China Trip - Day Three

Are you ready for Day 3? We headed for Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City. Lots of walking here! Tian An Men Square is located near the center of Beijing and is one of the largest squares in the world. Located in the square is Mao Zedong's Mausoleum, built in 1977 and a Monument to People's Heroes, built in 1958. There was a very long line of people waiting to go in to see Mao's tomb. The Forbidden City, next to the square, was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. For almost 5 centuries it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political center of the Chinese government. Today it is a public museum and is a World Heritage Site. It was built from 1406 to 1420, and has 980 surviving buildings with over 8,000 rooms, and covers 7,800,000 square feet. It is an excellent example of Chinese palatial architecture. Our next stop was the Lama Temple. It consists of 5 large halls and 5 courtyards and has many decorative archways, upturned eaves and carved details. It houses a treasury of Buddhist art, including sculptured images of gods, demons and Buddhas. Many visitors purchased incense to burn in the temple. We finished our day with a traditional Peking Duck dinner. Tomorrow we'll be flying out of Beijing for Shanghai. Slide show of Day 3 below.

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