We ventured out today to do a little sightseeing in Beijing. Our first stop was Liulichang, a street market with the appearance of a Qing Dynasty market street. We had fun browsing and even purchased a set of four paintings representing the four seasons. It's pretty common to see paintings like this in China, but this set has more vivid colors than I'd ever seen before, and it grabbed our attention right away. Right now we will have to store it, but hopefully someday we will have our own place, and these beautiful original paintings will certainly be a welcome addition to our decor.
After shopping we headed to Tian'anmen Square, which is the world's largest public square (440,000 square meters) and a landmark with unsurpassed historical significance. The Monument to the People's Heroes and the Hall of Chairman Mao (which we didn't get to visit because our guidebook lied to us about the hours it was open) are both located on the square, but other than that it is mostly a sea of concrete. From the square you can see the National Museum of China to the east, the Great Hall of the People to the west, the Forbidden City to the north, and Qianmen (a gateway which in ancient times was the front gate to the Inner City of Beijing) to the south. Though I'm not much of a history buff, I am always awed by the events which took place at Tian'anmen Square--never more so than when I am actually there. I don't really know how to explain the feeling other than to say that Tian'anmen Square feels like holy ground to me--concrete and all.
We ventured out today to do a little sightseeing in Beijing. Our first stop was Liulichang, a street market with the appearance of a Qing Dynasty market street. We had fun browsing and even purchased a set of four paintings representing the four seasons. It's pretty common to see paintings like this in China, but this set has more vivid colors than I'd ever seen before, and it grabbed our attention right away. Right now we will have to store it, but hopefully someday we will have our own place, and these beautiful original paintings will certainly be a welcome addition to our decor.
After shopping we headed to Tian'anmen Square, which is the world's largest public square (440,000 square meters) and a landmark with unsurpassed historical significance. The Monument to the People's Heroes and the Hall of Chairman Mao (which we didn't get to visit because our guidebook lied to us about the hours it was open) are both located on the square, but other than that it is mostly a sea of concrete. From the square you can see the National Museum of China to the east, the Great Hall of the People to the west, the Forbidden City to the north, and Qianmen (a gateway which in ancient times was the front gate to the Inner City of Beijing) to the south. Though I'm not much of a history buff, I am always awed by the events which took place at Tian'anmen Square--never more so than when I am actually there. I don't really know how to explain the feeling other than to say that Tian'anmen Square feels like holy ground to me--concrete and all.
