My flight at Kunming was at 2PM. I arrived in Beijing around 9:30PM. I waited 1 hour at the airport because we had to wait for other tourists from different places. I stayed at Loong Palace Hotel & Resort (北京龙城丽宫国酒店).
DAY 15 - September 23, 2013 – Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
Light rainy day.
FYI, all museums are closed on Monday. However, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are open on Monday morning. The doors close by noon.
Tiananmen Square (天安門廣場)
No. 4 Jingshan Front Street, Dongcheng District
You must pass through a security check in the underground passage in order to enter Tiananmen Square. This plaza is a political sensitive location. Do not talk about any political issue. If people pass out flyers, do not pick them up. Issues against the government might be written on those papers. If you pick those sheets up, the police might think that you are a protester and arrest you.
The plaza was originally built in the 15th year of Yongle (1417) and was called Chengtian Gate. During the Ming Dynasty, it was destroyed twice: by lightning and by war. In the 8th year of Emperor Shunzhi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1651), the plaza was rebuilt in a larger scale and renamed as Tiananmen, meaning the Gate of the Heavenly Peace. It was the place for important ceremonies during the Ming and Qing Dynasty. Imperial edicts were issued for coronation of emperors or the conferring of the title of empress. Tiananmen Square formerly served as a courtyard in the front of the main gate to the Forbidden City. At that time, it occupied 110,000 square meters. Since the fall of the feudal system, Tiananmen Square expanded to 440 000 meters square: 880 meters from North to South and 500 meters from East to West. In the middle of the plaza stands the Monument to People's Heroes. To its east is the National Museum, to its west, the Great Hall of the People and to the south, Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall. The national flag ceremony is held everyday.
Imperial Palace (故宮)
Formerly known as Forbidden City (紫禁城)
No. 4, Jingshan Front Street, Dongcheng District
Passing through the north side gate of Tiananmen Square is the Imperial Palace in the other end. For tourists, there is only one entrance and one exit. Therefore, it is a one direction path. Apparently, it requires a minimum of 3 days to visit the whole Forbidden City. If you ever get lost, simply find back the white central line. The white line guides you to one of the exits. My parents told me that 20 years ago, tourists were allowed to have access into the rooms and to be near the beds and items. Nowadays, in order to protect the antiques, there are barriers at the entrance of each room.
The former house to 24 Ming and Qing emperors was completed in 1420 during Ming Dynasty. The total space occupies more than 720,000 square meters. The Imperial Palace contains over 1.5 million relics such as paintings, calligraphy, instruments, porcelain, textiles, daily appliances, sculptures, jewellery, ancient books and miscellaneous.
The copper and iron vats were served as fire-fighting equipment in the palace.
Beijing Zoo (北京动物园)
No. 137 Xiwai Street, Xicheng District
The most expensive entrance fee to a zoo and the shortest duration was at Beijing Zoo. It was the first time I went to a zoo only to see pandas for 10 minutes.
National Stadium - Bird's Nest (鳥巢)
Olympic Green.
http://www.n-s.cn/
Completed on June 28, 2008, the National Stadium hosted the 2008 Olympic Games.
Hutong (胡同)
In Beijing, Hutong is one of the remaining neighbourhoods featuring narrow alleys and single story traditional courtyard houses. Today, many of them are destroyed in order to make space to build new roads and buildings.
(Picture to come)
The Bell Tower.
The Drum Tower.
Red Theatre (红剧场)
44 Xing Fu Da Jie Chongwen District
原北京崇文工人文化宫 幸福大街44号
(Picture to come)
Daily show: 5:15PM and 7:30PM
For more info: www.gfcq.net
Sources: ebeijing.gov.cn, english.visitbeijing.com.cn/
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