China Part 3 - Day One -

1055 Arrive at Beijing Airport

1300 Lunch at Shan Shui Jian- Cantonese Style

1430 Tour Temple of Heaven

1630 Tour Tian An Men Square

1730 Watch Acrobatic Show

1900 Dinner at Hua Fu Ge Restaurant- Peking Duck Special

2030 Hotel check-in and rest

Day One was a long, long day. We gained one hour flying to Beijing, and with lunch being at 1pm (1300) we were starving upon arrival! We had our first "Lazy Susan" meal at a tourist restaurant. Most all of the places we visited in China were made mainly for the tourists. Tourism is HUGE in China. I'd actually like to find out more about it. I know that the tour guides have to go through training and get licensed to be a guide. The country is communist so you know the government has their hands in it all somehow, maybe in the script the guides say and definitely in the places they chose for us to stop. We could have seen SO much more in China if it wasn't for all the silly "factories" they bring us too. The prices in these factories are still way cheaper than in the States, but WAY more expensive than the markets where private vendors are selling. And I don't know this for a fact, but I can make an educated guess that the tour guides get a percentage of what you spend at those factories.

So, back to what I started saying... the restaurants we visited were set up strictly for tourism. I read in the Beijing book we borrowed that by 2020 they expect China to be the number one tourist destination in the world! Mainly because people are drawn to the open, communist country and are curious about it. Visiting it, you would never have known it was communist. It was very interesting.

So, after our lunch we boarded the bus and headed out to the Temple of Heaven. There are four temples that surround the Emperor's Palace (called The Forbidden City). The Taoist Temples (not Buddhist) were constructed for worship of Heaven, Earth, Sun, and Moon. The Temple of Heaven was the first built and is also the largest, and therefore the biggest tourist attraction of the four. The Emperor would travel to this temple several times a year to pray for a good harvest. During his procession to the Temple, none of the common people were allowed to witness it, so all the streets were closed down for the trek to the Temple.

As noted above the temple is Taoist, not Buddhist. China is a melting pot of Eastern Religions with roots in Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, and the like. When The People's Republic of China was established in the 1940's the government banned religious practices, but they are much more lenient with that ban now as there are many practicing religions in the country today, although none quite as organized (I think) as religions are in America. Many people practice parts of many different religions.

As for the Temple of Heaven and it's use today, it's really more of a public park. You see, the average Chinese home is only about 300 square feet that houses a small living room and dinning table, a one person only kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. In the older part of town, the housing does not have central heat and air so you often see plumes of black smoke rising from these buildings as the occupants burn coal and other things as a heat source. The older buildings also do not have bathrooms in each apartment but rather community bathrooms on each floor. These homes are occupied by the lower class.

Even in the average family home right in the center of the city the size doesn't get much bigger than 300 square feet (unless you're in the upper class) so the public parks are a big meeting area for the Chinese people to get out and socialize. Our tour guide described the local parks and places such as the Temple of Heaven as a kind of "living room" for the people because their homes are too small. They don't invite people over, instead they meet outside of the house. The Temple property was filled with people of retirement age playing cards, dancing, singing, playing instruments, flying kites, etc. In the early morning hours the parks are filled with people walking, doing Thai Chi, and other exercise activities. You can see the people doing some of these activities in the pictures above.

After visiting the Temple of Heaven, we headed to Tian An Men Square, which is best compared to "The Lawn" in Washington DC. It's a large paved area (I think it can hold 1 million people?) with a statue in the center and various government buildings on it's outskirts and on one side the wall of the Forbidden City (the palace), which now boasts a picture of the countries current ruler.

After Tian An Men Square we went to an acrobatics show that was pretty amazing, however it was no Cirque Du Sole. After the show we had a dinner of Peking Duck. The skin of the duck was SO thick and crunchy that I had a hard time stomaching it. The duck is traditionally eaten on a thin pancake with a plum sauce. John said it's the Chinese Fajita.

Posing with a whole fish on a plate... appetizing huh?

After dinner we checked in to our hotel (The Best Western Premier) and crashed for the night.