BEIJING, CHINA – U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed today that he will visit the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City when he travels to Beijing. The president is scheduled to be in northern China on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Forbidden City
Once off limits to anyone outside the court and its staff, the Forbidden City opened its doors on October 10, 1925. For the first time, the public could look inside the former home of the Ming and Qing emperors.
The imperial home of 24 emperors for 491 years, this is officially called The Palace Museum. About a third of the complex is open to the public, with extensive renovations due to be finished by 2020. At least one palace will be under renovation at any given time for the next decade.
There are three parts; the outer court, inner court and imperial garden. The emperor received visitors in the outer court, while he, the empress and the eunuchs lived in the inner court. The imperial family would relax in the garden. Even visitors who spend an entire day here won’t be able to take in the entire complex. A Starbucks Coffee location here closed in 2007, after a storm of criticism from Chinese citizens who said the Western brand had no place in the center of China’s history.
The Great Wall
In the turmoil of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), the city of Ji was built where Beijing stands today. When China was unified under the first Qin emperor, Qin Shihuang, Ji became a key trading and military post for the next 1,000 years. It was under Qin that the construction of the Great Wall was begun, forming a supposedly impenetrable barrier to the north.
Mao Zedong once said “Bu dao changcheng fei hao han,” or, “You’re not a real man until you climb the Great Wall.” Today the Great Wall can be visited at several different points: heavily restored Badaling, less crowded Simatai and Mutianyu or the desolate Jingshangling.
Many Beijing residents will scoff at the idea of visiting Badaling rather than one of the other Great Wall sections. As the first part open for tourists in 1957. The site is a good representation of how the Wall probably looked when it was first built, but now with hordes of tourists, Starbucks and a Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Comments
Starbucks Coffee just moved out of Forbidden City, you can find it everywhere in Beijing
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