Temples Galore… [listed in the order of the day]
1130PM
Our taxi makes a snappy U-turn and pulls up in front of a very dark 4 story building. The meter spits out a receipt and an English voice says, “11 Yuan please… Thank you for using Beijing Taxi.”
“Nin dong bu dong, zheige shi United Hospital Na?” I ask in my poor Mandarin. [do you understand, is this the United Hospital?]
“Zhege shi” he responds. [yes it is]
Not too sure about this… I trot over to a dark guard shack where the young fellow is apparently holding a meeting with two friends in the darken guard shack.
“Emergency???” I ask.
He motions down the poorly lit alley and to the left.
I trot back to the cab, hand over 11 Yuan and help the gimp from the back seat.
No so fast…thats the end of the day... Its Religion in Chinese History day and I still have to get us through a bunch of temples, a nifty lunch and dinner and an impromptu trip to a local acrobatic Circus. Sit back kiddies…. This will be a long ride today and requires 2 parts.
First stop was the Temple of Heaven built in 1420 where we will see the influences of the three major religions or philosophies: Llama Buddhism, Taoism and Feng Shui. Most temples in China are individually one of the above, but the Emperor commissioned the heads of the 3 religions to consult on the construction of the Temple of Heaven, [hereafter TOH] the first “design by committee” that actually worked.
Completed in 1420, there are 9 gates to the TOH because it was constructed by the emperor who was the Son of Heaven and 9 was the imperial number. It covers 764 acres. 4 times larger than the Forbidden City, it is the largest temple in China.
Every morning the temple grounds are filled with locals doing exercises 
[over 1000 doing Tai Chi alone] which includes using ball and paddle balancing act, then there is open hand while others do the silk ribbon dance, hollow ball, etc As we walk through the long cool corridors we find families enjoying the day together [Chucky cant stop from taking pics of the kids… they're so damn Cute!!!] groups of men playing 
Dominos, Chinese chess, kicking a feathered badminton style 
cock similar to the western hacky sack. There's group and solo singing, the playing of various musical instruments, dancing traditional dances as well as the classic waltz and even the Argentine Tango. The park is free to retirees and is alive with activity and harmony. Everyone is getting a kick out of the “Fengtzi Meiguo 
Ren” [Crazy American] who has a bandolier of film cartridges 
on his camera strap for easy film changes and is shooting pics with a digital in one hand and a 35mm in the other. Un-beknownst to him until the Dragon Lady clues him in, the Chinese are taking almost as many pictures of him as he is of them and they are having as good a time as he is. Now those that don’t know him well must understand, when Chucky is 
on a roll… “Get outta the way”! He will snap a pic of the 
most obscure thing for reasons known only to him and the spirits… The Dragon Lady has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA why he does it or what he plans to do with them all [he still hasn’t edited Spain and that was only 857 pics overall… yesterday the digital count alone in Beijing was 439]… she just smiles and says…”It’s Chuck…" no other explanation is necessary.
The Details tell us that the TOH roof weighs 290 tons and is an elaborate series of interlocking pieces [no nails] representing the three influences. Llama, Tao, Feng Shui. All doors particularly in the temple have curved tops representing the umbrella of sky or heaven and as people pass through each door they are between heaven & earth. 
The steps surrounding the temple were never used by any other than the emperor or the eunuchs’ and even though the prime entrance was facing south in the center, the emperor used steps to the side rather than the center as customary in all there imperial buildings. He would ascend to the 2nd level and walk to the center, remaining one level below the main level and worshiped from there, with all other attendants and entourage in the lower courtyard. The emperor was surrounded on either side all along the middle level by the sacrifices and offerings.
All told there were 90 emperors of 8 Major dynasties however since its erection in 1420 only 23 of the 24 emperors worshiped here [one actually died after only a one month's reign].
The TOH has been repaired 3 times since its erection, 1935-1936, extensively from 1971 to 1976 and 2005-2006.
Next stop was a little shopping at what Teng referred to as a market but was really several floors of jewelry and trinket stores where the major claim to fame was that the Bush family has shopped there several times [Chucky isnot at all impressed with past clients but the quality of the Jade is good and Dragon Lady now has her Jade and Gold “FU” [Good Fortune] pendant. A stroll through the other side of teh same level that ironically was the same company and some more tchotchkies finished 90% of the Gotta buy list. Of course Chucky just had to go downstairs to the flea makrket style arraingement where he could really bargain and was getting the buy of the century on some really poor jade tchotchkies when again, by the tone of the dialogue his entourage again incorrectly sensed trouble and hustled him away before he made a great deal…Ohhhhh wellllll… [I had her down to 30 Yuan from 120… they just don’t understand!]
Lunch was at the Xian Hen restaurant, scene of our first programmed dinner and this lunch was as good as the first night. Nothing spectacular, good solid dishes, something chicken, something beef, veggies and that damn whole tea leaves in the glass. Beer good. Still ***+
On to the Llama Temple Yongghe Gong, built in 1694 as a residence for Prince
Yong, 4th son of 3rd emperor of the Qing Dynasty [the first son of the Emperor is the Prince and all other sons are Kings]... in 1725 [Now Emperor] Yong Zheng made it a king’s palace where later his, Son Qian Long converted the palace to a "Lamasery" [or Llama Buddhist monastery] in 1744. It currently contains 6 major Buddha’s of the Tibetan Llama branch of Buddhism. Lots of Buddha’s and tough photo ops as flash photography is verboten inside the temples. We Spun all the prayer wheels on the way out [7 spins for good luck] and it was off to yet another temple.The Confucius Temple & University built in1306 and is actually closed except the courtyards
for massive renovations to prepare it for the 2008 Olympics. The university contains the 13 books of Confucius chiseled on over 190 giant stone tablets each of which is 16 feet tall, 4 feet wide and18 inches thick stored in a shed to one side while renovations of their normal resting 
place is restored. While in the process of reading the title block outside the temporary warehouse for the tablets, Chucky was able to find the tile for the Book of “Meng Zi” his Name sake and while trying to make a rubbing of the characters and seeing him struggle, a guide lady offered him a pencil and it is now in safekeeping to be framed at home.For those who are uninformed… and why should you be unless a scholar of oriental philosophies, Meng Tzi was the student of the student of the student of Confucius and credited with co-founding the Confucian Taoist movement.
Finally being templed out we headed for some cocktails and to buy tickets to one of the 8 private family acrobatic circuses, [ala Cirque de Soliel]. We find a great parking spot right in front of the theatre and even though we have a reservation… [it is actually a spot on the waiting list] we have to come back 20 minutes before the show to see how many of the group blocks are no show, so we head down the street to a nifty restaurant for some cocktails and conversation.
I’ll end here for tnow and finish Day 5 tomorrow as this is already running long but the best part of the day is about to begin.
再见朋友
Zài Jiàn Péng-You
Chuck and the draggin’ just a bit...
Dragon Lady
