The Great Wall & the Forbidden City

During my recent business trip to China I was able to get out and see some of the sights around Beijing. I had only one real day of site seeing so I picked the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Tienanmen Square came along with the Forbidden City as well. The Great Wall was pretty much as advertised; great. I took a private guide day tour since I did not want to get stuck on the tourist route. My guide, Joe, was great. A young guy who had studied tourism and spoke great English.

There are several options for visiting the Great Wall around Beijing. I chose Mutianyu as it is apparently less touristy and more impressive. The Badaling section is apparently swarming with tourist. I will say there were plenty of local tourist the day I was there as it was a Sunday. This section is located in Huairou County 70km northeast of Beijing. As one of the best-preserved parts of the Great Wall, Mutianyu section of Great Wall used to serve as the northern barrier defending the capital and the imperial tombs.

First built in the mid-6th century during the Northern Qi, Mutianyu Great Wall is older than the Badaling section of the Great Wall. In the Ming dynasty, under the supervision of General Xu Da, construction of the present wall began on the foundation of the wall of Northern Qi. In 1404, a pass was built in the wall. In 1569, the Mutianyu Great Wall was rebuilt and till today most parts of it are well preserved. The Mutianyu Great Wall has the largest construction scale and best quality among all sections of Great Wall.

I chose the private guide as I wanted a really raw view of the great wall. I did not want to take the tram nor did I want to stop at any shops. Upon arriving the guide convinced me to take the tram up since it was already paid for as part of the package. He really wanted me to take a picture of one of the tram cars where Bill Clinton had ridden. Anyway, the tram provided a nice view, and truth be told there was plenty of climbing to be done on the way. In fact I think I wore out the guide by trying to walk as much of the wall as possible. We were up there for about 2.5 hours. Then, wanting to be very authentic and also to pay tribute to those who worked so hard to build the wall, I took the sled down the from the top of the wall. This was actually very fun. You can really get moving on the sled, and I was asked to slow down.

After the Wall my guide took me to the factory to see how great Chinese art was made... right. I had told him that I did not want to go, but he let me know that the place provides him and the driver food. So I allowed it. In all actuality the tour of how to make the porcelain vases, etc. was actually quite interesting.

Upon returning to Beijing I decided to check out the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.

Built from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

Since 1924, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Part of the museum's former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the same institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War. This is actually very sad as most of the art is apparently in Taipei, making the Forbidden City look vast and empty.