Power in Arcitecture

Summer Palace was beautiful—the art and history in the architecture could take your breath away. It is incredible to me that it was burned down twice during invasions and rebuilt with such splendor each time. The paintings of the classics on the ceilings and structures are so intricate – I can only imagine the time and work that goes in to maintaining them (or the time and money that went in to creating them in the first place).

The marble boat is what really struck me, though. We’d learned about it in class and when we watched The Last Emperor, but to see it in person was entirely different. It was built by the Empress Dowager Cixi with embezzled navy funding in order to waste the money and prevent reform. I find it curious that in the United States we have checks and balances that are often so extensive that nothing gets done but in China under Cixi, there was one ruler with the extensive power to prevent things from getting done. They are on complete opposite ends of the extreme.

It was also strange to me to think that something full of so much beauty and intricacy—a site so appreciated by tourist and natives alike—could have been a part of a scheme to damage all of China.

The Ming Tombs were just as majestic. As we walked through the gate, the structures farther back in the tomb seemed to grow larger. You could feel the weight they carried. Inside the offering building, I was taken aback by the size of the support beams and the statue – the great architecture, though not as intricate as at summer palace, was powerful simply for its size and vastness. As we exited into the courtyard, the rear structure overlooking the burial mound loomed above us. As we climber to the top, the peacefulness was incredible. It was quiet and open – no tourist merchants hocking their wares or noisy cars beeping through the city. The whole set up seemed to demand respect as we stood gazing out at the mountains in the distance.

Once again, the same majesty and power was apparent in the great wall and our climb to the top. The crumbling stairs were massive as we mounted each, getting closer and closer to the peak and farther away from the city and countryside below. I was a long, exhausting climb but it was wonderful to look out over what seemed like all of China when we were through.

Just as it is inherent in the weathered, beaten look of the inner city hutongs, the age of the country and culture is clear when one stops to take in the architecture.

Thinking back, though, I am not sure that all do stop to take in the architecture—or perhaps it’s that we are not all given the opportunity to do so. Many have at least seen photos of ancient Chinese architecture—they could recognize a Chinese style building if it was showed to them. But few have been able to go and stand amongst the buildings and see the beauty and power in the walls and decorations or experienced how intentional the layout of each site is. Additionally, many have seen images of modern China, but they seen buildings that are meant to be seen. They see the structures built for the Olympics and the business districts of Beijing rather than the weathered hutongs or the dusty streets.

As tourists on a one-time trip to Beijing, I feel was saw the part of China that we were supposed to see. We saw a part of China trying to show that it could westernize despite the history and culture in its past. We saw tourism and westernized Chinese food, high class restaurants imitating Italian cuisine rather than the best of China, and fresh buildings and high-rises crowding out the ancient splendor of historic China. I want to see more. I want to go beyond Beijing and see the rest of China – the “real” China, or what it would be without tourism and buildings meant for show and tell. Even with our daily excursions, we are carefully guided by Alex and Parrol. We are taken to tourist-friendly restaurants where food is ordered for us to try. Even when we go as a group to restaurants like the Dim Sung restaurant, we still have food ordered for us so we don’t get the experience of fending for ourselves or falling heavily in to the extensive culture that surrounds us.

I would hope that if given a second chance we chose to run a little farther and hunt a little deeper for the pieces that truly make up China rather than just the surface of tourist-heavy Beijing.