A Perfect Day

On Sunday, after a day with the pollution index in the mid 400's ( the worst I've experienced) I woke up to a perfect fall, blue sky, bright sunny day. Right away it was an exciting day. The AQI was 52 - high for Boston, but the very best I've experienced here yet.

A newly good friend and I decided to visit the Forbidden City. I hadn't been there yet and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT. First of all we visited the "The Egg" (National Center for the Performing Arts). I had been there at night for a performance of classical folk music that was out-of-this-world both in virtuosity and in, what were to me, totally new instruments. So here are photos of day and night time at "The Egg" with it's shimmering moat.

A walk along Donchang'An (which is to say Tian-amen) is to see the gigantic boulevard stretching clearly, as far as the eye can see in both direction. This is the parade route and is also reputed to be a landing strip, equipped to take the bulk of a 747 in case of need. All of the barriers along the 20 lanes are removeable and the traffic lights only stretch across 3 lanes on each side - which leaves 14 wide lanes to land a plane!! (Where it would turn around I do not know.) At the point of the famous and huge portrait of Mao, lies Tian-amen Square to the South. The North side of the road provides entrance, over carved marble bridges, to the ancient Forbidden City. Just to provide perspective - the National Mall in DC is a little smaller that the Forbidden City and is about half the size (in total) of Tianamen Sq. Central Park is smaller than Tianamen Sq! The layouts are quite different, but the sq footage (if I read it right) is as indicated. Tianamen Sq and its adjacent gigantic boulevard are denuded of trees and are completely paved. On a hot, sunny day, there would be nothing but heat and sun. I'm so glad I went on a cool sunny day.

The Forbidden City, on the other hand is one dazzling delight after another. On a day such as Sunday, the glazed porcelain roof tiles glow like dark honey or amber. Next to the red walls it is truly a spectacular sight. We were lucky as well because it was not very crowded. There had been a terrorist attack last week which meant that security guards were at every corner, but otherwise it was fine.

I was swept away by the beauty of the curves and lines of roof and building, by the whimsy of parents and children and by the antique wonder of the construction and design elements in each and every building. Actually I was speechless quite often. It is hard to comprehend how it might have been with imperial families living there. It is also remarkable that it survived the devastation of foreign invasions in the early 1900's and of internal strife and Cultural Revolution in the later 1900's. But it did and it is magnificant.

I think we spent at least 2.5 hours just wandering through buildings and gardens and across large terraces gawking at the colors and vastness and richness of it's look and feel. The pillars and beams are very, very big representing as they do an ancient hardwood forest of very tall trees - and lots of them. There are virtually no trees in or around Beijing that that are older than 20-30 years. Years of deprivation and of huge populations needing firewood did a job on the forests. The truth is that we only saw the central axis. On each side of us were equally sized axis' which we never ever saw.

I read that there are more than 900 buildings inside the walls. I also read somewhere that the ancient wall surrounding the entire Forbidden City was built with stones mortared together with egg whites and glutinous rice. The bricks were white lime and glutinous rice. It took 1 million men 14 years to build and complete the whole city including hauling up to 200 ton marble from quarries ~50 miles away, along roads which were iced over and made smooth so that only 50 men would be needed to haul it as opposed to the ~400 that might have been needed otherwise!! Imagine, just imagine what life was like back then. Think of all those eggs!!

Now the laborers are "out of sight in plain sight" as they sweep the roads, empty the streetside septic tanks with hand tools, collect and haul huge volumes of all recyclables on the back of their 3 wheeled jitneys - cook and clean and keep the daily functions of the city going. Hundreds, if not thousands of bus, taxi and private car drivers. Millions of bicycles and 3 wheeled carts, lots of electric scooters. On top of the the best subway system anywhere and gazillions of pedestrians of all types and sizes. Costumed pretty much alike in unpretentious garb - no longer all dark blue or black. What a city!

But there's more! For the first time on Sunday I felt a magical quality to Beijing and I'm told it's special to Beijing and not as much in evidence as in Shanghai for example.

Just north of the Forbidden City is Jinshan Park - a reasonably steep hill built of construction debris from the moat and some other major water projects in ancient times. It has a Buddhist temple on top and is the highest point in Beijing. On a clear windy day like Sunday the view was forever. The western mountains, row after row of them, receeded into the distance of varying degrees of blue haze. I was amazed to see "really big" mountains in the far distance and later read that they are over 6500 ft (higher than Mt Washington and many more than one) People around me were saying that they had never seen such a view. A very special day. And clouds! Actual white puffy clouds. No disgusting contrail clouds.

But that gorgeousness didn't begin to describe what we saw next. Jinshan Park lies north of the hill and there we found - within 300 yards of each other

a choral group practicing in the woods

beaming old ladies singing their hearts out

dancers of all shapes and kinds - costumed ethnic

 

militaristic (dancing to a WW II British song)

couples dancing to a live band

 

instrument practice

and performance

 

to this kind of sheet music

 

in the beauty of a glorious fall day

WHAT A FABULOUS MEMORY - I think I touched what people call 'the soul of Beijing' and they weep that it's disappearing. I AM SO-O LUCKY. Thank you to all the gods and goddesses that made this day possible.

 

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