The Feeling It
Wednesday afternoon, October 15, 2008
After our lectures we headed out to take in a few more Beijing sights. We had a brief visit at the Olympic Games’ Bird’s Nest and Water Cube. This gave me a sense of their size and intricate design but in all honesty the nighttime views of these facilities while watching the Olympics were a lot more spectacular.
We then immersed ourselves with the throngs of other visitors at the Forbidden City, so-called because it was off limits to anyone other than royalty for more than 500 years. This site contains the largest preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China and served as home to two dynasties of emperors. Dragons adorned every building because this was the symbol of royalty. This site spanned about 2 miles in length so we had lots of exercise to get through it all.
We emerged from the Forbidden City onto Tiananmen Square. I should note that, despite the fact we were in a Communist country, we went about our business without any unusual experiences (thanks mostly to Li Li and other volunteers who were our constant escorts). Tiananmen Square was, however, as Larry Leverenz from Purdue put it best, “where you feel it.� Armed guards dotted numerous areas of the square, looking mean and barking in Chinese what we perceived to be, “keep moving.� A giant banner of Mao hung on one of the buildings facing the square, symbolic of his dominance during the Cultural Revolution. Those of my generation recall all too vividly the demonstrations in 1989 by pro-democracy protestors who were squelched by army tanks and soldiers. Indeed we felt this presence.