July 13, 2011: I met Xie at 5:50 a.m. again and we walked through Black Bamboo Park to catch a subway at the west gate. As before, people were exercising at 6:00 a.m.
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| Exercise in Black Bamboo Park |
The subways in China are similar to those in Korea minus the smart cards, but all the other features are present in them (including air conditioning!) However, the subways are extremely crowded – sometimes it felt like I was on a cattle car there were so many people. Nevertheless, we took the subway to Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple Park). In the distance, I could see an old movie theater:
We walked through the park and found a place selling breakfast where we had a quick snack. In this garden, too, there were many people exercising or doing the activities mentioned in July 12th's blog entry:
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| exercising in Tien Tan park |
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| flute orchestra in Tien Tan park |
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| Flute orchestra in Tien Tan park |
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| Playing cards in Tien Tan |
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| couples dancing |
Then we went to the temple. Tien Tan was built in the 15th century (1420) and the main temple (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) is the largest round structure in all of China. It is built entirely of wood and the height is 38 meters. Also in the complex is the Hall of Echoes, a circular courtyard with a temple and two annex buildings. If two people are positioned, one at each of the annexes which are roughly 60 meters apart from each other, and place their ears to the wall, the acoustics are such that one could whisper to the other and the other person could hear what was being said.
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - Hall of Echos |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - Hall of Echos |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - Hall or Echos main temple |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - outside Hall or Echos courtyard |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - bridge leading to main temple |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - stonework up steps to Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) |
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| Tien Tan (Heavenly Temple) complex - (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) |
After Tien Tan, we went to the Imperial Palace (aka Forbidden City) by passing through Tienanmen Square.
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| Tienanmen Square |
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| Hall of the People |
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| Hall of the People |
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| Tienanmen Square |
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| Tienanmen Square |
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| Tienanmen Square |
At the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace), I guess the people at the Great Wall and Summer Palace must have enjoyed themselves yesterday because we all had a reunion at the Forbidden City today – people jammed every square inch of every courtyard, temple, and garden. It was almost impossible to walk through it. But we did get to see what we had set out to see. The Imperial Palace was built from 1406 – 1420 and was the home to 24 emperors during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. I was impressed with all the artifacts that are on display in the museums and in the 990 houses in the complex. (These 990 houses were lived in by the people who served the emperor.)
It was good to return to the hotel to rest. In the evening, Xie and I took another walk through Black Bamboo Park. Then it was time to rest for the next day.
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