MaoSoleum

I'm am currently ending my second day in Beijing and have enjoyed everything so far. (Pictures will all come at the end in a big update). As mentioned before I am traveling with Whitney and two of her fellow classmates, one of which is from Boston and the other from the Toronto area. Yesterday we mostly walked around and explored some areas, saw Tienanmen square and went to a little hilltop temple kind of place where you could get a nice view of the Forbidden City and Beijing as a whole.

Today was very interesting. In the morning we went to the Mao Memorial Hall, located in Tienanmen Square, which mostly serves as Mao's Mausoleum. Before going I looked it up to find out a little about it. There are a list of rules to prepare for before entering. There is a dress code, where you can't wear shorts or mini skirts and no hats; I donned my nicest communist red collared shirt and a pair of jeans. You can't bring any kind of bag or camera in. You also need to bring valid ID with you. They also pass you through a metal detector, after you already pass through one to get into Tienanmen square, and ask you to empty your pockets so they can check what you are bringing in. Frisking also occurs if you fail the metal detector. The memorial is kind of modeled after the Lincoln Memorial in DC. Similar building structure, square shaped with pillars and steps, and there is a big statue of Mao when you first get in.

But before you get inside, you go through the line, which can be more than an hour long but we got there early and barely had to wait at all. As you get further into the line you see people getting turned out because they had a bag or committed some other infraction. After security there are stalls to purchase flowers for a few RMB. The line splits in two on the way in, the building is symmetrical on the inside and outside so the only difference is if you walk left or right. When you enter you see the big Mao statue, his statue is sitting there with a pretty friendly expression on his face. I think it might have even been sitting in a cross legged position, but I cannot quite recall. There is a nice nature painting behind the statue, and in front of it are a ton of flowers of different colors. In front of the statue, but not too close, people lay down the flowers they bought into a receptacle placed for that very reason. Once entering the memorial everyone is dead silent and are kept continuously moving throughout the building.

After seeing the statue and moving into the adjoining hallway, ahead of me I hear a cellphone ring go off, quickly followed up by a man's scream. Suddenly I see two security guards silently carrying a man away, each guard holding one of the man's arms. They put a key card into some side door and carry the guy inside, swiftly and noiselessly shutting the door behind them. The look on the man's face just gave the impression that he knew he mad a huge mistake.

Following that incident, my group and I, as well as everyone else in the building, continued moving as though something crazy didn't just happen. Then I got into The Room. There is a large square of glass, inside there are two of the most serious looking guards on Earth, standing completely straight up, looking straight ahead, and not moving an inch. In the middle of the glass, encased in a clear coffin, is the embalmed corpse of Mao Zedong, lit up and draped up to the head in a red flag with the communist hammer and sickle symbol in the middle. You only get to walk to the side of it and get a side/top view of his face. It looked perfectly preserved, like he was just laying there with his eyes closed.

After seeing the Great Leader you take the back exit and walk down the stairs into a courtyard where they sell all kinds of Mao memorabilia. You then walk past the security gate back into Tienanmen square. At the back gate I saw a man perform a sort of kowtow to the building, doing a series of full prostrations and bows. I've read and learned that Mao was revered like a god by many Chinese during his reign of China when the communist movement was in full swing but didn't think he would be regarded as such today. Keep in mind this is not at all representative of China as a whole or even close to the majority. I just find what I observed to be notable.

Overall it was quite an experience, the square as a whole is an amazing sight. We also visited the Forbidden city today, the Lama Buddhist temple, and the silk market. The silk market was intense in a different way, it was more then 6 stories high of all kinds of vendors all of whom try to sell things to you simultaneously. When I say the market has everything it really does, food, tea, jewelery, purses, luggage, clothing, silk, sporting equipment, shoes, art, porcelain, everything any tourist would want and more. This is where I got to have my first haggling experience. I have been waiting until closer to my departure date to buy things at similar markets in Shanghai so haven't bargained yet. Though I actually did not haggle but sat back and watched Whitney since she was getting things I wanted anyway and could get a better deal by getting multiples (she also boasted about here excellent haggling skills). Thanks to Whitney we all got brand name 300usd headphones for only 300rmb per pair. They seem completely legitimate, I'm using them now and seem to be working as they should. Whitney was a pro, made all the right moves and set the right numbers at the right times, pretending she was going to walk away to pressure them into taking her offers. She kept saying things like "you're going to be mad" when vendors asked what price she wanted. I also got a Chinese flag for the dorm next semester for pretty cheap, again thanks to Whitney who also got one.

As I am sitting here writing this in the lounge area Whitney came out to inform me that she and the other two girls will be returning to the silk market and I should feel free to sleep in. One of the girls decided to sleep today after sight seeing instead of going to the market while Whitney and the other want to buy more. Whitney will be leaving the silk market earlier than the others and we will be heading to a place called Panjiayuan, which is a market for art and antiques. I am interested in this because they will have cultural revolution items like posters, pins, etc. and probably some other communist era items which I am interested in seeing and possibly haggling for. All of us will also be heading to the Summer Palace and probably the Zoo, with a plan to see architecture in the evening like the TV tower and the Olympic buildings. We are doing the great wall on Monday which I am excited for. I will be staying here until Wednesday so have a bit more time to explore than the others who are leaving Tuesday at around 5am.

As a detail is is labor day weekend here in China so many extra people are traveling the country, which has been noticeable in Beijing, especially in the metro and all tourist destinations. I'm expecting the great wall to be insanely crowded when we get there but I'll still be seeing the great wall so can't really complain.

The hostel we are at is pretty nice, we got a dorm style room with 4 beds so it is just us in the room. It is called the Beijing City Central Youth Hostel (in case any readers have Beijing plans), just paces away from the metro and across from the cities central train station.

That is all for now, I suppose I should get to bed and get rested up for tomorrow.

See ya,
Michael