Sunday morning our itinerary destination was the Forbidden City. But before we went there, we were taken to the Beijing Yejin Hospital to visit the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Health Care – what seemed to be an herbal pharmacy.

Our group was taken into what seemed to be a lecture room in this multi-story building. A Chinese physician (with a great sense of humor and excellent English) then lectured to our group about the differences between Eastern and Western medicine. Herbal medicine has a long tradition in China and the Chinese supposedly have fewer ailments that plague Western cultures. We were told that, despite the pollution found in Chinese cities, Chinese people do not suffer from asthma. (However, articles on the internet indicate that asthma is on the rise in China as the population becomes more urbanized and the pollution becomes more severe.) We were also told that a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine can feel your pulse and tell from your pulse what your health problems are.

So we all had doctors and translators sit down with us in the room and tell us what was wrong with us and which herbal supplement would help take care of the problem. Some felt they hit the nail on the head and others were not so sure. In any case, many herbal supplements were purchased and we were given tea and a neck massage in nearby rooms.

Finally we boarded the bus for the Forbidden City, also known as the Forbidden Palace or the Purple Forbidden City and now known as the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City was located at the exact center of ancient Beijing and served as the imperial residence during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is one of the most popular tourist sites in the world.

It is the world’s largest palace complex and is surrounded by a tall wall. Each side of the wall has a gate. The southern gate is Tiananmen Gate and faces Tiananmen Square. The distance between the north and south gates is 960 meters, or about half a mile. It seemed much further as we walked from one end to the other, but you don’t go in a straight path. The area surrounding the outside of the walls was known as the Imperial City. Within the walls there is an outer court and an inner court. The inner court was the residential area of the Emperor and the royal family. Pu Yi, the last Emperor, abdicated in 1912 but was forced to continue living in the inner court; in 1924, during a coup, the Emperor was driven from the inner court.

Just before the outbreak of World War II, when the Japanese were invading China, the Chinese decided to save the thousands of treasures within the Forbidden City and pack them into crates for safekeeping. In the 1950s, after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, work was begun on restoring the Forbidden City, or Palace Museum. Much has been restored and within the more than 800 buildings many of the treasures are displayed.

Small courtyard in the Forbidden City

Photo by Lucie Field

There were already hundreds of people touring the site when we arrived and we were told we had to follow our guide through the complex. This meant we could not go off on our own to look at things or take pictures. As we continued through one section to another we could see how easy it was to lose track of our group so we had to watch for the little blue flag with the M-6 on it which our guide held up above him as he took us through the crowds. This would definitely be a place where you would want to spend the entire day.

We went up and down steps many times, thinking we were reaching the end only to find steps going back down and more to see. On the left are some of our group walking down the steps of one building after thinking they were at the end. In some of the areas we saw a lot of restoration taking place. Huge scaffolding, made of bamboo poles, covered areas that were being renovated or repainted. The buildings that had been repainted were bright and colorful while other buildings were dull by comparison. One of the colors we saw often was yellow, the color of the royal family. Roof tiles were often yellow.





Coming to the top of the steps of one building, we could see that there buildings beyond buildings

Photo by Gene Field

The building on the right has not been repainted while the building on the left has. They are working at restoring as much as possible before all the visitors come for the 2008 Olympics.

Photo by Gene Field

Anne, Lucie and Gene at the top of one of the buildings we passed through.

Photo by Gene Field

On the left hand side of this picture was the treasure house where gold bricks were stored. Out of the picture are ramps which went up to the top of the low wall. The gold would be taken in carts up the ramp to be stored in the treasure house..

Photo by Gene Field

The south gate of the Forbidden City, the Tiananmen Gate, with a picture of Mao looking out at Tiananmen Square.

Photo by Gene Field

Tiananmen Square – at least one part of it, since it was huge. We are walking another half mile to our bus. Once on the bus we headed off to lunch in the old part of the city.

Photo by Lucie Field