Dore the Explorer: China: Day 1

Day 1

I could tell it was going to be a memorable trip when we got to the airport about an hour before the international flight and were told by the attendant that we were too late. With a little persuading, she made a phone call and said we needed to hurry. After cutting in front of a long line at security and running through the terminal, we made it moments before taxing out to the runway…where we sat and waited for half an hour for ice treatment (it had snowed the night before).

The flight was only two hours and we arrived before 11am, leaving the whole day for sightseeing.

First on the agenda was The Forbidden City.

Officially known as the Palace Museum, this is a grand monument to the emperors who ruled from its halls over a period of almost 500 years. The symbolic center of the Chinese universe, the palace was the exclusive domain of the imperial court from its completion in 1420 until the last of the emperors was forced to abdicate at the beginning of the 20^th century. The modern world intruded in 1949, when the public was finally admitted through the palace gates.

The last emperor, Pu Yi, ascended the throne at the age of 3 in 1908, but his brief reign was brought to an early end in 1912 by a new Republican government. The young ex-emperor continued to live in the Forbidden City until ejected in 1924. He was later imprisoned under the Communists, until Mao granted him amnesty in 1959. He died in 1967 after working for 7 years as a gardener.

The hostel we stayed at was conveniently right around the corner from this famous landmark, so we set off on foot. A 10 minute stroll and we were standing at the Meridian Gate.

Once inside we spent a few hours roaming the various side alleys and halls… and probably didn’t manage to see more than half of it. It really is a huge, impressive place to see.

When we were sufficiently frozen from meandering, we made our way through a little hallway and stumbled across a very recognizable landmark.

Who hasn’t seen this place before?

Tian’an Men Square is the world’s largest public square and the final resting place of Mao Zedong.
Mao proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 from this Ming-dynasty gate, where his huge portrait still hangs.

Seeing a dead guy decomposing in a crystal casket (that he has been in since 1976) didn’t sound very appealing to me, so I passed on that attraction. Plus, I am apparently the only oddball in China who doesn’t want to see some dead guy… and lines are rumored to be massive.

What did peak my attention was the flag ceremony that is performed every day at dawn and dusk. We got there just in time to join the masses that shared my idea and then we waited. When I couldn’t feel me feet, fingers or nose, a large group of soldiers finally appeared under Mao’s portrait and goose-walked across the street to the flagpole. It was freezing, but a great thing to witness. These guys had everything timed down to the millisecond and took a lot of pride in their country and duties.