The Forbidden City & Hutong Tour

Today we visited The Forbidden City. Tiannamen Square was on our itinerary, but due to the recent "elections" of a new leader in China, the Square was closed. Evidently the officials are conducting meetings from March 3rd through the end of the month in one of the buildings that flank the Square. Understandably, security measures are heightened in that area.
 

 

 

At the entrance of the Forbidden City is the famous painting of Chairman Mao, the first Communist premiere of the country. To say he is revered in the country would be a vast understatement.
 

 

Our orthodontist, responsible for putting braces on my teeth, Torie's, Michaela's and scheduled to put braces on AnnaGrace this summer, has a fun contest each year. Where did you take your t-shirt on vacation this year? AnnaGrace brought her t-shirt to China and wore in front of The Forbidden City! I bet Dr. Hamilton's tee's haven't often traveled that far!
 

 

We had a bit of fun before we entered the gate. Although it's generally unacceptable to take photos of the soldiers in uniform, after seeing another girl pose with a soldier in front of the Forbidden City, we sent AnnaGrace to try her hand at posing and I snapped off a quick shot.

 

 

 

Since today was Saturday, the tourist spot was quite busy!
 

 

It gave me an opportunity to snap a shot of one of my favorite sights in China - split pants. If you are unfamiliar with this convenient option to a standard diaper, they are widely used in China. They allow a child to go to the bathroom whenever the urge strikes them. Yes, even on the street.
 

 

The Forbidden City, sole home of the Emperor and Empress, along with the Emperors concubines until the early 1900's, included 999 1/2 rooms. It is a beautiful combination of architectural detail and brilliant colors. Although we toured the City in 2001, I learned a few new facts today. The most interesting is the double meaning of "Forbidden City". I knew that no one was allowed to enter the Forbidden City, during the rule of the Emperor, unless expressly invited by him. What I did not know was that the Emperor was not allowed to leave the City except for a few select special occasions...thus the double meaning of "Forbidden" City.
 

 

While in visiting, I noticed a place where we could rent Qing minority costumes. Of course after having SO much fun earlier this week, I couldn't pass up the opportunity and coerced the girls to dress-up one more time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best part was when a Chinese national, who was dressing up in a warrior costume, asked the girls to pose with him! Priceless!
 

 

After we left The Forbidden City, we went on a Hutong Tour. Although I've heard of other families taking these tours, this is the first time we have taken one. Only three Hutong portions of town are still preserved in Beijing. These are the areas with the traditional homes that open into courtyards. Many families prefer not to stay in the Hutong areas because you must be willing to have your home open at all times for tourists to visit as a requirement for living in these districts.

We rode a rickshaw to get into the heart of the Hutong area.
 

 

I was shocked by how small the rooms surrounding the courtyards were. Vanessa, our guide, told us she and her family lived in a Hutong until she was 22. You can see in the following photo two rooms side by side on one side of the courtyard.
 

 

 

Each of those rooms measured at most 12 x 10. Vanessa, her brother and her parents lived in ONE of these rooms for the 1st 22 years of her life. Twelve families lived in her courtyard. By my count, only 10 rooms surrounded the courtyard and one of those rooms was a communal kitchen. She told us that they spent much of their time outside in the common courtyard. They had to walk to the shared bathroom which was quite a distance away (think campground bathroom.)

Below is a photo of Vanessa, our guide, and AnnaGrace sitting on a traditional bed in a room off the courtyard. The bed took all except about 4 x 10 of the floor space in the room.
 

 

Vanessa has fond memories of growing up in the Hutong community and her grandparents were devastated when the homes were torn down, and they were forced to move to apartments.

This is a photo of the courtyard in the middle of the rooms which all the families shared.
 

 

It was a fascinating day of remembering, that not so long ago, all of life in Beijing was not as modern as it is today with its skyscrapers, overabundance of cars, Starbucks and cell phones.