Great Wall of China (长城)

There was a saying that goes :"If you never been to the great wall, then you are no hero"(不到长城非好汉), quote the former president of China Mr. Mao-Ze-Dong(毛泽东). The great wall was built long time ago by the ruler of different countries during the Zhou's Dynasty to resist foreign invasion. At the end of Zhou's Dynasty, there were 7 strongest countries that manage to survive the civil war. In the end, Qin manage to wipe out all 6 other countries and the first emperor of China Shih-Huang-Ti united China for the first time under one central ruler. Aware of the North barbarian's invasion, he decided to complete the great wall by attaching the gap between the former walls built by different rulers of different countries.

We took the MRT to Ji-Shui-Tan(积水潭) station and took a 15 minutes walk to reach this old city gate (De-Sheng-Men 德胜门)built by the emperor of Qing's Dynasty. There will be an express bus directly reaching Ba-Da-Ling Great Wall (八达岭长城) - the most well preserved part of the wall~ Remember never accept any "help" from drivers that offer to drive you there. They are all fraud.

Built almost 200 years ago~

You can choose to either climb it all the way from first watch tower  up till the exit, or you can take this pulley car reaching the 4th tower. Guess thats why they called it the bear park(狗熊) - which means chicken in metaphorical sense~

Quite alot of people queuing up for the pulley car~

4 against 1~ so decided to take pulley car to 4th tower~

Next time I would try walking all the way up~ =P

Look at how magnificent it is!

Downside of it? Too many people~

Great engineering..... wonder we would ever make this even with modern technologies

Sigh...can't even move your butt in such narrow and crowded space~

 

You could even take the cable car to reach the top most tower~~~ We climbed to the top of course~ha!

After the top most station(8th tower), it started to get steeper and much more difficult to walk~

Look at the slope~ Most of the time you have to stoop low in order to maintain your centre of gravity

Good thing about it, people seldom walk down these slopes~ ha! Most just turn back after they reached the top most tower~

Another tips, if you wish to finish the whole journey, it might take few hours. So, prepare your lunch beforehand~ We bought some pancakes~

Really love to act aint him?~

So in the end, we turn one circle to the exit~

Temple of Heaven (天坛)

In order to create a sense of grandiosity and superiority among the people, ancient emperors created alot of mythical stories to deify themselves. During the Qing's Dynasty, a Temple of Heaven was built for emperors to "communicate" with God and to pray for God's blessing so that the following year will be free of calamities. The Temple was now enclosed with gardens for civilians to see and feel the ancient Royal style~

The Temple Garden covers a wide parameters

There were few important spots we need to visit for the day~

The Long Corridor......

Door to the Temple

There the Temple of Heaven stood magnificently

If only human can communicate with God.....

 

The Echo Wall.....

Allegedly able to echo any sound imposed on it

Circular structures~

However, no matter how hard we tried, we just can't produce the claimed echo....perhaps certain maneuver we are ignorance of...

Seven Star Altar.......

Unsure whats the function~

Saw that circular stone on the ground?~ Allegedly able to increase man's power field

Description of the stone

The rulers had never short of patterns eh?~

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The Forbidden City (紫禁城)

So we reached Beijing, the capital city of China and capital for 2 ancient dynasties......Past 7 days had been quite an eye opener for most of us as the development was no where Malaysia could reach even in another 10 years. Beijing though not as modernized as ShangHai, was at least awesome in terms of transportation. The MRT and bus services really were great, and cheap~

Our first destination was of course the Forbidden City. This palace was built in the Ming's Dynasty during Emperor Zhu-Di (朱棣) after he launched a coup and claimed the throne from his nephew. After that, it witnessed the reign of 24 emperors from Ming and Qing's Dynasty. Alot of pictures were taken but I am going to intro just a few which I think quite interesting to share~

Infront of Tian-An-Men

Tian-An-Men Square where the famous Tian-An-Men Incidence took place (六四事件)

The main structures of Forbidden City was divided into 3 palace and 6  yards (三宫六院), just like what we always heard from drama series~

We are now looking at Tai-He-Dian（太和殿) where the emperor had cabinet meetings with the officers~

We rented this electronic tour guide that explains everything when it reached the specific areas~ Cost 10 Yuan only~ very cheap and useful~

Familiar?~ha! 

Only the king was allowed to use this stair.....

Alot of such vat arround the palace, guess whats their function?~ They are used for putting out fires~ So whole year will be filled with water. During the winter season, the water will be boiled hourly to make sure it doesn't freezed~ Why so? In history, Tai-He-Dian was burnt down to ashes for 3 times due to lightning.....what a strategic place right?~ ha!

I always saw this in dramas and movies~~~

This 2 fellas were trying to peep what was in the locked yard~

Fake mountain with a pavilion on top~ The emperor can take a glimpse of the whole imperial garden from here~

Can you believe that this is actually a natural fountain?! They are using the natural stream from rivers which had dried out now~

Another awesome figure in the imperial garden.....This is a rock...yup you have not hear wrong~Is a rock~

Seems weird? They planted 2 trees together to make it grow and looks like this~ Very famous chinese saying 连理枝 (Binding branches) which signifies eternal love~

All the 6 yards were now being used as exhibition hall for all the treasures from the palace. Not alot of stuffs though cause alot had been taken to Taiwan by Cheang-Kai-Sek after Kuo-Min-Tang lost to the communist~ In fact, most of the greatest artifacts are now in Taipei Palace Muzeum~

One of the porcelain.....

 选秀阁 (Pavilion for choosing new concubine) In the ancient day, emperor will stand on top and choose his concubine from the young girls that stand in a line down here~

How young are they? 12-16 year old!~ Imagine an 80 year old emperor marrying a 12 year old girl......They are all pedophiles! 

All of a sudden something western~ The last emperor of China Pu-Yi （溥仪） lead a very simple life after the revolution. He was allowed to continue living in the palace with his queen Wan-Rou （婉柔)

Wan-Rou was english educated and taught Pu-Yi alot of westernized living manner. Example the piano, eating western food and dress like a westerner~

Quite some fun seeing how they lead their peaceful and relaxing life~

Pu-Yi's working table~

When he was very young, he had an englishmen teacher who brought him alot of westerner's stuffs~

Photo showing him playing tennis in the palace compound~

Some of his most prized collections~

His queen~

Quite a beauty actually~ =P

The official document to canonized Wan-Rou as queen.

Saw those hooks?~ Use to have a swing hanging there~The last queen of China spend her free time playing swings here~

After Emperor Kang-Xi passed away, Emperor Yong-Zhen shifted his chamber here that used to be the imperial study chamber.

You would see most of the dramas about Qing dynasty depict this study room~

Saw that curtain infront the seat? Thats the famous 垂帘听政 (controlling the emperor behind the curtain) by Empress Chi-Xi. She was the mother of Emperor Tong-Zhi which was still a child when he was crown. Empress Chi-Xi took advantage of his innocence and control his own son like a puppet.

Another great rock figure from the imperial garden~

Look at all these structures, I just had that tingling feelings that Millions alive just for 1 men.....

The backyard of the palace~ The last Emperor of Ming's Dynasty Emperor Chong-Zhen ran out of the forbidden city through this door and hang himself in the opposite mountain on a tree. We didn't visit that tree （景山公园) as the original was already burnt down~

Just when we were about to leave, we saw people selling these.......turtles, crocodiles and some other small animals...WHICH ARE STILL ALIVE!!! Bloody hell....I saw this in facebook ages ago thinking that it was not possible...but it did happened! Just felt a revolting and gross feeling that human being could be so cruel...totally spoilt my day! (Picture was downloaded from Google image and the author doesn't condone such violation of living rights!!!)

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