Saw a plane painted with the Olympic mascots. Did you know these 4 creatures have names? My cousin's kids can name them.
We didn't see lots of pollution-causing activities while in China (apart from the millions of cars obviously) but the sky was always a bit overcast. This was the only factory pumping out smoke that we saw.
We also saw the Bird Nest. *wave to Michael*
Right next to it was this funny shaped building. Apparently it is the only 7 star hotel in Beijing. Guess what it is meant to resemble? Hint: An animal.
We arrived around midday so first stop in Beijing was food-related (yippee). We were taken to a minority ethnic group theater restaurant, the New Dai Tribe Village 新傣家村. The Dai tribe is very similar to the Thai people in terms of their outfits, traditional dance and even the name Dai and Thai!
We walked into the restaurant and was greeted with the sight of a souvenir shop doing brisk business in the midst of all the tables. Very bizarre. There was also a dance happening when we got there.
Nice photo of Mum and the tour guide.
The food was the usual average tourist crowd standard. Prawns stir-fried with tea leaves and chicken casserole.
Pork with mixed vegetables and tofu slices.
Deep fried fish slices in tangy sauce and chinese cabbage.
More vege dishes with a bit of beef slices as a bonus.
Hey how come the dancers all have such flat and tiny waists? Oh that's right they aren't the ones having a love affair of the century with the Cs - cakes, candy, chocolates, coke, cookies, CARBS and CALORIES. Stupid unstoppable sugar cravings.
Random cool ancient building that we saw - it probably was part of The Forbidden City on reflection. Check out the textures of the roof in the foreground. Pretty cool.
We were headed for Prince Gong's Mansion 恭王府, one of the most extravagant residence compounds in Beijing outside of the Forbidden City, covering 60,000 square metres. The driver couldn't drop us off right at the doorstep so we had to get out and walk. Oh the humanity.
But the awesome thing was that we got to walk on through some of the fast disappearing hutongs 胡同!! Hutongs are narrow alleyways that link shiheyuans 四合院 (traditional Chinese residence which is basically a courtyard surrounded by 4 buildings as extended family members used to all live together). Sadly, most of these shiheyuans have been demolished to make way for skyscrapers which is a real pity because you get a glimpse of the everyday life of a local while strolling down these hutongs.
Prince Gong's Mansion was actually constructed in 1777 by a minister named He Shen 和珅 during the reign of Emperor Qian Long 乾隆. He was such a favourite of the emperor that he dared to use many precious materials that were deemed only for royal use in the construction of the mansion. But he was executed after Emperor Qian Long's death on charges of mass corruption. The mansion was then gifted to Prince Gong during the reign of Empress Dowager CiXi 慈禧. Women weren't allowed to ascend to the throne but Prince Gong helped Cixi to come up with the plan of ruling with a puppet Emperor as a figurehead.
Bit of trivial knowledge:
These 4 bits of wood sticking out from above the entrance have a hidden meaning to them. Apparently only the residences of ministers were allowed to have 4 of them. This was where the saying 門當戶對 came from. Basically the direct translation meant that the door must match the other door, i.e when it comes to marriage, the groom's status in life should match that of the bride.
This is Jia Le Hall 嘉乐堂 and was used mainly for religious ceremonies.
The mansion also has one of the largest gardens outside of the Royal Gardens in the Forbidden city. These walls separated the main halls from the gardens.
This building ran alongside the length of the wall that led into the garden. It contained 99 rooms and the walls are hollow! He Shen hid all the treasures he obtained through illegal means in them. Apparently all the windows were built with different designs and acted as a code so He Shen could tell what treasure was hidden where. When he was finally arrested and the mansion confiscated, they found treasures totalling 10 years' worth of the country's taxes!
This was an interesting naturally formed rock formation. It was supposed to look like a mother cradling a child in her arms. He Shen thought it was an auspicious symbol and would bring him many male babies to carry on his line. Apparently it didn''t work.
Check out the ice in the pond!
Cool looking native Beijing tree. I think it is called umbrella tree or something along those lines.
What's with the crazy crowd you ask? Well He Shen was such a favourite of Emperor Qian Long that he managed to wrangle a calligraphy painting done by Emperor Kan Xi (Qian Long's granddad, the dude that put together the world's first primitive dictionary). Emperor Kan Xi was a very wise man but unfortunately there weren't many of his calligraphy works left. Anyway, He Shen hid it inside this man made cave and that accounted for the crazy crowd.
This was a pavillion in the middle of a (frozen) lake. In the olden days it could only be reached by way of a paddle boat. The crazy antics of the rich and famous!
Now I am sure you are wondering to yourself why was this He Shen such a pet of Emperor Qian Long? What made him so special? No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway so there! Word has it that Qian Long liked one of his dad's concubines (FYI a Chinese Emperor had 1 empress and 3000 concubines) and asked his mother the Dowager Empress if he could take her as one of his own concubines. His mother was disgusted with the idea and was convinced that it was the concubine using her womanly wiles to lead the young emperor astray (because it is always the woman''s fault!). So she had the concubine put to death and the emperor was not able to stop it in time. So the emperor was filled with regret. Apparently He Shen was a pretty boy and bore a striking resemblance to the dead concubine. Emperor Qian Long then lavished a lot of attention (money and power too) on He Shen as a way of assuaging his guilty conscience.
Anyway next up, the Forbidden City!!! The name Forbidden City is directly translated from its Chinese name 紫禁城. It was so called because the palatial grounds were within high walls and only ministers could go inside and no one could come or go without the emperor's permission. Normal citizens weren't allowed to even go near it. Construction began in 1406 and lasted 15 years. It saw the rise and fall of three dynasties (Ming, Shun and Qing) and 24 emperors!! It covered an area of 720,000 square metres and there were 9999.5 buildings (9 and 5 being royal numbers used to symbolise the emperor) in total.
It is a HUGE place and we were there for maybe an hour which annoyed me to no end. I could have easily spent a day there. But nooo we had other (stupid) places to be and the tour guide basically power walked us through the whole area. I was NOT a happy camper.
The palace walls were surrounded by 6 metres deep, 52 metres wide moat to discourage any would-be attacks. There was also a guard tower at each of the four corners.
These funny looking things were taxis! Basically a motorcycyle with a tin hut built over it and could carry 2 passengers. It was so funny and unstable looking.
The other thing that annoyed me? She brought us in via the back door so it everything was back to front! Super annoying because Chinese architecture had its own flow and theories. Darn her!
We entered through the Gate of Divine Might 神武門.
The Forbidden City can be divided into two parts. The Outer Court 前朝 consists of five halls used for ceremonial purposes and other official business. The Inner Court 后宫 was where the emperor dealt with the day-to-day affairs of the state and lived with his family, eunuchs and maid-servants. As we came in via the backway, we visited the Inner Court first.
I can't find the name of this hall but it was where girls of certain age range were brought into the palace to undergo a series of tests before they were deemed to be acceptable as concubines for the emperor. Basically the girls would be stripped down and every inch of their bodies were inspected. They had to be 100% perfect to pass the test, i.e. no scars no tattoos. Sorry Mei, you failed.
The Imperial Garden
One of the many side walkways in the palace. Can you imagine an eunuch scurrying around running errands for the emperor a few hundred years ago?
On the way to the Hall of Mental Cultivation 養心殿 which was the living quarters of the emperor. There was also a throne in the front hall which the emperor used to deal with state affairs and meet with ministers.
Looking a tad shabby as it hasn't been restored yet. Most of the other buildings have already been restored to their former glory. But I think that kinda made the Forbidden City look a bit fake. Nothing wrong with authenticity and the shabbiness brought a richer sense of history to the place.
The infamous "rule from behind curtains" setup coined by Dowager Empress Cixi. The puppet emperor would sit in the chair in the middle of the room while in a meeting with the ministers and the dowager empress would sit in the real throne behind him separated by a curtain and make all the decisions needed.
The emperor's study.
Entrance to the emperor's living quarters, Gate of Mental Cultivation 養心門.
Photo taken on the courtyard that separated the Inner Court from the Outer Court.
Throughout the palace grounds, 308 gilded bronze vats were placed as they used to be filled with water used to douse fires. Of them, 18 were coated with gold and placed in front of the main halls in the Outer Court. But as you can see from the photo below, these gold coated vats have been scraped clean of the gold when the palace was taken over during the Opium War.
Hall of Central Harmony 中和殿 is a smaller hall used by the emperor to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies.
The Hall of Preserving Harmony 保和殿 was used for rehearsing ceremonies and was also the site of the final stage of the Imperial examination.
View of an emperor. Living in the lap of luxury or as a trapped bird I wonder?
Emperor's throne!
Carvings of a dragon and a phoenix (royal symbols of the emperor and the empress) paved in between the steps, forming ramps that led up to the throne. The emperor would be carried in his sedan over the stone carving and was the only person allowed to pass over it.
Group shot in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony 太和殿. It was the ceremonial centre of imperial power and the largest surviving wooden structure in China. In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor held court here to discuss affairs of the state. During the Qing Dynasty, as emperors held court far more frequently, a less ceremonious location was used instead and the Hall of Supreme Harmony was only used for ceremonial purposes such as coronations and imperial weddings. as it was the symbol of imperial power, no other building was allowed to be higher than it.
The grounds were all paved with many many layers - seven layers lengthwise and eight layers crosswise, totalling fifteen layers to avoid enemies succeeding in tunnelling their way into the palace grounds. Ps: Those buildings in the background used to serve as warehouses for storing items as such fur, porcelain, silver, tea, silk, satin and clothes.
Check out the gold paint on the roofs.
Throughout the palace grounds, 308 gilded bronze vats were placed as they used to be filled with water used to douse fires. Of them, 18 were coated with gold and placed in front of the main halls in the Outer Court. But as you can see from the photo below, these gold coated vats have been scraped clean of the gold when the palace was taken over during the Opium War.
Hall of Central Harmony 中和殿 is a smaller hall used by the emperor to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies.
The Hall of Preserving Harmony 保和殿 was used for rehearsing ceremonies and was also the site of the final stage of the Imperial examination.
View of an emperor. Living in the lap of luxury or as a trapped bird I wonder?
Emperor's throne!
Carvings of a dragon and a phoenix (royal symbols of the emperor and the empress) paved in between the steps, forming ramps that led up to the throne. The emperor would be carried in his sedan over the stone carving and was the only person allowed to pass over it.
Group shot in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony 太和殿. It was the ceremonial centre of imperial power and the largest surviving wooden structure in China. In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor held court here to discuss affairs of the state. During the Qing Dynasty, as emperors held court far more frequently, a less ceremonious location was used instead and the Hall of Supreme Harmony was only used for ceremonial purposes such as coronations and imperial weddings. as it was the symbol of imperial power, no other building was allowed to be higher than it.
The grounds were all paved with many many layers - seven layers lengthwise and eight layers crosswise, totalling fifteen layers to avoid enemies succeeding in tunnelling their way into the palace grounds. Ps: Those buildings in the background used to serve as warehouses for storing items as such fur, porcelain, silver, tea, silk, satin and clothes.
Check out the gold paint on the roofs.
So that was the end of our speedy tour of the amazing Forbidden City. We left via the main entrance, the Meridian Gate 午門. It has five arches. You can just make out the three central arches in the second photo below. The two flanking arches are farther apart from the three central arches. The center arch was formerly reserved for the Emperor alone - the exceptions were the Empress who could enter it once on the day of her wedding and the top three scholars of the triennial civil service examinations, who left the exams through the central arch. All other officials and servants had to use the four side arches.
Bye Forbidden city... sniff sniff.. I want to come back and visit without a tour guide in the future.
Right opposite the main entrance to the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square 天安门, our next stop. I really couldn't care less for it. As it was basically a walk through a square, I'm not going to bother giving you a spiel on its historical significance.
Blah blah flag blah blah
Blah blah some monument blah blah and Mao Ze Dong's masoleum behind it. His corpse is perfectly preserved apparently!
Was this the same building in the photo that I said may be a part of Fobidden City? I think this building marked the official end to the Forbidden City but I can't remember its name.
Right after power walking across the square, we had to hop on the van and rush to our next stop : an acrobatic show. It was freezing even after the workout so we forked out megabucks for steaming cups of instant taro milk tea at the theater (RMB20 each and we discovered they were more like RMB5 later on!!!). It was gooood though. I'm gonna have a look in the Tofu Shop for them when I get home.
First up, ladies spinning plates while climbing all over the place, young boys flipping backwards and forwards AND a lion dance.
Contortionists being gross. How is THAT even possible?
Boys jumping through ever-increasing high hoops. He failed with the last one heheh.
I think the lady on top in the middle was the star of the show because everytime she showed up, she was always the centre of the attraction. Poor girl under her though. Check out those neck muscles bulging with strain!
Dude balancing on a series of rollers. He ended up with a height of five rollers and did it successfully too.
This lady juggled a few small pots and tables with her legs and I was like *yawn, next!* That was until they asked an audience member to come up and sit inside the giant pot while she twirled it!! WOW!
Simultaneously spinning 9 plates on top and 9 on the bottom.
This final act was the act I was waiting for! Dude in chinese opera garb changing his face mask instantaneously. He wasn't that good though. I've seen a faster performer who changed his face mask AND outfit at the same time on tv.
Check out the video:
Finally it was time for dinner! We went to a restaurant that was meant to be famous for it's Peking duck.
The chef cutting up the juicy juicy duck for us.
Peking Duck!!
Step by step guide to eating peking duck:
1. Put a piece of the thin pancake on your plate.
5. Wrap it up.
Other dishes that we had : Deep fried fish or maybe chicken and some sort meat with veges. Yupp, real memorable.
Sweet andf sour pork and Veges.
Deep fried boneless duck.
Some deep fried thing stuffed with meat and veges I think.
Can you tell I'm so over the food here?
Bye Forbidden city... sniff sniff.. I want to come back and visit without a tour guide in the future.
Right opposite the main entrance to the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square 天安门, our next stop. I really couldn't care less for it. As it was basically a walk through a square, I'm not going to bother giving you a spiel on its historical significance.
Blah blah flag blah blah
Blah blah some monument blah blah and Mao Ze Dong's masoleum behind it. His corpse is perfectly preserved apparently!
Was this the same building in the photo that I said may be a part of Fobidden City? I think this building marked the official end to the Forbidden City but I can't remember its name.
Right after power walking across the square, we had to hop on the van and rush to our next stop : an acrobatic show. It was freezing even after the workout so we forked out megabucks for steaming cups of instant taro milk tea at the theater (RMB20 each and we discovered they were more like RMB5 later on!!!). It was gooood though. I'm gonna have a look in the Tofu Shop for them when I get home.
First up, ladies spinning plates while climbing all over the place, young boys flipping backwards and forwards AND a lion dance.
Contortionists being gross. How is THAT even possible?
Boys jumping through ever-increasing high hoops. He failed with the last one heheh.
I think the lady on top in the middle was the star of the show because everytime she showed up, she was always the centre of the attraction. Poor girl under her though. Check out those neck muscles bulging with strain!
Dude balancing on a series of rollers. He ended up with a height of five rollers and did it successfully too.
This lady juggled a few small pots and tables with her legs and I was like *yawn, next!* That was until they asked an audience member to come up and sit inside the giant pot while she twirled it!! WOW!
Simultaneously spinning 9 plates on top and 9 on the bottom.
This final act was the act I was waiting for! Dude in chinese opera garb changing his face mask instantaneously. He wasn't that good though. I've seen a faster performer who changed his face mask AND outfit at the same time on tv.
Check out the video:
Finally it was time for dinner! We went to a restaurant that was meant to be famous for it's Peking duck.
The chef cutting up the juicy juicy duck for us.
Peking Duck!!
Step by step guide to eating peking duck:
1. Put a piece of the thin pancake on your plate.
2. Smear some of the special sauce on the pancake.
3. Add a few pieces of the duck slices.
4. Add a few slivers of the shallots and cucumbers (no cucumbers were served here though).
5. Wrap it up.
6. Insert into gob.
7. Chomp chomp chomp.
Verdict: Nothing special. I prefer the ones I have in NZ to be honest.
Other dishes that we had : Deep fried fish or maybe chicken and some sort meat with veges. Yupp, real memorable.
Sweet andf sour pork and Veges.
Deep fried boneless duck.
Some deep fried thing stuffed with meat and veges I think.
Can you tell I'm so over the food here?
Anyway time to catch some ZzzzZZzzzs so we headed off to our hotel. We were staying at a 5 star hotel so were very excited. It didn't disappoint. Check out the cool lobby!
Elevators area:
Lighted and mirrored hallway leading to our room aka nirvana:
Looking out towards the hallway from the entrance of our room:
Bathroom:
Viv looking overjoyed in our bedroom:
We then went down to check out the pool in daggy casual gear. It was OTT opulence.
There were 12 spa pools I think, each with different jets targetting different areas. Viv swore that her stomach felt tighter after blasting a jet at her flabby tum tum for 20 minutes heheh.
Anyway we brought attention to ourselves at the pool and not in a good way! Me and Viv rocked up in casual gear and thought that we could just swim in tank tops. Not so. They had rules, thank you very much. Only proper swimsuit attire with swimming caps allowed. They also had a whole complicated procedure with signing in to use the pools as well as using their lockers. We felt like fishes out of water (heheh geddit???) and beat a hasty retreat! The cute guy manning the pool reception was really nice though and chatted with us about where we came from etc and said that we were pretty good looking. Ok, his female colleague did but I'm sure he thought so too... either that or he thought we were pretty.....embarassing. Oh well. Viv went back the next day.
Breakfast buffet:
Mum looking sick... which should give you a hint of things to come:
My healthy-ish breakkie.
First stop on the second day was to some jade factory tourist trap.
Displays of the different types of jade and precious stones.
Amazing jade carving of a ship!
A sheet of jade pieces which fold into a pillow case. Meant to be good for health. Not sure how? Except for being bloody uncomfortable.
Dragon:
Horsey:
Amazing jade master at work:
Anyway the salespeople there annoyed us so we didn't buy anything. Jennifer was dying to go to a toilet and we kept asking them for directions. They kept fobbing us off saying the toilet was really far away and to finish looking (and buying!) first before showing us the way. Stuff you! Another thing that really annoyed me? The bl00dy tour guide allocated 40 MINUTES to this visit ..... 40 minutes ... nearly as long as the time we had at the Forbidden City.... yeah ok, I'll shuddup now. *mumbles not fair!*
We then travelled one hour out of Beijing to our second stop for the day, the Ming Tombs 明十三陵.
The Ming Tombs site was chosen by the third Ming Dynasty emperor Yong Le 永樂, same dude that started construction on the Forbidden City. In 1420, Yong Le selected his burial site and created his own mausoleum. All up 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors were buried in the area now known as the Ming Tombs. The Ming Tombs form the most extensive burial complex of any chinese dynasty and are one of the finest preserved pieces of 15th century chinese art and architecture.
Listening attentively (look how much I was concentrating) to the tour guide. I think I was scoping out potential photo ops for the blog.
This was the entrance to the Ming Tombs and signified the divider between the human world and the spirit world. Notice how there's no crowds rushing through this door? The Chinese is a superstitious lot.
While there were 13 tombs, only one had been excavated. The Tomb of Stability 定陵 is the tomb of the Wan Li 萬曆 Emperor and his empress and favourite concubine. Excavation was completed in 1957 and revealed an intact tomb with thousands of items of silk, textiles, wood, and porcelain, and the bodies of the Wan Li Emperor and his two empresses. But they didn't have the technology or resources in those days to properly preserve these artifacts. As a result, most of the surviving artifacts today have severely deteriorated and replicas are instead displayed in the museum. It was also around this time that the Cultural Revolution was happening. The Red Guards stormed the Ding Ling museum and dragged the remains of the Wan Li Emperor and empresses to the front of the tomb where they were posthumously "denounced" and burned. Many other artifacts were also destroyed. Man, people can be weird. Accordingly, a policy was put in place not to excavate any historical site except for rescue purposes. Fair enough.
On the way to the entrance of the tomb:
This was one of three entrances that they dug during the excavation which led to a dead end.
Down the rabbit hole we went. I think it was 6 storeys underground. Ancient people with no technology whatsoever has my utmost respect. The things they achieved with a lot of elbow grease. But the emperor didn't reward them for their efforts. Instead, he gave them poison to make them all mute so they couldn't disclose any secrets about his final resting place. Wow he didn't outright kill them. What an awesome human being:
These were all replicas by the way. See all the money floating around on the displays? They are the "offerings" of the visitors. I guess they were worried of pissing the royal ghosts off for traipsing around their tombs so they thought they better front up with some moolah:
Apparently this little hole was meant to act like a passageway for the dead emperor to come between the spirit world and the human world.
He might be dead but he would still need a throne to sit on.
Reproductions of the coffins. The little ones were used to store the goodies that they were used to in lifem, jewels and what not I presume.
This was the Diamond Wall 金剛牆. The formulation of the bricks was meant to make it very strong.
Anyway it was a short and sweet trip once again so we came back up for air.
I can't remember the name of this pavilion.
It housed this giant tablet which was meant to be the universal grave marker for all the 13 emperors I think.
On closer inspection, some idiots had defaced the tablet by carving his/her name on it. Now why would you carve your own name on a grave stone?? Jennifer suggested that maybe it was the name of the carver's enemy. Good point.
Map of the Ming Tombs. It was a huge place and if I remembered correctly, it covered an even bigger area than the Forbidden Palace. There were a few other places we could have seen according to the websites I consulted once I got back home but the tour guide didn't offer and we didn't know any better. Plus she was in a rush to get us to the next tourist trap where we could potentially bring her some additional commission by buying stuff so I guess I shouldn't blame her. Arrrggggh﹗
Told you it's a long post, Ah Here. Second part to come very soon.
Elevators area:
Lighted and mirrored hallway leading to our room aka nirvana:
Looking out towards the hallway from the entrance of our room:
Bathroom:
Viv looking overjoyed in our bedroom:
We then went down to check out the pool in daggy casual gear. It was OTT opulence.
There were 12 spa pools I think, each with different jets targetting different areas. Viv swore that her stomach felt tighter after blasting a jet at her flabby tum tum for 20 minutes heheh.
Anyway we brought attention to ourselves at the pool and not in a good way! Me and Viv rocked up in casual gear and thought that we could just swim in tank tops. Not so. They had rules, thank you very much. Only proper swimsuit attire with swimming caps allowed. They also had a whole complicated procedure with signing in to use the pools as well as using their lockers. We felt like fishes out of water (heheh geddit???) and beat a hasty retreat! The cute guy manning the pool reception was really nice though and chatted with us about where we came from etc and said that we were pretty good looking. Ok, his female colleague did but I'm sure he thought so too... either that or he thought we were pretty.....embarassing. Oh well. Viv went back the next day.
Breakfast buffet:
Mum looking sick... which should give you a hint of things to come:
My healthy-ish breakkie.
First stop on the second day was to some jade factory tourist trap.
Displays of the different types of jade and precious stones.
Amazing jade carving of a ship!
A sheet of jade pieces which fold into a pillow case. Meant to be good for health. Not sure how? Except for being bloody uncomfortable.
Dragon:
Horsey:
Amazing jade master at work:
Anyway the salespeople there annoyed us so we didn't buy anything. Jennifer was dying to go to a toilet and we kept asking them for directions. They kept fobbing us off saying the toilet was really far away and to finish looking (and buying!) first before showing us the way. Stuff you! Another thing that really annoyed me? The bl00dy tour guide allocated 40 MINUTES to this visit ..... 40 minutes ... nearly as long as the time we had at the Forbidden City.... yeah ok, I'll shuddup now. *mumbles not fair!*
We then travelled one hour out of Beijing to our second stop for the day, the Ming Tombs 明十三陵.
The Ming Tombs site was chosen by the third Ming Dynasty emperor Yong Le 永樂, same dude that started construction on the Forbidden City. In 1420, Yong Le selected his burial site and created his own mausoleum. All up 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors were buried in the area now known as the Ming Tombs. The Ming Tombs form the most extensive burial complex of any chinese dynasty and are one of the finest preserved pieces of 15th century chinese art and architecture.
Listening attentively (look how much I was concentrating) to the tour guide. I think I was scoping out potential photo ops for the blog.
This was the entrance to the Ming Tombs and signified the divider between the human world and the spirit world. Notice how there's no crowds rushing through this door? The Chinese is a superstitious lot.
While there were 13 tombs, only one had been excavated. The Tomb of Stability 定陵 is the tomb of the Wan Li 萬曆 Emperor and his empress and favourite concubine. Excavation was completed in 1957 and revealed an intact tomb with thousands of items of silk, textiles, wood, and porcelain, and the bodies of the Wan Li Emperor and his two empresses. But they didn't have the technology or resources in those days to properly preserve these artifacts. As a result, most of the surviving artifacts today have severely deteriorated and replicas are instead displayed in the museum. It was also around this time that the Cultural Revolution was happening. The Red Guards stormed the Ding Ling museum and dragged the remains of the Wan Li Emperor and empresses to the front of the tomb where they were posthumously "denounced" and burned. Many other artifacts were also destroyed. Man, people can be weird. Accordingly, a policy was put in place not to excavate any historical site except for rescue purposes. Fair enough.
On the way to the entrance of the tomb:
This was one of three entrances that they dug during the excavation which led to a dead end.
Down the rabbit hole we went. I think it was 6 storeys underground. Ancient people with no technology whatsoever has my utmost respect. The things they achieved with a lot of elbow grease. But the emperor didn't reward them for their efforts. Instead, he gave them poison to make them all mute so they couldn't disclose any secrets about his final resting place. Wow he didn't outright kill them. What an awesome human being:
These were all replicas by the way. See all the money floating around on the displays? They are the "offerings" of the visitors. I guess they were worried of pissing the royal ghosts off for traipsing around their tombs so they thought they better front up with some moolah:
Apparently this little hole was meant to act like a passageway for the dead emperor to come between the spirit world and the human world.
He might be dead but he would still need a throne to sit on.
Reproductions of the coffins. The little ones were used to store the goodies that they were used to in lifem, jewels and what not I presume.
This was the Diamond Wall 金剛牆. The formulation of the bricks was meant to make it very strong.
Anyway it was a short and sweet trip once again so we came back up for air.
I can't remember the name of this pavilion.
It housed this giant tablet which was meant to be the universal grave marker for all the 13 emperors I think.
On closer inspection, some idiots had defaced the tablet by carving his/her name on it. Now why would you carve your own name on a grave stone?? Jennifer suggested that maybe it was the name of the carver's enemy. Good point.
Map of the Ming Tombs. It was a huge place and if I remembered correctly, it covered an even bigger area than the Forbidden Palace. There were a few other places we could have seen according to the websites I consulted once I got back home but the tour guide didn't offer and we didn't know any better. Plus she was in a rush to get us to the next tourist trap where we could potentially bring her some additional commission by buying stuff so I guess I shouldn't blame her. Arrrggggh﹗
Told you it's a long post, Ah Here. Second part to come very soon.
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