Temple of Heaven

Temple of Heaven

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Today is moving day, after nine days in the hotel in Beijing we are now setting out on the short stay portion of our trip. First, we will fly to Xi’an and stay for two nights, then Lhasa for three nights, Chengdu for two nights and finally Shanghai for the final two nights. It seems like a whirlwind trip but it will take us to some incredible locations and expose us to a broader range of Chinese culture and history, past and present.

The morning is one of the few free-time periods we have and Jennifer, Joy and I decide to join up with a few others and taxi over to the Temple of Heaven for a quick visit. We arrive at the South Gate entry and walk past groups of Chinese summertime visitors doing Tai Chi, sidewalk calligraphy, swing dancing and strolling about like us. It is a cheerful, relaxed morning as we make our way to the Circular Mound Altar where individuals are taking pictures of children and parents or friends standing in the centre of the universe. We make our way toward the north and the main temple but take a tree-lined path to the west for its shade. There we discover a large group of people engaged in singing. Passersby join in the songs, evidently all well known melodies to the locals. More groups of people are engaged in activities like badminton, exercises and dancing. A young woman comes up to us to invite us to visit her art school exhibition. Having visited a similar exhibit in the Forbidden City we decide to go along. The art schools apparently have access to some excellent locations such as this in order to show off their student and teacher works. We decide to purchase some of the art at the set price of 200 rnb each. The art is excellent and will be suitably framed once we get home. The destination of our morning stroll is the main temple The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. There we are momentarily brushed aside by a group of un-uniformed security to make way for a small delegation of military men accompanying a VIP to have a closer look at the temple. I work my way closer to the group and hear the guest of honour speaking in what sounds like Russian. They leave just as quickly as they came and an elderly man steps forward to us and says in English “The new empire is already appearing. In fifteen or twenty years or maybe fifty the world will follow the Chinese lead. The Americans won’t dare to start wars on their own.” He is eighty-five and from Poland.

We return to take our leave from the hotel and bus to the city airport where we board our flight to Xi’an. Most of the large group will go to Xi’an but some will remain in Beijing. After the short stay in Xi’an an even smaller group will go on to the other cities while the others return to Beijing and Vancouver.