For reasons best known to the driver of the little van, we were picked up at the Olympic Village and dropped outside the NATIONAL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS.
It was a long walk from here to the crowded TIANANMEN SQUARE.
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Ms Cao (the Manchurian tour guide) directed us to a group of professional photographers who aligned us for a group picture. For a certain sum, we get our picture in a booklet with information about TIANANMEN SQUARE and the FORBIDDEN CITY. I wondered why they bothered. In this time and age, most travelers were carrying digital cameras and selfie sticks.
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To think that this was the spot where students were massacred all those years ago. I could not even remember why they were massacred. For a square this big, there must have been some confusion at the time of the incident. Innocent bystanders, those who were at the wrong place at the wrong time may not even see it coming. Then there were questions about them who funded those student rebels. Gah! Politics!
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| After the TianAnMen Entrance |
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| Into the Forbidden City |
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| On both sides of the main entrance were two other smaller entrances. Military officials entered from the left while civil officials entered from the right. As the main entrance were crowded with tourists shoving each other to gaze at the Imperial Throne, (perhaps a queue system is what's missing here), we headed for the right entrance. After this, you're just looking at more of the same. |  |
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| All gathering to peek at the Imperial Throne. (Right) |
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| If you think you can touch the Imperial Throne, you're grossly mistaken. Above shot is taken from the doorway which was cordoned off. |
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| Ceramic basins containing water for fire fighting. |
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Bolted entrance to parts of the Imperial Palace which were more than forbidden.
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Having seen the Forbidden City for what it is, my thoughts drifted to what it was. In all its implied grandeur, the forbidden city is no more than a giant gilded cage filled with pathetic exotic birds. Walls and gates, bolted doors kept the commoners out. It also kept the exalted in. I could sense a certain panic washing over me as I looked at the forbidding walls, the narrowness of the passages between those walls, the breathlessness of a trapped animal and the agonies of those contained within. I thought about Pu Yi (the last emperor). Terrible time to be handed the Mandate of Heaven, I thought. And my mind went to the ancient dudes who peered at the stars in the night sky, fingers caressing their goatee absentmindedly, then abruptly stared in alarm at a busy thumb as it tapped four other fingers to derive at a dire revelation. These are the astrologists forewarning how the Dowager Cixi was going to bring the downfall of the Qing dynasty, or how the Empress Wu Zetian was going to rule after the passing of Li Shimin. (Tang Dynasty) Was it just happenstance or did those ancient men foretold what was coming just by looking at the stars. Are the stars documenting our future and our past? I was glad to step away from the imposing walls and its ancient hidden secrets.
JINGSHAN PARK is something else. This is where the Emperor and his favorite concubine strolled among the peonies when the occasion called for it.
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Right about here, Ms Cao advised us to put our cameras away. We have reached the spot where the last Ming Emperor hung himself from a nearby tree as rebels and the Manchurian invaders conspired to capture the Imperial Throne. The Ming Dynasty met its demise. The Ming Princess Changping had her left arm severed. This later became the inspiration for a renown Cantonese Opera
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