Today we once again woke up bright and early for a day filled with excitement and adventures. To start off the day we traveled a short way by bus to Tiananmen square which was relatively close to the hotel given that we were staying in the first ring of Beijing and that Tiananmen square is right in the heart of the city. The square was absolutely mesmerizing and encompassed a grand total of 440,00 square feet. The square seemed to stretch on forever as the masses of people gathered in order to enter the Forbidden City. Joe also told us that Tiananmen square is the largest square in the entire world. As usual, as we made our way towards the entrance of the Forbidden City all the Chinese natives took photos of us since a lot of them are tourists from rural areas that never see Americans or people that look anything different than themselves. Following some photos and history from our tour guide Joe, we then made our way towards the entrance of the Forbidden City which was covered by beautiful fountains and gardens as well as the famous photo of Mao Zedong hanging from the front entrance. It was really amazing to be able to be somewhere with so much history and get a picture of an entrance that is so popular and famous. Once inside the Forbidden city the walk through took almost 2 hours as the city itself is 180 acres! The huge plazas are beautiful and seem to stretch on forever within the city. All in all, it took 15 years to build with the help of 3 million people. I found it amazing that they were able to build such large and beautiful structures so long ago. The city itself is so big that if you were to stay in a different room every single night it would take you 27 years to get through the whole entire city.
Following our trip to Tiananmen square and the Forbidden City we then went over to have a small lunch in which we enjoyed a large variety of Chinese cuisine that our group has grown accustomed to over the past several days in China, although I still do not know much of what we are eating unless I ask Liliana our program coordinator. Liliana speaks the best English out of everyone I have met so far on the trip in China and she is always so helpful with anything we need whether it is using the subway to go places at night or just letting us know what things mean in Chinese. It has been awesome comparing cultures and interests between the average American student and the average Chinese student as she is graduating next week!
We then ventured over to the Hutong village and took a bike tour through the streets. Although the streets and alleys looked like a very poor area I was shocked to find out that it is actually home to some of Beijing’s very wealthy families! The village looked run down and dilapidated and almost abandoned, yet it was because the government requires the families to keep it that way in order to preserve the Chinese culture. We then went into an alley and into a home and it was absolutely stunning. We learned that some of the chairs in the room in which we sat in were from the Ming dynasty! It was crazy to think that we were sitting on chairs that some of the wealthy elites used hundreds and hundreds of years ago. We also learned that the land is crazy expensive and that the little area that the family did own and the main courtyard is worth roughly 9 million dollars. It came out to $44,000 per square meter. Also, one of things that added to the dilapidated feel was the fact that people leave broken bikes throughout the streets in order to save parking space.
Next, we headed over towards the Temple of Heaven and the surrounding city park in order to partake in a tai chi class. It was hilarious because all the Chinese locals gathered around to watch us struggle to grasp some of the most basic moves. Liliana and Jane, our program coordinators, along with Dr. Li, our professor, also took the class with us. After about 30 minutes we finally learned a very basic routine and got to take a classic tai chi photo with our instructor. After our class, we headed up to the Temple of Heaven and it was absolutely amazing. I was shocked to learn that the whole building was made without a single nail. The building was originally used for sacrificial activity and currently serves as one of Beijing’s most popular tourist locations. You could really get a good feel for the pollution in Beijing, however, as when you looked out over the surrounding skyscrapers they seemed to disappear into the smog. Overall the day was great and Beijing has been good to me so far!