Just to recap, yesterday, we visited the Great Wall of China and the Ming Tombs. Today we visit a freshwater pearl factory Outlet and the Summer Palace in the morning. Then on to the Hutongs of Old Beijing in the afternoon.
Freshwater Pearl Factory Outlet
If you're into freshwater pearls, this is the place to buy them. Prices are very good but make sure you've got your credit card with you. You can easily get carried away. (Understatement!)
The Summer Palace
Situated in the Haidian District northwest of Beijing and dominated by Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake, the Summer Palace is the largest and most well-preserved royal park in China. With construction starting in 1750, it greatly influenced Chinese horticulture and landscape and has long been recognized worldwide as "The Museum of Royal Gardens". Originally constructed as a luxurious garden for royal families to rest and entertain, it later became the main residence for royalty towards the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). It covers an area of 2.9 square kilometers, two-thirds of which is water.
When emperor Wányán Liàng (1122-1161) of the Jin Dynasty moved his capital to Beijing, he had the Gold Mountain Palace built on the site of the hill. During the Yuan Dynasty, the hill was renamed Jug Hill (Weng Shan) after a jar with treasure inside was found. The jar was believed to bring good luck. The loss of the jar coincided with the fall of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), who in 1749 commissioned work on the imperial gardens, gave it its present name of Longevity Hill in 1752 in celebration of his mother's 60th birthday.
The Summer Palace has been twice subjected to the ravages of war and subsequently rebuilt. It was first destroyed by fire during the British and French invasions of Beijing in 1860. Originally called the "Qingyi Garden" (Garden of Clear Ripples), it was renamed the Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) after its reconstruction in 1888. In order to pay for these costs, it is rumoured that the dowager Empress Cixi (1835-1908) misappropriated funds from the Chinese navy to reconstruct it as a resort in which to spend the rest of her life. Six years later, China lost important naval battles to Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. In the summer of 1900 the Summer Palace was destroyed a second time by the The Eight-Nation Powers - an alliance of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These military forces invaded China in order to rescue their embassies that had come under siege during the Boxer Rebellion.
The Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) was an anti-foreigner, pro-nationalist Chinese movement that opposed foreign imperialism in China and the presence of Christian missionaries. At the time, China was going through severe drought and economic depression which impacted the entire Chinese population. The rebellion was the response of the people to the increased presence of foreign countries on Chinese soil and their exploitation of the Chinese people. These sentiments dated back to the Opium Wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860) and the growing influence of missionaries who were seen as an extension of their countries' expansionary ambitions.
The Summer Palace was repaired over the next two years and in 1924 it was opened to the public. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.
Composed mainly of Longevity Hill (Wanshou Shan) and
Kunming Lake, the Summer Gardens occupy more than 300 hectares (745 acres).
There are over 3,000 man-made ancient structures occupying more than 70,000 square meters. This includes pavilions, towers,
bridges, corridors, etc. The gardens can be divided into four parts: the Court
Area, the Front Hill Area, the Rear Hill Area and the Lake Area.
The Hutongs of Old Beijing
Mongolian in origin, "hutong" means "water well". As communities developed around the water well, it is easy to see that the term would later come to mean a "town". Later "hutong" referred to the narrow streets or lanes formed by the quadrangle courtyards of family residences.
Before 1927, Beijing was arranged by city planners according to social class. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the Forbidden City (the Imperial Palace) was located at the centre of Beijing. All other buildings were built around it in concentric circles. The Inner City thus surrounded the Forbidden City and the Outer City surrounded the Inner City. Citizens of higher social status were permitted to live closer to the Forbidden City while those of lesser social status lived directly further from the centre. In addition, aristocrats lived to the east and west of the Imperial Palace.
Built around a square courtyard, the large residences (siheyuan) of high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants featured beautifully carved and painted roof beams and pillars with carefully landscaped gardens. Farther from the palace to its north and south, were the residences of commoners, merchants, artisans, and laborers. Their siheyuan were far smaller in scale and simpler in design and decoration. As part of the planning process, a series of residences were built along a street or "hutong" and thus formed parts of a community. The hutongs of the richer parts of the city were wider than the hutongs of the poorer parts.
The hutongs formed by these residences were orderly and lined by spacious homes and walled gardens. Nearly all residences had their main buildings and gates facing south for better lighting. Thus the majority of hutongs run from east to west. Between the main hutongs, tiny lanes ran north and south for convenient passage.
We travel through the old hutongs of Beijing on rickshaws!
Historically, for "urban planning", a hutong was also once the lowest level of administrative division within a city with the largest division being a fang - the equivalent of a current-day precinct. Each fang was enclosed by walls or fences with the gates of these fangs being closed and guarded every night - somewhat like today's gated communities. During the Ming Dynasty, Beijing was divided into a total of 36 fangs. Each fang was further divided into several plate or pai, which was equivalent to a current-day neighborhood. Each pai, in turn, contained an area of several hutongs.
As the cities became more urbanized, this ancient Chinese urban-planning system gave way to more modern population and household divisions instead of the older geographical divisions. As a result, the hutongs were no longer used as the lowest level of municipal administrative division. With redevelopment in the 1980s and 1990s, the hutongs gave way to more modern commercial and apartment complexes with the result that many of the hutongs in Old Beijing are quickly disappearing.
A Chance To Practice Your Bargaining Skills
It's probably going to be here at the old hutongs, that you'll have your first encounter with "hawkers" ..... people who are trying to sell watches, jewelry, jade, and other trinkets. The stated price is NOT the final price. The final price will depend on how good your bargaining and negotiation skills are. Here's your chance to have a bit of fun and impress your fellow travellers on how hard a bargain you can drive ..... or not. You may even start a bit of competition with your fellow travellers as to who is the best negotiator. "You bought your watches for $10!? Heck I got mine for $8!" But once you start negotiating, be aware that the seller isn't going to give up on you until you get back on the bus.
2008 Olympic Park
Our last stop for the afternoon will be at the Olympic Park where China hosted the 2008 Olympics. The Olympics resulted in major infrastructure projects throughout the whole city ranging all the way from ring roads, subways, beautification of existing roads with lots of greenery. It catapaulted Beijing from an older city into what it is today. The key building at the Olympic Park is the
Tomorrow, we leave Beijing and fly to Xi'an in the morning. We visit Shaanxi Museum in the morning and the City Wall in the afternoon. We are treated to a Tang Dynasty dancing show and a Dumpling Banquet in the evening.
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