Beijing, Day 14: forbidden city and jingshan park

On Saturday, Drew and I headed to Forbidden City, the world’s largest palace complex and former home of a long line of emperors.  For a place in which only the emperor, select family members, concubines, and eunuch-servants were permitted to enter, it is ridiculously and excessively huge.  There were several buildings, halls, and gates with names such as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Gate of Heavenly Purity, and the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Maybe it was the crowd or maybe it was the heat, but Forbidden City was disappointing.  The entire complex is shaped like a rectangle, but only the middle third of it (running vertically down the center) is accessible to the public.  You also can’t enter most of the halls and buildings.  The two that can be entered, the Hall of Clocks and Watches and the Gallery of Treasures, closed about a half an hour before Forbidden City’s closing time.  The halls have small viewing areas so that you can see inside, but with all the pushing and shoving, trying to catch a glimpse inside just wasn’t worth it.

It was interesting to walk around and look at the architecture, but after seeing a few buildings, it all starts to look the same.

After walking around, Drew and I went to Jingshan Park, which is just north of Forbidden City.  It provided a nice contrast to Forbidden City- the park was less crowded, green, and quiet.  There were a few pagodas at the top of the hill, and we hiked up for some breathtaking views of Forbidden City and the rest of Beijing.

Forbidden City was overrated, but it was one of those tourist-y things that we just had to do, like seeing the Statue of Liberty or going to the Sears Tower.  Fortunately though, paying a visit to the Jingshan Park salvaged our day.  We ended the day at Gongdelin, a vegetarian restaurant, where we ate kung pao mushrooms, chicken and chestnuts, and sweet and sour pork.

Check out more pictures from Forbidden City and Jingshan Park:

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