Beijing - Marco Polo Bridge, Zhoukoudian, Dabaotai Western Han Tomb

While C was doing what astrophysicist do I hired a driver (yes, one can get used to it *LOL*) and went off to see some more sites.

Our first stop was Luguo Bridge (卢沟桥), also called Marco Polo Bridge. Beijings's oldest surviving bridge was mentioned in Marco Polo's book The Travels of Marco Polo, Vol. 2, chapter 35 which he had written during the late 13th century. The bridge however, is much older. The even earlier wooden bridge was replaced by a stone construction in AD 1189 by She Tsung from the Jin Dynasty. The most remarkable thing about the bridge is the countless lions which adorn the sides of the bridge. No wonder Marco Polo described it as the finest bridge he had ever seen.

The lion figures you can see here are from different periods. Few are from the Jin Dynasty (AD 1115-1234) or Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271-1368); the majority are from the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644) or even later from the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911). Here are some photos of different lions, no two of them alike:

One of the rarer male lions:

The original stone plaster:

more exhibits in front of the bridge:

After I got tired of counting lions we went on and headed for Zhoukoudian (周口店), the site of Peking Man. The limestone caves and fissures of the site yielded remains of at least 45 individuals belonging to Homo erectus species and from a later occupation during the Upper Palaeolithic further Homo sapiens remains. The site is famous because it shows evidence for early use of fire by Homo erectus.

A view of the museum:

Frontal bone from the excavation in 1966:

Bone needle from Upper Cave, Archaic Homo sapiens, about 20,000 BP:

Homo erectus liked his hackberries (a stone fruit from a tree belonging to the hemp family):

The exterior presents models of contemporary animals like the wholly rhino:

The ash layer:

Loved the hyaenas:

Outside the museum Wuyuta, my driver was already waiting for me:

So after some refreshing cold water we went off to see the Western Han tomb Dabaotai (大葆台). You may as well forget the famous Ming Dynasty tombs, because this tomb is the most awesome tomb I have ever seen in China. Besides the entry is free, all you have to do is show them your passport and explain in which field is your name and in which your country because they can't read our alphabet :)

Much older than the Ming tombs it was built during the Jin Dynasty, for prince Liu Jian (73-45 BC) to be more specific. Here is an overview over Liu Jian's tomb (tomb 1):

Adapted after http://www.apolloinvestment.com/DabaotaiHan/DabaotaiHan.htm

The entrance to the tomb is made a bit according to the later Ming tombs, just red poles instead of the stone animals that usually line the path:

A nice phoenix statue

I loved the 'Simulated Archaeology Hall' :)

Here, children can play Indiana Jones, or rather not, I have never seen Indy crawling in the dirt with a trowel in his hand. But they can play archaeologist; I just wonder what they hide in the sand for the kids?

When I came back a praying mantis was waiting on top of the car. This must certainly be a symbol of luck :)

Beijing - Wanfujing Museum, Ming Wall, Dongtang Church and a Guqin

While C attended the International Cosmic Ray Conference in Beijing, I was free to explore Beijing ... again; I was in Beijing seven years ago. So I was wondering how much Beijing had changed. The first thing that struck me was the enormous amount of traffic. Cars were running (or rather standing in the traffic jams) without end. And mostly Audis and Mercedes cars, not the small Chinese cubes they had a couple of years ago. With the high amount of traffic has come the smog. There are only short times after a rain washed down the smog particles that you actually can see the sun or the stars. It is funny, because they have a temple of heaven but you can't see the heaven under the pall of smog; and they have a temple of earth but you can't see the earth either because it is plastered up with streets for cars. How very sad. Plus I got my cough back which I also had in Delhi. This was the not so good part of Beijing. Luckily there were plenty of nice things :)

So let us look back into the past when there were no sky scrapers and shopping malls. To have a closer look at what was beneath the malls I went to the Wangfujing museum. In 1996 they started building the Oriental Plaza shopping mall and during construction work they found Palaeolithic remains. Part of the original finds' layer has been kept open and is the centre piece of the exhibition; with several showcases full of artefacts surrounding it.

If you think this is just a patch of dirt, you might want to have a closer look. Here you can see a fire place with burnt stones, bones and some charcoal. This already gives you a date, the technology, the diet, the time of occupancy within the year, whether it was a more permanent camp or just a short lived hunter's camp, and, and, and... Fascinating isn't it? All the information from a couple of broken stones and some ash on the dirt :)

You can read more and have a look at some other finds here (English) and here (German).

Since the entry fee is very moderate I decided to spent some more money on a nice tea in the Paris Baguette coffee shop next to the museum, after all it is placed right in the middle of the shopping mall.

Thus invigorated I went to see the Ming city walls, the last remaining pieces of the former city walls. Built in the early 15th century, it was originally about 40 km long. In the Ming-city-wall park there is a 1.5 km long piece of the Ming dynasty wall:

Close by is also the National Post Stamp Museum which features a bronze figure of a post man from earlier times as well as modern one on the opposite side:

From here I took a taxi (since when did they become so expensive? And where were all the young student taxi drivers?) to the Dongtan church or also called Wangfujing Cathedral (王府井天主堂), one of the two only Roman Catholic churches in Beijing. Although Roman churches are supposed to be open for prayer, this one was not but then, the Pope doesn't recognize it as such anyway. As if the church should be picky ... At least I can show you a photo of its exterior, which is from the rebuilt church (the original was destroyed by earth quakes) from 1904 in Romanesque style:

Maybe you are interested in some more photos from my way back to the hotel:

Famous actors (Sammo Hung, 洪金宝) is featured in the magazines

Ming dynasty city ruins called the 'Ruined Walls', a gate construction used during the Ming Dynasty, but given up under Qianlong (18th century) when the Imperial Palace was opened to the public:

Entrance door in a street close to the Imperial Palace:

A first glimpse on the Imperial Palace:

And of the not so beautiful moat.

And some poorer districts opposite the Palace:

By now it was high time to return to the hotel because we had tickets for a performance of Li Xiang Ting (李祥霆), a music professor who played the guqin, a Chinese zither as part of a music festival in the Forbidden City Concert Hall (北京中山音乐堂). A very memorable performance, especially since he engaged the audience so well. They could choose poems or self-written pieces and he interpreted them on his guqin.

www.mask9.com/node/31026

Watch a video of him here or here. Or watch him on youtube.

Tomb of Wang Zhaojun, Hohhot

The next morning we sadly had to leave the grasslands and went back towards Hohhot.

We had just enough time to visit the tomb of Wang Zhaojun ( 王昭君) before our driver took us to the air port. Wang Zhaojun was the concubine (or rather lady-in-waiting) of the Han Dynasty Emperor Yuan. She was married to the the king of the Huns Chanyu Huhanye (33 BC). A purely political marriage to bring some piece to the ever quarreling countries. Countless poems, stories and drama plays were written about her character (Pi-Wei 1996).

Zhaojun brushes off the inlaid saddle,
Mounts her steed, tearstains on reddened cheeks.
Today, she's a lady in the palace of Han;
Tomorrow, a slave-girl in the northern steppes.

Li Bai (699-762) -  translated by Eoyang 1994

After having at least two sons and a daughter in this marriage she died and a burial mound was erected over her coffin. Whether this one is really the tomb of Wang Zhaojun is not known, since it hasn't been excavated. The 33m high mound was adorned with a chapel, as you can see in the photo.

Today it is a huge museum's complex. They also had a nice tea house and since they were just playing some music when we arrived, this was our first stop.

Look at that beautiful lithophon!

Walking up the burial mound you have a wonderful view over the landscape and the many vegetable farms.

The chapel itself is surrounded by souvenir stands.

Maybe the picture of the tragic heroine whose sacrifice (ensuring peace by marrying a barbarian) was considered by the Han Chinese as a 'living death' (Eoyang 1994, 10) is only one side of the coin. There are a lot of depictions of Wang Zhao Jun riding and having fun with her husband. So whenever you see a couple on horses it is probably a pointer to the Hun emperor and empress.

There were also two museums at the site. A small one with objects (mostly replicas) from the Xiongnu culture like the eagle-shaped gold crown from the Xiongnu grave in Hangjinqi, Inner Mongolia.

and the other the larger Wang Zhaojun Museum.

in which you are able to see life sized models of the famous couple.

In the unlikely case that you are interested in more infos about the museums you can go to my archaeology blog. There is a German version here and an English one here.

And I nearly forgot the most important thing! A day without a camel is a day lost, so here I present the camel leading the way to Wang Zhaojuns grave: