2024 Road Scholar III: Beijing Summer Palace (10/7/2024)

Monday, October 7, 2024 (continued)

After lunch we were taken by motorcoach to the Yíhéyuán/Summer Palace, said to be the best-preserved imperial garden in the world, and the largest of its kind in China. Initially built 1750-1764, the gardens were burned and the palace was sacked in 1860 during the Second Opium War. The gardens were rebuilt by the Empress Dowager Cixi 1886-1888, using funds meant for the Imperial Navy, which resulted in China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895.  The Summer Palace was again damaged during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The palace was restored in 1902 and opened to the public in 1914 after the end of the Qing dynasty.

Renshou Dian/Hall of Benevolence and Longevity was
where the court administered governmental affairs,
received foreign envoys and other dignitaries (KSS)

Statue of a qilin/a legendary animal having
a dragon's head, lion's tail, deer's antlers,
ox's hooves with a body covered in fish scales

A statue of a dragon said to represent the
Emperor Guangxu, holding out an
empty hand as he had no power under
his mother, the Empress Dowager

A statue of a phoenix, said to represent
the Empress Dowager Cixi, is placed
centrally, contrary to tradition

Hall of Benevolence and Longevity detail of woodwork,
plus the ever-present CCTV camera 

The corner of a palace building roof may hold 3, 5, 7, or 9
small animal statues, depending on the rank of the building,
and here from the tip they should be in order of dragon,
phoenix, lion, seahorse, and heavenly steed;
they are meant to dispel evil spirits 

Wisteria arbor and octagonal doorway as a symbol
of completeness and good luck (KSS)

Leshoutang/Hall of Joy and Longevity was the residence
of the Empress Dowager Cixi

In front of the Hall of Joy and Longevity are a bronze statues
of a deer and crane, and a vase to symbolize peace

The Blue Mushroom stone was originally called the
Unlucky or Bankruptcy stone; the story follows: 

A certain Ming dynasty official was an avid rock collector. He discovered this enormous stone and had to have it for his garden. He was able to have it moved only a fraction of the way, before he ran out of money. The stone was abandoned until seen by Emperor Qianlong in the late 18th century. In order to move the stone into this courtyard, the palace gate had to be dismantled. Qianlong's mother felt the stone caused the official's bankruptcy, and it would curse the whole royal family. However, a palace official advised Qianlong to tell his mother that the stone resembled a lingzhi/a healing mushroom that symbolized longevity and prosperity.

Using double mobile phones to film a commercial? (KSS)

Yiyunguan/Yiyun Hall was the living quarters of the wife of
Emperor Guangxu, who lived in Yulantang/Hall of Jade Ripples
next door, but from 1898 was under house arrest by his
mother after she had his associates beheaded
for trying to establish reforms of the feudal system

The closer building may be part of the Hall of Jade Ripples

Apparently a favorite activity during the National Day
holiday week is to be photographed in traditional dress

The poser

Kunming Hu/Kunming Lake takes up 75% of the garden

Changlang/Long Corridor is a 728-m/
nearly a half-mile covered walkway

The entire length inside the corridor is covered with Su-style
paintings (classical painted art on wooden structures)
in various stages of wear and renewal

Lotus pond

Foxiangge/Tower of Buddha Incense is a Buddhist temple

An intersection in the Long Corridor

Yunhui Yuyu/Arch of Meeting Clouds (KSS)

Paiyundian/Hall of Dispelling Clouds with the
Tower of Buddha Incense above the roof

Marble Boat was rebuilt by Empress Dowager Cixi
in "Western" style, perhaps in justification of using
funds meant for the Imperial Navy

A shady allée

Returning along the Long Corridor

Shiqikong Qiao/Seventeen Arch Bridge

This metal arch is somehow electrified
and when the light is turned on,
the palace occupants would know
the Empress Dowager Cixi was out??

View of Longevity Hill with the Tower of Buddha Incense,
and above it is Zhihuihai/Hall of the Sea of Wisdom

View of the mystery electric arch

Dongdi/East Causeway bridge leads to
Wenchangge/Tower of Literary Prosperity

Dinner place setting

All the dishes are placed on a lazy-susan/turntable

2024 Road Scholar II: Beijing Song Qingling Residence (10/7/2024)

Monday, October 7, 2024

After breakfast, Jerry gave some of us a lesson in tai chi

Jerry is more skilled than we are in tai chi (KSS)

Our morning activity was to visit the residence and museum of Song Qingling near Beihai Hu/North Lake. [I am using pinyin (the standard system of Romanized spelling for transliterating Chinese) to write her name.]

Well-behaved dogs on a walk (KSS)

Beihai Hu/North Lake

The gardens of the former residence of Song Qingling

Long covered walkway

Kids on swings

The Rock of Good Fortune is a typical
porous stone taken from Taihu/Tai Lake,
stones which were used as decorative
elements in classical Chinese gardens

Memorial statue of Song Qingling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen,
leader of the 1911 Revolution and the first President of the
Republic of China (1912) and later the Premier of the
Kuomintang/Nationalist Party of China (1919-1925)

Miss Song was born in Shangahi, educated in a private
girls' school, then attended Fairmount College in Monteagle, TN,
and graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, GA; this
diamond brooch and woolen waistcoat were given to Song
Qingling by her mother when she left to study in the US

Song Qingling and schoolmate 
Alexandra Mann in 1912 (KSS)

Song Qingling and Sun Yat-sen were
married in 1915, and were considered the
Mother and Father of Modern China

Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, and his successor was Chiang Kai-shek, who was later defeated by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949 and left in exile to Taiwan. He was married to Qingling's younger sister, Song Meiling.

In 1927, the Kuomintang expelled the Communists to the Soviet Union. Qingling broke with her family and left China for Moscow. She returned to Shanghai in 1931 when her mother died. 
In 1939, Song Qingling founded the China Defense League, which raised funds and sought supplies primarily for northern China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After World War II, it was renamed the China Welfare fund, continuing to seek funds and support for the Chinese Communists.

Armband of a US Army observation group,
whom Song Qingling had asked to transport
medical supplies during the Sino-Japanese War

A diorama showing Mao Zedong and other state leaders
greeting Song Qingling at the Beijing train station in 1949

When the Communists took over in 1949, Song Qingling was active in the establishment of the People's Republic of China and served a a vice-chair of the Central People's Government. In 1950, she became chair of the Chinese People's Relief Administration, which dealt with welfare and relief issues.

This Soviet ZIS sedan automobile was given to
Song Qingling by Joseph Stalin

At the closing of the First National People's Congress
in 1954, Song Qingling is seen as a Vice Chairperson of the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

From 1959-1975, Son Qingling was one of two Vice Presidents of China. Shortly before her death in 1981, she was named Honorary Chairwoman/President of the People's Republic of China.

Woolen suit used to meet important 
people in the 1970s and 1980s

It is difficult to summarize Song Qingling's accomplishments for women's rights, child welfare, and social reform. She wrote letters, articles, and speeches about The Struggle for a New China, her contribution to make China's voice heard in the world.

Powder compact, lipstick, and small radio,
which belonged to Song Qingling

"Phoenix-shaped Scholartree"/Styphnolobium japonicum
that is over 500 years old, and the last residence
(1962, Western style interior) of Song Qingling

Dovecote where Madame Song kept doves,
as symbols of peace

Song Qingling's bedroom and study (KSS)

Small kitchen used personally by Madame Song

Library/study

Small reception room for meeting party and state leaders

Song Qingling liked to play this game of caroms,
often with her staff members

Small dining room

A peace dove brooch

Snacks of sugar-coated fruits

Blue license plates denote regular cars which are
restricted as to the days they can be driven, whereas cars
with green plates mean they are electric or hybrid,
and can be driven every day

Street lamps

During the National Day (October 1st) holiday week, children
came to drop their rubber duckies in Beihai Hu/North Lake; this
worker is done with collecting the ducks on her paddleboard

Caramel lollipops in the shape of animals

Luffa aegyptiaca/Loofah Sponge Gourds

McDonald's with food delivery services ready to go

A walk through the hutongs (alleys crowded
with houses built around a courtyard)
had doorways that showed the rank of the
occupant; however, today, the larger
"mansions" have been partitioned into
apartments for the proletariat

The wooden boards are to prevent dogs
from urinating on the car wheels 

A more typical hutong

Many hutongs do not have running water, so
these community bathrooms are necessary

Jianzi/Chinese hacky sack using a weighted shuttlecock

Art lesson in the park

Restaurant of a former kung fu master

Oh! The food is almost gone

We were eating in the two downstairs rooms...

...while the kung fu master played the erhu/
two-stringed bowed musical instrument

I never saw the wife who cooked the meal
in this tiny space, for 24 guests!

The kung fu master's son was in a movie with Jackie Chan