First full day in China – first stop was Temple of Heaven

It is the largest existing structure for sacrifices to Heaven and a place where emperors prayed for a year of abundance. The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City, which we toured later in the day. The complex was extended and renamed Temple of Heaven during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the 16th century. Jiajing also built three other prominent temples in Beijing, the Temple of the Sun in the east, the Temple of Earth in the north, and the Temple of Moon in the west.

As we walked in we saw a number of the locals playing cards and mahjong, which looked like dominos! Our guide said they come every day to play cards. We also saw groups of people dancing in the park as well as singing.

The first picture below is the corridor to the Temple grounds. On the left are the people playing cards. On the right is Charlotte and our guide Lucy.

This next picture is of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, where the emperor prayed for good harvests.

After leaving the Temple of Heaven, we went to a local Hutong, which is a Mongolian word meaning water well. Basically they are the alleyways and courtyards that make up the neighborhoods. They got the name during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) as Mongolians attached great importance to water, so almost every community in the city was designed around a well, which provided the daily water for the locals.

Next up was lunch. We went to a place near the hotel called Da Wan Ju. The food was very good and the place was packed. We were the only westerners there. Stopped in the restroom before heading to Tiananmen Square. That was its own adventure! No western toilets to be found. Sorry no pictures.😛

Tiananmen Square is exactly that… a large square (the largest public square in the world at 109 acres). On one side of the square is a mausoleum for Mao Zedong and the other side is the Forbidden City. We walked from one end to the other to get to the Forbidden City.

Once on the other end of the square we entered the Forbidden City which was once the Imperial Palace. I had no idea how large it was until we were nearly done with the tour and looked back to see all the buildings. The complex covers an area of over 720,000 square meters and has over 9,000 buildings. It also seems to be where all the people are! Spent a fair amount of time pushing my way through crowds to get pictures. If I didn’t, I was left with a number of people pushing me aside so I jumped into the fray! The Forbidden City was the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties and is China’s largest and most complete ancient buildings. It was first built in 1406 and finished in 1420. In its 500 years of history, there were 24 emperors that lived there. While there were many renovations and expansions during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City remains in its original layout.

Picture below is a map of the Forbidden City

The following are pictures of a number of the structures we saw.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Great Wall.