Sunday, November 19, 2006
The Great Wall
As you know before I left the Great Wall was one of my main objectives in regards to travel. Before leaving I booked the first two nights in a hostel next to Tiananmen Square. We arrived in Beijing around eleven the first night and simply took a taxi around an hour to the hotel and socialized with a group of Europeans who were staying in the same hostel. The hostel housed 6 people per room and was fairly clean which is as much as can be asked. As expected, Beijing was much colder than Hong Kong at about 8 degrees C.
The first day we spent wondering around Beijing taking in the city and looking like American tourists--first to Tiananmen Square. I had checked out Tiananmen Square in the Lonely Planet available at our hotel but all the passages about the history surrounding Tiananmen had been purposefully covered up by stickers. Around Tiananmen there stands: Mao's Mausoleum, The Forbidden City and the Chinese National Museum. Tiananmen Square is the world's largest city center and was as impressive as it was well guarded. There are soldiers crawling all over Beijing. That night we began to talk of other places we would like to go in China and so we decided we would see something else in addition to Beijing.
After getting a feel for the city in the first day we decided to go ahead and get down the business. The bus ride out to the great wall commenced around 6:30 am Beijing time (China only has one time zone). The ride out to the wall was fairly uneventful although we were fortunate enough to observe a local during the excretion of bodily wastes on the side of the road. Beijing is a fairly polluted city in comparison with Hong Kong but around the wall the detectable pollution was much reduced.
We selected a part of the wall which is much less visited and restored than some other parts. It's been said that "The Great Wall is the best of the Chinese buildings, and Simatai is the best of the Great Wall." After being there and walking along that particular section of the wall for over six miles I must say that statement couldn't be more right. The Wall itself is an amazing feat of determination and innovation but the views from the wall are 360 degrees of beauty. Some of the parts were really falling apart which allowed us the opportunity to actually climb the wall which I would have done even in the absence of necessity. The whole experience was breathtaking and irreplaceable. When we got back from the wall we headed straight to the train station and began the next segment of our adventure.
After 12 hours on a train sitting upright on what is defined by the train company as a "Hard seat for one" we were ready to get back on our feet. Xi'an is the former capital of China and home of several dynasties. After wondering around under the world's oldest city wall still standing we hopped on a bus and headed out toward the Terra-Cotta Warriors. Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses is a collection of 8,099 life-size terra cotta figures of warriors and horses located near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Although 8,099 seems like a lot the sites are still an active 30 years after their discovery by a farmer digging a well and it is estimated that over 20,000 will eventually be uncovered. The pits were never recorded in written history and were a shocking discovery.
The warriors themselves are all unique and upon closer inspection it was amazing to see the detail of the facial hair and features. The warriors were buried with weapons and horses as well as wooden chariots. The chariots were burned and destroyed when the Qin dynasty was overthrown unfortunately. In fact, everything in pits was destroyed by the insurgents and archeologists are now reassembling the armies piece by piece. The sheer mass of the life size army is startling. After another 12 hour train ride we were back in Beijing by 9am and ready for another day of exploration.
We walked out of the train station and went to the Forbidden City. The construction of the Forbidden City started in 1406 and took 14 years and an estimated 200,000 men. Located at the exact center of the ancient city of Beijing and imperial palace during the mid-Ming and the Qing Dynasties the city covers 720,000 square meters, 800 buildings and more than 8,000 rooms. As soon as one enters under the giant picture of Mao hanging on the gate it is obvious that this is a city like no other. Actually the picture of Mao is quite ironic as the whole city is a huge symbol for bourgeois excessiveness. The city was going to be completely demolished after the success of the Liberation Army but it was thankfully saved for tourism. I won’t attempt to give a verbal tour of the city as I have finals in less than two months.
After the city and the park directly behind it, we set off to the Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420 this temple is the location the emperor would pray for excellent crops and good weather. The emperor in ancient China was considered to be the "Son of heaven." Some Chinese Christians consider the Temple of Heaven as a tribute to the Christian God, believing that the belief in Heaven to be an unarticulated reverence for the true God.
The temple is much larger and striking than I had thought and is better served by looking at the pictures on my website than by my own humble vocabulary.
We also went other places in between the aforementioned events but I need to go study Chinese and economics so I will stop here. My last final was just announced to be on December 13 so in the coming days I will study to logistics of another trip. I would like to fly to Bangkok and than proceed into Cambodia to see Anchor Wat but I will have to examine that possibility in detail and update you at a future date.
The first day we spent wondering around Beijing taking in the city and looking like American tourists--first to Tiananmen Square. I had checked out Tiananmen Square in the Lonely Planet available at our hotel but all the passages about the history surrounding Tiananmen had been purposefully covered up by stickers. Around Tiananmen there stands: Mao's Mausoleum, The Forbidden City and the Chinese National Museum. Tiananmen Square is the world's largest city center and was as impressive as it was well guarded. There are soldiers crawling all over Beijing. That night we began to talk of other places we would like to go in China and so we decided we would see something else in addition to Beijing.
After getting a feel for the city in the first day we decided to go ahead and get down the business. The bus ride out to the great wall commenced around 6:30 am Beijing time (China only has one time zone). The ride out to the wall was fairly uneventful although we were fortunate enough to observe a local during the excretion of bodily wastes on the side of the road. Beijing is a fairly polluted city in comparison with Hong Kong but around the wall the detectable pollution was much reduced.
We selected a part of the wall which is much less visited and restored than some other parts. It's been said that "The Great Wall is the best of the Chinese buildings, and Simatai is the best of the Great Wall." After being there and walking along that particular section of the wall for over six miles I must say that statement couldn't be more right. The Wall itself is an amazing feat of determination and innovation but the views from the wall are 360 degrees of beauty. Some of the parts were really falling apart which allowed us the opportunity to actually climb the wall which I would have done even in the absence of necessity. The whole experience was breathtaking and irreplaceable. When we got back from the wall we headed straight to the train station and began the next segment of our adventure.
After 12 hours on a train sitting upright on what is defined by the train company as a "Hard seat for one" we were ready to get back on our feet. Xi'an is the former capital of China and home of several dynasties. After wondering around under the world's oldest city wall still standing we hopped on a bus and headed out toward the Terra-Cotta Warriors. Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses is a collection of 8,099 life-size terra cotta figures of warriors and horses located near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Although 8,099 seems like a lot the sites are still an active 30 years after their discovery by a farmer digging a well and it is estimated that over 20,000 will eventually be uncovered. The pits were never recorded in written history and were a shocking discovery.
The warriors themselves are all unique and upon closer inspection it was amazing to see the detail of the facial hair and features. The warriors were buried with weapons and horses as well as wooden chariots. The chariots were burned and destroyed when the Qin dynasty was overthrown unfortunately. In fact, everything in pits was destroyed by the insurgents and archeologists are now reassembling the armies piece by piece. The sheer mass of the life size army is startling. After another 12 hour train ride we were back in Beijing by 9am and ready for another day of exploration.
We walked out of the train station and went to the Forbidden City. The construction of the Forbidden City started in 1406 and took 14 years and an estimated 200,000 men. Located at the exact center of the ancient city of Beijing and imperial palace during the mid-Ming and the Qing Dynasties the city covers 720,000 square meters, 800 buildings and more than 8,000 rooms. As soon as one enters under the giant picture of Mao hanging on the gate it is obvious that this is a city like no other. Actually the picture of Mao is quite ironic as the whole city is a huge symbol for bourgeois excessiveness. The city was going to be completely demolished after the success of the Liberation Army but it was thankfully saved for tourism. I won’t attempt to give a verbal tour of the city as I have finals in less than two months.
After the city and the park directly behind it, we set off to the Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420 this temple is the location the emperor would pray for excellent crops and good weather. The emperor in ancient China was considered to be the "Son of heaven." Some Chinese Christians consider the Temple of Heaven as a tribute to the Christian God, believing that the belief in Heaven to be an unarticulated reverence for the true God.
The temple is much larger and striking than I had thought and is better served by looking at the pictures on my website than by my own humble vocabulary.
We also went other places in between the aforementioned events but I need to go study Chinese and economics so I will stop here. My last final was just announced to be on December 13 so in the coming days I will study to logistics of another trip. I would like to fly to Bangkok and than proceed into Cambodia to see Anchor Wat but I will have to examine that possibility in detail and update you at a future date.
# posted by A. J. Stivers @ 9:18 PM 
