Pandas

Day 2 of the tour and we were excited as we were going to xiong mao (pandas).

The life span of giant pandas in the wild is approximately 20 years. Captive pandas may live even longer.

The eyespots of a giant panda cub are initially in the shape of a circle. As the cub grows, the circles become shaped like a teardrop.

Giant pandas are on the brink of extinction, with just over 1,000 pandas left in the world. Scientists are hoping to increase the wild panda population to 5,000 by 2025.

The giant panda has been an endangered species list since 1990. The most significant threats to pandas are habitat loss and poaching. 

Pandas have been a symbol of peace in China. For example, hundreds of years ago, warring tribes in China would raise a flag with a picture of a panda on it to stop a battle or call a truce. Today panda diplomacy still exists. China loans its pandas out to other nations as a symbol of friendship and peace.

Pandas evolved between 2-3 million years ago

According to legend, the panda was once an all-white bear. When a small girl tried to save a panda cub from being attacked by a leopard, the leopard killed the girl instead. Pandas came to her funeral wearing armbands of black ashes. As they wiped their eyes, hugged each other, and covered the ears, they smudged the black ashes.

Pandas can stand upright, but their short hind legs aren’t strong enough to support their bodies. A panda’s bones are twice as heavy as the bones of other animals the same size.

Pandas are pigeon-toed; in other words, they walk with their front paws turned inward.

 A baby panda lives with its mother between 18 months to 2 years

Female pandas ovulate only once a year. They are fertile only two or three days of the year. Apparently pandas in captivity lost their natural ability to mate. The Singapore zoo had to "show" a live panda mating session captured on TV to their panda pair in order to "educate" them on mating!

Giant panda cubs are usually born in August or September and are the size of a stick of butter. A cub has pink skin, a thin coat of white fur, a long tail, and no teeth. Its eyes are closed. By the end of the first month, the baby panda has all of its spots. Its eyes open around 4-6 weeks. A baby panda is almost 2 months old before it is the size of an average human newborn baby.

Mother pandas in captivity give birth to twins more often than mothers in the wild do.

The panda’s round head is due to powerful jaw muscles

A giant panda’s face is cute, but it is not chubby. It gets its shape from massive cheek muscles. In fact, a giant panda’s jaw and cheek muscles are so powerful that a panda can easily chew an aluminum dish into tiny pieces. They can also easily bite through a thick bamboo stalk. Humans have trouble cutting the same stalk with an ax.

A panda is a zoo’s most expensive animal

Keeping even a single panda in a zoo is expensive. A panda costs five times more to keep than the next most expensive animal, an elephant.

In China, giant pandas are considered to be national treasures.

To be frank, I was not very impressed with the pandas I saw at the Beijing zoo. Most of the time they were busy eating bamboo and did not even bother to look at the crowds busy taking photos of them! I was also most unimpressed with their dirty coat of fur. Perhaps their caretakers have yet to give them their daily bath.

The only thing I liked about this visit was that I could buy 2 cute panda toys...

Tiananmen Square and Forbidden Palace

Tiananmen Square

The square, named for its Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen), contains the monument to the heroes of the revolution, the Great Hall of the People, the museum of history and revolution, and the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall.  Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic in the square on Oct. 1, 1949, an anniversary still observed there.  A massive demonstration for democratic reform, begun there by Chinese students in April 1989, was brutally repressed on June 3 and 4. It was initiated to demand the posthumous rehabilitation of former Communist Party Chairman Hu Yaobang.  The government was tolerant until after his funeral; then Deng Xiaopeng denounced the protests. The demonstrators were joined by workers, intellectuals, and civil servants, until over a million people filled the square.  General Secretary Zhao Ziyang expressed sympathy, but lost out to Deng, who supported the use of military suppression.  Martial law was declared on May 20. The protesters demanded that the leadership resign, but the government answered on the nights of June 3 and 4 with troops and tanks, killing thousands to quell a "counter revolutionary rebellion."

When I stood at the square on June 1 (just 3 days from the anniversary of the massacre) I felt my heart crying for the thousands who had died there.

The square is as plain as a square it can be. It is only the history of the place that brings sadness and grief to the heart. 

Not far from the square is the Forbidden City where the emperors, empresses, concubines and court officials once lived. 

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City (near Tiananmen Square) was the home of 24 Ming and Qing emperors, their families, and their coterie of eunuchs and servants for 600 years from 1406 (when construction began) until 1911, when the Qing dynasty was ousted and the Imperial era ended. 

Ordinary people were not allowed inside its gates—which is why it was called the Forbidden City—until 1925 when members of the public entered it for the first time.

There are many palaces, halls and gates within the Forbidden City. There are also numerous gardens within the Forbidden City. It would take a day and more to explore all the palaces, halls and gardens. 

Wanfujing

Later in the evening we were taken to a shopping district called Wangfujing. 

This shopping area is interesting because you can actually see live scorpions squirming on satay sticks together with starfishes, seahorses, silkworms and all kinds of bugs (which you would not be able to name when you see them sauteed and marinated) on display at side stalls selling all kinds of traditional Chinese delicacies.

How are they cooked? You choose a stick skewered with these unusual insects and the vendors will barbecue them for you!

Giant splayed sotong are also barbequed on request together with the innards of unidentified meats.

Our tour guide advised us not to buy the things on display to eat as the season was summer and the food had been left in the sun the whole day long. 

Eating them could cause us stomach disorders....perhaps the Chinese have stronger stomach walls as we saw many munching away at the giant sotong!

Of course we also saw vendors selling steamed sweet potatoes...the staple food of the Chinese eaten during times of famine and war.

Dinner was szechuan cuisine which was not exactly to my liking. The fish, the vegetables, the pork, the milky soup (Chinese soups are either too plain or too milky) and the chilli vegetables left a kind of numbing feeling in my mouth! Too hot, too oily!

It was here at the luxurious restaurant that we saw our first mask changing act and a young man dressed like a chef juggling plates!

Bird's nest

"Affectionately known as Bird's Nest, it is situated in Olympic Green Village, Chaoyang District. It was designed as the main stadium of 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

 

It was built at the cost of RM200 million and requires maintenance at about RM5 million a year. Its seating capacity is about 90,000 people.

 

The Olympic events of track and field, football, gavelock, weight throw and discus were held there. It was here that Usain Bolt created the Olympics record in the 100 meters.

However Since October, 2008, after the Olympics ended, it has been opened as a tourist attraction. Now, it is the center of international or domestic sports competition and recreation activities.

The design of this large stadium was accomplished together by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron and Chinese architect Li Xinggang and the others. 

 

The architects brilliantly exposed the steel structures entirely and left them in the most natural appearance. 

 

The form of the stadium looks like a big nest which embraces and nurses human beings. Also it looks rather like a cradle bearing   hope for the future.

 

The construction of this building started on December 24, 2003. On July, 2004, the project was stopped temporarily due to the amendment of the design. 

 

On December 27 of the same year, the construction was resumed and finished in March, 2008....."

National Stadium is like a huge bird's nest.

Inside Scene

- Updates from China Travel Guide

All I can say that this is an iconic building which is really stunning from far off.  However going near it all I could comment was that it needed a good wash.

Apparently in winter, it doubles up as a large ski resort in urban Beijing.

Hutong at Beijing

"People say that the real culture of Beijing is the culture of the Hutong and Courtyards. How true that is. They attract more tourists from China and abroad than the high-rise buildings and large mansions.


The lanes have their own layout and structure, and when viewed from the air the combination of the lanes and courtyards resemble a chessboard with delicate gardens, fine rockeries and ancient ruins this makes them a wonder in the world.

Because of the cross interlacement of the lanes every houses connected to the other, making it easy for local people to keep in touch with their neighbors. Therefore, once one enters any of the lanes, one can feel the deep and warm relationships among people, which is rarely found in this modern world.

In the twisted lanes one can experience the life of the ancient Beijing people. The bathrooms and public toilets can be found in these lanes. Shops sell all kinds of goods that satisfy the local people’s daily needs. It is just like a community. Gossiping in these lanes is a common scene as it is the main way for people to strengthen their relationship. These lanes have witnessed the development of Beijing. Where there is such a lane, there is a story..."

- taken from a website on China.

After a really good and light vegetarian lunch (perhaps one of the best vegetarian lunches I have ever had) we made our way to visit a Hutong.

It was at the start of our trip to one of this Hutongs that we were scolded by a guard at a hospital. While we made a bee-line for the hospital toilets, the security guard stepped forward to scold us and asked us to enter the toilets 2 by 2.

The reason why we had to use the hospital toilet was because the tour guide told us that the toilets at the Hutong have no doors. Further they were squat toilets thus making it tough for those of us with weak knees.

Anyway our tour leader calmed down the Chinese guide. It was our first experienced with a "rude" Chinese person although at most of our shopping trips the sales people were friendly and helpful.

The first thing we saw at this Hutong which we visited were rows and rows of red rickshaws. Rickshaw pullers dressed in white uniform of the same design sat around talking while waiting for passengers.

There could be a hundred or more of them. Anyway we boarded the rickshaw at 2 per rickshaw.

It was amazing to see our rickshaw rider pitting all his strength in cycling the rickshaw we boarded to take us on a trip around the Hutong.

Surely these men worked really hard for a living and for that I asked the Lord to bless him and give him even more customers!

The rickshaw contingent stopped in front of a courtyard home. We went in to have a look.

Although I could not understand the explanation in Mandarin, I knew that this was the home of a family who actually lived there. The rooms were built around a square. There were bedrooms for the just married, the single son or daughter for the family, the elderly folks and a library cum art studio.

Antique furniture decorated the rooms. Perhaps the only thing modern about the home was the kitchen!

We asked the young man who gave us a tour of the rooms and he told us that this is his home.

Wondering around the Hutong we realized that this is a community or neighborhood of old Beijing preserved for tourists and a remembrance of the heritage of China.

Narrow alleyways and low houses dotted the streets. The homes were inhabited but with modern amenities like air-cons. The architecture of the houses reflected China in the olden days.

The houses had the look and feel of houses in ancient China.

There was also an area in the Hutong of bars and small open stalls.

Magnificent Longqing Gorge

The magnificent Longqing Gorge is a must see when in Beijing. It is a lake among majestic mountains and simply astounding in beauty and quiet serenity of its waters.

It is located at the mouth of the Yanqing Old City River, in the northeast of Yanqing County approximately 85 kilometers away from Beijing. 

The scenic spot is famous for its gorge. Visitors compare the scenery of the gorge to the Three Gorges of the river Yangtze, but its mountains are much steeper than those along the Yangtze. The scenery also resembles the river Li in Guilin, but the water here is much clearer.


When we arrived at the spot, the first thing we saw was the Longqing Dam. The seventy-meter-high dam is inset between hills. Looking to the north side from the dam, the picturesque scenery of hills and white clouds reflected in deep green water can be appreciated.

To get to the cruise at the top of the gorge, we had to step inside the highest escalator in the world, an escalator with several levels inside the body of an artificial dragon. 

The escalator is about 258 meters long and can take people to a height of 90 meters.

We got to the top of the escalator and boarded a boat to enjoy the beauty of the gorge by cruise. Every turn around the hills in the gorge astounds in beauty and serenity.

The scenery here combines the charm of rivers in southern China and the magnificence of mountains in northern China. Along the river we saw heavily forested steep cliffs and the bare limestone in different shapes, eroded by the constant splashing of the water. 

The most important spot to look out for is the Comb Hill, also known as Solitary Beauty Peak, which is a hill of 70 meters high and surrounded by water. It is the landmark in this scenic spot.

Flowers Cave is another must-see spot, which covers 3,000 square meters. There are more than 1,650 kinds of artificial trees and flowers decorated with birds and other animals in the cave (although we did not get to see this cave).

In addition, the Longqing Gorge is famous for its ice lantern show in winter from January to February. Although every year, the lantern show has its own theme, but the spectacular ice-fall against the dam wall is something to be admired.

Ice-carvings abound during winter and the place is gloriously lighted at night (we saw some beautiful photos of the ice-carvings and the festivities around the gorge during winter)!

Truly another of China's natural wonders!

Golden Mask Dynasty

I cannot recall the date or day we saw this show but this is really an awesome show and worthy of mention.

Of all the shows we saw in China, this show is really the most colorful, the most lavish in terms of costume, the most inspiring in terms of its music, the most difficult in execution in terms of its acrobatic content and the most unique in terms of its stage presentation.

Built at a cost of RM100 million by Overseas Chinese Town, the theater features  rotating stage behind a stage. The theater itself could be rotated to different heights and angles. 200 actors and dancers from China and abroad made up the cast of this famous show.

The story depicts the success of the golden mask queen of the golden mask dynasty who repelled and captured the blue mask king of the blue kingdom. 

Soon the country returned to its quiet pastoral life. One day the queen decided to build a tree to symbolize the peace and serenity of the kingdom and released the blue mask king. Grateful for his release and touched by her benevolence, the king fell in love with the queen.

The story is told in moving songs, rich music, 20 over well choreographed dances. Ballet, modern dance and Chinese acrobatic stunts intertwined together were incredible.  The story which was written in English and another language (looks like Korean) was flashed into side screens before each important dance scenes.

The movable stage had at least 3 levels so that dancers were dancing and performing acrobatic stunts upside down and right side up. The choreography of dance and acrobatic stunts is really mind boggling and breath-taking, really like a 3-dimensional performance on stage. Watching the dancing and singing at the front of the stage, one also is constantly conscious of performances right at the back of the stage which opens up to another 2 levels deep into its recesses!

One had to keep one's eyes darting all over the place to truly enjoy this whole show as different things were happening at different part of the stage!

The actors and dancers wore costumes of a by-gone era. There was also an amazing peacock dance to incredibly haunting music and fantastic acoustics and lighting.

Even more incredible was the floor of the stage that opened up to rivers and waterfalls. Halfway through the musical drama, the versatile stage opened up a huge waterfall depicting scenes of a great flood which was part of the story! The waterfall fell from the top of the stage down to the stage at eye-level flowing down a series of staircase-like rocks. Water fell into trenches built into the front and sides of the stage. 

The country of the golden mask queen was badly flooded and she gave her life to save her people. Later she became a sunbird watching over her people whom she loved very much.

All I can say is that this is the artistic capability of Chinese engineering brought into the theater to show-case the huge talents and gifts of the Chinese people.

This trip to China is eye-opening for me. I have begun to appreciate Tim's love for China and why he has such a huge admiration for this nation.

Indeed this is my ancestral heritage too!

Perhaps one day I will visit Fujian, the province of my hock kien speaking ancestors....

Auspicious Business Hotel

It is June 4 and security is tight at Tiananmen Square as it was the anniversary of the massacre. It was a good thing that we had walked the Square on the first day and visited the Forbidden Palace at the same time.

Before checking into the Hotel we were taken to a cultural street called the Liulichang area. Many shops selling Chinese seals carved on jade-like stones, writing inside a bottle, beautiful Chinese paintings and Chinese antique shops lined the streets. Here also for the first time, I had no choice but to use the public toilet that had no doors but were essentially cubicles. Anyway I was thankful that although it was a squatting toilet (most Chinese toilets are squatting toilets thus making it very hard on the knees) the cubicles were low enough for me to place my hands on its top to pull myself. However be ready with tissues as most Chinese toilets do not have tissues nor bidets.

We stayed overnight at Auspicious Hotel at Changping after walking the Mutianyu part of the Great Wall of China. This hotel is truly classic. Its decor and structure is like that of a by-gone era. The era of emperors and empresses, concubines and eunuchs. 

Receptionist wear costumes of an ancient Chinese era. The reception area opens into a palace-like courtyard. Many classical and traditional furniture decorated the hotel making photography ideal.

Our rooms had antique chests, tables and wardrobes. Great effort was made to preserve the classical atmosphere of old China.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Auspicious Hotel was that it faced a huge open space opposite the road. Crossing the road was tricky because we had to look right, look left and look right again to avoid bicycles on the bicycle lanes, buses on the bus lanes and cars on the car lanes. Chinese drivers drive on the left side and most of them drive like Malaysians!

We saw to our amazement many Chinese doing simple exercise to music in this open space, children roller skating, men playing a type of Chinese chess. Certain parts of this space was like an open-air gym!

No wonder Chinese people are so fit and dominate the Olympics and sports events. Their culture is a culture of exercise from the very young to the very old!

34 types of exercise equipment dotted the landscape of this park. Yes, exercise equipment like what you can find in a gym though of a more rudimentary nature and offering all kinds of exercises for every part of the body.

One can stand on a movable discs, hold on to a handle and twist and turn one's bodies as a form of exercise, climb onto a stationary bicycle and start cycling, climb onto a step-up equipment and start imitating a mountain climbing walk, stand on a swing-like structure and start swinging, lean against a circular contraption and hold on to handles with both hands and start moving in circles, lie down on a bed-like equipment and start pulling oneself up and down, play table tennis on several tables set up in the park, play Chinese sepak takraw with shuttlecocks with huge feathers, play Chinese tops with strings, sword-plays, fan-plays and line dancing....

The group dancing/exercise in the open air gym continues in the morning with many homemakers, elderly folks and even office workers dressed in their office clothes exercising on the various exercise machines in the park!

I have never seen anything like it!

China is indeed a nation of fit people. Come to think of it I did not see a single overweight person the whole time I was in China.

Apparently this kind of exercise equipment is found all over the various parks and open areas in China cities and towns. 

Later at night we had a palace banquet at the Hotel. A feast fit for emperors no doubt. We had a young lady entertained us playing a typical Chinese instrument, a young man doing the opera-like mask changing act and another young man performing a modern magic show.

At night we were given vouchers to visit the Dazhaimen SPA located right in the hotel. The hot springs spa is really one of its kind.

Women go into the "Area of Women" and men into the "Area of Men".

However I did not stay long in the spa as it felt weird being the only person using the hotspring at about 9 pm! 

I had a dream in this hotel. At night 3 figures from an ancient Chinese dynasty visited me in a dream. Petrified I shouted the name of JESUS and they immediately left. My mistake: I had not prayed for God to cleanse the hotel room before settling in which I would normally do before.

The following day I shared this with the Malaysian tour guide who told me of a weird experience she had the night before. A young lady approached her during the dinner and said that she belonged to our group although she had never seen her before. At about 3 am in the morning, she got a call from the security guard who said that someone was looking for her. He brought up the same lady wearing the same clothes to her room. The same question was asked of her i.e. whether the young lady belonged to our group or not. Of course she replied no and the security took her away.

I realized that I had to keep on praying in the Holy Spirit which I had been doing as much as I possibly can during the long bus journeys. 

This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.