Tianamen Square and The Forbidden City

Today we had second CIEE trip to Tianamen Square 天安门 (Gate of Heavenly Peace)　and the Forbidden City 紫禁城．It really felt surreal to have been there. Standing where the Boxer Rebellion events took place, where the May 12th Tianamen Square incident took place. It felt very surreal. I've always only ever looked at pictures in books of these two places, never have I ever imagined actually being able to step foot in these places. Both places were brimming with an unimaginable amount of tourists! Coupled with the typical mentality of push and shove to get the best look of things, it was really really very very crowded!

Walking through the inner walls of the Forbidden City.

The infamous Mao picture at Tiananmen Square. And a soldier guarding it.

Security was pretty tight in this area. And there were soldiers in green and policemen as well as plain-clothes policemen walking all around.

This is the Mao-soleum that Chairman Mao's preserved body is kept. Yeah, I did not know that Mao's body has been preserved since his death and it is for exhibition in the Mao-soleum for the public to see. In my guidebook it says that every night, the body is kept back into a refrigerator. If you look closely to the left of the picture, you will see the many people queuing up to view the body.

I took too many pictures of the Forbidden City to put up. There were too many halls and living quarters to keep up with... Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Central Harmony, Hall of Preserving Harmony, Palace of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Union, Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Gate of Divine Might... The place was seriously really really huge. The architecture was absolutely beautiful. I kept having images of Chinese dramas that were set in palace headquarters running through my mind when walking through it all.

This is one of the many thrones of the emperor. I think all in all, I saw about 4 thrones... I am sure there are way more than that that's not opened to the public.

This is the sides of the Empress' wedding sedan, that has the 喜喜 chinese character on it. It is the character for double happiness and it is supposed to be good luck to touch it. I was amongst a crowd of Chinese people who literally wiped their palms on this symbol on the sedan. I mean I touched it, just for good luck. But I could not help but think of how clean the walls of sedan were.

This is one part of the beautiful garden of the Forbidden City that the emperor's concubines used to walk in.

The exit gate of the Forbidden City.