你好! Or should I say, Ni Hao !
Today I will be taking you somewhere different, somewhere a bit further away than just around the corner.
A short while ago I did the exciting thing and boarded a plane to Beijing. It was a trip for work but that did not stop me from making sure I have stories and pictures for you all!
Only having a limited number of times to go see the touristicy attractions in Beijing, I arrived, rushed to my hotel to drop off my bags, and rushed out towards Tiananmen Square & the Forbidden City.
Tiananmen Square is most known for the violent outcome of the student protests in 1989, resulting in the death of several hundred or possibly thousands of people. In order to get on the Square you have to go through a thorough security check and then you are free to walk around. I walked towards the entrance of the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City is smack in the city center and served as the palace for 24 of the Chinese Emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Fun fact of the day: the name Forbidden City stemmed from the fact that it was forbidden to enter the city without the permission of the emperor, hence it was “forbidden”.
At the entrance, Mao proudly watches over you (and the other hundreds of people around you).
On each roof edge of the buildings in the Forbidden City, the roof is decorated by a certain number of dragon figurines. Another fact that I found really cool is that the more figurines were on a roof, the more importance the building held.
Within the gates of the Forbidden City, there are many beautiful buildings where we can imagine how the Emperors and their staff lived. The emperors had hundreds of wives (…and concubines), so they had a rather special lifestyle.
The colors red, blue and gold were beautifully painted everywhere. According to Chinese culture, red symbolizes good fortune and joy (hence so much red décor during Chinese New Year!), blue symbolizes vigour and vitality and gold symbolizes neutrality and good luck.
As I would assume with the amount that the buildings were painted in those three colours that the emperors all lived, joyful, vigorously and with lots of good luck!
As you may see, I wasn’t the only one there…
In front of the Gate of Heavenly Purity (Qianqingmen), (or in normal terms, the gate that separated the city into the outer court and inner court), you will find a pair of glided bronze lions guarding the gate.
In Chinese Mythology, these lions served as guardians.
The lions normally come in pairs, a male and female guardian. The male lion is depicted with his paw resting upon a ball (this was to represent the supremacy of the world) and the female lion is depicted with a playful cup (representing the court’s fertility).
Around the City, you may also see huge copper water cauldrons which were filled with water in order to be prepared in case of fires.
After I walked through the city, I got to the Imperial Gardens.
This garden was used exclusively by the imperial family to sip tea, play chess, meditate and generally relax. Within the garden, there are about 20 structures in different styles.
The garden itself is a harmonious combination between trees, flowers, rocks, bronze statues and four pavilions, symbolizing the four seasons.
Even had time for a quick selfie :)
The ceiling inside the pavilions are gorgeously decorated, with a dragon head in the center looking down at you.
There is even an artificial mountain with a cave.
I also met this guy….
Who wasn’t too happy I snapped a picture of him for ya!
Aaaand last but not least, I’d like to leave you with the cutest photo I took that day.
I love that Momma’s sunhat! Looks like it would be very practical for both sunny and rainy days! Oh China!
I’ll show you more on China later,
Rosalina