Today I visited Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. I wish I could retain all the information I was given however it’s impossible. The square was huge and we didn’t have time to see everything. They are preparing for golden week which starts on the 1st October and is to celebrate the founding of the people’s republic of China.

These flowers are just there for the celebrations

Getting the red carpet treatment. Sorry I can’t remember what this statue represents.

Please note the blue sky. It’s the first time I’ve seen it this holiday. It’s been warm but the other cities and towns have been so gloomy.

We weren’t allowed in Chairman Mao’s mausoleum as we ‘don’t have a Asian face’

We were told not to take pictures of any one in a uniform🤔

I have lots of photos of the Forbidden City but I really need to sleep now as I have a 5.45 am get up time to go to The Wall tomorrow. I will update them tomorrow on the 1.5 hour journey.. back later x

I’m back. Pictures of the Forbidden City. Again, too much information given that after a sleep I really can’t remember🤔😁.

This is the entrance to the Forbidden City

The city has 9,999 rooms! Apparently. They like the number 9. 9 is the highest and represents the Emperor. In the City everything is an odd number which symbolises man. Even numbers are for the women, therefore there are no even numbers. For example, the following pictures are of animals on the tops of the building’s. I can’t remember what the first and last animals are, probably dragons. The higher the number of animals in between the first and last denotes how important that building was. The higher the number I.e. 9 (for the Emperor) the better the building.

This one has 10 and that is because it was originally built in the 14 hundreds but was burnt down when struck by lightning. When it was ‘re built 100 years later that made it with 10. The last and smallest animal representing lightning 😁

🤔

The female ‘lion’ with her paw on baby

The male ‘lion’ with his paw on the ball depicting Power.

These are the ying and yang and usually in front of buildings watching over the good within the building.

General pictures and information that might help!

The Emperor’s attendance hall

Incense burner

This was the Emperor’s dressing room!

This area was where the Emperor’s concubines lived! Apparently one Emperor had 3,000 concubines (as well as his wife!)

Group photo 😁

We then went to the Temple of Heaven which was the royal temple used by Emperor’s to worship the heaven and pray the harvest.

The locals come here to ‘gamble’. They’re not allowed to gamble here but apparently no money is exchanged as they use ‘smart pay’😂

And scenes of Beijing..

This was an interesting altercation and I’m not surprised as there’s no ‘highway code’ in China. The taxi driver pulled right across the bus and the bus driver decided he wasn’t happy! I think there was minor contact.