TRIP DAILY DIARY: ASIAN-AMERICAN CULTURAL
EXCHANGE
04/20/04-TUESDAY
- TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, TIANANMEN SQUARE, FORBIDDEN PALACE & BEIJING
OPERA
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Today we visited The Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden Palace, and in the evening, the Beijing Opera. Three of our students previously presented to the class on these topics, so they have written their responses on visiting them in person today. The Temple of Heaven
Tiananmen Square - by Asa What struck me most about Tiananmen Square was its size. Not only was the square itself enormous, but the buildings and the monument to Mao were as well. I had seen pictures where the square was full of people and only now do I appreciate that over a million people actually stood there. You simply cannot comprehend the size of the place until you stand in the center and look around you.
The
portrait of Mao is the prominent sight. It can be seen from
almost anywhere in the square. It is incredibly vibrant and
clear, almost as if the image of a living person was being projected
onto the wall. Standing under it, all I could think was, "This
is gigantic!". Also, the line to see Mao's body appeared
to take hours to get through. After seeing the hundreds of people
waiting in line I realized how important Mao still is to China's
people.
Asa seems to gather a crowd of Chinese boys everywhere she goes! Here red hair and pale skin make her a standout especially in China. Note the boys in the middle of the picture watching her walk away (they stood there for a good five minutes just starting at her while we took pictures in the Square, but they were too shy to talk to her. The Forbidden City - by Erin When I was searching for images of the Forbidden City, I wasn't too impressed. It seemed massive and commanding but not exceptionally beautiful. After walking through the third gate I was overtaken by the tremendous architecture. Every detail wa carefully carved and painted. There were endless ornaments lining the walkways. |
There were dozens of identical carved posts. The palace was truly decadent. The garden was my favorite. It was much more feminine and had delicate intricacies lined with plants and stone. It is no wonder why the Empress spent so much time there.
I was surprised to find that parts of the Forbidden City were, in fact, forbidden. A visit from a foreign diplomat brought in extra guard s and security. This meant being detained in the garden for some and being man-handled by a guard for Joey when he blithely began to walk past the area they had cordoned off. This tour included a lot of walking but was a worthwhile visit none the less.
The Beijing Opera - by Hillary We went to see the Beijing Opera tonight. It was pretty much crazy! It was hard to follow the plot even though there was a big screen telling the audience exactly what was going on. [Traditionally, Chinese opera has a lot of singing and slow movement in the first half and then dynamic stage fights and tumbling in the second half]
The plot is so incredibly secondary that it doesn't seem important enough to divert your eyes from the stellar acrobatics long enough to look at it. I personally think it would be in the best interest of the Chinese to send their opera people to the Olympics as gymnasts! They did this fantastic kicking/juggling routine with five people and batons. Insane! The batons were all bouncing and spinning; there and there and ah!
The pictures of the finale were so blurred that none are worth showing (because of dozens of soldiers flipping at once and the batons [swords] being tossed into the air by our hero's feet). You had to be there!
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