March 11 Beijing

We arrived at a seaport two hours drive from Beijing. Our guide and driver met us and once we reached Beijing we went to a silk factory. We have seen silk worms before, but we did see something different here. There are 2 sizes of cocoons. The smaller contains a single worm, the larger contains two worms. They only grow on mulberry trees. The single worm cocoons are used to make silk threads. Each cocoon is one long thread, so fine you can hardly see it, ten of these are twisted together on a machine to make one thread that will be used either to make embroidery thread (made of several of the treads produced from the machine) or to be woven into silk cloths or carpets.

 The tread is removed from the cocoon while the worm is inside. The worm is then used either for food (they eat everything here) or ground up as an ingredient in incense. We passed on the opportunity to taste one.

The cocoons with two worms produce a matted bundle of threads, these are used to make quilts. First the cocoons are put into water, the worms are removed and the ball of silk is transferred to sit in water. The ball is then pulled very thin (can go up to king bed size) by four women standing around a table. Several layers are piled on top of each other. I forget the exact number by they use 9 or 10 layers. This is then put into a cotton protector – like a big pillow case. Then a silk duvet cover goes over that. They do not need to stitch the quilt as the silk batting does not buckle up and will stay in place. While they wash the duvet cover they never wash the quilt – it is hung outside to air two times a year.

 I am told silk should be washed in cold water using shampoo, never laundry soap. We are told the quilts will be warm in winter and cool in summer. Some of the duvet covers are very uniquely designed material. Gary did look at having a silk sports jacket made, they would deliver it to the hotel that night. He eventually decided not to get one.

We had a Chinese (cantonese) lunch which was very much like the Chinese food we get at home.

Our next stop is the Forbidden City. It was like walking onto the set of the Last Emperor, which was filmed here. It has to be seen to be believed, I certainly was not prepared for how big it is, every time we passed through one gate we came to another large square, surrounded by buildings. The city was really the residence of the emperor, his empress, concubines and children. Of course also living there were female servants and eunuchs. In all it was home to 20,000 people. Male visitors could enter the outer court for audiences with the Emperor but could not stay there. There are 8700 rooms. I am sure people were always getting lost wandering through the maze of alleys and buildings. 

The roofs are all done in yellow, a colour reserved for the emperor. If anyone else used yellow they could be beheaded as it was a sign of disrespect. The buildings themselves are red with elaborate paintings on the underside of the eaves, a lot of blue, which is to celebrate heaven. Scattered throughout are huge brass or bronze pots. These were kept filled with water because of the possibility of fire. In winter the pots were covered with silk quilts and fires were built underneath to prevent the water from freezing, buildings are all constructed of wood. Also there are incense burners everywhere, it apparently was very smoky and the smell of incense was everywhere. 

The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty 1367. There are high red walls about one kilometer long on all four sides around the City, outside the walls is a wide moat. There are 4 gates – north, south, east and west. We enter by the south gate. We are in the first (outer) courtyard. It is immense. At the north side of the courtyard are three sets of stairs, the middle set is reserved for the emperor to use. It is a highly carved ramp with narrow stairs on each side. The emperor would be carried up this ramp in a sedan chair. 

The courtyard is made of brick, 15 bricks deep on top of stone so that the whole thing is 8 meters deep, there are no trees around the outside of the walls or anywhere in the living area. These were security measures to prevent anyone digging their way into the city and/or hiding behind a tree (I guess they would never think to hide behind a vat or building!)

On the roofs there are carvings of mythical animals at each corner, these are to prevent fires. Once again there are high thresholds to step over as we move from one courtyard to another or as we enter a building. We are told that the higher the threshold the higher the status of the people who live there and the lower you must bow to them. We are also told that women are to enter by stepping over the threshold with their right foot and men with their left foot, this is for good luck. Yet another indication that women are always right!  I figure we must be the luckiest people in the world as we do all the things we are told will bring luck. Also next time you visit be prepared to step over a foot high threshold! As for the bowing, we have had people bowing to us for over a month now and have come to expect it every time we enter a room, stand up, are leaving, make a request. In short, all the time. Unless this continues back in Burlington we will likely suffer severe bowing withdrawal.

At age 13 all unmarried girls from upper class families were required to go to the Forbidden City to meet the emperor. He would select the girls he wanted in his house (concubines). Some families wanted their daughter to be chosen as this brought increased status, some went to great lengths to get their daughter married before age 13 so she would not have to go to the Forbidden City as they would not see her very often and her life would be dictated by the emperor. After an emperor died all his concubines were required to move to a Buddhist temple shave their heads and become nuns. Often girls were chosen but never even met the emperor and spent the rest of their lives lolling about the Forbidden City (tough life but I guess someone had to do it).

I had forgotten the story of the Last Emperor and we are reminded of it as we walk around. It is said the “Dragon Lady” ruled the country from “behind the curtain”. Well there actually is a curtain. The emperor would sit on the throne in one of the receiving rooms and behind him was a curtain, the Dragon Lady was behind the curtain whispering instructions and listening to all that was said. It sounds like everyone views her as a real Dragon Lady. She ruled with an iron fist and was ruthless with her enemies. She controlled the emperor and was able to either fool or overwhelm the councilors to get what she wanted.

Our last stop in the Forbidden City is the Imperial Garden. Much like the gardens we have seen elsewhere on a grander scale. There are some very old Cypress trees. As a number of them had old burls and other unusual growths there are several close up pictures of bark and burls; if any one is really interested let me know and I will be happy to send you some.

Our next stop was a tea tasting. I won’t go into the details here of the 3000 different teas in China. If anyone is interested let me know. It was interesting and we did taste 6 very different teas – who knew!

Our day ended with an acrobatics show. By the time we got to our hotel, checked in and got some dinner it was late and we had to be ready to leave for Xi’ An by 6 am the next day.