Sledding in Beijing!

What a nice trip by comparison to the tough cruise we had getting to Seoul. Seas were calm and cold. The wind was manageable and most passengers truly welcomed the change in weather. The sun has been shining but man is it cold! As we docked on the morning of the 15th, we had snow and ice on deck. Tell me again what month this is?


On to history. Sorry for the continuing history lesson but the teaching gene runs deep in my family and I am obligated to express that whenever possible.

We docked near Tianjin. Tianjin is China’s fourth largest city with a population at a paltry 10 million people. Tianjin is a former “treaty port” that is now one of four municipalities under direct rule of the central government. This would be like having New York City being directly controlled by Washington DC. China’s current structure is seemingly haphazard but seems to work for them. Tianjin is about 120 miles away from Beijing which is our destination for the next two days.

Beijing, as you may know, is the current capital of China but only the most recent. Beijing became the capital in 1421 when the emperor, Zhu Di decreed it. Roughly translated, Beijing means “Northern Capital.” The former capital was Nanjing which (you guessed it) means “Southern Capital.” The Chinese are nothing if not logical. Most of what we looked forward to seeing were buildings and sites constructed during the Ming Dynasty which lasted for around 600 years ending in 1644 when the last dynasty, Qing took over.

In 1911 the Qing were thrown out and a power struggle ensued over the next 38 years with the communists finally winning in 1949.

Pat, Ken and I booked a private tour for the two days that we were there. We had a heavy itinerary of great things to see and had to get going early to get everything in. Like so much else in China, everything is under government control. Passing through customers took an extra two hours. Apparently our ship’s captain has had a few run-ins with the Chinese and we were told that this kind of arbitrary delay is par for the course with the Chinese. We met our tour guide, Carol, who spoke passable English and was really a joy to have along as a guide. Carol’s name is actually “Lui si di” which means “father loves mother.”

As I said at the beginning of the entry, Beijing is very cold this time of year. We headed for the Great Wall and wanted to take the tram ride to the top for a better view. Because of the snow and wind, the tram was shut down and we had to walk up to a lower access area to get a view of the wall. The great wall is the largest building in all of human history. Contrary to popular belief, the wall cannot be seen from space but it is still pretty darn big. Most of the sections of the wall that tourists see were constructed during the Ming dynasty.

After that, we went on to the Ming Tomb which is an enormous area of buildings and burial sites that put the pyramids to shame. The Chinese truly have always built on a grand scale.

After a stay overnight, we went to Tiananmen square. Westerners all know the significance of the pro-democracy demonstrations that took place in 1989 but many young Chinese know very little about it. All around the square you can seen police and surveillance cameras….it is unlikely that any significant gathering of demonstrators will sneak up on the square again.

After looking over the square (which can hold over 1,000,000 people), we began the progression through Tiananmen gate towards the Forbidden City. There are four gates that one must progress through before you finally reach the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was built during the Ming dynasty. Common people were not allowed in the city and it remained closed until the last Qing Emperor was removed in 1911. As one passes through the gates the buildings become larger and more impressive. The massive resources that were used to support the emperor in luxury are truly staggering. The Forbidden City is comprised of over 800 buildings and well over 8,000 rooms. Too much to see on our visit.

Our last stop on tour was the Temple of the Heavens. This is a beautiful set of buildings where the people and the emperor would go to pray during certain times of the year for favorable harvests. Today it is more than just a beautiful building. We found the park full of people (retired people were told by our guide) that go there for exercise. We saw huge groups of people dancing to music…a local gentleman invited Pat to dance with him…naturally she accepted. No way will you get me to dance but Pat enjoyed it. We saw hundreds of people playing cards and I remember lots of money changing hands…Everyone was having a great time.

Finally we were on our way back to Tianjin and the ship. China has a powerful, national ambition that is not hampered by a bickering congress and is not concerned what the dissenting opinion might be. They are formidable in their scope and vision and have a history of completing long, involved projects. Having said that, we noticed a “have and have not” society in the making. Beijing is still a city of bicycles but there are many that are driving Mercedes right alongside of them. All seem to realize that if you know the right people, you can make a great living in China….if not, get on the Schwinn and head to work.

To sum up, our tour was really eye-opening. Our Tour guide Carol and her fearless driver Bei Tao were a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend them and will post contact information in a future entry once I receive contact information from Carol.

On to our final stop of Shanghai!