Shopping in Hutongs!

This is where you can loose yourself in tea and dumpling tastings...

These old Hutongs have been changed into an area of urban shopping. Here you pay the real prices for hopefully what is the real deal. It looks ultra chic, yet with a tinge of the typical Chinese architecture and culture which makes shopping for Zara and Rolex a whole new experience... The Rolex store...
Lifelike characters in front of the dumpling shop. The dumplings are to die for good. Of course you can get all the strange ingredients like dog, donkey meat, rat, every possible type of animals intestines and brains. I settled for wild mushroom, chicken and shrimp and I literally licked my fingers off... Fabulous food:)
If you get too tired shopping, you can always take the tram which goes up and down the main street every 15 minutes.





Lavender everywhere on the streets!!!
Giant Tea Pot in front of the Tea House! This is where I bought the most amazing Lavender and Oolong tea I have ever tasted... A mus visit for anyone in Beijing:)

Fresh fruit all down the allies, and how funny mostly imported from Australia and South Africa... This is where all our "good" fruit go...

National Grand Theatre Day and Night

The National Grand Theatre was designed by French architect Paul Andreu, this stunning glass and titanium dome structure that rises out of a sheet of water looks out of this world - as if an alien spacecraft descended into the heart of Beijing.



A spectacular scene at night when all the lights are on.

The reflection of the moon!

Around Tiananmen Square...

The Railway Museum...

The Peony, China's national flower in gold inlay.


The Monument to the Peoples Heroes. The 37.9m high obelisk made of Qingdao granite bears bas-relief carvings of key patriotic and revolutionary events, such as Lin Zexu destroying Opium at Humen in the 19'th century and also calligraphy from communists Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.

Mao's eight character message proclaims, "Eternal Glory to the Peoples Heroes".

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was named this because it was off limits for 500 years.



It is the largest and best preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China. It was home to two dynasties of emperors, the Ming and the Qing, who didn't leave these walls unless absolutely required.

.

Restored in the 17'th century, the Meridian Gate is a massive portal which in earlier times was reserved for the use of the emperor only. Across the Golden Stream which is shaped to resemble a bow and is spanned by five marble bridges is the Supreme Harmony Gate, overlooking a massive courtyard that could hold imperial audiences of up to 100 000 people.

(One of the five marble bridges)

Raised on a marble terrace are the three Great Halls (San Dadian), the heart of the Forbidden City, (Taihe Dian), The Hall of Supreme Harmony, (Zhongde Dian) , the Hall of Middle Harmony and (Baohe Dian), The Hall of Preserving Harmony.


Taihe Dian is the most important and largest structure in the Forbidden City. It was built in the 15'th century and restored in the 17'th century. It was used for ceremonial occasions, such as the emperors birthday, the nomination of military leaders and coronations.

Inside Taihe Dian is the richly decorated Dragon Throne (Longyi), where the emperor would preside over his trembling officials.




Pagoda in the Imperial Garden. Huge old trees and Petrified wood in the Imperial Garden...

Tiananmen Square

The worlds largest public square!

It was possibly not the best idea to fit in Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Hutong Village in one day. By the time I got home to my guest house at 21h00 at night I couldn't feel my feet.

Tiananmen Square is where people from all over the world flock to have the obligatory photo taken with the "Great Helmsman's portrait". Chairman Mao conceived the square to project the enormity of the Communist Party. During the Cultural revolution the chairman, wearing a Red Guard armband, reviewed parades of up to a million people. In 1976 round about one million people jammed the square to pay their last respects to Mao. In 1989 army tanks and soldiers forced pro democracy demonstrators out of the square.

The square is laid out on a north-south axis. From the front gate to the south, you first encounter the Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall, then it cuts through the Gate of Heavenly Peace to the north and end's up in the Forbidden City behind it.

In the square itself you stand in the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe. The rectangular arrangement is very similar to that of the Forbidden City, thus paying obeisance to traditional Chinese culture. The ornaments and buildings are Soviet inspired though.

(Great Hall of the People)


On the west side of the square is the Great Hall of the People. This is were the Nationals Peoples Congress convenes. This is also where heads of state will meet with Chinese government when on visit to China.


















Chairman Mao in all his glory... People in China still to this day admire and look up to him.






The Dragon's that guard the Gate of Heavenly Peace.