Back in Beijing for Spring Festival

I came back to Beijing again as it was necessary before heading to my next intended destination Datong.. But after a couple of weeks I am still in Beijing. It was Spring festival so I had a look around a little more of the city, visited a temple fayre, which was a busy, bustling, noisy affair, with lots of stalls selling Buddhist souvenirs and loads of other typical Chinese things, as well as loads of types of foods from all over China. The most noticeable items were some round whirly wind wheels (no idea what they should be called) that make lots of noise when the wind blows and it was a very windy day! I also bought a diabolo which I still can't master.


Left: Diabolo master demonstrates.
Centre: A local boy holds one of those colourful, noisy wind wheels.
Right: This lady played me a song on this odd-shaped instrument.

The Baiyun (White Cloud) Temple is the home of the Chinese Taoist Association in Beijing. On this day it was incredibly busy due to it still being holiday time, thousands of people heaving their way through the grounds from hall to hall. I spotted some interesting New Year activities there too; On the way in, everyone had to stroke a carving of a monkey on the archway to the entrance, it brings good luck. Inside there were tables full of old coins; people purchased bags of them and then threw them at a large hanging coin which hung from a archway over a kind of well. Everyone furiously joined in attempting to strike the coin as many times and as hard as possible. Other activitied involved people took their turns to walk three times around a Taoist symbol (the famous balck and white ying and yang symbol) on the floor near the cente of the temple grounds while a long queue formed for people to touch the carvings of a particular vase situated in the grounds


Left: Chucking coins at the lucky coin hanging below.
Right: Locals worship in front of a burning incense burner.

Five years ago on my first visit to Beijing, I visited the most important sites, but I decided to head back to the Temple of Heaven (TianTan) which is one of the best sites in Beijing and also later re-visited the Forbidden City, just so I can include a photo or two of these places here. An entry on Beijing would seem odd without mentioning either of these two most famous sites.
Construction of Tiantan, Temple of Heaven was finished in in 1420 and its architecture is based on elaborate symbolism and numerology. It's original design of round buildings in square- shaped areas, were designed in accordance with ancient Chinese beliefs that imagine Heaven as round and the Earth as square. Well worth seeing again despite the hordes of Chinese tourists, due to its original design which offers some variety from other temples.

The Forbidden City however, is currently being renovated (in time for Beijing 2008 Olympics of course) and sadly the two main halls are both covered in scaffolding and tarpaulin and entirely closed to the public, which left me with a pretty unfulfilled feeling when I left the grounds. Signs outside do state that the Hall of Supreme Harmony is currently undergoing renovation, but do not mention that the second main hall is also closed. I'm glad I had been there before or I would have felt disappointed with the visit. But it is still an enormous, amazing site, full of interesting halls and pathways which meander on for ever through the museum's 720,000 square meters, which can keep you occupied for many hours. However, if you must see an Imperial Palace in China and can make it there, at this moment in time, I would recommend the one in Shenyang instead !!


Left: Coins lined up, waiting to be bought and chucked!
Centre: Typical temple doorway at TianTan (Temple of Heaven).
Right: The centrepiece 'Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests" at Tiantan.

So, I am still in Beijing, for two reasons. First, the weather suddenly became very cold in Northern China and my next destination, Datong was a stop-off in order to see some hanging Buddhist caves and a series of temples in the mountains called WuTai Shan. Seeing as some of these are at an elevation of 3000m and there has been lots of snow, it is very likely most, if not all of Wutai Shan, would be unreachable in the snow, so I chose to delay. Secondly, this coincided with my getting some infection in my mouth/cheek which was quite nasty and so after a visit to hospital, I decided it best to stay here until everything was clear. Now, despite being better and improved weather, I will still stay a few days more as in my time of rest I found more things I wanted to do/see while here. Then, I will definitely leave Beijing, to Datong or elsewhere.