On the Beaten Track

No visit to China is complete without a trip to the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, the Ming tombs, the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Warriors of Xian. (Of course, there are other famous sites, but these—with the exception of Xian—were within shooting distance of my base in Tianjin.) So donning my tourist persona I set out to visit each of these UNESCO World Heritage Sites before leaving China.

My first was the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing on a lovely fall day—one of the best times of year to visit this playground of the Qing emperors. The site was first used by the Jin emperors in the 12^th century, but it was the Qing Emperor, Qianlong (of the Mountain Retreat in Chengdu fame), who really developed this park-like palace. Its centerpieces are Kunming Hu (Vast Bright Lake) enlarged with conscripted labor by Qianlong and Wan Shou shan (Longevity Mountain) which was created with the soil removed to create the lake.

Qianlong constructed a three storey octagonal Buddhist temple on the mountain side which he named the Tower of the Fragrance of Buddha. To its right on the lake’s northern shore he constructed palaces for himself (and his mother). Surrounding them are numerous small gardens and pavilions with poetic names (The Garden of Harmonious Interest, The Pavilion of Blessed Scenery, The Pavilion for Listening to Orioles), all of which seem more poetic in Chinese than in English!

The palace was heavily damaged by British and French troops in the Second Opium War in 1860. By that time, the notorious Ci Xi had risen to power. Born a member of one of the noble Manchu families, she became a concubine of the Emperor Xianfeng and bore him a son. When the emperor died, she abandoned the Mountain Retreat and rebuilt the Summer Palace (some say with funds intended for the Chinese navy). Here she reigned, a virtual empress, after locking her politically progressive son, the Emperor, in his quarters at the palace. The buildings are filled now with her effects—furniture, porcelains, clothes and calligraphy. I got the impression that today’s Chinese are impressed by her power, but ambivalent about the manner in which she acquired and exercised it.

My next excursion was the Great Wall at Badaling, about 45 miles northwest of Beijing. This is now a major tourist site, overrun with vendors of t-shirts and knickknacks. I visited on a cold and cloudy January day after a snowfall. The wall—much of it reconstructed here for tourists—is impressive as it snakes along the ridges from hill top to hill top. It’s a good workout too, if you walk it as I did, foregoing the chairlift to one of the higher hilltops.

The tour I took to Badaling also included a stop at the Ming tombs, where all but three of the 16 Ming emperors are buried. The Ming chose a scenic valley in which to bury their royalty. The emperors’ tombs were placed under large mounds of earth. Before each is a ‘spirit’ tower visible for miles around. I visited the tomb of the Yongle emperor who died in 1424. Before the tower there is a very large, traditional Chinese hall, notable for its huge cedar columns. On either side are porcelain ovens for burning paper offerings to the dead emperor. (Today’s Chinese continue this practice, burning paper money, cars, houses, washing machines and other offerings to their deceased ancestors.) The grave itself has not been excavated and will not be until the Chinese are confident they have the technology and know-how to preserve the fabrics and other fragile relics within the tomb.

I set out on another cold day to explore the imperial palaces after a recent snowfall. The Forbidden City is a huge complex at what the Chinese historically regarded as the center of the world. (They still refer to their country as Zhong Guo or ‘central country,’ although they no longer view the Forbidden City as its center.) After entering the Meridian Gate, I walked through three vast ceremonial courtyards, each dominated by a pavilion set on a marble terrace. The scale is awe inspiring—just the effect an emperor needs to impress his subjects. (The White House is an ordinary house in comparison—just the thing a ‘presider’ needs to preserve his influence in a democracy. )

After the first three ceremonial courtyards, another three containing the official residences of the emperors follow. I moved through these quickly on my way to a less famous set of buildings to the east. I wanted to find the Juxian dian (Hall for Worshiping Ancestors) which now contains a fine collection of clocks. Although the Chinese invented paper, printing, fireworks and noodles, their best clocks were either sundials or clepsydra. (That’s right clepsydra—never heard of them myself before this.) Clepsydra operate with water which drips evenly from bowl to bowl recording the passage of time. There was a magnificent example within this splendid hall. There were also many fine examples of European clocks collected by the Qing who apparently found them more decorative as well as more reliable.

My final destination was the set of palaces Qianlong constructed in 1722-26 for his retirement. Here he spent the last four years of his life, presumably free of the cares of an emperor, in the Palace of Tranquil Longevity. Most noteworthy are the gardens, a fine example of northern Chinese style. They include a ‘cup-floating stream’ where one was expected to compose a poem as a cup of wine floated by or swallow its contents—a drinking game that is unlikely to prove popular among American students. The small space also includes rockeries, galleries and small pavilions.

No visit to China, of course, would be complete without a visit to the terracotta army of Xian. While I had reservations about seeing it, I thought it best to include a stop there as I worked my way south to Thailand. What excuse could I offer when people asked why I hadn’t seen the terracotta warriors? The army was discovered by a local peasant when digging a well in 1974. (He is still alive and was autographing guide books when I visited.) Since then an additional two pits have been excavated.

The army was buried to defend the tomb of the first Qin emperor who is thought to have unified China, introduced standardized weights and measures and otherwise created a nation out of the feudal states that preceded his often ruthless rule. In addition to the warriors, each with unique facial features, a small bronze chariot thought to have been used to carry the soul of the emperor has also been excavated. The massive display is spectacular. I had to admit it’s a must see.