It is situated on a large man made lake. The dirt form making the lake was used to build a mountain behind it. The lake is in the shape of a peach as it means longevity and the mountain shaped like a bat for happiness. Together they mean “longevity around happiness”.
Ting Ting told us a wonderful story about the Empress Dowager CiXi. She was a very clever woman who ruled China from “behind the curtain”.
At the age 13 she talked her family into letting her go to the palace for the beautiful girl line up – where the emperor choose the girls to work in the Palace who caught his eye. While she was not beautiful, CiXi was clever – she held a beautiful perfume and used it to catch his attention.
The girls in the palace were paid a wage which they used to buy jewellery etc to make themselves beautiful for the Emperor. CiXi used her money to pay the Unics to tell her where the Emperor would be each day. In this way the Emperor got to know her and remember her due to their frequent encounters. She became his concubine.
CiXI was very clever and helped him with state affairs so when he spoke he sounded very important and knowledgeable that his status became even higher.
CiXI gave birth to the Emperors son who was the only son of the Emperor as the Empress could not bear children.
The Emperor died at the age of 35, meaning CiXi’s son was the new emperor. As he was only little, she made all the decisions from behind the curtain. The history books claim she was very ruthless and did all sorts of terrible things like having the Emperors favourite concubines killed after his death. I have done some reading since getting home it this seems like it may be doubtful.
CiXi had the Summer Palace decorated ornately. Traditionally the dragon (symbolising the Emperor) was above the phoenix (symbolising the Empress) but she decorated it in the opposite way.
Her meals were prepared by 120 chefs, who each prepared one dish. They were all served to her, some to taste, some to smell, some to look at. The food would have fed 5000 peasants! It included things like butterfly wings.
During the war the government reduced the amount of money she could spend. CiXi is said to have built a naval base in her lake and then took money from the government to pay for the training of the navy – except no one ever was trained! This is another story that seems doubtful in my reading now home.
When her son reached 18 he was considered old enough to take over ruling China. They say she was so angry at the tought of loosing control she had her son poisoned. Then she adopted her sisters child and again ruled from behind the curtain.
The storeys about her just fascinated me and since I got back I have done a lot of reading on her. She led a fascinating life, although it seems she was not the “Dragon Lady” she was portrayed to be.
The palace itself was set in stunning grounds. We walked around and were able to look in a few buildings, but they were dark and sparely furnished so there was not a lot to see. The walk around the lake was lovely! Parts were a covered walkway that had ornate woodwork and paintings.
The area was full of vendors flogging fake brand watches. Nearly everyone in the group bought some – we bought 9!!! The only problem was they were also passing fake notes. When you paid them they complained you gave them a ripped note and demanded you swap it. Instead of giving your note back they gave one of a similar colour, but is wasn’t a Chinese 100RMB! They tried on us but by then we had been warned and refused to swap!
We caught a dragon boat across the lake to get back to the gate and the bus. It was really nice to sit back and enjoy a different view!
Our next stop was a quick photo opportunity at the Birds Nest and Water Cube from the Beijing Olympics.
I really enjoyed lunch again. It was in a nice restaurant with nice clean toilets!! Always a bonus :)
The afternoon was our chance to visit Beijing Zoo and see the Panda’s. It was actually quite sad as they were in small concrete cages and some seemed quite distressed. The Panda’s that had been rescued from the earthquake were the cutest! Three of them were let out into the area while we watched and started eating their bamboo. They were cute!
Our time at the Silk Market was interesting. It wasn’t as scary as the Pearl Market – but some vendors were still intimidating. I ended up getting my silk scarves (3 for 80 RMB down from 8000!) 2 pearl necklaces and 2 pairs of pearl earrings. Jason got two pairs of sunglasses and a table runner that he got down to 50 RMB. He was a bit disappointed he couldn’t get a scope for a price he was willing to pay.
Dinner was supposed to be at the Hotel, but Ting Ting gave us the opportunity to go out for Peking Duck. Di, Jess, John and I took up the offer!
We caught a taxi to the restaurant where it was full of Chinese people – we were the only Westerners. A good sign! You could see into the kitchen where they were roasting the ducks in wood fired ovens. There was also an area where they were making the paper thin wrappers.
The food service and atmosphere was wonderful! It took a lot of convincing, but we did get Ting Ting to join us. The meal started with cold appetisers – cooked, cubed pumpkin and jams, shredded duck in plum sauce. There was then hot dishes of peas with duck meat, duck liver, crumbed and fried and mixed mushrooms with duck meat. Yum!!
The Peking Duck itself arrived at the end. It was paper thin wrappers that you placed the pieces of duck (that the chef had carved in front of you), shallots and sauce (a Chinese BBQ sauce) down the middle, rolled up and then ate! It was delicious!!! I just loved it.
The whole meal was then finished off with Duck soup. Ting Ting was good company and even bought us a bottle of Great Wall red wine.
When we got back to the hotel it was the usual gathering in Fiona and Idos room with plenty of beer and food and laughter!!
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