September 10-13
BIG
At first what most impresses is the size. As
New Yorkers we think of a square as something like Times Square,
Union Square--big but manageable. In Tiananmen the word "Square" just
doesn’t compute. It’s big like Central Park is big.
Just across this very large way, the
Forbidden City is even bigger. Huge buildings with exquisite detailing dazzle
and awe. Built in 14 years from 1407 to 1421—took a million workers. Way cool.
These gigantic structures were often used for special purposes
only, one building for coronations, one for state dinners, one for the opera,
one for just the morning meeting with the minions. Many for just relaxing. Most
were for the emperor’s use only. And his family. And his concubines. For the
most part they no one was allowed in and the royal family weren’t allowed out
either. Hence, Forbidden.
Some buildings housed his concubines, some
his eunuchs, others the scribes and probably still others the
accountants. The accountants must have been
very important to your average Chinese emperor because these buildings were
intricate indeed: slathered in gold—real gold--and minutely carved with
colorful dragons and phoenixes.
The smallest were bigger than our 20,000
square foot factory building; the biggest were 10 times that size.
Walking up the steep road to reach the Great
Wall there are more than 200 identical vendor stalls selling identical cheep
souvenirs, tee shirts, hats, knickknacks, assorted dreck
and tchotchkas--all Made in China. From each one a
woman hawks "hello mister, hello lady, tee shirts one dolla,
look at this, one dolla, umbrella one dolla, two tee shirts one dolla,
three shirts one dolla...." All the
while shaking the item in your face. I surmised that this was the Great
Wall-Mart
Beijing is a huge modern city complete with lots of
expensive new cars. Gogan had a new Audi sedan. Lots
of good stores and restaurants. For us there is no evidence of poverty or
communism. There is also no evidence of
dogs or cats in the street, or birds either. What’s up with that?
The rich have always known how to take care of themselves.
Today in Beijing the once-poor are scrambling to catch up.
The Great Wall goes beyond big. It’s really big. Stretching for
thousands of miles, snaking around the tops of mountain ridges, visible for
miles from any point on the ramp. Really, really big.
Gary & Louise
