SpacePart 2006 in Beijing

The meeting was interesting although a bit outside of my field of expertise. It was co-hosted by the Italian Embassy in China, and the Italian ambassador was one of the welcoming speakers. We learned that 2006 is the Year of Italy in China (left photo), and more importantly everyone was invited to the Italian Embassy Thursday evening for a bit of opera followed by the conference banquet (right photo). There was also an excellent Chinese dinner hosted by Beihang University at the hotel on Wednesday night. Since a nice Western-style buffet breakfast was provided by the hotel as part of the bill and the conference provided lunch every day, it was not until Friday evening that there was any real chance or need to spend money. My talk was Thursday afternoon, and it seemed to go well.

The conference had arranged with a local tour company to offer attendees all-day tours on Saturday. I chose the tour that consisted of the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, and the Summer Palace. On Thursday the organizers announced that they had arranged for a tour of the Chinese Space Center for Saturday, undoubtedly a rare opportunity. Not expecting to be back in Beijing any time soon, I decided to stick with the tour of the Great Wall. About 14 conference attendees got on a (just large enough) tour bus Saturday morning at about 8 am and headed for the Summer Palace, which is only about 3 miles west of Beihang University.

For centuries the Summer Palace served as a retreat for the imperial court of China. It is basically a large park that consists mostly of Kunming Lake with many palaces, pavilions, and covered walkways. With the wind blowing off the lake, I was glad that I wore a coat, and it was easy to imagine it being comfortable in the summer. It was plundered and burned in 1860, but restored by the Empress Dowager Cixi starting in 1888 using funds diverted from the navy. She did manage to construct a marble boat (right photo). We entered at the East Palace Gate, admired the Hall of Benevolent Longevity (which is "guarded" by a pig and a monkey), examined the Hall of Jade Ripples (where Cixi imprisoned the young Emperor Guangxu), and made it to the edge of the lake. We walked next to the Long Corridor, which was unfortunately closed off for renovations, until we reached the marble boat. It was a quick, but interesting tour.

We then headed NW out of Beijing on the Badaling Expressway for the Great Wall at Badaling. Beijing itself is very flat, but the wall is on fairly rugged hills. Badaling is a well restored section of the wall only about 60 km from central Beijing, but we first had to stop near Changping at a huge store selling jade products. Apparently tours are the same world wide. We arrived at the Wall about noon. The entrance is just off the expressway, which is at the bottom of the long valley leading to Beijing. The Wall climbs steeply into the hills on both sides of the valley (map). In fact, there are actually two walls in the valley that join up in the hills (left photo). We walked up the Wall toward the west for maybe a mile until there was no more wall. We quickly removed off our jackets, but it was reasonably cool and there was a good breeze. Someone counted 1784 steps (most of the wall was steps). There were lots of places to buy t-shirts proclaiming that you walked the Great Wall, but all I have is a photo (right). Near the start of the climb, there are chains on the inside of the wall and nearly early link has a lock (left photo). The locks are placed by newlyweds to bring them luck.

After a long stop for a (pretty good) lunch above a large store (probably the Beijing Golden Palace Friendship Store No. 2) selling cloisonne and various other Chinese products, we drove to the Ming Tombs, which are only a few miles off the expressway to Beijing (map). The 13 tombs are in a valley just north of Changping. We toured (left photo) Dingling, which is the only Ming tomb that has been excavated. The tomb is several stories underground, and for some reason we had to go through a security checkpoint to enter the tomb. Fortunately, there was only a short wait. The tomb is in a large chamber that now has large boxes with artifacts (left photo). People have left money at all the royal sites probably for good luck. At the exit of the tomb is the Soul Tower honoring the Emperor (right  photo).

While walking around one morning, I noticed a subway stop within easy walking distance from the hotel. Later at the conference I asked one of the students at the registration desk  to describe the process of buying tickets and using the subway (virtual tour). I explained that I wanted to go to central Beijing Sunday morning to see the Forbidden City. While the first student explained the Beijing subway, another volunteered to come with me and show me around. One thing led to another, and eventually three students from Beihang University, myself, and another scientist (NP) attending the conference agreed to meet in the hotel lobby at  9 am to tour the Forbidden City.

The five of us left the hotel Sunday morning and walked the ~300 meters to the Zhichunlu Station on Line 13. Negotiating the subway is a bit complicated. You hand the agent 5 Yuan (about $0.65), and she gives you two tickets. One is for Line 13, which  is the relatively new above-ground line that runs to the NW out of Beijing (subway map). The other is for the older, underground Line 2, which circles central Beijing. On Line 13, you  insert the ticket into an automated turnstile, but for Line 2 you hand the ticket to an attendant. We rode to the end of Line 13 (only 2 stations), exited the system, walked at street level for about 100 meters, and entered the Xizhimen Station for Line 2 (left photo). We soon transferred to Line 1, which runs east and west, and left the system at Tiananmen Square (right photo). Toward the north is Tiananmen Gate (left photo), which leads to the Forbidden City. It had one of the few images of Mao that I saw in Beijing. The subway was busy, but not unpleasantly crowded. Once inside the system, the signage is quite good for Westerners. The station names are given in Roman characters, and the next station in each direction is indicated. There were announcements in English for each station on Line 2. On the other hand, buying tickets and transferring between Lines 13 and 2 would have been problematic without the students.

The Forbidden City is a magnificent place covering about 0.72 square kilometers. It is built as a fortress with surrounding walls 10 meters high with corner towers and a surrounding moat. There are large buildings and gates laid out in a harmonious arrangement, but there are also large open areas (squares) that produce a feeling of openness. We entered the from the south through the Meridian Gate (left photo).  Approaching the entrance, we noticed some soldiers playing pool on a table near the wall off to the right. NP was about to take their picture, but they got really annoyed and he stopped. The students got the tickets and audio devices to explain what we were seeing (right photo). We basically walked north close to the center line of the Forbidden City passing through a series of gates and halls or palaces. Centuries ago, we would have been walking into areas that were accessible to fewer and fewer people. Taihe Gate is the second gate, and we convinced someone to take our picture (left photo). Qianqing Gate Square (right photo) is typical of the large open areas. The Imperial Gardens are near the north end of the Forbidden City, and we stopped to admire the Climbing Rock, which reportedly was climbed by the Emperor and Empress every year on September 9th. We also tossed some coins into a small pond that was quite popular for making wishes. We used one of the attractive arches for a photo opportunity (right). We then visited the Palace Museum, which is a series of halls running along the eastern wall of the Forbidden City. There is a large collection of precious artifacts. A particularly interesting one for astronomers is the globe of the heavens (left photo).

After leaving the Forbidden City, it was time for lunch and a little shopping. We took taxis to Wangfujing Dajie, which is a pedestrian-only shopping street a few blocks east of the Forbidden City (left photo). We went to the Quanjude restaurant for Peking Duck (right photo). The students ordered many dishes -- almost all with duck. I had no idea that there were so many different ways to prepare Peking Duck. One dish included the tongue of the duck, which NP and I split. It tasted pretty much like the rest of the meat. I wanted to shop for souvenirs before leaving central Beijing since I was flying home Monday. We eventually made it to a side street crowded with small shops and aggressive shopkeepers. I chose two t-shirts in one small shop and stood back while all three students and the saleswoman engaged in very active negotiations. I had no idea what they were saying to each other, but after a few minutes, I had two t-shirts for about $3.50 each. I also bought two small fans, and NP bought a large fan. We declared the day a success and took taxis back to the hotel. The students had taken many pictures, and they planned to burn CDs for both NP and myself. We agreed to meet again in the hotel lobby at 7 pm that evening. After all they had done for us, NP and I decided that the least we could do was take the students out for dinner. We went to the rotating restaurant 221 meters above the city in the CCTV tower a few miles west of central Beijing. The views were great, and it gave us a chance to talk in comfortable surroundings. At the end of the meal the students gave us small gifts. Truly a memorable day.

Beijing is certainly an interesting place although it is not as strange as I anticipated. I always felt comfortable and was treated well by everyone I met. Of course, I was somewhat "sheltered" from the "real" Beijing by spending most of the time on a university campus or an organized tour. My somewhat random impression of Beijing follow. It was not as crowded as I expected, but there were lots of people on the streets from about 6 am until late at night. Most buildings were only a few stories tall although there were some very large buildings. It was more like Washington, DC, than Manhattan. Unexpectedly, few people smoked and there were many "No Smoking" signs. There was a remarkable lack of birds or other wild animals. I saw about 5 birds and one small mammal the entire time. I saw only one beggar. There were lots of bicycles, but the plentiful traffic jams consisted of cars not bikes. Public transportation was crowded even on Sunday, and many buses in central Beijing were really packed. Ubiquitous billboards advertised all sorts of things. As expected, lots of construction. People were excited about the 2008 Summer Olympics. There were many examples of rituals done for good luck including leaving money in the Ming Tombs, padlocks on the Great Wall, and rubbing doors and rocks in the palaces.

Overall it was a very enjoyable experience. Everything went well, there were lots of fascinating things to see, and spending Sunday with the three students was a real treat.