Jottings from the Granite Studio

I’m starting at a new gig this autumn. I’ll write more about it as the details get finalized but it looks like one of my responsibilities is to lead field trips.

The problem is that I am very much a book-and-document historian. Buildings and “stuff” have never been my strong points. I tend to get bored in museums and I once fell asleep at the Summer Palace. So in the interest of learning how to fake interest, I’ve set aside some time each week to re-explore those tourist sites in Beijing that most of us only visit when family comes in from out of town.

I actually do like the Forbidden City. I’ve been there about six times but I’ve always felt there were things I missed. So in honor of Friday the 13th–here are thirteen random musings from today’s urban hike around Gu Gong:

1) They’re having some work done on the house. Two of the three centerpiece buildings (The Hall of Supreme Harmony and The Hall of Preserving Harmony) are covered in chicken wire and the tinker-toy reject collection that passes as scaffolding here. Also a huge chunk south of the Western Palaces is under renovation. There are blue fences and “Do Not Enter” signs everywhere.

2) The new audio tour is hit and miss. First off, I miss Roger Moore’s 007 delivery and cheeky style. But the new system does automatically deliver an explanation as you approach a particular area. This is great because you don’t have to follow any “turn left,” “go forward,” put your right foot in take your right foot out,” style directions. You look at a building and presto! A kindly older Chinese woman–who sounds suspiciously like Wu “There’s 5000 years of Chinese history, Mr. Paulson” Yi–gives you a lot of decent information (she harps a bit about the 1900 Allied invasion against the Boxers, but it’s pretty mild.) HOWEVER…if you wander too close to the back wall of one area, the receiver sometimes picks up the signal from the next courtyard yonder, meaning you have to hustle over/through/around the wall to see whatever it is she’s talking about. That said…HUGE BONUS goes to the little map on the gizmo that shows all the spots you have yet to hear about. I felt like Ms. Pacman all day, wandering the maze chewing up my little red dots and avoiding the ghosts–in my case the gratingly persistent “art show” touts that wander the courtyards trolling for foreigners.

3) The Yanxi Gong in the Eastern palaces is like wandering onto a movie set gone hopelessly wrong. It’s a half-finished concrete and steel monstrosity started auspiciously in 1909 that was supposed to be a European style mini-castle, complete with a dual-glass exterior containing…wait for it…fish inside the walls. (Thankfully for the fish and good taste, the 1911 Revolution occured before the project could be finished.) The other cool thing about the Eastern Palaces is the 10 yuan cover charge. It’s just enough to keep the crowds down and it was refreshingly pleasant to wander the Qianlong Gardens in (relative) peace and tranquility. I even sat down in one courtyard and quietly sipped an ice tea in complete solitude for three whole minutes. Kinda weird. Kinda nice.

4) Starbucks is still there and selling coffee but they did take down the signs. If you didn’t already know where it was the only way you would find it is by stumbling into the adjoining souvenir shop. (In case you’re wondering, it’s on the northeast side of a narrow courtyard in the middle, just to the east of the Gate of Heavenly Purity.)—UPDATE 7/14: Apparently I was there for a requiem. According to reports, Friday was the last day for Starbucks at the Forbidden City.

5) We’ve been in the midst of a “beggar wave” recently in Beijing and there were quite a few on the walk from the subway station and again outside the north gate. I have decidedly mixed feelings here. On one hand, it’s hard to pass by a guy with no legs and not give him something and I know that many Chinese who see me give money think I’m a sucker and just another idiot foreigner. On the other hand: Do unto others…

6) Related note: On the subway today people actually stood in line and waited for disembarking passengers to get off before madly shoving each other out of the way to clutch and grab for the last few seats. So…progress being made in the Olympic City.

7) I’ve never understood the urge to dress up like an emperor, get my picture taken, and have tea. Maybe I’m too professionally involved. Did Jane Goodall ever dress like a chimp? Does Simon Schama wander his house in knee-highs and stockings…on second thought, don’t answer the last one.

Just before I got to the ticket counter outside the main entrance a young woman approached me and asked if I wanted a tour guide. She started earnestly giving me her spiel and I humored her good-naturedly until she got to the part about how “a lot of Chinese emperors lived in the Forbidden City.”

“What about the Qing? Weren’t they Manchus?” I asked.
“Yes, but they became Chinese and so the Qing is also Chinese.”

At which point I smote her mightily upon the forehead with my dog-eared copy of Mark Elliot.

9) Okay, so that last part didn’t really happen, but if wishing only made it so…

10) I did hear a number of times about how Kangxi–a star of this show–took back Taiwan from the Dutch. Looking past the “back” part of that little equation for a moment, Koxinga took it from the Dutch in the name of the Ming. Kangxi’s boys then took it from Koxinga.

11) Many of the buildings say something like “Built in 1420, and renovated by the Qing in 1655…” That should probably read: “Built in 1420, burned to the ground by the Manchus during the invasion in 1644…the Qing finally got around to rebuilding the place and adding a fresh coat of paint in 1655.” (Though to be fair to the guys from Dongbei, the bandit Li Zicheng did a fair amount of marshmallow and chuan’r roasting of his own that summer before Dorgon’s troops swept into town.)

12) Why not restore more of the pavilions and buildings to show how the emperors and consorts lived? How about renovating the old offices to show what those looked like when the scribes scribbled, the officials prevaricated, and the eunuchs looted? There’s some of that trapped behind dirty glass in the Western Palaces but not nearly enough. Most of the buildings have a single throne or are used as exhibition halls. Pu Yi’s dining room/living room combo is one example of how this could be done. I know most of the good stuff was sold/destroyed/carted off to Taiwan but couldn’t they find a replica throne room down in Panjiayuan’r for 150 kuai and transport costs? Could somebody look into this?

13) Okay maybe I’m being culturally insensitive BUT…I have yet to figure out the choice of pumps/high heels for a four-hour tour of a famously cobblestoned national treasure. The sound of imperial drums and calling sentries has been replaced by wives and girlfriends whining about how their feet hurt and “It’s such a long tour, can we sit down awhile?” Now I know why the Manchu women didn’t bind their feet…too much walking to get around the palace.

NEXT WEEK: Summer Palace
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Photo top right: Taken from Jingshan Park, Summer 2004.