Arriving in Beijing I saw old apartment buildings that were - I was told - one by one being razed, to be replaced by new grander buildings - some of this effort is in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
   

Beijing was a sauna the whole two days I was there - high heat and humidity.

I took the Airport bus by  Tiananmen Square full of folks. In a deluge of heavy rain, a goose-stepping guard lowered the flag in front of  the Forbidden City's Gate of Heavenly Peace.
 
In the deluge the Gate of Heavenly Peace was reflected in the inch-deep water. The vast portrait of Mao hung before a dragon.


Tiananmen Square people in the rain. Walking to my hotel the people in the square were getting soaked, as was I.
 
An Honor Guard marched by. Steve at his guest house foyer. Hot tea was always available.


The Haoyuan Guest house was wonderful. Located near the Forbidden City, its interior featured a quiet Qing courtyard with standing ponds of carp and in the trees - caged songbirds.

          
The Gugong, the Forbidden City, originally designed by Kublai Khan, hosted 24 emperors, and has walls built high to thwart rebellions. For five centurys, up to 1949, the people were not allowed to even approach its walls.  Now the entrance is crowded for tours and the city is under renovation. It holds 800 buildings and 9000 chambers.
Forbidden City Under  Renovation - quicktime .mov file  - 6 Mby
 
The lion, king of the animal world, although never native, is highly symbolic in China. A pair of stone lions, male and female, are often found in front of the gates of  traditional buildings, representing power and prestige. The male lion is on the left with his right paw resting on a ball, and the female on the right with her left paw fondling a cub. The ball symbolizes the unity of the empire, and the female's cub, thriving offspring.

 
 
The Forbidden City held endless detailed artwork.
 
Temple roofs are curved to ward off evil spirits and have figures guarding the structure.  Here are Kevin and I. The Emperor would be carried up the ramp behind us on a litter. Below - ramp carving details - the ramp, carved of dragons, is made from a single 200 ton piece of stone that was moved many miles to this site by the digging of wells to make sliding ice.

The Throne above is in the Hall of Central Harmony (an "informal" stopover place for the emperor on the way to the Hall of Supreme Harmony).
 
Emperor's golden throne. Emperor's bed. Bed of concubine. (One Emperor is said to have had over 1000 concubines - all had to
stay in the forbidden city for life. (He saw most only once. One who tried to fashion reforms was thrown to her death down a well.  But one emperor who spent all his time with concubines was also one who was overthrown.) It was a city of luxury and excess with Qing meals
of one hundred dishes while the people outside lived in poverty. In the imperial period there were 6000 residents - half of whom were eunuchs - these installed to ensure the authenticity of the emperor's offspring and a safeguard against nepotism.
 
The weathered stones were brought up from the south.The stones are mingled with ancient cypress trees, some over 500 years old (so it is said)  Here tourists are posing.
       
This pearl-studded star globe was especially impressive.


Monolithic caved jade boulder (~1800).

     
Details

         
Ancient Chinese instruments: Bamboo flute (top left), rose clapper (top middle), single skin drum (top right), the plucked Ruan  (formerly the Yueqin (bottom left) - Moonqin Sheng (brass reed pipes), small and large brass gongs. At right above a woman painting the inside of a globe with many finished globes behind (in the Forbidden City).
 
Kevin told me that after his kingdom was invaded, and lost, one of the emperors committed suicide in this Pagoda on the hill.

 pagoda on the hill 3 Mby .mov file
  Kevin brought me to the Fanshan (Imperial)  Restaurant (formerly the Emperor's kitchen) at the East Gate of the Beihai Park. Our meal included sea cucumbers and hump of camel and the sweet pea-flour candies.
 
We climbed up the hill of the White Pagoda  where a child protested being put into costume. We took a ferry ride across Beihai Lake and viewed the Nine Dragon Screen. (It was also a way to beat the heat.)
     
The lion above is playing with her cub.
 
We viewed the Temple of Heaven Park - a little outside town, where the Emperor would pray for good crops. It was rather beautiful, and the people in the parks formed circles singing songs together, also remarkable to see such harmonious spirit.
         

Leaving Beijing then next day, however, I was scammed in the airport for about 20$. Two people approched me in the airport and suggested they help speed me through the process. They found me a line that was for "carry-on-only" but then gave me fake "official" bills below for their services from the "Beijing Local Taxation Bureau."  It was a professional operation. Kevin met me at the airport and pointed out that all real receipts in China were rubber-stamped, unlike these.