March 12 – Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and a duck feast!

Greetings from Beijing! We are so excited to be here! After a long but uneventful flight, and a good (?) night’s sleep, our group of 8 students (Hyun ’17, Luke ’17, Idalina ’18, Olivia ’17, Isabella ’18, Jaden ’19, Sean ’19, Minh ’17) 10 teachers (Rob and Sarah Munro, Katie Herter, Eduardo Fagundo, Chantal Jordan, John Bishop,  Emily Jones, Kelly Marchand, Annie Ku, Zaiga Alksnitis) and 5 assorted family members (John Bishop’s three children Grace, Finn and Jack, plus Eugene Ku and Yih-Jen Ku ’12) hit the ground running this morning. It was a gorgeous bluebird sky day and we saw some of the most important historic sights in Beijing. Those of us who use pedometers easily hit the 15,000 step mark today, with all the walking we did! First stop was Tiananmen Square, one of the biggest city squares in the world. Home of Mao Zedong’s mausoleum and the Hall of the People, we gazed at the square from across the street as it was closed to the public due to the fact that a major session of congress was going on. It looked like they were using the square for a parking lot!

Right next to the square is the Gate of Heavenly Peace – the entrance to the Forbidden City. Originally the residence of the emperor’s family, the Forbidden City has been around since the 1400s. It is made up of a successive series of gates and squares, each area getting more and more exclusive the closer you get to the emperor’s residence. The compound is built on what is known as the Dragon Line, which is the North-South axis of the city and represents power. Every detail of the city’s design from carvings to scuplture to paintings is symbolic and meant to manifest all the power and qualities and emperor would want. Although the innermost sanctum was once restricted to the emperor, empress and assorted concubines, visitors may now walk through the entire compound and out through the imperial gardens full of fascinating limestone sculptures.

After a hearty lunch, we pressed on to the Summer Palace. This beautiful lakeside residence was once the summer home for the emperor and his entourage. It almost burned to the ground in the late 19th century, but the Emperor Dowager Cixi rebuilt it (unfortunately with the navy’s money!) in honor of her 60th birthday. When her nephew the emperor failed in a plot to kill her, she imprisoned him at this palace until his death 10 years later. Kunming Lake translates to Peach Lake, and thr lake is indeed the shape of a peach. This is very fortuitous, as a peach represents longevity in China. Cixi was already older than the average Chinese of the time, and hoped living by Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill would prolong her life even more.

Having completed such a full day, we definitely earned a feast of Peking Duck, one if Beijing’s specialties. Besides the delicious feast, this meal was made extra special as our group shared it with several Middlesex families who live in Beijing. Students had a great time reuniting with friends on their home turf and teachers got a chance to get to know some parents better. We really enjoyed from Beijingers about what they love about their city. Some of them also gave us a tutorial on how to eat Peking Duck (it involves thin pancakes, duck meat AND duck skin, and assorted unique fillings like crabapple jelly and cucumber)! The restaurant also featured a variety of entertainments including how to make long noodles (they are REALLY long) and traditional Chinese opera. Something for everyone!

Tomorrow we try our hands at making dumplings and climb the Great Wall!