Tiananmen Square:
In front of the main gate of the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square, which is on 109 acres and is the world's largest public square. Tiananmen Square was originally designed and built in 1651. The square is so large that it is able to accommodate 10,000,000 people at one time! Around the square are many important government buildings, some of which are still used today.
We met these Chinese girls in Tiananmen Square who asked to take a picture with us because they thought we were beautiful. How funny!
A view of the main part of the square from a distance.
The Great Hall of the People
The Forbidden City
This complex was home to 24 emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties and is now a shrine to China's imperial past. Built from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 7,800,000 square feet. The Forbidden City is the world's largest surviving palace complex. The Forbidden City was designed to be the centre of the ancient, walled city of Beijing.
The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 26 foot tall wall.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony
We walked around here for about 3 hours and didn't even see it all! We were really surprised how huge it was...it just seemed never ending.
We walked around here for about 3 hours and didn't even see it all! We were really surprised how huge it was...it just seemed never ending.
The Imperial roof decoration on the the Hall of Supreme Harmony
The Palace of Heavenly Purity
The Palace of Heavenly Purity
A huge rock formation in the Imperial Gardens
At the back of the Forbidden City were the Imperial Gardens. This area had a variety of plants, trees, lakes with fish, and large rock formations.
A group of guards in the Forbidden City
The Temple of Heaven
Serving as the main temple for China's emperors, the Temple of Heaven is where ancient leaders went to make their offerings and give thanks.
Serving as the main temple for China's emperors, the Temple of Heaven is where ancient leaders went to make their offerings and give thanks.
This area was mainly a beautiful park with many families enjoying the warm weather. We took a break for a while and had some orange popsicles with vanilla ice cream inside!
The best part about Chinese parks are the local people that gather there. We sat for a while and listened to a group of men playing music with Chinese instruments. We love how the Chinese people always gather outside to play card games together, and to play instruments, sing and dance. We saw it every time we went to a park.
Here's a video:
A group of people were dancing to music here too! They have such an amazing culture.
The Summer Palace
We were contemplating visiting the Summer Palace because it was located on the outskirts of central Beijing. However, we read an article while eating breakfast on our last day which had interviews with people living in Beijing talking about their favorite place to go in the city. Well, the Summer Palace seemed to be the most well-liked place to visit. We read more about it and discovered that you can take a boat from a river close to our hostel to the Summer Palace!
We were contemplating visiting the Summer Palace because it was located on the outskirts of central Beijing. However, we read an article while eating breakfast on our last day which had interviews with people living in Beijing talking about their favorite place to go in the city. Well, the Summer Palace seemed to be the most well-liked place to visit. We read more about it and discovered that you can take a boat from a river close to our hostel to the Summer Palace!
The boat ride was relaxing and took about 45 minutes.
Us on the boat. :)
The boat dropped us off at Kunming Lake, which is located on the Summer Palace grounds. This place was gorgeous!
In the distance around the lake, we could see numerous Chinese pavilions and pagodas.
These trees covered a walkway around the lake and Chinese music played on loudspeakers.
This 17 arch bridge leads to a small island in the middle of the lake that's covered with trees and pavilions. We spent a while exploring around the island.
In the middle of the park, a huge screen was set-up with the Rockets game on watching Yao Ming, the 7'6" 310lb. basketball player from China play against the Lakers. We were pretty surprised to see this in the middle of the Summer Palace.
This is a view of the Tower of Buddhist Incense, which is the very center of the Summer Palace, and is known as one of the masterpieces of ancient Chinese architecture.
Frank climbing up to get to the tower, which is located at the top of a hill.
As we climbed more stairs to reach the tower, we could see pavilions scattered throughout the palace.
The Tower of Buddhist Incense
A view of the Summer Palace from the tower.
We could also see a view of the Beijing skyline from the tower.
Melissa in the Tower of Buddhist Incense wishing this vacation would never end.
Melissa in the Tower of Buddhist Incense wishing this vacation would never end.
A long corridor outside the tower.
The tower enshrines a Buddha made in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The statue is called the Buddha with One Thousand Hands and Eyes. It is 16 feet tall and has twelve heads and twenty-four arms.
China is really fascinating! We are so glad you have been able to see so much there. We enjoyed seeing you walk on the Great Wall also. We know you will have fun in Hong Kong now and also in Malaysia. We are thinking of you always.
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