Nine fierce dragons sitting on a wall
(The Dragon wall in the Forbidden Palace: Beijing, China)
This was one of the most impressive parts of the Forbidden City for me, and probably the part I was most familiar with before I arrived. I repeated the following tale to my family and they were suitably impressed. See what can happen if channel surfing is done correctly?
If you can make it out, the very bottom tile of the white dragon (centre right) is discoloured. The story goes (so says CCTV 9 – the internationally focused Chinese television channel) that the emperor had commissioned the nine dragon wall and was coming to see it newly completed. One of the tiles (the one in question) broke coming out of the kiln and panic ensued amongst the artisans as the imperial visit was due the following day. One quick thinking worker suggested carving a new tile from wood and painting it overnight. If the job was done well, the emperor would never notice. The happy ending is that no, he didn’t notice and the artisans must have breathed a collective sigh of relief.
– Today Rosie is visiting her Gran in Glasgow –
