June 3, 2013 Beijing – Temple of Heaven and our flight back to Detroit.

June 3, 2013

Beijing – Temple of Heaven and our flight back to Detroit.

Our Beijing guide, Lee came to get us at 9:00 AM for a tour of the Temple of Heaven in the morning and to take us to the airport after lunch to catch our plane departing at 4:50 PM.

The Temple of Heaven was constructed between 1406 and 1420 during the time of Yongle Emperor. It covers an impressive area of 2.73 square kilometers and during the time of the emperors was exclusively used by the emperors for praying for good harvests and peace. Now it is being used by the people as a park that they can come exercise, play card and board games with their friends and for people to see the historical buildings that include:

The Hall of Good Harvest that is a decorative circular building that is 36 meters in diameter and 36 meters high where the emperor would pray for good harvest.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven that is similar to the Hall of Good Harvests but is smaller. It is surrounded by a circular echo wall that we tried and it still works very well.

The Circular Mound Altar is the altar proper that was built by the Jiajing Emperor in 1530 and rebuilt in 1740. It is an open area with 3 levels and built of marble in a circular pattern. The emperor would stand on a circular stone about a meter in diameter in the center and his voice would reflect from the circular railing of the top level. This way he would hear his words when he was praying. The circular pattern in the alter represents heaven and the square wall surrounding the circular wall of the alter represents earth.

After lunch we went to the airport to catch our direct flight of 6,675 miles to Detroit. We returned as we came on the great circle route over Russia, Alaska, Beaufort Sea, the Great Slave Lake, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan and finally Detroit. We were about an hour late leaving Beijing but had a tail wind of between 24 mph to 104 mph that reduced out late arrival to 30 minutes in Detroit.

We had a great time during our 3 weeks in China but were really happy when we got home.

Morning exercises in the grounds of the Temple of Heaven. A video is in the  next picture. Just click on the arrow to start it.

Our Guide, Lee explaining the map of the grounds of the Temple of Heaven.

Dorothy and Lee in the covered walkway leading to the Temple of Heaven. Note the people playing board and card games at the side.

The beautifully decorated  Hall of Good Harvest.

Dorothy and Con in front of the  Hall of Good Harvest.

Dorothy and Con in front of the museum at the Temple of Heaven.

A very old vessel in the museum at the Temple of Heaven.

An impressive statue in the museum at the Temple of Heaven.

Many people were visiting the Hall of Good Harvest.

The outdoor cooking vessel that was used  for preparing the food at the Temple of Heaven.

The gate leading to the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

Lee and Dorothy in front of the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

People exercising in the trees on the grounds of the Temple of Heaven.

Dorothy and Con if front of the Imperial Vault of Heaven.  At the back of the  Imperial Vault of Heaven is the Echo Wall.

Beautiful ceremonial vessels at the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

Con praying on the stone that the emperor would stand on to say his prayers for a good harvest at the Circular Mound Altar. 

Dorothy and Con on the emperor's stone at the Circular Mound Altar.

The circular railing around the Circular Mound Altar that  designated heaven. The square wall in the background designated earth. 

The view from the Circular Mound Altar looking back to the  Imperial Vault of Heaven.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven with the gates to the Circular Mound Altar in the foreground.

Dorothy and  Con in front of the gates to the Circular Mound Altar with the Altar in the background.

Our Guide, Lee on the  road from the Circular Mound Altar to the entrance gate of the Temple of Heaven  where we were to meet our car to take us to lunch and then to the airport.

Dorothy and Lee on the road to the entrance gate of the Temple of Heaven.

Dorothy and Con on the road leading to the entrance gate of the Temple of Heaven . This is our last picture taken in  Beijing, China.

Map of the great circle route our plane flew from Beijing to Detroit.

June 2, 2013 Beijing – Roman Catholic Churches

1904June 2, 2013

Beijing – Roman Catholic Churches

Today was Sunday and a day of obligation for Dorothy and me. We decided that we should go to the oldest Catholic Church in China for mass that is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The original church was built after the Emperor gave his permission in 1605. It had to be rebuilt several times because it was destroyed by fire and earthquakes. The present church is on the original site.

Our guide, Lee had kindly found on the internet that the English mass on Sunday was at 10:30 AM. Dorothy and we got a taxi well ahead of time so that we could see this very old Cathedral before the mass. We were impressed at the large number of people praying before the statue of the Immaculate Conception that was outside the Cathedral. The inside of Cathedral that was rebuilt in 1904 in the Baroque style was just beautiful. We got our seats early as the Cathedral was filling up fairly early. By the time mass was to begin, the church was full. What surprised us was the large number of young people in their late teens and early twenties that were attending mass and the majority of people at this mass were Chinese Also we were surprised that this old Cathedral had the latest flat TV screens projecting in English the Mass, the readings, hymns and psalms. There were also masses on Sunday in Chinese at 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM and 8:30 AM. At 12:30 PM there was a mass in Italian. Another English mass was at 3:00 PM. The mass we attended lasted for 1 ½ hours. We spoke to the priest after mass and he asked us where we were from and what was the name of the church in Canada that we belonged to.

After lunch Dorothy and I took a walk to the shopping area on Wangfuijing Street that is close to our hotel. We were fortunate that the old Catholic church on Wangfujing Street called St Joseph was open as they were holding first communion for some English speaking young children. We went inside to look at the church and to take some pictures. After this we had a walk on the part of Wangfujing Street that is closed to traffic and lined with small shops and large department stores. It was Sunday and the closed off street was packed with people. We did a little last minute shopping there and then came back to our hotel to pack for our trip tomorrow. We will leave Beijing at 5 PM Monday fly to Detroit and arrive in Detroit at 6:00 PM on Monday. It is nice to have such a short flight over such a long distance.

Dorothy in front of the Cathedral of the Immaculate  Conception in South Beijing.

Con in front of the stone stela that looks like the stela that was bestowed by Emperor Shunzhi  with words- built by the Imperial order that were inscribed on it.

The statues of the Immaculate Conception outside the cathedral that people were praying at.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception .

Dorothy on the covered walk to the Cathedral's Adimistrative  Building.

The altar inside the Cathedral.

The Cathedral is packed with people waiting for the procession to start from the back of the cathedral for the Sunday 10:30 AM Mass.

View inside the cathedral looking towards the altar just before the mass was to start.

Dorothy in front of St Joseph's Catholic Church  on Wangfujing Street.

Young children going into St. Joseph Church for First Communion.

Children assembling at the front of St Joseph's Church for First Communion.

A man dressed in an old Chinese costume handing out flyers in front of a store on Wangfujing Street.

Dorothy looking at what to buy at a colorful store off Wangfujing Street.

Con was looking at all the e-bikes on a side street off Wangfujing Street.

Sunday shoppers on pedestrian mall on Wangfujing Street.

June 1, 2013 Beijing – The 3 Ancient Villages

June 1, 2013

Beijing – The 3 Ancient Villages

Our Beijing Guide, Lee could not take us to the tour to the 3 Ancient Villages as she had another assignment. We were fortunate that we were assigned another very nice guide called CoCo. She met us at 8:00 AM as we had to drive 150 KM west from our hotel. Our driver Bu quickly got us out of the city and to our surprise started to drive up into these beautiful mountains. The scenery was fantastic and similar to what we have in the Rocky Mountains. It was pleasant as it was much cooler than Beijing that was over 30 C. It was also clear and sunny with no smog as there was in Beijing. There were quite a number of cars and buses going into the mountains and CoCo explained to us that many people come to the mountains for the day and sometimes for the weekend. As it was Saturday, it was not surprising that many people were just enjoying their day off work.

We came to a bridge in the mountains that was to take us over a deep valley that was blocked off to traffic. The driver had to double back on the road we came on and then make a detour on another road to reach the 3 Ancient Villages. Of course our guide was not too pleased, but Dorothy and I were happy that we will see more of these beautiful mountains. Two of the 3 villages we were to visit were protected by the Government and now people have to pay a fee to visit them. Because of our age, CoCo said she can get us in at a reduced rate.

Our driver had to drive further up the mountain to reach 2 of the Ancient Villages. The first village only had 19 people and most of these were old as their children had left for better jobs at a factory and had settled in a 3^rd village that we were to visit. The first village was called Shuang Shipoo Cun or simply the Double Stone Village as 2 very large stones were at the entrance to the village. The houses in the village were all built of stone. They had electricity but what they possessed seemed rather limited.

The second village we visited was further up the mountain and was much larger than the first and was quite commercial with restaurants, stores and places where people can stay overnight. It was called Cuandixia or the village of the people who protect the mountain. The houses in the village were mostly built of stone or wood. Soon after we arrived we went to a restaurant to order our lunch and give the owner of the restaurant time to prepare the meal for us. CoCo took us for a walk further up the mountain so we could get a better view of the village and to see some of the houses and restaurants that were higher up on the mountainside. As it was clear, cooler and sunny, we found this walk up the mountain very pleasant. It was very picturesque and great for picture taking. After this very nice walk up and down the mountain, our lunch had been prepared so we returned to our restaurant. We were served a delicious home cooked meal of soup, beans and pork, wild vegetables, spicy green peppers and beef, tofu, a vegetable pancake and rice.

The third village was called Yancheeng Aghe or the Village by the River and was not in the Government protected area. The houses here were built using modern building material and people here were younger people that had left the other 2 villages to work at a local factory and so were able to have a better way of life. They had cars, and modern household items. They had a large school in the village with a playing field with a running track.

With the heavy Saturday traffic it took us some time to get back. As Dorothy and I had such a wonderful day, the delay because of the traffic was of little concern to us.

Beautiful mountain scenery on the way to the Ancient Villages.

Traffic was heavy on the mountainous roads as it was Saturday.

The ticket office for  2 of 3 of the Ancient Villages.

The first ancient village called  Shuang Shipoo Cun or simply the Double Stone Village that we visited.

The ancient village called  Shuang Shipoo Cun or simply the Double Stone Village.

Dorothy and Con in front of one of the 2 large stones at the entrance of the village,  Shuang Shipoo Cun or simply the Double Stone Village  

Dorothy and Con in front of the wall built to prevent stones sliding  into the  village called  Shuang Shipoo Cun or simply the Double Stone Village.

The road leading out of the Ancient Village of 29 people.

Lady baking and selling corn in the second Ancient Village called Cuan Dixia.

A young group of people dressed in costumes  from  children's fairy tails in  Cuan Dixia.

Dorothy and our Guide, CoCo on the main street of Cuan Dixia

The village of Cuan Dixia built on a steep mountain side.

The main store in Cuan Dixia. Note the corn handing from the eves of the roof.

A second store next to the main store. in Cuan Dixia.

Our host and chef for lunch, Dorothy and our Guide, CoCo

A short history of Cuan Dixia.

A bedroom for rent at the restaurant we planned to have lunch at.

Dorothy and our Guide ordering lunch.

A second bedroom for rent at our restaurant.

The narrow path up the mountain side that we were preparing to climb.

Dorothy and Con at a great viewing place on the path up the mountain. 

An ornate shelter that people sat in when protecting the forest  from forest fires.

Stairs leading to houses up the side of the mountain.in Cuan Dixia.

A very old thrashing mill.in Cuan Dixia.

Dorothy and our Guide, CoCo in front of a souvenir store high up  the side of  the mountain..

Dorothy purchasing an item and CoCo deciding what to purchase inside the souvenir store.

A decorative house in the village of Cuan Dixia.

Dorothy and CoCo before an old mill stone that used to be driven by donkeys.

A stone plaque describing the Wudao Temple in the village of Wudao Temple

The Wudao Temple.

CoCo stoking the cooking fire.

Dorothy and Con down from the mountain and on the main street of  Cuan Dixia.

Con showing Dorothy the Chinese character for Cuan Dixia.

Dorothy and Con sitting outside enjoy a delicious lunch in Cuan Dixia.

CoCo, Con, Dorothy and the owner and chef of the restaurant we ate at.

The third ancient village called Yancheeng Aghe or the Village by the River. This village housed people who worked in factories and were using modern materials to build their houses.

People in Yancheeng Aghe or the Village by the River had motor cycles and cars and were much better off that the first two ancient villages we visited.

A pretty view from the car as we made out way down the mountain along winding roads.

Another pretty view of the mountains.