Beijing, Day Three

Everyone goes to the park on Sunday morning.  We were no exception.  After breakfast we headed to Jingshan Park. The park is a historic, 57-acre imperial park located directly north of the Forbidden City. It was originally an imperial garden for the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties and served as the backyard to the Forbidden City. It has an artificial hill that serves as the geographic center and highest point of imperial Beijing.it offers the most iconic, 360-degree panoramic view of the palace’s golden roofs.  People were in groups singing, jumping rope, kicking hacky sacks, and playing badminton.  There was also a Butterfly exhibit.  People are dancing and playing instruments as well.  We climbed the hill to see the views of the city and the Large Golden Buddha. We could not take pictures of the Buddha.

Next, we had a Rickshaw ride to a hutong home for a home-cooked lunch with a dumpling demonstration. The hutong where we had lunch was about four very small rooms.  We ate in one of the bedrooms. There were five families living around the one entrance. Then a guide explained the Hutong gates to us.  The number of beams over the door told the social level of the occupants.  There are an even number of beams and odd number of stairs. Feng Shui.  Then on each side of the door were carvings that told the occupation of the resident.  

Back into the rickshaw, we were taken to a nicer home. It had 8 larger rooms and indoor plumbing.  Most of the hutong houses do not have plumbing and share a public bathroom with about 15 families. A retired couple owned the nicer house in the hutong.  They get extra money for letting tourists come through.  All the Chinese sleep on beds, not the floor.  Even in the poorer hutong, there were day beds.  

Our next stop was the Lama or Yonghe Temple, Beijing’s largest and most famous Tibetan Buddhist monastery. Built in 1694, t was originally home of “accidental emperor” and his son.  Today was July 1 by the lunar calendar, so many people came there to light incense and pray. It became a temple in the 17^th century for Tibetan Buddhism.  Everything is written in Mongolian, Han, Tibetan, and Manchurian languages. It is said to have joined the Han people with Tibetans.

Again, there were several temples with three Buddhas in each.  The final temple was home to a 55-foot high statue of Buddha carved out of one sandalwood tree.

Finally, we went to a Kung Fu show at the Red Theater.  It portrayed the story of Cheng Li.  The Kung Fu seemed like modern dance with martial arts mixed in.