I knew in my head that July 1 is the anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and that 2011 is the 90th year since the CPC started. The enormity of the event did not strike home until I managed to get to Tian An Men Square this morning. I picked up breakfast in a couple of places, had some high priced Best Quality Oolong in another place and found you tiao in one of the alleys around the hotel. Then on to Tian An Men but first find the right way get across six or eight lanes of traffic. The best way is to insert yourself into a tour group and walk with them. It was a little slower than I like to walk but much safer. I had a second you tiao standing by the Gate. Then I let myself be persuaded by a city volunteer to enter the Gate and visit the exhibits. Lots and lots and lots of history. And I found I started to confuse the names of the various gates. The current gate is not the original. Like many things in East Asian architecture it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times in its history. Has it always been rebuilt as it was before? The displays I could read do not say.
After my tour of the Gate I went into the Square. Again I followed the crowds, and there were thousands of people moving into the Square. The Square will be the focus of the Beijing celebrations. It was from the Gate that Mao announced the establishment of the PRC on 1949 Oct 1. The party was first established in Nanjing (I think) so there will be celebrations there and all over the country tomorrow. It is a national holiday, I wonder if that will affect our travel plans.
In order to get into the Square I and my bag had to go through a security scan - just like at the aiport, except the people running the system did not seem particularly concerned about their tasks. The Square is enormous. It took me at least ten minutes to walk from one side to the other, that suggests it is at least 1/2km in each direction. And it is essentially a long flat concrete plain. If you want anything to eat or drink or whateveer you have to bring it with you. And it is hot under the sun, there is no shade whatsoever.
Shortly after noon I got a call from my host. I received directions about taking the subway to meet my host so we could have lunch and visit that neighbourhood. There are six interconnected subway lines in the city plus a route from the centre of the city to the airport plus another one which I couldn't figure out where it is. In order to get to the place where you buy a ticket bags have to be scanned. It took me a little bit to figure out the ticket vending machine. Once I found the button for English it was easy. The subway ticket costs 2 yuan and gets you anywhere on the subway system. Travelling on the Beijing subway system is very easy for me as long as I know where I am getting off and if I have to transfer from one line to another. All of the station announcements inside the subway cars are in Mandarin and English. And there are illuminated route maps over the exit doors that show the route and the location of the train you are on. I am amazed. My host treats this as normal.
Once we met we had lunch at the smallest restaurant I have eaten in. We sat at a table for four. There was a table for maybe three against one wall and a table for perhaps two against another wall. We had jiao tze (dumplings) and biao tze (stuffed buns) and congee and with noodles and green vegetable. (The noodles must have been long life noodles, one or two at a time made a mouthful.)
We went the afternoon at my host's apartment (in another hutong district). It was a lot cooler than being outside. My host tried to get the necessary registration done to connect me to the Internet service she uses. Unfortunately that did not work -- yet. So this message will end up on the blog I hope tomorrow or Saturday. But for now you get it by e-mail.
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