Beijing – 20250918
After breakfast, we met Thomas at 9:00 AM. We drove to Tiananmen Square. It was already overly crowded. There are several entry points to the square, but Thomas knows the shortcuts and made sure we got ahead of others waiting in very long queues. He used his privileged ID card to cut through the lines. Our passports were checked, and our bags were searched; we were able to enter the square after about 30 or 45 minutes. It was a fantastic sight to be surrounded by the Mao Mausoleum, the Great Hall of the People, the Museum of Chinese History, the Museum of the Chinese Revolution, and the Monument to the People’s Heroes. It is said to hold a million people.
We took a short but needed bathroom break after the heat of the sun and the things we ate last night disagreed with us. Again, the public toilets were clean and acceptable, despite the tens of thousands of users around the square.
The excitement of the groups and people around us was something to see and feel. There are hundreds upon hundreds of groups, each with around 30-50 very excited people. Young or old, poor or rich, from the countryside or the city, in traditional costumes or western summer attire, the energy level was unbelievable. People waving flags, singing songs, taking photographs, the young pushing the wheelchairs of the dressed-up elderly, rushing from point to point, and forming incredibly long lines under the scorching sun were a sight to see. The mood, the excitement of being there, and the memories of heroic past and victories, as well as the heroes who had given their lives to build this nation, were purely electric. I saw many very elderly people trying to walk, either with walkers or with the help of their younger grandchildren, wearing a golden medal or a pin on their lapels. It was immediately obvious how proud they were, and although it was a challenging feat to be here — enduring long lines under a hot sun — they were determined to be part of this widespread excitement.
In Tiananmen Square and other public places, what was particularly noticeable was the equality of women in society. Women, in numbers, equaled the men, if not even more. Although equality for women is enshrined in Chinese law and the constitution, proving its presence in society is another matter. Comparing the women’s place in Turkey, which supposedly granted women equal position in society by law, with the behavior, manner of walking and talking, and participation in China, where equality was achieved by statute in 1949, reveals that the latter seemed more favorable. With the excitement of being at this national location, several elderly women pushed past me to see the towering buildings and monuments. It is okay, though, I can understand the pride and excitement they must feel to be there and relive the accomplishments of a people who have succeeded through a real revolution.
I asked Thomas about the Tiananmen events of 1989, but he said the events were not available in the media in China at that time, so he did not have a complete understanding of the events.
People and the Great Hall of the People
Entrence to the Worker’s Palace
Separate entry bridges and doors for the emperor and princes
Beijing, Workers’ Cultural Palace, Lion Detail
Protection mythological lions. If the lion has a world under its paw, it is a male lion. If there is a lion cub under its paw, it is a female lion.
Beijing, Forbidden City, visitors
We walked through a tunnel under the main street to reach the complex of parks and museums, collectively dedicated to workers and named the Workers’ Cultural Palace. First, we rested in a park, in stark contrast to the square. Here, it was nearly empty. Tall, wide trees lined the well-kept walking paths, and flowers and various plants adorned them. It was quiet and serene, utterly different than the square we were in minutes ago. The trees were very well kept and marked with colored labels. Red labels indicated that the tree was more than 400 years old and was a protected treasure.
The Olympics were held in Beijing in 2008. At that time, the world criticized the city’s air quality and questioned whether the Olympics should be held there at all due to air quality concerns. China’s response was to clean the air using any means necessary. The most important step taken was to plant trees wherever possible. They also began taking better care of the city’s vegetation. This is very clear in any park you visit. The other steps China took were to relocate polluting factories outside the city to other provinces, transition home heating from coal to natural gas, and replace all old buses with modern ones to minimize exhaust emissions. In every street or road we walked, we were blessed with the shade of large trees lining the streets. We were surprised to see Beijing so green, cool, and well-kept. But mostly we appreciated the trees and the shade they provided from the burning sun.
Finally, we reached the moat surrounding the Forbidden City. We were still outside the crowds, yet at the edge of the park, near the Workers’ Cultural Palace. We didn’t go to the museum. On a bench facing the water, we saw a couple, most likely from a rural village, eating the food they had brought from home. They had bags, and their clothes did not look fresh or new. While we were passing, they were trying to eat hard-boiled eggs. They were peeling the shells, and a tiny, maybe a millimeter or two in length, shell fell from the man’s hand to the ground. Immediately, the men put all the stuff on his lap and to his side, then picked up that small piece to put in his trash bag. This impressed us greatly, as we are not accustomed to seeing such behavior in Turkey. The roads, sidewalks, parks, and sides of buildings in Turkey are covered with trash. We continued to discuss the cultural differences. Beijing is clean from top to bottom, as far as we can see.
Beijing is a clean city. Only after the 5th day did I see my first cigarette butt on the street. There is not a single plastic bag, a bottle, a piece of paper, or any other trash thrown on the street. I saw government workers actually working —cleaning trash cans, watering plants, sweeping streets, cleaning bathrooms, and caring for the grounds, among other tasks. In Turkey, workers and police congregate in endless talking, gossiping groups, smoking cigarettes, viewing their cell phones, and nothing seems to get done. In Beijing, everyone seems to take their job seriously because things get done.
We tried hailing a cab for over an hour, but to no avail! Empty cabs drive by and wave us off because they are not allowed to take passengers on busy roads. Yes, the traffic seems chaotic, with millions of electric and manual bicycles and motorbikes zooming in and out of nowhere. They don’t respect pedestrians, run red lights, and ride on crosswalks. However, the traffic moves on without being blocked. Except for a very brief, irregular stop to make an illegal U-turn or to get food from a nearby restaurant, we have not seen any unlawful double- or triple-parking, unlike in Turkey. Taxis, unless you have pre-negotiated a flat rate, turn on their meters. The drivers are terrified of illegal parking, and we can see that they obey the parking laws. When asked, they smile and say, There are cameras everywhere, and they will get fined or caught. It reminded us of the double- and triple-parking in places where parking is illegal in Turkey. The traffic IS a chaos for sure. The electric bikes have a separate way when available. They zip in and out, but stay in the right lane. They don’t respect pedestrians’ right to cross the street at crosswalks. However, I think traffic flows freely because Beijing has solved the parking problem, keeping the roads open, even when they are chaotic.
Even though tens of thousands of people line up to get into the sacred places, the lines move. The Forbidden City is visited by 40,000 people daily. Yet, the incredibly long lines move. After passing several checkpoints for passport and bag checks, we finally entered the Forbidden City.
We were overwhelmed in the Workers’ Cultural Hall, which had previously been a temple.
Workers Cultural Palace
“The Imperial Ancestral Temple, built in 1420, was long the most noble and sacred venue for national rites to be performed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it was renamed the Working People’s Cultural Palace.
In 1912, the Qing emperor abdicated, and the Temple’s role as a means for the feudal Emperor to worship his ancestors ceased. In 1924, when Puyi left the palace, the Imperial Ancestral Temple was handed over to the Beiyang government, and then opened to the public as a park and a branch of the Forbidden City. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded. On April 30, 1950, the Imperial Ancestral Temple was officially opened as the Beijing Working People’s Cultural Palace.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Imperial Ancestral Temple has been systematically protected and repaired, and research on protecting cultural relics has been carried out.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, national ancestor worship was divided into three levels: the Grand Sacrifice, the Medium Sacrifice, and the Communal Sacrifice (also known as the Junior Sacrifice). The Grand Sacrifice featured the highest level of solemnity, hosted by the emperor himself.
The Nanmu Trees that built. the Forbidden City
“Nanmu is a timber of outstanding reputation due to its high quality, brilliant color, remarkable durability, and medicinal value (Cheng et al., 1992). It was mainly used for palace columns and to make high-value furniture that symbolized the power and status of the aristocracy (Chen et al., 2020). From the 15th to the 19th centuries, Nanmu timber was supplied exclusively to the imperial court with the name “Imperial Wood” (Ding et al., 2019). The largest existing wooden palace complex in the world, the Forbidden City, was originally built during the early Ming Dynasty (1406–1420 AD). However, damaged by fire, the Forbidden City underwent multiple restorations during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368–1912 AD). It has been recorded that large-diameter Nanmu logs were commonly harvested in southern China, particularly in southwestern China, for the construction and maintenance of the Forbidden City (Lan, 1994). However, the species attribution of Nanmu has remained a subject of long-standing debate.”
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.10311
Workers Cultural Palace
Situated on the east side of Tiananmen Square, it is the first Museum built in modern-day China. It encompasses the buildings and the park, offering an educational and reflective space that celebrates the achievements of workers in China.
The compound encompasses temples used by the emperors for prayer, as well as the surrounding parks. In the Ming (1368 – 1644) and Qing (1644 – 1911) Dynasties, it was used by members of the royal family to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. Initially, the buildings were called the Imperial Ancestral Temple, but the name changed in 1950 when Chairman Mao opened the site and dedicated it to the people. The complex features libraries, movie theaters, parks, stadiums, and exhibition halls.
The compound was built in the 18th year of the Yongle era in the Ming Dynasty (1420 AD) and is over 600 years old.
There are seven bridges connecting the entrance to the halls. Under the bridges, beautiful red and yellow fish thrive in the Golden River. The emperor exclusively used the middle, larger bridge to enter. The princes used the others.
For centuries, emperors came here to worship their ancestors.
After becoming the Workers’ Cultural Palace, parks, theaters, and other facilities have been added to raise the cultural level of workers and everyone.
On the left, as you enter the building and walk towards the back wall, 56 bells hang proudly, representing the 56 minorities in China. Instead of alienating the minorities, China has decided to integrate them into China by accepting their cultural and ethnic identities, promoting their culture, and giving them a strong voice in governance in their lands by accepting autonomous governance. In governance, the minorities enjoy a 20-30% place. Minorities also benefit in university entrance examination by providing them with more choices of schools. Each ethnicity is recorded on the national ID cards. This allows positive discrimination, just as governmental programs enable women to integrate into society. Minorities are also given benefits and priorities in becoming governors and government officials, which are highly privileged positions.
A very high level of energy as people from all over China rush into the Forbidden City. As soon as you enter the court, you are overwhelmed by thousands of visitors lining up to see each building and learn about its history.
Beijing, Workers Cultural Palace Park
The park surrounding the Workers’ Palace is quiet, clean, serene and relaxing with birds chirping, and trees providing much needed shads to the benches below
Beijing, Workers Cultural Palace Park, Old protected trees
Each tree in the Cultural Palace and at other parks and streets have been labeled showing their age. If the tree is over 100 years old, it gets a red label. Trees are very healthy and well-taken care of.
Beijing, Forbidden City, Fire prevention
Fire was the worst enemy of the buildings in the Forbidden City. In order to keep safe, these pots were kept with water in them all year round. During the winter, they were covered to prevent freezing.
Beijing, Forbidden City, workers underground quarters
Tens of thousands of workers maintained the emperor, his concubines, and the facilities. There were eunuchs, and workers with levels of access to the areas in the city. They stayed in these underground quarters. They were not allowed to freely leave and come back to the compound without permission.
Special trees support the building, including nanmu (Phoebe zhennan) trees that were cut and transported from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away for these temples. They also used Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) for building during the 15th to 19th centuries. Nanmu trees emit a pleasant scent and are resistant to expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature or humidity. Sixty-eight monumental trees keep the building together.
In 1999, the China Peace Chimes were placed in the Front Hall. The chimes have three layers. The 34 bells on the top layer represent China’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, as well as Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. The bells in the second layer represent China’s 56 ethnic groups. In the middle of the third layer, there are 16 bells, corresponding to the 16 periods in Chinese history. The two bells on each side represent Peace and Development. The minorities represented by the 56 bells enjoy special privileges. It was interesting to see how proud China is of its minorities. It appears that instead of forcibly assimilating them, China recognized them and allowed their national identities to be proudly displayed. This may be why attempts to use them to cause problems for China have failed. As we have seen later, speaking to Miao nationality members in Zhangjiajie, they don’t see themselves as separate from the Chinese nation or culture. They are proud to be Miao and Chinese. They freely speak their language, dress in their minority attire, and promote their values.
There are three halls in the main building. The front hall is where the emperors sacrificed animals for the deities. The beams are 33 meters high and are two meters higher than the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. This was done out of respect for the deities.
Royalties and others could only cross the bridges according to their levels, and they could only enter the buildings from the doors commensurate with their ranking.
Forbidden City
I visited the Forbidden City in 2016. Yet, it did not impress me as much as it did this time around. Building after building, we visited the structures where imperial decisions were made and guests were received. There is even a building where the emperor took a breather before facing the rapporteurs or other government officials. There were 25 official seals (all of which have been transferred to the National Museum these days). But the cases that held them are still in the building.
Two dynasties resided in this city, forbidden to common folk, within the 900 or so buildings of the vast compound, divided into specific zones. The number 9 is considered lucky or good in Chinese culture. That is why, wherever you go, you hear the building counts and step counts, all claiming to be 9 or 999. However, actual counts contradict these mythologies. We went through zone after zone, under the scorching sun, where the emperors conducted business, held meetings, read reports, lived, and prayed. Each zone had several buildings serving specific roles. There was even a building where the emperor could take a breath before meeting others, where he would meditate and relax.
Each building was surrounded by hundreds of people and their tour guides trying to get a peek inside. The government has prepared this place so that 16 million annual visitors can get a sense of what life was like during the dynasty years. These buildings and the city are China’s best-preserved historical sites and are also protected by UNESCO.
All the buildings have yellow roofs. There were strict regulations that enforced social ranking during the dynastic years. The yellow, red, and green roofs were designated for the emperor, the royalty, and very high officials. Black/grey roofs were for the common folk.
After seeing the Forbidden City in a pleasant but hot sun, we headed, exhausted, to our dinner. We stopped at a shopping mall and climbed to the second floor to Mei Zhou Po Restaurant, where we had the best Chinese food we ever had. We ordered steamed pork, sizzling lamb on a hot wok-like heater, kung pao chicken, and fried rice. I had 3 cold bottles of water in the first half hour. The Kung Pao chicken was their signature dish and was simply delicious. It had an herb like the Turkish “karanfil,” but not the same, that made other flavors pop out.
The BEST Chinese food we ever had in our lives
The Forbidden City
Forbidden City was built between 1309 and 1420 by the emperor Yongle in the Ming Dynasty times. The same Namnu trees were used in the buildings. Large stones were quarried and carried over hundreds of miles. They even transported the stones in winter through icy, narrow, old roads. 24 emperors used this compound to rule the empire. The buildings look ancient, however most of these buildings are 18th century Qing Dynasty constructions. The compound was the home of the emperor, the empress and thousands of concubines, eunuchs and servants who catered to the needs of the emperor and the empress. The city had its rules and laws. No worker was allowed to leave or enter without permission. The workers, servants, lived in underground buildings and could only go to the cones they were allowed to. Fire was the main reason the compound was destroyed, but huge copper vats with lion head handles can be seen everywhere that held water summer or winter to prevent fires. The vats were covered in the winter to prevent freezing.
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.10311
Temple of Heaven
After lunch, we went to the Temple of Heaven. Walked a serene path in a park lined with beautiful trees. The park was very relaxing, quiet, clean, green, and well-maintained. People took pictures among the trees, with the round building of “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests” in the background.
Emperors and empresses came here to pray for good harvests, for protection from floods or droughts.
Emperors were understood to be the “Sons of Heaven,” and they used this space for solemn rites, speaking to the gods and asking for good harvests at the winter solstice. The emperor visited the temple twice a year when the seasons were changing.
The park and the temple have been open to the public since 1918. It was built in the Confucian style, without a single nail.
The emperor would start the march from the Forbidden City to the temple in a silent procession. The locals would close all doors and windows and didn’t dare to look. He would enter the round temple compound with elephants and horses following.
Taking pictures in front of the Temple of Heaven
