We got a late start and it cost us today as when we arrived at the Forbidden City it was packed with Chinese tourists. By the time we even got to the ticket office we were sick of being around so many people and decided not to go. We decided that we would have to come back the following day and go in the back entrance first thing in the morning. We did take some pictures from the front not knowing if we would be back to that section the next day.
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| From 77 Days in China |
Daytime view of Chairman Mao
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| From 77 Days in China |
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| From 77 Days in China |
Outside the Forbidden City, Charlotte was about to start hitting everyone she could with her umbrella
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| From 77 Days in China |
The ticket "line"
Prince Gong's Mansion
Instead of the Forbidden City we headed for Prince Gong's Mansion. It was constructed in 1777 for minister He Shen (和珅) during the Qianlong-reign in the late Qing Dynasty. He was a corrupt minister, known for taking bribes and he therefor had the most extravagant residence in Beijing. Once there was a new emperor he was arrested and the mansion was given to the emperor's brother, Prince Gong. Later Prince Gongs grandchild had to give it to the Catholic Church, the reasons for this are unclear. The Catholic Church then sold it to a university, then Beijing Normal university bought it. During the cultural revolution it was given and used by the Beijing Air-conditioning Company, before being reclaimed by the government in the 80's. All of this was interesting and like most Chinese tourist sites I learned most of it from Wikipedia after returning, but the most important thing was there were less tourists than the Forbidden City.
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| From 77 Days in China |
Prince Gongs Mansion had tourists, but you could escape them
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| From 77 Days in China |
Rock garden on the Mansion grounds
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| From 77 Days in China |
Lots of Chinese Tourists
Peking Duck and Lamb Hotpot
After Prince Gong's Mansion, we wandered a tourist pedestrian walkway around a lake and found a branch of a famous Peking Duck restaurant so we stopped in for some duck. We were pretty disappointed with this as we left still hungry and it was the most expensive meal we had so far. After dinner we got a text from Charlotte's friend that we were staying with asking if we wanted to go for lamb hotpot, since we were still hungry we went for a 2nd dinner.
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| From 77 Days in China |
Peking duck restaurant
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| From 77 Days in China |
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| From 77 Days in China |
Cutting up the duck
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| From 77 Days in China |
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| From 77 Days in China |
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| From 77 Days in China |
On the tourist pedestrian area a guy was flying a long kite
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| From 77 Days in China |
There was also an old man doing calligraphy with water
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| From 77 Days in China |
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| From 77 Days in China |
Lamb hotpot
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| From 77 Days in China |
Charlotte and her friend who we were staying with
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| From 77 Days in China |
The hotpot restaurant was in a Russian neighborhood so all the signs were in Russian
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