Celebrity Status, Forbidden City and Snow at the Great Wall!

So, before I begin telling you what all we did today, I have to share two things.  First, as we were standing at the entrance to the Forbidden City talking to George, Strider became quite the celebrity.  I was trying to concentrate on what George was telling us, but Chinese people kept walking by us and turning completely around to stare at Strider.  I guess they saw his shiny bald head from the back and felt compelled to get a closer look at just what this shaved head guy looked like from the front.  But, I couldn't help laughing because first one person did it, then another, and soon enough, the entire tour group of Chinese people were gawking at my hubby.  Now, we had heard that really blonde people and red-haired people were often stared at and grabbed for pictures, but no one warned us that bald-headed people got that reaction too!  But, the reason Chinese people felt completely comfortable staring is that it's not considered rude in their culture like it is in ours.  In fact, I think Strider even enjoyed it a little.  Maybe we can start charging people to take pictures with him :)

Secondly, you might be asking yourself why in the world our tour guide's name is George (he is Chinese after all).   We forgot to get a picture with him today, so I'll have to get one tomorrow when he takes us to the airport.  Anyway, we found out today that he went to the University here and majored in tourism management.  During his freshman year, his professor had the class go around and pick what each person wanted their American name to be from a long list.  Unfortunately, that day he was sitting at the very back of the classroom and by the time the list got around to  him, only George and a couple of other names were left.  So, he didn't have much to choose from, but he picked George and still goes by that name 8 years later whenever he's acting as a tour guide.  That sort of reminds me of when we got Spanish names in Spanish class in high school- but we didn't get to pick them- a teacher just assigned us the Spanish name that most closely resembled your American one.  Mine was Susanna.  I guess it might be a little difficult to make a Chinese name into anything even resembling an American name???

Ok, onto pictures!  First, we visited the Forbidden City.  This is where the Emperor of China used to live and conduct business.  It took 14 years to build it- from 1406-1420.  It was named the Forbidden City by the common people, because they were not allowed within its walls.  Each of the emperors lived in the Forbidden City until 1926, when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown. 

 

When looking at the entrance, it looks like it's just one giant building, but that is a compete illusion.  It goes back so far!  It covers a space of 7,800,000 square feet, has 90 palaces and courtyards, and has 8,707 rooms.  Every time we went through one courtyard and building, it opened up into another one.  There are no words to describe how gigantic this place was!

                                               
This lion stood outside the front of the Forbidden City.  Nowadays, lions are in front of tons of buildings in China.  But, it didn't used to be that way.  The tiger used to the symbol of China, but a visiting diplomat from Africa a long time ago changed all that.  The African diplomat told the emperor all about how strong the lion was, so the emperor decided then and there that the lion would from now-on be the symbol of China- strong and mighty! And now lions are outside of all major buildings in China to represent the strength of the Chinese people. 

This is the outer courtyard and building where official meetings with government officials were held.  All the visiting government officials would kneel in unison in this courtyard and chant a few lines to the emperor about how great he was.

 Look at the tops of all of these buildings in the Forbidden City.  See, how they're all yellow?  Only the emperor was allowed to wear yellow or use yellow.  So, the common people could see these yellow buildings and they were reminded of how great the emperor was.

 These two buildings are the middle hall and the last hall.  The emperor would go into the middle hall after conducting official business and have hot tea.  Then, he would go into the last hall to get out of his ceremonial clothes.

This is the emperor's official living quarters.  However, he often slept in different rooms around his palaces so no one (except his most trusted eunuch) would quite know where he was- he was worried about being assassinated.

                                   One of the emperor's sleeping rooms.  See all the yellow.

 

 This was positioned right outside the emperor's sleeping quarters.  It has jade in the middle and has a bronze rectangle around it- and the bronze used to be overlaid by gold.  Jade is the highest valued stone in China.  It is equivalent to how diamonds are viewed in the U.S.  This cut-out circle in the middle was a reminder to the emperor to always be on the top of his game.  Sort of like a bulls-eye on a target. 

                   One of the emperor's other sleeping rooms.  Not really any yellow in this one.

                                                 
                                                         The empress's sleeping room.

 

One of the courtyards within the Forbidden City.  They pulled these stones out of the lake and arranged them for decoration in the courtyards.

 

 

Our next stop today was the Great Wall of China.  I was not expecting to take an intense hike up these stairs next to the wall.  I thought we were just going to take a picture of a level wall.  Boy, was I wrong.  We climbed and climbed and climbed, staircase after staircase after staircase and still didn't quite make it to the top.  Strider could have kept going, but I was so out of breath, I thought I might die.  Did I mention it was snowing??? It was so beautiful, but it was so cold today.  If I could have stopped and rested, I might have kept going, but I was afraid frostbite would set in if we stopped for too long.  We Floridians definitely didn't prepare to hike in a blizzard!

 

Some parts of The Great Wall of China were begun as early as 7th century BC, but little of that original wall remains.  More sections were constructed and joined together after that, the most famous of which was built under the First Emperor from 220-206 BC.  He constructed the wall to keep the nomadic tribes in Mongolia from attacking the rice farmers in China. 
                                                        

 

 

                                                        View from the almost-top!


Next, we visited the Jade Factory because of how important this stone is in China.

                                                            This is a pile of raw jade.

Below are the steps to make the happiness ball- a symbol of happiness and harmony for the family over generations.  We bought a happiness ball for our family to display.  Ours has three layers, which represent the three generations of our family that are alive today.  And, there are twelve holes in each layer to represent the twelve months of the year.  Also, there is a dragon and phoenix carved onto the outside of the ball, which represent the emperor and empress respectively.  The carvings are so intricate, but it's so hard to capture how much workmanship goes into these with just a picture. 

 

These are the first four steps- but they're listed from right to left.  1.  Raw material  2.  Round Shape  3.  Drill holes  4.  Separate layers

 

                                                       5.  Draw a picture  6.  Carve

 

 

This is a carving station at the jade factory.  There are no schools for people to learn how to carve jade.  Fathers just passed down the skill to their sons.  However, now that not as many men want to be jade carvers, fathers can now teach the skill to their daughters too.

 

Completed happiness ball.

 

These are jade bangles.  It's customary for a man to give the woman he wants to marry a jade bangle to symbolize his true love for her.

 

These are other carvings at the jade factory.  Jade comes in all kinds of colors, as you can see from these animals.