Roland's Travelog: Beijing - The Start of the Chinese New Year

Out of the freezing cold DongBei (North East) of China and into Beijing for a couple of days. I saw the important sites of Beijing on my previous visit here a few years ago and did not plan to stay long, but a glance through the guide book has revealed a few places I would like to see, places that I did not visit before and some areas that will have changed from last time. It has also tempted me to possibly re-visit some of the more well know places I have seen before. So off I go.....

First visit was to the Yonghe Gong Tibetan Lama Temple. Taking the wrong direction out of the station I ended up in Ditan park, which was as good as closed, because it was being set up with all kind of stalls ready for Chinese New Year's Day and Spring Festival. So, I retraced my steps and headed the opposite direction to the temple. Quite a grand, colourful affair, this temple was built in the late seventeenth century and unlike many is still in it's original form having escaped damage during the cultural revolution, thanks to its status as a national monument and having been closed for thirty years during this time. There are five main halls in the usual Buddhist Temple layout, first there is a large gate, protected by warriors, in the first courtyard a spirit wall, to keep away evil spirits (they cannot turn around corners), followed by each of the halls ordered by importance, the most significant temple halls are at the rear of the complex, furthest from the entrance just in case any evil should enter the grounds. In one of the temples I was lucky enough to find a Buddhist ceremony of some kind going on, exactly what I don't know, but many monks were seated around the large bronze statue of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Yellow Hat Sect of Buddhism, slowly passing around some object(s) from one to another while all the time prayer chants continued unabated. The highlight here is in the last temple, a 26m wooden statue of the Maitreya (future buddha) carved out of one solid sandalwood tree. Although not as high/long as two buddhas I saw some time back in Magao caves, Dunhuang, it was still an imposing sight that sadly, as is usual, you are not allowed to photograph.

Left: Yonghe Temple Hall.

Centre: Incense Burning in front of the halls

Right: Houhai Lake

Next, onto the nearby Confucius Temple, obviously a Confucian Temple this one. This unfortunately is currently under renovation and not such a pretty sight at the moment with scaffolding and wooden boards covering much of the buildings. One notable variation from other temples here is the presence of a number of stone tablets (steles) which celebrate the names of those who studied and succeeded in their examinations here. In the grounds a large pavillion in the centre of a small (frozen) pond, among ancient, enveloping trees soon helps you to forget you are in a busy city of 13 million people

Next day was a "park day". Beihai park, with large lakes, a 'round city' within which is a hall containing a white jade buddha carved from one large and perfect piece of white jade and on the central island a series of buildings on the hillside crowned by a giant white dagoba.

Left: 'Round City' in Beihai Park

Centre: North East corner of The Forbidden City and moat.

Right: Forbidden City's first gateway.

A little way to the East is Jingshan Park, this contains a man-made mound created from the digging of the moat around the Forbidden city which the mound overlooks. The park highlight is therefore the climb to the top of this mound for an interesting view of the Forbidden City, which in case you have forgotten, reminds you how vast the area is.

This day was also Chinese New Year's Eve, the evening and all night long was marked by a barrage of fireworks and fire crackers from all around the city. Fireworks are supposedly used to frighten away any evil spirits at the start of the new lunar year. This though is not just one night of fireworks, it's worth mentioning that this had been happening every night for the last week. A couple of nights ago in Dandong, I was startled by some of the loudest fire crackers ever outside my hotel. It will also continue for the next week!!