off at Tienanman East.  To say it's a large square wouldn't be quite right.  It's one of the largest, if not the largest square in the world.  Standing on the square with large impressive buildings all around and giant red flags of China waving, it was impossible not to visualize two moments in Chinese history...the people's revolution and of course the protest.  If I looked in one direction I could hear the roars of support and see men and women in uniform ready to fight for what they believed would restore China to greatness.  If I looked in another I could see tanks rolling down the streets, ruthless, ready to quell the large protest on the square.  It's always a little strange this trick of visualizing the past, but in this place it was like a playground for the historical imagination.  We passed through the gate located under the large portrait of Chairman Mao into the courtyard entrance of the forbidden city.  Traditionally the forbidden city was an important site for Chinese New Year and there were enough people there to make me think that traditions don't die off very easily.
 
I've seen pictures of the forbidden city on TV documentaries as I'm sure you have too.  Nothing really compares to the real thing though.  Many of the outlying buildings were marked off for repairs and we couldn't go see them, so our audio tour took us straight through the center to all of the biggest buildings.  All of the buildings had names that started with the words heavenly, divine, or peaceful.  One of the tidbits of info that Michelle and I found to be interesting was that the Emperors thrown was located under a large ball installed in the ceiling.  It was said that if he wasn't the Emperor of Heaven (in other words the manifestation of God) then the ball would fall on him and crush him.  Michelle and I thought this was entertaining becuase here is an emperor saying something along the lines of "I'm God and if I wasn't than this thing in the ceiling that I had put there will crush me.  Since it hasn't crushed me yet than what I say must be true."  Maybe it's not as funny as we found it, but...some things would be even funnier.
 
Truth be told the architecture of the structures wasn't very different from what we had already seen in Korea and China, but the symmetry, planning and sheer size were really breathtaking at some points.  With Roger Moore whispering in our ears through our audio tour headphones, both of us slipped into a kind of awe-like trance.  This was interrupted briefly by an art peddlar who had managed to bring her display into one of the old buildings.  Although the art was beautiful traditional chinese styles nothing turns me off to buying than being cornered so we backed out.  Of course just two courtyards later we found ourselves in commercial heaven.  So many shops in the forbidden city!  Naturally this includes starbucks.  I felt pretty conflicted about whether or not I should support the presence of this company in such a monumental site, but in the end I bought a 15 Yuan latte (which turned out to be a jumbo or mega grande or whatever the big size is called) and was kindly rewarded by a receipt which read "Starbucks Coffee----forbidden."
 
At the end of the tour we came into the imperial garden which really was beautiful. The landscaping was gorgeous and tranquil and had their not been just hords of people I could have easily relaxed there all day.  Of course once again we found people eating instant noodles and Michelle remarked that surely the emperor in all of his pensive strolls never could have imagined this future for his palatial gardens.
 
After the tour we were offered a ride back to Tienanman square by one of the motor-car-cycles.  The chinese are very creative when it comes to bikes, motorized or not.  This thing was a motorcycle with a tiny little car attached to where the bitch-seat would be.  It was army green and had plastic windows.  We squeezed inside and enjoyed one of the most entertaining lifts we've had here. 
 
We then walked through Tienanman square in search of the Pearl Market we visited a few days ago.  Instead we bumped into one of the most famous shopping street markets in Beijing.  As I stood in a booth bargaining for pajamas I almost had your camera stolen.  I had it tucked away fairly securely (I thought) but not enough.  By the time the shop owner swatted away the thief and swatted the camera back in my direction the would-be thief had gotten the zipper on the case half way open.  I was so shaken up by it, it took me a good while to stop shaking!  I feel eternally grateful that those folks saved your camera.  After that, as uncomfortable as it was I tucked it inside my coat.  At least I wasn't wearing a backpack (with anything valuable in it) I never would have felt a thing if that would have been the case.  The market was exactly what we imagined China would be like.  It was fantastic, I'd like to go back!  I've already described the bargaining process, but being outside it seemed less intense.