Day 4 in Beijing (4/4)
So, in September 2024, I made a trip to China to participate in a conference. Before going to Changchun, where the conference took place, I spent four days in Beijing. This is my report of these four days, divided into four parts. This post is day 4 of my way too short trip to Beijing. You can find day 1 here, day 2 here and day 3 here.
Day 4 in Beijing
I started the day by meeting up with an old friend. I met him two days ago, but this time we wanted to do some sightseeing. We started with the Ming Dynasty city walls in the so-called Relics Park. The walls were pretty much restored, but it was still a sight to see. You could also walk on them, where we took our first break to have some tea.
There was also a small museum at the top where we could see different models of the walls and gates at different times. Afterwards we enjoyed a moment in the surrounding park itself. It was quite nice, with birds chirping and older Chinese people doing their sports. Some of them were dancing, some were playing music. Either way, it was very lively and there was a lot of community spirit. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. Everyone was having fun.
The Forbidden City as a tourist
Then we went to the Forbidden City. My friend had prepared a tour of the place, as he also worked there. So he knew his way around, which was quite nice. He told me a lot about how the temples in the Forbidden City were built on clouds and how you could see the decoration that supported that. He also told me about the roofs and how more important roofs had more decoration. The buildings followed a very strict plan to make sure that this kind of temple followed a certain structure.
As a tourist it was amazing to see how many people were there. If I remember correctly, he told me that 45,000 people visit the Forbidden City every day. As Europeans, we were also an attraction of sorts. Schoolchildren giggled when they saw us and some Chinese tourists asked for a photo of us. One couple even gave me their baby to hold while they took the picture. Surreal!
The Forbidden City as an archaeologist
We then delved a little deeper into archaeology and what my friend has been working on in recent years. He showed me a well that he was analysing with some colleagues and more decorations from the Forbidden City. There were intricate designs with dragons everywhere, a smoking device in the shape of a turtle, standard weights and measures, an opera house, a stone garden… so many things. We spent the whole day there.
One building in particular caught my eye. There was the so-called “Palace of Prolonging Happiness”, built in 1420. It was destroyed several times and then rebuilt in the early 20th century as a semi-subterranean building with a moat around it. The catch was that the moat was supposed to be filled with water and you could look into the moat filled with fish from the lower floor of the building. Also, the windows on the middle floor, above the water in the trench, were double-sided and there was also water between the windows with fish swimming in it. Crazy idea. Unfortunately, the building was never completed and was later destroyed.
This last day in Beijing was incredibly educational and we ended the day fittingly at a Beijing duck restaurant.
