Patchwork Palaces
(Panoramas of Forbidden City and Summer Palace: Beijing, China)
I thought I’d have a go at stitching a few of my photos together – I wasn’t prepared to drag a tripod around Beijing with me so I’m afraid they’re not terribly good. However they do give an impression of the massive scale of these two views.
The top view is the interior of the Forbidden City from one of the first large halls, looking towards the North, I think. They all had bombastic names like ‘Hall of Supreme Harmony’ or ‘Palace of Heavenly Purity’ and were all richly painted in eye-popping vivid colours topped off with lavish smatterings of gold dragons and phoenixes. The dragon is the symbol of the Chinese Emperor and the phoenix, his Empress. All over Beijing, the two mythical creatures are carved in stone and painted as two beings intertwined. On the day we visited the Forbidden City, I was seriously flagging already, though we were only on day two of our Beijing adventure. Being the sole translator (and having little aptitude for it) was taking its toll by halfway through the visit, I also panicked frequently about meals, subways and taxis. Apparently my Chinese has improved dramatically over this week, so says number 25 (the masseur)*.
Underneath, this is a view from the doors of the Buddhist temple atop Longevity Hill, looking down over the Summer Palace parklands and lake, and in the distance, the sprawling city of Beijing. On the far right you can see the pagoda on top of a neighbouring hill, this is still all part of the Palace grounds, as are the island and walkways within the lake itself. The Summer Palace is much more fun to visit than the other palace, simply because it feels so much more relaxed, more like a park and more familiar as a place that has been lived in and enjoyed, whereas the Forbidden City seems somehow soulless without any furnishings and greenery.
*He asked me for an English name and I based it on the sounds of his real name; Jia Qi (said ‘jee-ah chi’). It became Jake. To keep the sounds closer and call him ‘Jackie’ would be, I felt, far too cliche. Plus, he looks like a Jake.
The photos look good.