对不起，我不写，我们很忙和没有时间。 现在汉语棵很蛮。
（Duibuqi, wo bu xiexia, women hen mang he mei you shijian. Xianzai hanyu ke hen man.）
(Sorry, I haven't been writing, we're very busy and have no time. Right now Chinese class is very rough/difficult.)
Sorry I've not posted in so long. We've been very busy, Chinese classes have been accelerating and becoming more difficult, though we're all still doing fine, we just have to put more time into studying. On top of which we are enjoying ourselves with frequent adventures out in Beijing. One such adventure, taken as part of our Cultural History class with Dr. Clark, was a trip to the Forbidden City, the seat of Chinese imperial power during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, from the fourteenth through twentieth centuries.
The forbidden city was fascinating. Like many aspects of Chinese culture, it was highly organized, with every building designed functionally and architecturally to serve and represent its purpose. Everything down to the shape of roofs communicated something about the building's importance and function. Also fascinating was, again, the vast number of tourists wanting to see an artifact of Imperial China.
The first photo depicts Tiananmen (天安门）（Heavenly Peace Gate), the main entrance to the Forbidden City, through which the Emperor would go out of the city and officials would go in, though officials were only allowed to use the left and right entrances, as the center entrance was reserved for the Emperor. This was also where the emperor would address the people, and where the Qing emperor proclaimed his succession to the seat of imperial power and his taking of the "Mandate of Heaven" after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. This was also where Mao Zedong proclaimed the beginning of the People's Republic of China. The gate has been affixed with a portrait of Mao, flanked by quotes from his famous declaration, and the seal of the Communist Party.
The second photo depicts the throne of Emperor Qianlong, an Emperor of the Qing dynasty, where he and his successors would hold court. Though the throne room was closed to the public, people were allowed to look in over the tops of the gate at the throne. This was by far the most popular item in the forbidden city, as hundreds of tourists fought for good position to take photographs of the throne. I managed to get a picture by holding my camera over my head. It was very interesting to see the near obsessive desire to photograph the throne, which only a very few people, only court officials and imperial eunuchs and concubines, would ever see during the Imperial City.
The third photo is of an old Chinese water clock, the traditional time-keeping device in China before Mateo Ricci brought clocks and clockmaking to the Qing Emperors in the 15th century. The water clock was located at the entrance to the "Hall of Clocks" where many of the fantastic clocks, either gifts from Jesuit missionaries or created by imperial clock makers in later years, were displayed.
The final photo depicts the view of the entire forbidden city as seen from Jingshan, a mountain built over the rubble of the Mongolian Yuan forbidden city. We climbed Jingshan, which was a profound experience. We were walking on one of the most potentially archeologically valuable sites in the world, one which may never be exhumed due to Jingshan Mountain's own history as a Buddhist Site in the Forbidden City and as the place where the last Ming emperor hanged himself in despair as the Manchurians prepared to invade Beijing.
That is all for now. I have many more photos of the forbidden city, and a lot more I could say about it, but I need to study for my next class. 再见！（Zaijian/See you Again!)
（Duibuqi, wo bu xiexia, women hen mang he mei you shijian. Xianzai hanyu ke hen man.）
(Sorry, I haven't been writing, we're very busy and have no time. Right now Chinese class is very rough/difficult.)
Sorry I've not posted in so long. We've been very busy, Chinese classes have been accelerating and becoming more difficult, though we're all still doing fine, we just have to put more time into studying. On top of which we are enjoying ourselves with frequent adventures out in Beijing. One such adventure, taken as part of our Cultural History class with Dr. Clark, was a trip to the Forbidden City, the seat of Chinese imperial power during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, from the fourteenth through twentieth centuries.
The forbidden city was fascinating. Like many aspects of Chinese culture, it was highly organized, with every building designed functionally and architecturally to serve and represent its purpose. Everything down to the shape of roofs communicated something about the building's importance and function. Also fascinating was, again, the vast number of tourists wanting to see an artifact of Imperial China.
The first photo depicts Tiananmen (天安门）（Heavenly Peace Gate), the main entrance to the Forbidden City, through which the Emperor would go out of the city and officials would go in, though officials were only allowed to use the left and right entrances, as the center entrance was reserved for the Emperor. This was also where the emperor would address the people, and where the Qing emperor proclaimed his succession to the seat of imperial power and his taking of the "Mandate of Heaven" after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. This was also where Mao Zedong proclaimed the beginning of the People's Republic of China. The gate has been affixed with a portrait of Mao, flanked by quotes from his famous declaration, and the seal of the Communist Party.
The second photo depicts the throne of Emperor Qianlong, an Emperor of the Qing dynasty, where he and his successors would hold court. Though the throne room was closed to the public, people were allowed to look in over the tops of the gate at the throne. This was by far the most popular item in the forbidden city, as hundreds of tourists fought for good position to take photographs of the throne. I managed to get a picture by holding my camera over my head. It was very interesting to see the near obsessive desire to photograph the throne, which only a very few people, only court officials and imperial eunuchs and concubines, would ever see during the Imperial City.
The third photo is of an old Chinese water clock, the traditional time-keeping device in China before Mateo Ricci brought clocks and clockmaking to the Qing Emperors in the 15th century. The water clock was located at the entrance to the "Hall of Clocks" where many of the fantastic clocks, either gifts from Jesuit missionaries or created by imperial clock makers in later years, were displayed.
The final photo depicts the view of the entire forbidden city as seen from Jingshan, a mountain built over the rubble of the Mongolian Yuan forbidden city. We climbed Jingshan, which was a profound experience. We were walking on one of the most potentially archeologically valuable sites in the world, one which may never be exhumed due to Jingshan Mountain's own history as a Buddhist Site in the Forbidden City and as the place where the last Ming emperor hanged himself in despair as the Manchurians prepared to invade Beijing.
That is all for now. I have many more photos of the forbidden city, and a lot more I could say about it, but I need to study for my next class. 再见！（Zaijian/See you Again!)
