We finally took a much looked-forward-to trip to Beijing leaving Xi'an on Friday evening May 13. We dashed to the airport right after John got out of his last class. After a two-hour flight we landed in a very different China than the one we live in. (One of our fellow BYU teachers here, after her return from Beijing, aptly said Xi'an is China's Tooele--not that Tooele isn't good. It is just Tooele by comparison.)
After our earlier visits to other very economically up-and-coming Chinese cities of Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, I had expected to find Beijing cleaner, more modern and generally more cutting edge than Xi'an. What I hadn't expected was to find that I felt so at home there! Beijing, like Xi'an is an ancient Chinese city, laid out like an ancient Chinese city. I'm guessing that that is the source of my comfort. Perhaps Brigham Young would have approved the layout of these two places with their grid-like logic. That said, Beijing was bigger, brighter, and faster paced than Xi'an and for us was a delightful three-day adventure. We loved even our trip into town on the airport express train.
I had booked us through the internet a well-located reasonable Chinese hotel very close by the northern entrance to the Forbidden City and also made arrangements for a bus tour to the Great Wall, Ming tombs, Jade and Silk Factories. Both bookings turned out to be great successes.
The Red Wall Hotel was certainly not posh but was clean and convenient and had a wonderful concierge who spoke English well and helped direct us to subway stations, bus lines, sites, and even an international China Post location. He was as useful to us in Beijing as Mr. Chen has been in Xi'an.
Saturday morning our tour leaders picked us up at our hotel and for 100 kuai ($15) each we with five others tourists--an Italian couple and a family of three from Taiwan--were given great value for our few dollars.
We were first driven to the Badaling Great Wall site where we took the cable car up to the wall before climbing on up to the top, where we could see some 28 kilometers of the amazing ancient wall.
We had two delightful tour guides who taught us along the way and helped us out all day. We couldn't see how they could pay for the gas for the bus for the journey, let alone for the included lunch and entrance fees.
The Great Wall was at the top of John's want-to-see-in-China list and right up there on mine. The day was beautiful with a blue sky, which stayed clear and sunny without being hot. The crowds weren't too bad and the people, both Chinese and foreign visitors were friendly and happy. Some who again wanted their pictures taken with these two Americans. We were happy to oblige them delighted with their friendliness.
I especially enjoy it when older Chinese seek our company. It isn't surprising that the young people want to talk to us--they want to practice their English on us. But the older folks who grew up with no contact with the world beyond their own and who suffered through the Cultural Revolution, wars, and famines--while we enjoyed those same years attending college, meeting, and marrying, beginning our family. These were people who suffered great hardships, yet who reach out to us with such warmth; they never cease to touch my heart.
From the Great Wall we drove to the Ming Tombs, not far from Badaling, where we saw the first and biggest of the tombs. The site was chosen by the third Ming Dynasty emperor Yongle (1402–1424), who moved the capital of China from Nanjing to the present location of Beijing.
He is credited with envisioning the layout of the ancient city of Beijing as well as a number of landmarks and monuments located therein, one being the construction of the Imperial Palace (the Forbidden City) in 1420. The Yongle Emperor selected his burial site and created his own mausoleum. The Ming tombs of the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty were located on the southern slope of Tianshou Mountain. From the Yongle Emperor onward, 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors were buried in this area.
The actual burial place is not known, only on the mountain beyond the mausoleum but the stones proclaim it to be his place and, our guides told us, use his special "temple name"--A name given him by his father but never used until his death, as he goes forward into the world beyond.
We always get a kick out of the odd "Chinglish" signs we find throughout China.
From the tombs we drove to the jade factory where we learned a little more about the quality and value of the diverse stone from which many beautiful things are carved by men who have devoted their lives to the art.
Jadite is the hardest and most costly but often included in this family are agate and lapis. It is all beautiful and very meaningful to the Chinese. For thousands of years, Jade has been the most sought-after jewel in the Orient. In China, people treasure it more than any other gem. There is a Chinese saying that everything has a price, but jade is priceless. It has certainly become my favorite memento to look out for in China.
We enjoyed our included lunch upstairs from the factory and display areas before leaving again--this time with the destination of another Chinese treasure--the silk factory. For some 2,000 years the Chinese kept the art of making silk to themselves until the silk road opened up and the secrets of the process made its journey to the known world beyond China. (Much later, of course, our own family history tells of Andrew Hunter Scott's being part of the early Utah silk industry.)
One of the products made of silk is a light-weight but very warm quilt composed of all silk fibers. Of course other types of linens are readily available as well, at very low prices. In addition to those is silk cloth by the tons. Seeing it makes it easy to see why the Chinese love their silk.
After our full day we were glad to get back to the Red Wall and turn in for the night. It had been a most memorable day.
Sunday we had our usual yogurt and fruit breakfast and began with a quick call home to wish Pop Laing a happy 95th birthday. His actual birthday was on May 11th but the family was together to celebrate today (Saturday May 14, in Utah).
We were so pleased that both Adam's and Chi's families were able to attend in Springville and have that chance to see Grandpa and Grandma, hear Grandpa's testimony and listen to his songs and stories. We found him in good spirits, though tired from the events of the day. He hadn't been sure he would make it to this birthday. Now he says his goal is to live until we get home in August! Who knows what his timetable will be but we are content to leave it in the Lord's hands.
After our call we headed out to the subway to find the building were the three Beijing Branches meet. We went early since we had interviews with Pres. Rogers, first counselor in the district presidency, in order to get our temple recommends signed. Ours weren't due to expire until November but since it is unlikely that John will be released as Xi'an's branch president until some time after we return home and therefore we would not be able to have those interviews with our Salt Lake bishop and stake president, we thought it the better part of valor to have our interviews now.
As branch president, it is always an interesting experience for John to interview himself and sign twice on his own recommend. It is pretty special to have him interview me as well. As in all priesthood functions, he dressed the part and performed his office with great dignity, standing in as he is for the Savior. We were delighted to have our new recommends all ready to go for the future as opportunity presents itself for us to attend the temple.
We also met with President Toronto and discussed our desire to serve a temple mission. Though at that time we didn't know whether or not we would be required to fill out missionary papers, we learned that in China everything is done on paper--no online applications as is done every where else in the Church. Just in case we would need them we made arrangements to pick up blank missionary packets the next day from Pres. Toronto's office, where he works as legal counsel for China's NBA.
After our Church meetings we went with Kyle and Mary Latimer's to their home directly behind the US Embassy, where Kyle works as legal counsel. They had invited us to dinner. It was delightful to visit with them and enjoy the good food and company.
After dinner we took the subway to the Temple of Heaven to walk the grounds of the beautiful park. It was too late to go inside but we were still glad to see it.
Monday while John worked on some editing he was doing, I picked up our tickets to the Forbidden City, took our silk quilt to the international China Post office and shipped it off home, and tracked down the NBA office to collect the packets.
When I got back we went together to wander through the massive Imperial Palace grounds that are the Forbidden City.
Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings. From the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty--some 500 years--it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. We spend a good portion of our remaining time in Beijing seeing just a tiny glimpse of all there was there to see.
Worn out with walking we finally arrived at the south gate looking out toward Tienanmen Square. What a place!
Our last stop before the airport was to run through Beijing's pearl market. It too got only a moment of our attention--long enough to know we would not do it any justice, or the knock-off shops housed in the other floors of the building. But we got a feel for what was there before we took the train back to the airport, glad for the hour's trip to rest our walked-off feet.
We arrived home by about 9:00 pm, put the final touches on our ppts for our classes the next morning and turned in for the night, happy that we had experienced Beijing. We feel that the sands of time for our China adventure are fast slipping away from us and we are trying to crowd in everything possible before it is over.
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