Tiananmen

Perhaps the most recognized places in China, outside of the Great Wall.
Michael and Bill, leading the way.
The Great Contradiction: Mao.
Great because he helped lead China out of its post-Imperial chaos - civil wars and fending off the Japanese... yet a person whose singular vision of things drive China into the ground for 30 years.
Without a doubt: a group of Western tourists standing in Tiananmen was literally unimaginable in 1978.
I could comment here on the progressive toilet training techniques used by the Chinese, but I will take a pass on that.
Memorials to an earlier age.


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Carl & Nancy get direction from Michael: "the little figure that looks like a boy is the men's room..."


The beginning of the long march... from one end of the Forbidden City and Imperial Palace to the other.

For almost five hundred years, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government.
Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms... although the unoffical number is the historial 9,999 rooms.

Since 1925, 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.
The site of the Forbidden City was situated on the Imperial City during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.
From 1420 to 1644, the Forbidden City was the seat of the Ming Dynasty. In April 1644, it was captured by rebel forces led by Li Zicheng, who proclaimed himself emperor of the Shun Dynasty.
Emperor Michael, ca. 2010

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, some damage was done to the Forbidden City as the country was swept up in revolutionary zeal.
During the Cultural Revolution, however, further destruction was prevented when Premier Zhou Enlai sent an army battalion to guard the city.
The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 by UNESCO as the "Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties."
The place hosts many foreign visitors... but the number of native Chinese tourists far outnumbers these.

The Forbidden City is the world's largest surviving palace complex and covers 72 ha. It is a rectangle 961 meters (3,153 ft) from north to south and 753 meters (2,470 ft) from east to west.
Panda


The Forbidden City remains important in the civic scheme of Beijing. The central north-south axis remains the central axis of Beijing.


The sloping ridges of building roofs are decorated with a line of statuettes lead by a man riding a phoenix (personally, I think it is a chicken - the phoenix represents the Empress and I am not too sure the Emperor would want someone riding her) and followed by an imperial dragon. The number of statuettes represents the status of the building — a minor building might have 3 or 5. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10, the only building in the country to be permitted this in Imperial times. As a result, its 10th statuette, called a "Hangshi", or "ranked tenth" is also unique in the Forbidden City.
This is the former location of the Starbucks that resided in the Forbidden City for about 5 years.
"Starbucks?" "What were they thinking?"
"We shall serve no stinking Starbucks around here!"

All worn out and no caffeine in sight.
Ohhh... I could use some bamboo.
Us, too! Us. too!


Harrrrumph... crazy damned pandas.
"um.. hello..."
"Hello"
Is she talking to that bird?
Definitely.
The birdie says... tweet.
I am so outta here.
Me, too.
Me, three.

Dragon.
At the tail of the procession will be an imperial dragon, representing the authority of the state. At the head of the procession will be a man riding a Phoenix, one legend suggests that this represents a minon of the emperor who grew greedy for power and was hanged from the roof gable for treason. Another version of this figurine is an immortal riding a fenghuang-bird or qilin. Yet another intrepretation is that this is a person serving the emperor, being watched by the following beasts. In between will be mythical beasts, usually an odd number of them. The mythical beasts are set to pounce upon the man and devour him should he stray from performing his duties with faithfulness and rectitude.

The number of beasts indicating the importance of the duties performed within the building or within the courtyard protected by a gate. The maximum number of beasts is nine, including evil-dispelling bull, courageous goat-bull, wind- and storm-summoning fish, mythical lion, auspicious seahorse, heavenly horse, lion, and chiwen (a son of dragon).
Dragon Tree.


Dragon Chow.
The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 7.9 meters (26 ft) high city wall and a six-meter deep, 52 meters (171 ft) wide moat. The walls are 8.62 meters (28.3 ft) wide at the base, tapering to 6.66 meters (21.9 ft) at the top.