We returned to Tienanmen Square after visiting the night before with Xiao Chen. We went with our tour group to see "Mao" for a second time, along with going inside the Forbidden City.
Tienanmen is quite a sight, it is so large and full of historical significance. It is home to the Chinese Government, with several government buildings. There were tons of people in the square, mostly Chinese school groups. There were also the always present in huge numbers Chinese guards patrolling the square. I really found these guards intimidating, apart from the times that we were able to make them laugh from our very Kehe Girl actions (running across the street like crazy, attempting to speak Chinese only to fail miserably, you know stuff like that).
After walking around the square, we went into the Forbidden City. This is the palace that was home to Chinese royalty for hundreds of years. It was forbidden for any common person to enter, so that's where the name came from. Like the Korean Kings, the Chinese royalty were not allowed to leave the palace, so the name could come from both sides: Common people forbidden to enter, Royalty forbidden to leave.
The Forbidden City is a city within Beijing. It is massive. There are 9,999 rooms covering about two and a half million square feet. The reason for the 9,999 rooms is because the number 10,000 represents deity, so the emperor served as the second only to deity in Chinese culture. As a result, his home should represent that number closest to the deity (9,999). We were only able to walk through about half of the palace, and we were there for a couple hours.
One thing that stood out to me right away about this palace compared to the Korean palaces were the colors. The architecture is similar, but in Korea the palaces are green and black. The Forbidden City was yellow, red and orange, the colors of Royalty. In Korea red is a bad color, never used in anything. It is interesting the contrast yet the similarities of China and Korea. They have a lot in common yet are unique.
After our afternoon downtown, we went back to our hotel and met Xiao Chen. We went to Wanfujing, a shopping area close to our hotel. We found this bookstore in the area. As we entered, we were given a slip of paper. We asked Xiao Chen what it was and she said: "Oh there's an art auction upstairs." Before checking out the auction, we walked around the four level bookstore. It is such a change to see books all in a different language, with a small section of the store labeled "English books."
We then went over to the auction, as we entered we were given a numbered paddle and some tea. There were about ten other people buying paintings in the auction. We followed Xiao Chen to a seat near the front to see the paintings up close. The auction was entirely in Chinese, so Xiao Chen translated as much as she could as the auctioneer quickly asked for bids. Picture an American style auctioneer speaking in Chinese, with buyers sipping tea lifting their number. We watched one painting get auctioned, and I asked Xiao Chen "What was the final bid for that painting?" She said "Oh, 100 Yuan ($12)." All the painting were these gorgeous hand painted on silk paintings, so we told Xiao Chen "Let's bid on the next one." So it began.
The auctioneer started the bidding, and Xiao Chen raised her paddle, giggling with excitement. Another few people bid, so she would tell us "The bid is 50 Yuan, 60 Yuan." At one point the bidding was going so fast she asked the auctioneer to slow down because she was translating. He thought the fact that these four Americans with a Chinese girl were so funny that he slowed the bidding. We got the painting for 80 Yuan ($10)! It is a beautiful hand painted picture of some winter flowers, we were so happy!
After this epic event, we went to a nearby store. It was kind of weird because there were these Chinese employees dressed in European Middle ages dress. There was this knight walking in front of the automatic doors, so we had to "sneak" around him to get in. Once inside we received a pamphlet that there was a "dress in traditional Chinese dress" area free for pictures. Of course we had to go. Once there we got all dressed up for some pictures, making the on duty security guard laugh out loud as we tried to squeeze into these outfits. It was so fun and so unexpected.
After shopping a bit, we went to a nearby restaurant for Peking Duck. We wanted to try some Peking Duck while in Beijing, so Xiao Chen took us to her favorite place to duck. It was a very nice restaurant, and the food was delicious. We got duck (which included the head), some veggies, and a soup. The duck was so tasty, and Bethany tried some of the brain (which she said wasn't too bad).
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