10 July 2018, Tuesday

This morning, we set off at about 9:30am. The first item on our itinerary was Yonghe Temple or Yonghegong (雍和宫), also known as Lama Temple. From our Airbnb house, we took the subway at Guloudajie station and alighted at Yonghegong Lama Temple station, just two stops away.

When we arrived at 10am, there was only a short queue at the ticket office. The admission fee for adults was CNY 25 (S$5.21) but the seniors in our group enjoyed half-price admission at CNY 12 (S$2.60).

Yonghegong Lama Temple is the biggest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Beijing. The name Yonghegong means “Palace of harmony and peace”. I was expecting it to look more like the monasteries in Tibet but the architectural style of the buildings here is very Chinese. This is because it was originally built in 1694 as the residence of the Qing Dynasty Prince Yong before he became the Emperor Yongzheng in 1722. The palace was later converted into a lamasery (lama temple) by Emperor Qianlong in 1744.

The entire compound was quite big, as it was formerly a palace after all. After passing through the memorial archway (where our tickets were inspected), we walked through a very leafy walkway known as the Imperial Carriage Walkway before reaching Zhaotai Gate. After that, we passed through Yonghe Gate and a series of courtyards and halls before reaching the end of the grounds.

Once again, without a guide, it was hard to glean much meaning in the different halls and buildings. They all looked quite similar but they all had different purposes. I can write about them now in some detail because I have the benefit of Internet research, but when we were there, we felt quite lost without a guide.

For the benefit of you reading now and for my own knowledge, there are five main buildings at Yonghegong. The first is Yonghe Gate (雍和门), also known as the Gate Hall of Harmony and Peace. It is not so much as a gate but a hall, as it has a sloping tiled roof and houses a statue of Buddha Maitreya and other statues within. In front of the gate, worshippers were burning and offering incense. By the way, there is a small booth where you can pick up complimentary incense, limited to one bundle per person.

The next building is the main one, called the Hall of Yonghe (雍和宫殿), also known as the Hall of Harmony and Peace. This was where Prince Yongzheng met with government officials, and was later converted to a lama temple. You’ll find three bronze Buddhas here – Kasyapa Matanga, Gautama and Maitreya – Buddhas of the past, present and future respectively.

Next is the Hall of Yongyou (永佑殿), also known as the Hall of Everlasting Protection. This used to be Prince Yong’s living quarters. When he died, his coffin was placed here, as were those of subsequent emperors. The name of the hall refers to the everlasting protection from the monk’s prayers over the dead emperors.

The fourth building is the Hall of Falun (法轮殿), also known as the Hall of the Wheel of the Law. The exterior of the hall looks like the others but its interior is the only one that resembles the Tibetan monasteries that I remembered from my visit in 2015. It functions as an assembly hall, where the lamas read scriptures and conduct religious ceremonies. In the middle of the hall is a large statue of Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of Geluk Tibetan Buddhism.

The last building is the Wanfu Pavilion (万福阁), also known as the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happiness or the Hall of Boundless Happiness. This is the tallest building at three storeys high. It houses a large, 18m-tall statue of Maitreya Buddha, carved out of a single piece of white sandalwood. The piece of white sandalwood was a gift from the seventh Dalai Lama to Emperor Qianlong.

In all, we spent an hour at Yonghegong. At 11am, we proceeded to our next destination, the Temple of Heaven (天坛). We took the subway and alighted at Tiantandongmen (天坛东门) station. But first, we went to the nearby Hongqiao Market (红桥市场), a huge mall famous for its pearl market.

The pearl shops were concentrated on the upper floors while the lower floors sold electronics, handbags and clothes. We spent only a short time browsing through the shops before going to the food court to have a simple lunch. The thing I like about Asian food is that we have cooked, leafy green vegetable dishes, and not just cold, raw salad greens. I really missed eating chye sim and other veggies during the past two months in Europe.

From Hongqiao Market, we crossed the road and entered the Temple of Heaven Park via the East Gate (东门). Most visitors will enter via the South Gate, but the East Gate is closest to Hongqiao Market and Tiantandongmen subway station.

There was hardly anyone queuing at the ticket office when we arrived at 12:50pm so we got our tickets in a breeze. We bought the Through Ticket, which allowed access to the three sites: Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound Altar. It cost CNY 34 (S$7) for adults and CNY 17 (S$3.54) for seniors. The discount is applicable to foreigners.

The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 and it was where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties went to worship Heaven and offered sacrifices to pray for bumper harvests and favourable rain. The entire compound is 273 hectares and it is larger than the Forbidden City (72 hectares), which was formerly the imperial palace. This is because Chinese emperors were considered the “Sons of Heaven”, so their dwelling could not be larger than the earthly residence dedicated to heaven.

The entire compound is surrounded by a wall, built in a semi-circle in the north and a square in the south. In ancient Chinese thinking, Heaven is represented by a circle and Earth is represented by a square. The semi-circular northern end therefore represents Heaven and the squarish southern end represents the Earth. It also reflects that Heaven is high and Earth is low.

Compared to our experience at the Summer Palace yesterday, it was thankfully much less crowded here at the Temple of Heaven. The park is also covered with lots of trees and open spaces so it was very calming to walk through the grounds.

We first visited the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿), the most magnificent building in the complex. This circular building with a three-tiered roof was where the emperors came to pray every year in early spring (in January) for good harvests. It is 38.2m high and 24.2m in diameter, and built completely without nails.

Interestingly, the original hall built in 1420 was not circular but rectangular in shape, and it was used to worship both Earth and Heaven. It was rebuilt into a round hall in 1545, and took its present form when it was reconstructed again in 1751 by Emperor Qianlong. The hall is supported by four central pillars symbolising the four seasons, 12 inner columns to represent the 12 months of the year, and another 12 outer columns to represent the 12 time divisions of the day and night.

Next, we visited the Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇), which is enclosed by the Echo Wall (回音壁). The Echo Wall is a perfectly circular wall, 65m in diameter, with excellent acoustic properties. The hard and smooth wall allows sound waves to be reflected continuously, such that two people standing at opposite ends can hear each other’s voice clearly, even in a whisper. The best positions are to stand by the wall behind the East Annex Hall and the West Annex Hall, and speak with their bodies facing north. Of course, this is all in theory, and you can almost never achieve this with the din going on, with so many people in the courtyard.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven is similar in design to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, like a smaller version with a one-tiered roof instead of three. It was used to house the Gods’ tablets to be used at the Ceremony of Worshipping Heaven.

Lastly, we went to the Circular Mound Altar (圜丘坛). It is a three-layered circular marble altar sitting in the middle of a square yard, with the circle and square representing Heaven and Earth once again. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests also has a similar configuration of circle within a square. Here, the emperors would offer sacrifices to Heaven during the winter solstice ceremonies and pray for good weather in hope of achieving a good harvest in the coming year.

The surface of the uppermost terrace is paved with nine concentric rings of stone slabs. Right at the centre is a raised, round stone slab called the Heavenly Centre Stone (天心石). If one speaks standing on the Heavenly Centre Stone, one’s voice will be particularly resonant and sonorous. The Heavenly Centre Stone is surrounded by nine stones in the first ring, followed by 18 in the second, up to 81 in the ninth ring, symbolising the Nine Heavens. Nine is a powerful number for the Chinese because it represents longevity.

We left the Temple of Heaven at around 2:20pm and walked to the Beijing South Railway Station. Along the way, we passed by an old neighbourhood in the process of being demolished. That was a non-touristy side of Beijing you hardly see anymore. On the map, the railway station looked quite near but it turned out to be almost an hour’s walk. We were quite tired by the time we arrived. We should have just taken the subway.

Anyway, we came to Beijing South Railway Station to pick up our train tickets to Shanghai. We were departing two days from now and had earlier booked our tickets through Trip.com. The high-speed train ticket cost CNY 553 plus an additional CNY 30 booking fee per ticket, so it amounted to CNY 583 (S$126.35) per person. One important thing to note is that there are FIVE railway stations in Beijing, so make sure you go to the correct one to collect your ticket and board your train.

The Beijing South Railway Station is huge and it was super crowded in the afternoon. It was quite disorientating at first and it took us some time to locate the ticket office on the second floor. That’s why it’s always wise to factor in additional time to find your way around, especially if you’re only collecting your tickets on the day of departure. After that, we had a drink at one of the fast food restaurants to rest our weary feet.

At about 3:45pm, we made our way to our next destination – Tiananmen Square (天安门广场). We wisely took the subway and alighted at Tiananmen East station. We then walked towards Tiananmen (天安门), the monumental entrance gate to the Forbidden City.

Security around Tiananmen Square and West Chang’an Avenue (西长安街), the main road between the palace and the square, was very tight. There were numerous security checkpoints and guards positioned everywhere. One of the guards eyed me suspiciously as I was wearing the Obamao T-shirt that I bought at the Mutianyu Great Wall yesterday.

The image on the T-shirt puts former US president Barrack Obama’s face between Chairman Mao’s iconic cap and jacket. I thought it was very witty and tongue-in-cheek, but maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to wear it here. Thankfully, the guards let me pass, though I noticed several people gazing at me longer than usual. Hopefully, they found it funny as well.

Tiananmen means the Gate of Heavenly Peace. The Tiananmen tower building has five arches. Above the central archway hangs a large portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong. The banner on the portrait’s left reads “Long live the People’s Republic of China” while the one on the right reads “Long live the great unity of the world’s peoples”.

It is interesting to note that the words are written in simplified Chinese instead of traditional Chinese characters, thereby symbolising modernity. The use of the phrase “Long live” (万岁) is also notable, because the phrase was previously only reserved for the emperors, not commoners.

We used the underground passageway to reach Tiananmen Square. It was a day of surprising good weather and there were many people out enjoying the rare blue skies. Tiananmen Square was once the largest square in the world and it can hold up to 1 million people. It is the site of several important historical events, notably the May Fourth Movement in 1919, the proclamation of the founding of the People’s Republic of China by Chairman Mao on 1 October 1949, and of course, the event-that-shall-not-be-named in 1989.

This is also where the Chinese national flag-raising and lowering ceremonies are held every day at sunrise and sunset. The flag is raised very slowly and timed precisely at 2 minutes 7 seconds to coincide with the time that the sun rises above the horizon. The ceremony is accompanied by a military band and a guard-of-honour, and it attracts a sizeable crowd every day.

There are several key buildings at Tiananmen Square – the Monument to the People’s Heroes (人民英雄纪念碑), the Great Hall of the People (人民大会堂), the National Museum of China (中国国家博物院) and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong (毛主席纪念堂). We didn’t enter any of the buildings but just soaked in the atmosphere here.

After walking past the mausoleum, we soon reached Qianmen (前门), also known as Zhengyangmen (正阳门). Qianmen is the south gate to the imperial city. It was previously used by imperial carriages and opened only when the emperor went to the Temple of Heaven or during the emperor and empress’s wedding. In ancient times, Qianmen consisted of three parts: the Gate Tower (正阳门), Archery Tower (正阳门箭楼) and the barbican (a tower over a gate or bridge). The barbican walls were subsequently removed so only the Gate and Archery Towers remain.

We crossed the road in front of the Archery Tower and reached a monumental gateway to Qianmen Street (前门大街). This was the start of the pedestrian shopping street. It was very lively and both sides of the street were filled with shops and restaurants, even a Starbucks outlet. The street looked like it had been recently refurbished as it was very clean and orderly. Here, you will find some international brands like Zara but also genuine Chinese establishments like Quanjude roast duck restaurant. At 6:15pm, we decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants before continuing with our shopping.

Located perpendicular to Qianmen Street was another famous pedestrian shopping street called Dashilan (大栅欄). It is 275m long and full of interesting shops, mostly catered to tourists. We spent the rest of the evening here shopping until we decided to call it a day at 8:45pm. It had been a productive and enjoyable day in Beijing.