As a group of non-Chinese tourists in the capital city of China, we were very easy to spot, but I found the shear number of Chinese tourists to be incredible. The highlight of our first full day in Beijing was our visit to the private sections of the Forbidden City.
We woke to find Beijing still covered in rain clouds and the city has a rather surreal look from the windows of my room on the 15th floor of the Grand Hyatt Beijing, which by the way, couldn’t have been located in a better place. Close to shopping and restaurants and nearby to many of the most important attractions.
After a leisurely breakfast in the hotels Grand Club Lounge on the 17th floor, we departed for the Forbidden City via deluxe motor coach. Dr. Elvira Hammond, our study leader filled us in on several aspects of Chinese society as we transverse the city’s streets to get to our appointment with Mr. Yu, the Vice Director of the Forbidden City.
We walked from the coach to the outside gates of a private part of the Forbidden City for our meeting. At 9:10 AM, Mr. Yu’s assistant came to fetch us just inside the gate and take us to meet with him. What a wonderful way to begin our first full day in Beijing, as we were ushered into a very special part of the iconic buildings we know as the Forbidden City. We were taken to a very important part of the complex which is not open to the public. We were asked to put covers on our shoes in order to protect the floors inside the buildings from the rain.
Excitement was building as we entered the special spaces that were once used by the Chinese emperors and later by the Chinese leaders. Mr. Yu showed us through the spaces and provided descriptions of the exquisite antique ceramics, paintings and furniture.
Showing us into a large room at the rear of the space he described how one Chinese emperor used that space for private opera performances that he did for his mother, and then Mr. Yu told us that these were the same rooms where President Richard M. Nixon and the VIPs in his delegation had enjoyed tea with the Chinese leaders during his historic visit to China in the early 1970s. I remembered being a middle school kid and seeing the television coverage of that visit, as well as the coverage of it in the New York Times. How incredible to now be standing in the same room.
Mr. Yu was kind enough to join us for a group photo in the small courtyard outside these spaces, where we faced the small outdoor opera stage and smiled for the cameras. I kept thinking about President Nixon and Secretary Kissinger, who had most likely posed for photos with the Chinese leaders on these very same steps back in 1972. Just incredible! After we left Mr. Yu we continued with our guide Debra through some other parts of the Imperial Palace and eventually made our way out into the huge public spaces where our small group mixed with multitudes of tourists. What a wonderful introduction to Beijing!
Click here for Slideshow: Day 2
Larry Guillemette
Director of Business Development
