Guests of the Empress Cixi

                   

We did not have lot of time in China and had to "watch quickly."For the Summer Palace we had only one day. Fast bus took us out of the city, where on the Longevity Hill, built with the soil of the great artificial lake rises the Summer Palace.



 

Yes, we went at Empress Cixi’s Summer Palace, but only outside.  Of course, there are a lot of things to explore in the gardens, but still, it reminds me of the expression-to lick the honey in a jar. There are other shrines of the history and art of this land and in many of them we've cruised with delighted eyes, but the Chinese have their reasons to keep visitors out of the Emperor's Chamber.
Empress Cixi was one of China's most powerful women, but  with her politics she paved the end of the imperial era. She dide  1908.

We saw from far away the beautiful central pagoda - Tower of Fragrance of the Buddha and veiled in the trees of a vast park, the roofs of neighboring Temple of Sea of Wisdom. Large blue and calm lake couth immediately our eyes.
 In the 19th century the beauty-empress Cixi– spent the entire State budget to rework this 290 hektares park. Smart woman, from the wars benefit no, and she left for posterity a wealth and not only that, but the legend of her undying youth.

 Local people explain it with the mineral composition of the Lake, which is created until now from the springs of the artificial Longevity Hill. Cixi drank only from this water and she bathes in it. She used to eat vegetables and fruits from gardens, watered from the lake. Most interesting — clams which are bred in the lake and up to now are useful not only for meat, but also with their pearls. Cixi used the big  for jewels and small, for powder and face cream for her unusually nice skin.

The Empress left for posterity one exotic, two story marble boat, which until now is moorage on the shore of the Lake. Some people don't tolerate swimming with ships and yachts and if they love to be surrounded by water,they

can order something more stable which is not swaying in the water. So she did, and the result pleases Cixi eyes and the generations to this day. Although it is surrounded by smaller always genuine, very colorful yachts of the same style,  but this white beauty  grabed visitor's attention for long.

 To all beauties of the Summer Palace must be added and the magnificent marble bridge, which leads to a small island. For the Chinese the number 8 is lucky (not coincidentally the beginning of Olympic Games is chosen date 08.8.08), so the order was this bridge has 8 sticks. At this length the only solution was to make twice the 8 sticks and halfway to contact another higher vaulting.

The explanation of the builders satisfied everyone, because very often it is not so important what you do, but how would it be presented. So shining bridge was admitted with satisfaction in the marble collection at the Summer Palace. It is no wonder that Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Paradise Temple and several very rich architectural complexes, built in China many centuries ago are under the wing of UNESCO.

               I passed the Promenade, long covered coredor, built from wood. The ceilings and the bims were decorated with 14,000 beautiful scenic paintings  that you can't tear your eyes from the colors of the everything

 

 

 All of this is open about the conditions of the harsh winters and hot summers. I don't know when it was restored, but shines of freshness at the moment. I don't believe any visitor to go without shooting 2-3 times around the picturesque promenade. During the hot summer days, rainy spring and the snow of winter, it was the only place for walks and social contact  for Cixi and her entourage.

Now a day, instead of walking out we do realize our contacts with people with newer generations of computers and phones, sitting pale, fat and immobile all day in front of them and watch what was in the other more benevolent times.

 Returning from the Palace, we’ve visited a representative enterprise for jewelry with pearls and other semi-precious stones. Naturally, despite the "representative" prices, the Chinese are good marketers on our way out each equip himself with some souvenir. Someone both a box of "the cream" of Empress Cixi. I dare not try it. I didn't want to start my live all over again ...In addition, I like to look through the glass of the jar the brilliance of the small, nicely arranged pearls in slender rows. The manual says that you have to push with your fingers the soft pearls and smear  the soft mash onto your face.

I have no words to describe the wealth of exhibits in the great halls of the company for the production of the most diverse pieces from porcelain, gade, mother perl, mahogany, gold ,silver and copper. Stunning! In shop windows, on the tables, on the floor, large and small, white, green, red and black — any. Cabbage and apples figurines are a priority, they have magical power. Follow the statuettes of dragons, lions, monkeys and the rest of the Animal Kingdom. Everything is carved perfectly complying with the color of the material.

   The choice is very difficult, because after the beauty comes the price and weight, for buyers overseas.

That day was extremely heavy, after the factory we drove the adjacent new area to see the modern constructions.

After the brief tour, hastily moved us into the subway system, where our guide was waiting for us to lead us to the skit. The truth we were not very sure what lurked behind the name "Chinese ballet" and with little concern preparing for it.

Waited us another pleasant surprise from bright horeography and scenography of contemporary ballet with very good dancers, great combined laser lighting effects and modern music. It's a small world, something similar, albeit much richer we saw in Seattle - Circus du Solei and  in New York- Lion the King.  Unfortunately the show wasn't very long, or so my build, when the curtain fell.

Anyone else would have given us our allocated money for taxi and go, but our attendant was in the lobby two hours chipping just to prove this five minute attention to lead us in worship of the lounge with the known Eastern delicacy and attention to the charges and wished us a good night. Well, what to say, to learn?

Of all the Chinese people the most happy are the people that Mao's so-called "spiritual pollution"...In recent times, many of those who have emigrated are coming back, because finally, in China there is a place for modern art. I read about a great American artist of the contemporary music of Chinese origin Kaizer Kuo, who returned from New York in Beijing and became a luminary.  He said that to live in the capital city is terrible, but he wouldn't want to be any other place on the planet, because here you get addicted to the speed of changes and excitement. Now here is the place for experiments in art, which develops with the booming economy.

 

 

 

 

Maybe the Bible is right, Part 1

 

China has long been on the list of Asian countries, which we wanted to visit.  We have to see the notorious historical monuments, a rich cultural heritage and more, Beijing facing the Olympic Games, 2008 - too much temptation to procrastinate. The whole world knows that the Chinese want to show us how advanced they are and how many have achieved, thanks to their political system. Okay, let's go.

 

And so, we arrived in Beijing ahead of the Olympic Games with the prescient 2 months. The surprise and comfort when I landed on the new airport in Beijing, resonated with one thought in my mind - probably the Bible is right, it is possible that one day the Chinese will be one of the greatest powers in the world. When we walked the city later I was convinced that a part of this nation does not want to waste time, she went ahead on the shortcut, preserving all the best of the old and adding the newest towards it. 

No wonder, the pyramids in Egypt soar up to now, but I don't know how many of the modern Egyptians wear blood of their builders. Greek and Roman temples, amphitheatres and stadiums many impressive buildings, built from them are still enjoying our eyes, but the Roman Empire, Athens and Sparta are only history. The descendants of the Chinese who built the Forbidden City, the Great Chinese Wall and much other dazzling stuff, still live in the land of his ancestors; wear their surnames, and some owned family relics from that time. Yes, the Chinese are being kept as a nation and the population has grown like no other.

In any larger American and Canadian city to go you can see Chinese neighborhoods.  The Chinese population comes and more and more are incorporated in the life of those countries. I recently heard on television that the white population in the United States by 2042 year will become a minority and the dominant race will be Asians. Who knows?

I don't know how it is in Europe, but in America already even the biggest patriots have difficulty to buy only American production, and why, after all the Chinese here is cheaper and not so worse. No wonder, if some day we start to buy North Korean goods…

And so I think maybe the Bible is right. It is possible that a billion smart Chinese

 would flood the world with their intelligence, production, and population


.

In this country was born an atheist philosopher Confucius, who is considered a contemporary of Buddha, born 500 years before Christ. His wisdom ideas are at the root of many religions, philosophic and natural sciences. Probably still very large number of young   Confucius’ follower’s row up now and prepare China for the way it's going. They are the champions that within two generations have walked away from the plow to the computer. These several million are amazing phenomenon of China.

Mao Zedong had said that the revolution is not funny party, but he is long gone, the young rich Chinese think differently.  In honor of Olympic Games 2008 under the shade of Great China Wall there was a cocktail of those young businessmen. The sounds of rock-band music and glasses of liquors didn’t bother them to take the right decisions.  Most of them are approximately 40 year old. They develop private business for millions in electronics, trade, construction and other industries. Many of them have graduated in the West, others have returned from there with capital and diplomas. Just for them was my word when I wrote the first lines of the essay.

There was a time when some rich ”daddies’” from socialist countries supported their children to receive education and experience in the world renowned universities. The only thing that connects young to the communist parent generation was the money, generously provided by the fatherly arms. By the time remembering who was holding a pistol and tampered with the pockets of "rich" if he was a gangster or a liberator is not known. The money changes it masters, time wash the stains or glory. Before on our land, we called them "our comrades", now everywhere are called the most enterprising businessmen or maybe? Well, a little black humor I think and my travel is allowed.

As a former resident of a small country, I do not support the weakness to the big things, unless they are so nice, you're happy to get in touch with them as much as possible. For example,  the Hermitage, the Louvre, the Prado and Versailles can keep a ton of days in, without saying come on, but the monumental  Socialist "palaces", appeared as a negation of Royal splendor, repel. I am glad that in Beijing we sew from distance only three of them, as befits – Parliament, the Museum of Chinese revolutionary history, and the mausoleum of Mao Zedong. You won't see them in this book and if it is better to have them in reality, it is to remind people how bad it is, simple people to guide States.

 Beijing means northern capital. This is the last and final name of the 3,000 annual city, 800 of which was the capital. It is the final of the third emperor of the Ming. The capital moved here during the 15th century, when had began the building of the Forbidden city. It is believed that this was the biggest in the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries

 

            Beijing is growing by the day, something that in other countries may not be the case, this translates into an advantage. The ugly, old neighborhoods are razed and indiscriminate. In their place appear wide transport arteries and multi-story super-condos. I don't remember where I read that, due to the reconstruction of Beijing 1.5 million people were resettled in other neighborhoods. The old settlers received a condo as big as they had, unless they want to pay for more money.

I'm not saying it's nice to shares a home with thousands of people, but what can be done in a country where the population is listed in the hundreds of millions. The sedative is that 20-30 floor homes look reasonably well, brightly colored in different tonalities. The faces of some blocks have variety of decorative elements, that refresh the view and enable you to guess in which one is your apartment.

I was very unhappy with myself, when we moved into the new neighborhood and due to the uniformity of the buildings, at the beginning I went often by mistake in another entrance. Conceived sometimes came to the seventh floor to see another name on the door. Later, I began to distinguish the entrances on mailboxes and scent. Yes, the smell, because the family that lived on our ground floor was from a village where cooked delicious and regularly, only that it had quietly walked in and walked right past them, to not get caught on the talk.

For now only one central district (hutong) who ever grew up around the Forbidden City and is therefore more representative now is under restoration. We had organized a trip with rickshaws there. We were a picturesque view- in front was the Gide with bicycle and we followed with the rickshaw, which also was “bicycle-powered".


 

The first thing that troubled us when we got in the old neighborhood was the grey colour all around. The streets were narrow and in front of many of the houses were parked cars. Rickshaws have passed hard with them, and how was the other transport – I don't know. Some of the restored houses have been converted into shops. The presence of two stone figures from both sides of the front door is given time information about the status of the owners. By this we understand that here lived senior government officials and military personnel, and there are now many wealthy families. What impressed us was the fact that 90% of the houses had very small external windows. Everything was looking to the internal courtyards.

In our program was included a visit to a medium-wealthy Chinese, senior citizen family in this houese.  I'm glad we saw how they live. Small room had a narrow window to the courtyard and a small living room in the middle. An additional were still had outhouse parts such as, one or two rooms directly on the ground for newlyweds-newcomers in this family. The little yard had quite mixed functions - flowers, sometimes aquarium, drying cloths and everything owners did not want to throw away the last decades. 

In the House of our hosts had several essential pieces of furniture along the walls, including a TV. In the small kitchenette we sew a refrigerator, and other necessary household gizmos. The walls stood pictures dating from the wedding of owners (the former teacher, and a nurse) to their children and grandchildren.

One street divides the old from the new "Forbidden city", which has also been enclosed with a high fence. Here live the new Lords (party and Government leaders). From the street only see the second and third floor of a nondescript houses, while in the Forbidden City on the other side, over fences peek rooftops of beautiful old palaces.

 

 

From the windows of the tourist bus, with whom we toured the city and its surroundings we were watching anxiously for our reply what is China. We did not expect that almost the entire urban population has adopted the life of our times, that it no longer can meet people dressed in national garments. The youth is often more prettily styled by American, at least one of our Northwest.  We suspected that the shops are well-stocked and settled, at least for the Olympic Games. In the ground floor of the newest shopping centers were represented all the prestigious Italian, German, French and other companies come here to sell their European prices. There are already many wealthy Chinese, they are for them.

We didn’t anticipate seeing so nice Metro here.  It was done with a lot of money and cheap labor, to be presented to the world for the Beijing Olympics 2008. Some stops were better than those of the Tokyo metro, which is naturally from earlier years. Different color marble characterized stops, laser projections on the walls above the rails and long advertising posters diversify the eyes of passenger. The clear and complete enough information boards allow easy orientation. Unlike the Japanese nationalism in China all signs around town wherever we went on a field trip are on Chinese and on English.

We took hundreds of photos of big beautiful public and residential buildings, not because they are unique, but because they are in Beijing, where we not expected.

 I don't know where is this our weakness to the high points. At the time, when we went on the mountains the greatest pleasure was to climb to the top, to see what's on the other side and naturally take pictures. Now -we are “reprogrammed”, we “climb” the skyscrapers and towers. Wherever we go, another see or not, but they are on our list. Best proof of this are the photographs in our books. Our friends joke that it ought to be called them Skyscrapers in the world. I think for me there is something else, a race of humans with nature, who reached above.  I feel personally flattered to see that we, people, at least in this respect, keep.

The change of China began in the late 1980s with ever increasing force. Now Beijing skyline is not different than any other developed city, for up to the beauty and pride of the Chinese. What is the price – they know. The Olympics is an additional serious stimulus that appeared motorways, high-speed train, a huge Chinese, very modern airport, unique in its architecture, stadiums and everything you need to show that there is a new China.
 Good or bad the world accepted it and the Olympics is the new open page of the book for this ancient country. You will get unhappy, where it remains to neglected human rights in China?  What happens in China, banned for our eye is inexcusable and needs to be changed, but require some intermediate form that avoid violence and theft. I know it sounds very cruel, but it seems that the enormous mass population of a country lagging behind unable to unleash inflates to full freedom, it requires the time and education.
The history of many African and Arab countries demonstrates that  for the freedom you need knowledge and experience, or come to abuse and theft on the part of the Government and the population. Like to give sports cars in the hands of people who until now only been plowed and dug and let them go on avtostradite, without them learn to drive. After living in African countries and visiting several Asian countries, listening and watching on TV, how are things going in the third world, in my mind course such thoughts – people really have to be ready for the great word freedom.

Of course we came to China for the Great China Wall, the Forbidden City, the beautiful temples and all that I will describe in the following essays.