Beijing – Forbidden City, Tianmen Square

Today we visited the Forbidden City and Tianmen Square. I learned a lot from talking to UIBE students Alan and Jessica today.

The Forbidden City is having a lot of restoration work to pull it out of a state of disrepair in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, but it’s neat to see an old relic held up right in the middle of a big city – standing the test of time. It’s awe inspiring just to see the hundreds of humongous bronze pots all over the palace kept for putting out fires, and the sheer number of rooms reserved for Concubines.

The massive 9-dragons marble sculpture (the largest in the world) flanks a giant stairway. As we took a break for a rest on a ledge at the top of the stairs, Alan explains that we would have been executed for sitting on this ledge (beheaded) only a few years ago.

He described how much has changed and how much has not. Alan explained for us that there is still an Emperor of China, just as there always has been. The emperor’s succession is the same (by descent, or chosen successor from noble elite family), the power is the same, and the process is the same, he is simply not called the emperor anymore. He has fancy apartments in New York, and a panel of the smartest advisers surrounding him. He told me that the Chinese government looks stupid to Americans, but that they are very strategic in their long term thinking – they mostly look stupid because of the differences in their philosophies that seem confusing to Americans. Also worth noting, Alan explained that Russia is also ruled by “an emperor” and powerful families that compete for power, as it always has been, and that the democratic façade is a farce meant to appease local and foreign powers. He says that every real political player understands this.

As we exited the Forbidden City and walked across the bridge to Tianmen Square (note you do not take the center bridge, reserved for the emperor and patrolled by military guards), the familiar picture of red Chinese government came in to view. All about, street vendors sold copies of communist and Chinese manifesto’s, “Mao books” and the such. For whatever reason however, the vendors were discouraged from tainting the clean and orderly image kept in the square. Police officers would speed over on bikes , and the vendors would scurry away like thousands of little rats. Seconds later they would re-emerge from the sidewalk cracks and continue the bartering right where they left off.

I was stunned to learn that most of the students on my trip weren’t even aware of the Tianmen square massacre/protests. Those of us that knew, explained it to the others in hushed voices. As I broke from the group a bit, I took a picture of a young child. Within seconds of noticing my attention, the parents of the child picked it up and handed it to me. The group then handed me a series of babies and small children, a slew of cameras rose up, shutter clicks came from all around, and the group thanked me graciously as if I were some kind of movie star. As I walked away, I could have sworn I heard someone murmuring Neo again.

Another state-run tourist lunch. I bought some extra Italian gelato. The Chinese seem to like gelato, always gelato, not ice cream. I’m going to have to tell Jan Horsfall about this (of Gelazzi, inc).

Jessica explained to me that cell phone plans are cheap (something like 10% the cost of the U.S. or less, but that SMS text messaging was even cheaper, and was tremendously popular. This brought back memories of seeing Mong fly through Chinese character menus as she composed text messages at the speed of light. It was nearly unreal.

Shortly thereafter, we got on a bus (man and king long buses – Chinese marketing fails to grasp subtlety) and said goodbye to Jessica (see below). Alan tagged along to say a sad goodbye as we headed to a board a China Air flight to Xian. (note that I was very pleased with the service and meals in Chinese Air travel – much better than the U.S. . Clearly airplanes are still treated as somewhat of a luxury in China).