Beijing, imperial capital

If you like traveling, you will like Shangrilá. A different book from trips, in which the protagonist, the author who offers you this information about Beijing, penetrates in some of the most remote regions of China. In this succession of mountains that spread to the south of Sichuan and the northwest of Yunnan, inhabited by related peoples of some form with the Tibetan culture, as the Yi, the Moso, the Naxi or the Bai. Following the track that the always damned Yi mark, it will finish bottled in the Shangrilá search.

Beijing, the capital of China is an enormous city. With 12 million inhabitants and an extension of 1500 km2 is one of the biggest cities of the world. A flat city, and perfectly squared. With a chaotic traffic and a few slightly developed public transports, the circulation does not become, nevertheless, so slow as in other Asian capitals.

It is easy to be faced in Beijing. In the center of the city there is the Prohibited City and the Square of Tiananmen. The avenue Changan, with his more than 40 km long, crosses the city of East on West. The ancient part, which was surrounded by a wall until the 50s, where now it covers the Second Belt. Beijing is a city full of attractions. Perhaps the only city of our planet that is provided with so many monuments considered by the UNESCO Patrimony of the Humanity. Since the Big Wall, the Prohibited City, the summer Palace, the Temple of the Sky and the Place of the Man of Beijing, they have deserved this epithet.

Beijing is a city of long history, since given his strategic position, in the angle septendrional of the big flatness that spreads along the oriental part of China, it has played a defensive role from remote times.

In the dynasty Zhou the region of Beijing was a part of the marquisate of Yan, which in the following centuries, developing learnedly the commercial and military relations with the nomadic peoples who were living beyond the mountains, was winning in importance up to turning into one of the most powerful kingdoms of China in the epoch called precisely of the Fighting Kingdoms.

This kingdom succumbed before the Qin that unified China and established the first dynasty in the year 221 a.n.e, but it did not make to diminish the importance of Beijing, since the nomads Xiongnu were watching to another side of the mountains. For the mountains placed to the north of Beijing it was thinking up the Big Wall established by the Qin, that renewed by the Ming, it is the one that survives at present.

For centuries Beijing is a frontier city of secondary importance. In the Xth century it happens to turn into one of lasciudades more important than Asia, since the nomads Kitan, who established the dynasty Liao (that was dominating the north of a divided China) established his capital there, naming her Yangjing. While the Song were governing the south part of China, the Jurchen, making use of the weakness of a few Kitan too much influenced by the Chinese culture, they defeated them taking possession of his kingdom, establishing the dynasty Jin with capital status in Beijing.

The year 1215 Beijing is besieged by the troops mongolas. The Jurchen resisiten in epic conditions. In two edicts the vñiveres skimp, for months the victory is doubtful, until in May the governor of Beijing gives up and the Mongols take the city in the middle of a blood bath. Beijing marks the conquest mongola with the north of China, in the year 1271 this time will turn also into the capital of the dynasty established by them, call Dadu (Big Capital). In in this epoch when Marco Polo visits Beijing.

Square of Tiananmen

The Square of Tiananmen is the center of Beijing and of the political life of China. With 800 meters of north on south, and 420 of this one on west, is the biggest square of the world. In his more than 40 hectares of surface it is anticipated that they might meet up to 5 tight million persons, good, skylight; but not in the most multitudinous declarations it has gone over to a similar number. Nevertheless, the traveler who visits it during the public holidays, especially in the anniversaries of the national holiday that is celebrated on October 1, will have the sensation of being surrounded with million persons, since during these days thousands of beijineses and visitors of the nearby provinces, they come to the square to admire the decoration with which it is prepared for the holiday. The summer nights, a calm and silent multitude, he makes use of the air that sweeps the square to flee of the heat of the city. Until 11 p.m., when the police evict the visitors.

The square of Tiananmen, extended from his original size, was during the imperial epoch an area prohibited the population, since it was lodging a series of ministerial dependencies. After the end of the imperial China the square was extended turning into the perfect stage for these baths of popularity that so much Mao enjoyed. In fact, the Tiananmen square turned into the center where there developed the most important events of the recent history of China. From the Movement of fourth of May, thrown in 1919, to the Proclamation of the people's republic in 1949, the throwing of the Cultural revolution in 1966 or the student protests of 1989.

In the center of the square yergue a square construction, with columns, is the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. His corpse, properly prepared, rests in his interior in a crystal urn. It is possible to visit, and in fact every morning thousands of Chinese 'stand in line to see it. Generally the tail is impressive for the number of the people who waits to see it, but since nobody can stop before the Mao corpse, it advances enough quickly, and generally it is not necessary to wait any more than 20 ó 30 minutes. Inside it is not possible to take anything.

A little more to the north the Monument is in the Heroes of the People, with his 38 meters high, it was constructed in 1958. In his base eight bas-reliefs have been sculpted with allusive motives to the wars of liberation of China.

To the north of the square the imposing Door Tiananmen is, with this portrait of Mao that has become famous and departs already from the set of the square and of the door. To the west of the Door Tiananmen the Park Zhongsan is, in honor of Sun Yatsen, and to the east the Palace of Culture of the Workpeople. To come to the door it is necessary to cross the avenue Changan by means of two underpasses. It is possible to rise to the door, happening previously for an exhaustive weapon control. Above there are some commemorative objects of the foundation of the people's republic China, since it was from this place where from Mao realized the proclamation. Apart from it it does not have another special interest.

Prohibited city

The Prohibited City or Imperial Palace, to the North of the Square of Tiananmen, was the imperial residence during the last two dynasties (Ming and Qing). With 9999 rooms it is the biggest palace of the world. It is surrounded by a wall and a pit 50 meters wide. As we enter we will meet the Door of the Supreme Harmony. To come to her it is necessary to cross a small channel for some of his five bridges. From here one enjoys the most famous sight of the Prohibited City: the Lounge of the Supreme Harmony, raised on a triple patio of white marble. In his interior is the throne. This is the most important pavilion of the palace and the highest construction of the ancient Beijing. After there is the Lounge of the Average Harmony, and the Lounge of the Harmony Preserved, used for the big ceremonies and the imperial examinations. To the north the private part stays. In this area it is where there are the principal museums of the proper Prohibited City. That of the Imperial Paintings, on the West, very interesting. The Museum of the Bronzes, and that of the Ceramics, to the North. That of the Clocks to the east, and that of the Imperial Jewels, also to the east, in the called Garden of Qianlong.

The most important construction of the Prohibited City is, undoubtedly, the Lounge of the Supreme Harmony (called Taihedian in Chinese). In fact this big room, with the wide courtyard that surrounds him from the Door of the Supreme Harmony, occupies most of the public part of the Prohibited City.

The Lounge of the Supreme Harmony was also the highest construction of the ancient Beijing. It was used for the most solemn ceremonies: the anniversaries of the emperor, the reading of the candidates who had overcome the imperial examinations, and that of the generals who were going out in campaign.

This big lounge rises on a triple patio of white marble. It is held by a few enormous red columns, and has a double yellow roof, color reserved to the emperor. In his interior the imperial, spectacular throne is with his dragons engravings, although there exist doubts that it is the authentic throne.

All the roofs of the lounges of the Prohibited City have in his end an adornment with beasts, propitious and mythological animals destined to protect the corresponding room, the number of these animals depends on the importance of the room. The roof of the Lounge of the Supreme Harmony, the most important, is the only one that has ten protection beasts. Opposite to the lounge a crane and a turtle are, longevity symbols, as well as a sundial and a unit of capacity, like symbol of the virtue of the emperor in supporting the regularity of the stations and unifying the measurements of the empire. In three patios that lead even the proper lounge there are numerous censers.

Temple of the Sky

The Temple of the Sky is one of the most original and impressive constructions of Beijing. It is placed inside a big park that spreads over 273 hectares, in the south area of the city. It was constructed in the year 1420, for the emperor Yongle, who moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, being used by the emperors of the last two dynasties, the Ming and the Qing, that two times were coming to him per year. The first one at the beginning of the spring, to request for a good harvest; the second one, in the winter solstice, to be grateful to the sky for the harvest.

The Temple of the Sky was the most important religious construction of the capital. The rituals that were realized in his interior, destined to legitimize the divine quality of the emperor, who invested with the Son's title of the Sky, was putting himself in communication with the gods in favor of the men that was governing, are connected with the first religions established by the kings of the remote dynasties Shang (XVI - XIIth century B.C.) and Zhou (XIIth Century-VIII B.C.)

It is convenient to enter the South Door, to continue the ritual axis south - north in which the temple is constructed. Thus the first thing that is is the Altar of the Sky. A big staggered round platform of white marble, with 360 balustrades, surrounded by a square wall. It is a symbolism of the (round) sky inside the (square) ground. In the center of the above mentioned platform there is an empty place, where the throne was placed for the Emperor of the Sky, whom the emperor was adoring and presenting gifts.

This Vault Celeste Imperial is surrounded by a circular wall, popularly called wall of the echo because the particular form of the wall seems to be especially adapted for the broadcast of the sound. This place was where the emperor was presenting his respects to the Slat of the Sky, a rite similar to the one that the common people realize venerating the Slats of the Ancestors, by means of that the imperial ancestors collaborate with the proper sky. After the achievement of these rites, it was moving back to the Palace of the Abstinence, placed along with the Celestial Door of the West, where for three days it was fasting and abstaining from carnal contact.

A 360 meters long corridor Celeste Imperial joins the Vault with the Lounge of Te Deum for the Good Harvests. This is the most majestic building of the enclosure, and for some, of the whole Beijing. Conceived to facilitate the communication of the emperor with the sky, it has a round base, 30 meters in diameter, and a conical form, which raises 38 meters high. Each one is placed in the center of a courtyard, raised on three circular patios of white marble, with a balustrade of carved marble, also it is provided in turn with a triple tiled of blue tiles that award a special force.

This sober construction from which the emperors were asking for a suitable distribution of rains and the sun, is so original that it has been chosen, in fact, like symbol of the tourism in Beijing.

But his interest does not finish with his exterior, capable aspect if the same of pleasing the most demanding. This lounge is constructed completely with assembled wood, without it being used I do not even fixing only one. Inside, it is seen that the vault is held by four big props of wood, which represent four seasons; about her there are twelve exterior props, which symbolize twelve months of the year. The form in which there has been assembled the wood brought from the province from Yunnan that supports the roof is a masterpiece of the Chinese carpentry. The coloring of the same ones has a variety difficult to find in other ancient monuments, the form in which the wooden levels rise, seen from the soil, it is sobrecogedora.

Summer palace

The summer Palace is an enormous garden to the Northwest of the city. Decadent, sensual, it reflects the spirit of last years of the dynasty Qing. Destroyed and reconstructed several times, the current palace is a work of the beginning of the XXth century, a monument to the decline of last years of this dynasty, and a labyrinth that reflects the complex personality of the empress Cixi, his principal inhabitant. The palace has two fundamental parts. The Lake Kunming, and the Mountain of the Longevity. To the shores of the lake there are the fundamental constructions, the rooms from which Cixi was exercising his government, the Theater that symbolizes his life style, his private rooms, and especially the Long Broker decorated with thousands of paintings that reflect scenes of the history, the mythology, the poetry and the famous novels of China. And at the end of the same one, the constructed marble Ship, as it is said, with the funds destined to renew the national navy.

The Big Wall

The Big Wall China is the only monument in our planet. They say that it is the only human work that is seen from the moon, and does not wonder, since along his 6.000 km it is like an open wound like which it covers the North of Asia. The Big Wall is the excellent work of China, archetype of his culture and civilization. It begun being constructed more than 2500 years ago, for a few feudal gentlemen who were trying to protect his domains of the threat of the nomadic tribes of the North.
These feudal murallitas were unified for the first time in the IIIrd century B.C., for the first emperor Qinshihuang: a heroic exploit in which the whole Chinese people put his blood and his life, since then supports more or less the current form. Nevertheless the reconstruction that is visited was realized in the dynasty Ming. The principal stretch goes from the Shanghaiguan step in the China Sea, up to Jiayuguan in the desert of Central Asia. Every little distance there are towers of alertness, secondary walls, ramifications, including them it is possible to be said that If we count all his stretches and ramifications, it is possible to count with hay more 50.000 km of built wall. That's why in the provinces of the North it is easy to meet more or less preserved wall stretches. Close to Beijing is the most famous place: Badaling.

Badaling is to 70 km from the city. It is the most visited stretch. There is in a step between mountains what gives him an easy access, and the possibility of meditating, so much from above as from below, several kilometers of wall winding between the mountains. There the wall is wide, and quite high.

Temple of the Muds

The traveler who covers with hurries the city of Beijing turns out to be surprised sometimes by the silhouette of big buildings of ancient plant placed in the neighborhood of the most crowded arteries. One of the most interesting, perhaps the one that more could attract attention for his place, in the northeastern corner of the Second Belt is the called Temple of the Muds. The biggest of the temples lamaístas of the capital and in turn one of the most interesting religious constructions.

In the Lounge of the Eternal Protection there is two tankas especially famous persons, since it is said that they were embroidered by the mother of the emperor Qianlong. After this room there is a sculpture in bronze that represents the Mount Meru, sacred for the Buddhists and lamaístas.

Further away there is the Lounge of the Art Tántrico. It is possibly the most beautiful room of this temple, and one of the most original constructions of the ancient China. The fanlights that are opened in the roof cannot be seen in any other construction. Here, they allow to lower the light between four walls decorated with his respective tankas, what gives him a magic, iridescent aspect. The Tsongkapa sculpture, founded of the sect gelugpa, domineering in the Tibet, has a serene beauty difficult to find in other temples. In the side walls there are paintings that study in depth the magic character of the religion lamaísta. It is convenient to observe thoroughly this lounge also from the exterior, to be able to do to him an idea of his beauty and originality.

The last one is the Lounge of Diezmil Felicidades, it is the most majestic, with a colossal sculpture of 18 meters Buddha carved in only one trunk of sandalwood (the biggest of the world) in his interior, as well as a big texts library Buddhists. The Lounge was constructed after placing in his interior the enormous statue, which obviously does not fit for the door.

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