Beijing Day 2 - Ming Things and a bloody Great Wall.
Today we went to a host of sights North of Beijing; the spirit way, a Ming tomb and of course the Great Wall. We first drove for about an hour an a half from the hubbub of the city to the countryside of apple and peach orchards and fishing farms to our first stop at the spirit way.
This is a long paved avenue that acted as a access route to the Ming tombs that are dotted around the base of the Tianshou Mountain. The Ming emperors chose this place because of the peak and the rivers that run down from it give it excellent Feng Shui and the whole route is about 1km and was built in 1540, after the area had been used by Ming emperors for some time.
This is spanned by series of 4 large gates and are flanked on either side by a procession of pairs life like and actual size stone animals, all carved from a single piece of marble. There are camels, elephants and lions as well as the mythical Chinese unicorn and the Quilin (or Kirin in Japan). Also represented are huge statues of generals and government officials in all their finerey.
Further up the mountain side you reach the tomb of Chang Ling where the 'Yongle' emperor Zhu Di, a Ming dynasty emperor who died in 1424. He is famous for forming a fleet of ships in 1421 that set sail across the world at the command of Eunuch Captain, Zheng He, the world and 'discovered' a lot of the world far before Cook or Colombus. He established Beijing as the captial and built the Forbidden City.
His father-in-law was also a general who was responsible for restoring the great wall around the same time.
The tomb is made up of three halls, including the oldest original building in Beijing, that has survived the fires, lighting and destruction that means that many of the other star attractions on the area, such as the Forbidden City or the Temple of Heaven are in fact have had to have been rebuilt - perhaps its was the Feng Shui after all.
The burial mound itself is a large man made hill with a surrounding wall and a 'Soul Tower' that holds a large stele to proclaim the final resting place of Chang Ling at its entrance, that has not been disturbed and so the emperor and his wife and still inside.
We then went to a Jade factory where we were told about the the different types and qualities of Jade, and how they are carved in to statues and jewelery etc.
After lunch we travelled up into the mountains, through the reds, yellows and greens of the autumn colours to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Firstly 'The Great Wall' is a bit of a misnomer; its not all one continual wall, but rather lots of smaller sections and it has been built and added to and destroyed and replaced throughout China's history, but this section near Beijing was some of the most important as it was was so close to the captial and it was restored in the Ming dynasty and then again in the 1980's.
The wall generally follows the line of the mountain, weaving and rising and falling as it does, and is about 20m high and 5m wide. It has a number of watch towers and at some points you can see the remains of signal towers built a small way from the wall, this is where fire could be set to send signals along the wall and warn of attacking forces. Wolf's dung collected from the area was used as the fuel for these fires as its smoke generally travels straight up rather than dispersing, so multiple fires could be set next to one another depending on the message to be sent; the more fires, the more troops attacking.
We took a cablecar upto the top of the wall and walked along a section of about 1km, between a few of the watch towers. Sometimes, the gradient of the wall can be very deceptive; as it can appear flat but leave you out of breath while other sections have steps so steep that you need to climb them with you hands, and give you a feeling of vertigo.
It is very photogenic but it can be challenging to get a shot that is free of people and the hazy mountain air can make it hard to capture the wall snaking off in the distance.
On the drive back to the city we stopped at a a Traditional Chinese medicine academy, here we were given a foot massage, that focused on the acupressure points to relieve tension and restore energy, which was well received after the climbing on the Great Wall! A holistic doctor then took our pulses, from which he can apparently tell where any problems within your body are - he said I should be careful of my neck and shoulders when I am older, and he recommended a herbal remedy for mum's back. She also got something to help with indigestion. Chinese medicine works more on long term balance rather than short term cure and so she has been given two sets of herbal pills to take for 1 month which should apparently be enough to see improvement. Watch this space for further details!
EDIT:
Pictures:
Spirit Way
Ming Tomb
Great Wall
This is a long paved avenue that acted as a access route to the Ming tombs that are dotted around the base of the Tianshou Mountain. The Ming emperors chose this place because of the peak and the rivers that run down from it give it excellent Feng Shui and the whole route is about 1km and was built in 1540, after the area had been used by Ming emperors for some time.
This is spanned by series of 4 large gates and are flanked on either side by a procession of pairs life like and actual size stone animals, all carved from a single piece of marble. There are camels, elephants and lions as well as the mythical Chinese unicorn and the Quilin (or Kirin in Japan). Also represented are huge statues of generals and government officials in all their finerey.
Further up the mountain side you reach the tomb of Chang Ling where the 'Yongle' emperor Zhu Di, a Ming dynasty emperor who died in 1424. He is famous for forming a fleet of ships in 1421 that set sail across the world at the command of Eunuch Captain, Zheng He, the world and 'discovered' a lot of the world far before Cook or Colombus. He established Beijing as the captial and built the Forbidden City.
His father-in-law was also a general who was responsible for restoring the great wall around the same time.
The tomb is made up of three halls, including the oldest original building in Beijing, that has survived the fires, lighting and destruction that means that many of the other star attractions on the area, such as the Forbidden City or the Temple of Heaven are in fact have had to have been rebuilt - perhaps its was the Feng Shui after all.
The burial mound itself is a large man made hill with a surrounding wall and a 'Soul Tower' that holds a large stele to proclaim the final resting place of Chang Ling at its entrance, that has not been disturbed and so the emperor and his wife and still inside.
We then went to a Jade factory where we were told about the the different types and qualities of Jade, and how they are carved in to statues and jewelery etc.
After lunch we travelled up into the mountains, through the reds, yellows and greens of the autumn colours to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Firstly 'The Great Wall' is a bit of a misnomer; its not all one continual wall, but rather lots of smaller sections and it has been built and added to and destroyed and replaced throughout China's history, but this section near Beijing was some of the most important as it was was so close to the captial and it was restored in the Ming dynasty and then again in the 1980's.
The wall generally follows the line of the mountain, weaving and rising and falling as it does, and is about 20m high and 5m wide. It has a number of watch towers and at some points you can see the remains of signal towers built a small way from the wall, this is where fire could be set to send signals along the wall and warn of attacking forces. Wolf's dung collected from the area was used as the fuel for these fires as its smoke generally travels straight up rather than dispersing, so multiple fires could be set next to one another depending on the message to be sent; the more fires, the more troops attacking.
We took a cablecar upto the top of the wall and walked along a section of about 1km, between a few of the watch towers. Sometimes, the gradient of the wall can be very deceptive; as it can appear flat but leave you out of breath while other sections have steps so steep that you need to climb them with you hands, and give you a feeling of vertigo.
It is very photogenic but it can be challenging to get a shot that is free of people and the hazy mountain air can make it hard to capture the wall snaking off in the distance.
On the drive back to the city we stopped at a a Traditional Chinese medicine academy, here we were given a foot massage, that focused on the acupressure points to relieve tension and restore energy, which was well received after the climbing on the Great Wall! A holistic doctor then took our pulses, from which he can apparently tell where any problems within your body are - he said I should be careful of my neck and shoulders when I am older, and he recommended a herbal remedy for mum's back. She also got something to help with indigestion. Chinese medicine works more on long term balance rather than short term cure and so she has been given two sets of herbal pills to take for 1 month which should apparently be enough to see improvement. Watch this space for further details!
EDIT:
Pictures:
Spirit Way
Ming Tomb
Great Wall