Imperial Beijing

Up in the North West of China, Beijing was at the centre of the vast Mongol Empire and Kublai Khan established his capital there in the thirteenth century. If you ask most people, though, when they think of Beijing they think of the iconic palaces and temples and glorious Forbidden City, built by the Ming dynasty in the 1400s. The yellow-tiled roofs are reserved for the Emperor.

The fabulous animal roof guardians defend the great halls from floods, fires and all kinds of other dangers.

It's altogether greener than I remember - though only in the private part of the Forbidden City - not the ceremonial courts and halls where guests are greeted and deals are done.

The Emperor even had his own opera stage .... this is a photo for sister Jo 😊

The Forbidden City is huge and you need a whole day to explore all the courtyards and the museums, which have wonderful collections of Ming porcelain, Soul Jars, jade and - rather bizarrely - enormous and extravagant clocks made in England, Switzerland and France for the Emperor Quianlong. I've never seen anything quite like these huge decorative pieces in the UK - most of them have figures who move or spin and play melodies, bells or chimes - sometimes even including Chinese folksongs, alongside European tunes 😊

As ever, nearly all the visitors were Chinese and those who had dressed up for the visit were all in Ming outfits, perfect for the venue 😊

Running due south from the Forbidden City, you come to the Temple of Heaven, set in a huge public park. Twice a year, in days gone by, the Emperor would fast and then walk to the Temple to pray for a good harvest. It's a beautiful complex and you can see how it influenced architecture and landscape design in the Far East for many centuries. The last photos in this little collection are for Patricia - I think I have found where your huge bronze door stud came from - it's a perfect match for the ones at the Temple of Heaven!

Our little courtyard hotel is a few blocks South of the Forbidden City, en route to the Temple of Heaven. And it is a heavenly retreat, so quiet and calm in the ancient heart of this vast metropolis.

Ours is not the only area where the little lanes and squares of the hutongs have been preserved. I was on a quest to find a special kite for Charlie and was told where to find an elderly gentleman and his little kite store, in the area by Prince Gong's Mansion and the Lama Temple. The chaotic wriggling and interlocking lanes were very disorientating, so we were glad to have a rickshaw driver who knew his way around!

I love this last photo because it reminded me of my last visit to China, 41 years ago. There's the corner shop, with all the essentials everyone needs and there, next door, is a house with all their possible essentials piled up outside. No-one throws anything away in China because it is bound to be useful one day and so they stack their bowls and shoes and chairs and everything, neatly on the pavement by their house! Just round the corner was the kite shop we'd been looking for ....

Sadly, no-one had seen the kite-maker for several days and nor could they help sell us a kite! But we were in the right place for the green-tiled roofs of Prince Gong's mansion, so we stopped by there - and, also, the Llama Temple.

Prince Gong was an Imperial prince with a big role in foreign relations and, in 1860, negotiated peace with Britain and France and signed the Treaty of Beijing, for the Imperial court, to end the second opium war.

The Llama Temple - or Palace of Peace and Harmony - is a monastery for Tibetan Buddhism. The monks wear maroon robes with yellow sashes and there are nine temple halls with Buddhas getting ever grander, till you arrive at the 18 metre gilt statue, carved from a single white sandalwood tree.

Apart from Katie and me, all the visitors seem to be here to pray. Whilst only 10% of Chinese are devout Buddhists, it is the majority belief and perhaps half of those in China participate and pray, even if only on auspicious days and for special events. It was a strikingly young congregation, too ....

As everywhere we've been, costumes and digital comms made it into the Temple too. Look at the little Ming Emperor! Katie and I were planning to get dressed up too - but we simply ran out of time because there is so much to see and do in Beijing!