Beijing Zoo: panda

Though it is bit extravagant to call it "Ten-Thousand Animal Garden", Beijing Zoo is the largest and most famous animal home in the Beijing.

I brought a RMB 10 ticket to enter the zoo. The first impression was that the zoo is also a park, with a rich landscape of trees, hills and lakes. The ticket also comes along with a map, both Chinese and English.

I took the course: Giant Panda House - Tapir Hall - Golden Monkey Hall - Marmoset Building - Great Ape House - Amphibian & Reptile House. Because people said it is the best route to see all the exotic Asian animals and popular attractions in general.

As you can see, the Giant Panda is by far its biggest draw. To see them, you also have to pay an extra RMB 5 to buy a ticket. Many visitors, both foreign and domestic, go to the Beijing Zoo solely to see the famous bears. In the wild, Giant Pandas today only inhabits the southwestern part of Sichuan, and are very much an endangered species. For this reason, the Chinese government only bestows them to other countries as national gifts.

Besides the Giant Pandas, be sure to check out the other interesting and unique animals inside, including the Red Panda, the Golden Monkey, Manchurian Tigers, and Tibetan Yaks.

Qianmen Street: the entrance gate

Qianmen Street: the Arrow Tower next to the street

Qianmen Street: a century-old photo studio

Qianmen Street: vendors used to shake rattle-drums to attract customers

Qianmen Street: keeping birds used to be a popular pastime for Beijingers

Qianmen Street: everyday the street is packed with visitors from around the world

Qianmen Street: this century-old restaurant serves the best Peking Duck China has to offer

Qianmen Street: the resturant is already 150 years old

Qianmen Street: gate pier found in old Beijing houses

Qianmen Street: here avant-garde shops stand next to some of the oldest stores in Beijing

Qianmen Street: the street went through a renovation lately

The old, famous Qianmen Street reopened on Aug. 7, just one day before the opening of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. I paid a visit there, and I'd like to share with you the feelings.

Pedestrian street

The Qianmen shopping street has turned into a pedestrian street, more secure and convenient for visitors to shop. At any time, you can see a great many people there, but the noises of vehicles have gone.

Unified traditional style

The street still retains its traditional architecture style, except even better than before. Paved with gray bricks and stones in different sizes, the street looks wider and straighter. The shops on both sides have the same style: gray-brick walls, wooden pillars and window frames, and eaves covered with green glazed tiles.

Attention to details

The reopened old street attaches great importance on details. Decorated with birdcages and rattle-drums, the street lamps show strong Chinese characteristics. The big stone flower pots are carved with dragons. Even the trash cans are made of stone, and elaborately sculptured as well.

Old shops remain

Although many shops are still empty, some old ones are enough to catch your eye. Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, Zhang Yiyuan Tea Shop, China Book Store, Dabei Photo Studio surely will draw your attention.

Here are some photos I took for you to enjoy.

Confucius Temple: statue of Confucius

I learned stories of Confucius from textbook and word-of-mouth when I was a kind. I know Confucius is the greatest educator of ancient China. His influence on the Chinese culture is both profound and far-reaching.

So when I saw the solemn Temple of Confucius, the nation's educational and cultural hub five hundred years ago, I was eager to get to close to the great person in Chinese history.

The Temple now is protected by a high-wall enclosure which shields it from the outside world. As the gatekeeper greets you, you enter a mystical, ecstatic refuge. An enchanting music wafts in the air. Memorial towers occupy much of the ground, and the cypress trees lend a sense of age to the whole site. The statue of Confucius stands on a white marble base, set in a humble posture. At its foot, piles of offerings from worshippers.

Confucius was a successful educator. He lived in an age when education was a privilege reserved to the children of dignitaries. He challenged the status quo by advocating universal education. He also emphasized the duties and obligations of an Emperor to his subjects, and promoted tolerance and mutual care among people. Confucius is said to have taught to as many as 3,000 students, many of whom later became eminent generals, successful merchants, and renowned scholars.

I saw many tablets which tell the stories and ideology of the great human being near the entrance inside the temple. The 190 stone tablets carved with 13 Confucius classic works, official textbooks. Every student would have to learn before taking the imperial examinations.

Even though Temple of Confucius is only a history relic, more and more Confucius institutions have been established to spread the Chinese culture and languages all over the world.

Baoguo Si: the front gate

Baoguo Si, or Compensate the Country Temple, has undergone many ups and downs during past history.

Initially built in the Liao Dynasty, Baoguo Si was a Buddhist temple. During the Ming Dynasty, it was used to house a member of the royal family. By the early Qing dynasty, the temple had already become a popular bazaar for books and flowers.

Today, it has expanded to include an antique market, a souvenirs and gifts market, and a stamp collection market. Traders there sell miscellaneous items: jade, coins, Buddha statues, calligraphy works and paintings, to name but a few.

Though fake antiques are a sight at the bazaar, it is not hard to find the ‘genuine ones': look for princely high price tags. The vendors are enthusiastic and sometimes pushy, so hold your pocket tightly closed and feel free to only admire!

There are also some carts just outside the temple, serving a variety of traditional Beijing snacks quite popular among the locals. Don't miss the chance to sample some, as soem are becoming rare in Beijing.

Niujie Mosque: Entrance

The most eye-catching building is the Niujie Mosque. It is the oldest one in Beijing, with a history of 1000 years. Through several renovations, now it houses the Xuanwu District Islamic Association, while still serves the largest Muslim community in Beijing.

The building is a blend of both Chinese and Middle-east influences. The main room - ‘the Worshipping Hall' - is where daily Koran praying is held. Notice the two stone tablets in front of the hall: they bear the imperial orders given by a Ming emperor to renovate the mosque in 1487 and 1496.

In the backyard on the right, there are two tombs where two Persian imams are buried; one of them came to China in 1270 on a preaching mission. There is also an ancient, giant bowl, which is used to boil food during the Islamic Fast-breaking Festival.

In addition to a variety of charming halls and pavilions, beautiful flowers and plants, the mosque also offers a quiet refuge from the bustling surroundings. Moslem folks are friendly as well.

Want to get know more Moslem folks in Beijing? Come to Niujie.

I originally wrote this post as a comment to a blog post published here:
http://pictureyear.blogspot.com/2008/05/more-pjs.html

The post is amusing, and the photos published very "life-like".  I felt compelled to add to it since the post only dealt with Shanghai dwellers and their habit of harboring their bodies in PJs in the streets of the southern Chinense city.

This PJ practice is very much alive in Xiamen too,  where people go do their errands and grocery shopping, or play badminton outdoors in PJs. The Florida-like weather of Xiamen (Fujian proviince) might explain it, but also the non-judgmental attitude of Chinese people toward other people's accoutrement.

The strict dressing code so characteristic of Mao's days is definitely a thing of the past, as attested by the ravishing exuberance of Chinese youth apparel - which is much more imaginative than in Western countries.

I also found the PJ dress code to be ‘en vogue' in the Beijing hutongs (small alleyways lined-up with one-storey houses and ‘hole-in-the-wall' shops).

There, I believe the phenomenon is linked to the fact that a hutong is a tightly knitted community where everyone knows everyone else.

Dwellers in the same hutong form a ‘large family', and the structure of the courtyards (four one-storey houses grouped around a central courtyard) has probably fostered this sense of belonging.

Before 1949 and the foundation of New China, courtyards used to be one-family ‘compounds'. But with the shortage of decent housing, and the rural migration towards urban centers, the Chinese government ordered owners of courtyards to open up their residences to other families.

Courtyards became shared, with two families or more living in tight quarters. When you and your neighbors know practically everything on each other, being seen in PJs by them doesn't matter very much anymore.

And true, public toilets are the norm in hutongs where people go wash themselves to a common sink, and share in the intestinal life of their neighbors over quasi open 'squatters'.

Jing Shan, or Prospect Hill, is an artificial hill rising right above the Forbidden City. That place runs through the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Now the emperors are long gone, but the hill still stands, watching over the remnants of a lost empire.

When talked about Jiang Shan, an emperor's story must be told: Chong Zhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who hanged himself at one of the trees on the last day of his reign.

Chong Zhen should have been a good emperor on almost every account. Smart, kind and assiduous, he had the ambition to revive the empire. But the 260-year-old dynasty was already dying when he came to throne.

The rebellion overran the south, invaders slashed in north, while famine and floods across the country pulled the last trigger, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead. In the end the rebels besieged the Forbidden City, he knew it was over and ended his life in dishonor.

Chong Zhen must have had a lot to say in the last moment, but said only one thing. Before he died, he wrote a line on his dragon gown: "Enemy, do anything you want onto me, but leave my people alone".

Walk anticlockwise at the foot of the hill for a short while, and you will stumble upon two stone tablets and a twisted locust tree among a heap of rocks - this is where Emperor Chong Zhen hanged himself.

On top of Jiang Shan, the Forbidden City extends colorfully right under my eyes: yellows for the roof tiles, reds for the walls. People around me were in awe at the panoramic view of the biggest palace complex in the world. 

Built over 700 years ago during the Yuan dynasty, the Chinese musical instruments bells and drums find their way to be used of announcing time to the public. Over the years, bell towers and drum towers outlived their usefulness, and become tourist destinations with thousands of domestic and foreign visitors daily.

The drum tower was built in 1272 during the reign of Kublai Khan, at which time it stood at the heart of the Yuan dynasty capital Dadu.

The drum tower is a two-story building made of wood with a height of 47 meters. In ancient times the upper story of the building housed 24 drums, of which only one survives.

The Drum Tower used various instruments, like bronze clepsydras (water clocks) and drums, to mark the hours back then. Nowadays drum performance is staged every half hour in the tower, so be sure to stay and enjoy the performance.
 
Close behind the Drum Tower stands the Bell Tower, a 33-meter-high building with gray walls and a green glazed roof.

There is the heaviest and biggest bell in Bell Tower, 5.5 meters in height and 60 tons in weight. All old Beijingers use to know the time of the day. Its sounds could be heard as far as 20 miles away.

Past the two echo constructions, I walked on the Red Stairway Bridge (or Danbi Qiao in Chinese). Its south end is one meter high, and the north end three meters high. The gradually ascending bridge means going to Heaven step by step. The central and the widest path of the bridge was reserved exclusively for God, and nobody including the emperor was allowed to set foot onto it. The emperor used east path, while ministers and princes used the one on the west.

Through the Red Stairway Bridge, I arrived at the Prayer for Good Harvest, which waked up many memories in my childhood. The round hall features triple eaves and a cone-shaped deep blue tile roof. It is 38 meters high and 30 meters in diameter. Three-level stone terrace encloses the hall. Balustrade along the terrace stair is made of white marble. I am sure everyone will be impressed by the magnificent ancient architecture, just like me!

It almost concludes our tour in Temple of Heaven. Continue eastward, I exited from the Eastern Gate.

Entering from the South Gate, The first key points of cultural interest caught my eyes is the Circular Mound Altar, which was used to worship Heaven at the winter solstice. Three levels of terraces lead to the top of the altar. You access each of them climbing a flight of 9 steps. Why 9 steps? Because according to ancient Chinese philosophy, Heaven consisted of nine layers, and the Emperor's abode was on the uppermost tier. In the center of the alter lies the "God's Heart Stone", where the emperor used to stand to say his prayer. The stone is peculiar in that it is characterized by a specific acoustic phenomenon: voice echo. It made the emperor's voice clearer and louder, thus adding to the mystic atmosphere of the service. I tried it on the stone as if I were an Emperor!

Continue northward, I reached two structures with peculiar acoustic features. One is the Echo Wall, the other the Three Echo Stones. My friend and I made the experiment: any mere whisper at any point close to the Echo Wall can be heard clearly on the other side. This is made possible because the wall is round and hermetically constructed with smooth, solid bricks. As for the Three Echo Stones, if you stand on the first stone and call out or clap your hands, the sound will echo once; on the second one, the sound will be heard twice; and on the third one, the sound will repeat three times. What an interesting play. Even though I am not a scientist, I would appreciate the wisdom of ancient Architects.