August 8, 2007
After a 12 hour flight from New York which crossed over the North Pole, I arrived in Beijing to begin a 17-day work/fun tour of China. I was there with six other teachers from my school to attend the China – U.S. International Conference on Education: Teacher Training and Professional Development. We stayed at the Friendship Hotel, located just outside the busy center of the capital city.
There were several days of scheduled meetings and seminars combined with visits to tourist sights in Beijing. After the conference ended, we planned to travel to Xi’an, Chengdu, and Lhasa Tibet. I had my first real Chinese dinner at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel. Later at night, I went to the “Night Market” in town and saw Tian’anmen Square at night.
It was very exciting to be in Beijing! The next day my colleagues and I went to The Temple of Heaven. This is a complex of exquisite buildings which date back to 1420 and is considered to be Beijing’s most sacred site.
The Heavenly Center Stone (Circular Mound Altar) is an elevated open area built on three levels of marble stones where Emperors prayed for favorable weather.
The Imperial Vault of Heaven is a circular building built on a single level of marble. It is surrounded by The Echo Wall that transmits sound over large distances. The beautiful wooden building was constructed in 1530 during the Ming Dynasty.
The crowning glory of the complex is the magnificent Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Twice a year the emperor led a procession from the Forbidden City to the Temple of Heaven complex to pray for good harvests. The red and gold painted interior of the wooden building is magnificent.
Later in the day, we toured a silk factory where we saw how the fiber is extracted from the cocoon of an insect, unwound, and spun into thread. The Chinese were the first to weave silk thread into fabric about 5,000 years ago.
Beihai Park is one of the oldest surviving imperial gardens in Beijing. The public park was originally constructed in the 11th century and named for its northern location. The White Pagoda was placed on Jade Flower Island to honor the visit of the 5th Dalai Lama in 1651.
The wall and lions in the photo below were outside a restaurant where we had lunch:
On another day, one of my former students and his mother who were from China picked me up to tour the city. We drove to explore the Hutongs of Beijing. These are neighborhoods of old alleyways lined with traditional courtyard residences. Hutongs were first established in the 1300s and expanded through the centuries up to the 19th century.
The best way to see the Hutongs is on a pedicab. Negotiate the fee and what sights the driver will cover.
We stopped at a kite-maker’s workshop. He won prizes for his beautiful and sturdy kites.
Many Hutong neighborhoods were demolished during the last decades to make room for modern high-rises but now they are protected and have become fashionable places to live. We visited a residential house and spoke to the owners who rent out rooms to tourists.
We had a delicious dinner at Nan Men Restaurant for Mongolian Hot-Pot.
