Three Weeks With My Brother(s): Part 3

January 18, 2016

Today's first stop in Beijing was to the Temple of Heaven.  It is the biggest and oldest of the four primary temples in the four directions - Temple of Heaven in the south, Temple of Earth in the north, Temple of Sun in the east, and Temple of Moon in the west.  It was originally constructed in the 1400s by the same emperor responsible for the Forbidden City.  The emperors of the Qing and Ming dynasties would visit twice a year to perform sacrificial rites for a good harvest.

The emperor in those days was believed to be the son of heaven, and thus the liaison between heaven and the mortals of Earth.  The emperor would first visit the small building to the left for his ritual cleansing.  He would eat only vegetarian, and dress in a simple white garment.  On the opposite side, the sacrificial animals would be killed and cleaned.  Sacrifices of silk, jade and wine were also made.  The emperor would enter the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, or during the Winter Solstice, he would perform the ceremony of the Earthly Mount.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a circular, triple-gabled wooden structure; no nails or glue were used.  It has four huge inner pillars representing the four seasons; these are surrounded by twelve pillars representing the months, which are surrounded by twelve more, representing the twelve traditional Chinese hours.  The Earthly Mount is a giant marble slab, with concentric circles in multiples of the sacred number nine.  The symbolism continues in the shapes of the structures; Earth is represented by a square, and a circle represents heaven.  The circular structures sit inside square walls.  The emperor could position himself in the center of the circle to pray, and would hear his voice echo back.  A lantern would be raised on a tall pole when the ceremony was taking place, and the entire adjacent village had to stop whatever they were doing and maintain complete silence while the ritual was performed.

The same meridian line from the Forbidden City runs
through the center of the temple

I love how the moon is referred to as the "Nocturnal Brightness"

The Earthly Mount

Now the Temple of Heaven is a public park, and I was most impressed by the hundreds of Chinese who gathered, even in the cold temperatures, to participate in what appeared to be daily activities.  Many seniors sat along the railings in their winter coats and hats, playing cards, dominoes, or Mah Jong, drawing, singing in groups, exercising or dancing.  Several people were line-dancing (they called it "square dancing"), and I so wanted to join them!  A group of women were playing Tai Chi Ball, which incorporates Tai Chi moves into a game of throwing and catching a ball with a net.  It was a fascinating peek at a very different daily life style.

Singers...

...Card players...

...Drawers...

I think it's Go?

Dominoes

Blurry shot of Tai Chi Ball

From there, it was an hour and a half drive to the Mutianyu Great Wall, one of the most well-preserved sections of this wonder of the modern world.  We traveled through what looked like suburbs, countrysides and small villages, but it was in fact all part of Beijing.  We were again dropped outside the gates, and had a chilly walk across the big entrance to get our tickets.  After gaining entrance, the walkway was lined with shops and restaurants, although many were closed for the season.  We found a restaurant to get some sustenance for our impending journey.  But the restaurant was freezing!  We shivered in our jackets and scarves as we waited for the mediocre and expensive food to arrive.  Chestnuts are plentiful in this area, so we ordered a chicken and chestnuts dish.  But the chicken, here and in many places hence, was mostly bone, and seemed more like pieces of vertebra - very unsatisfying.  Joe advised that the only boneless chicken you can get in traditional Chinese food is Kung Pao chicken.  We are still unconvinced it was actually chicken...

on our way up...

cable car line going up the mountain

Shuttle buses carried us to the next level, followed by a long, steep climb to reach the cable car that brought us up to the wall.  Then, guess what, more stairs to climb to reach the top of the wall.  But the hike was certainly well-worth it.  The view, the history, the wonder of the place is like nothing else.  The scale and magnitude of what we were seeing was difficult to grasp.

We climbed to the nearest watchtower, and looked out at the same woods and mountains the guards would have seen hundreds of years ago.  First built in the fourth century, it was rebuilt and fortified in the 1300-1600s to defend against attacks by the Mongols.

we made it!

We huffed and puffed along the wall to the next tower, which had a small inner room that served as shelter for the guards, and a small hole to climb through to reach the top.  It was so cold and desolate, I kept expecting John Snow to come around the corner.

moon framed by the tower window

"You know nothing, Jon Snow"

watching our travel buddies journey onward

My Eveready Bunny brother and his partner wanted to go further to the next watchtowers; M and I were content to stay behind and find a little patch of sunlight to try and stay warm.  They quickly disappeared into the distance, and our guide gamely followed behind.  A few small groups passed by as we waited, most speaking other languages (German, Russian, Arabic, Australian?)  A small group of weather-worn Chinese workers also came by with their straw brooms, their faces leathery red from the constant exposure to the elements.

M and I decided after a while we should start the trek back, figuring the others would soon catch up.  We walked all the way back down to the cable cars, where we realized we needed the tickets in our guide's pocket to go back down the incline.  One woman was curious about the sign language, and asked where we were from.  She was from Bangladesh, there visiting with her family.  Eventually our guide found us, and said he had lost the other two.  He gave us our tickets for the cable car, and we arranged a meeting spot below.  B and P came along soon after, having gone six and seven towers out(!), then we all made the chilly trek back to the blessedly-warm van.

In the middle of rush hour, it took two hours to drive back to the hotel.  Most of us caught some zzz's along the way.  I enjoyed a nice, warm spiced wine when we met for happy hour, but they must have had to go crush some grapes to get it because it took forever.  No matter, we were warm and chatty after an exciting day.

Rush hour in Beijing

Our guide recommended finding a particular hotpot restaurant in the nearby mall, so we bundled up again and found our way.  The first floor of the mall had a huge Barbie Doll/Thomas the Tank Engine play area, clearly marked in pink and blue.

Why is the milk tea angry?  No idea.

We found the hotpot restaurant, only to discover that neither the menu or the waitstaff was available in English.  We stumbled through indicating what we wanted, with the waitress showing us a set menu for four people, to which we trustingly agreed.  I enjoyed the addition of the "ah" syllable to the end of each word she spoke-ah in-ah English-ah.  A huge vat in the middle of the table held steaming water, with a chimney in the center to keep it hot.  Plate after plate of unknown meats, vegetables and other things arrived at the table, and we gamely attempted to look like we knew what we were doing.  We were unsure whether to drop the food into the water, or hold it in with our chopsticks.  We did a little of both, laughing our fool heads off the entire time, as the locals looked on in pity.  We were all a bit slap-happy after the long day, but had a lot of fun.

Before the chaos...