Mao & Me

For those who have been following the blog for a little while, you might have noticed a change in my profile picture. Glance right, and you'll see me with Chairman Mao himself. Last weekend, IES took some of us down to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City.

Now, this was a strange trip for a couple of reasons. Through the course of about a half-hour's walk, we experienced a living slideshow of centuries of Chinese history.

We began the trip in the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall near Tian'anmen. It tracks the history of the urban development of Beijing since it was a capital by the Khitan Liao, Jurcheds, and Mongols, all northern steppe tribes. On the second floor of this museum are two pretty cool displays. To your right, you see a 25-foot long wooden diorama of the Forbidden City. On your left, a 150-foot by 200-foot scale model of the modern city of Beijing. These displays point out two things. First, you're pretty well awe-struck about how big Beijing really is. There's just a lot of Beijing to be had. But secondly, you see that the Forbidden City, a cultural relic dated back for centuries, still sits in the center of this urban sprawl. Its a real testament to the power of this icon that it, instead of high-rises, occupies the most important part of town.

We left the Exhibition Hall and took a walk to the legation quarter. This was the neighborhood where Europeans put in their own embassies during the 19th century as dynastic power became weaker and weaker following the Opium Wars. This spot is cool because each European nation's legation building was built in the home country's architectural style. So two-minutes walk from the Forbidden City, you can see French, British, American, Swiss, and other architectural styles all in a row down the street.

We then cruised on down to Tian'anmen itself. Apparently, when Mao built it, he had his engineers look up the size of Red Square, and make Tian'anmen Square slightly bigger, thus making it the largest public square in the world. Crafty guy, Mao. This place is a cool sight. When facing the iconic image of Mao over the gate, you look right and see the National Museum. Facing left, you see the Great Hall of the People, which is the Chinese Congress building. It can hold 10,000 representatives at one time. In the center of the square is the Monument to the People's Heroes, a calligraphy-laden obelisk devoted to those slain in the struggle for Chinese nationhood in the 19th and 20th centuries. And lastly, behind you stands a building colloquially named the "Mao-soleum" and accompanying statues. If you arrive early enough in the morning, you too can stand in line with legions of people from the provinces and shuffle by the preserved corpse of Mao Zedong.

It started to get a little weird at this point. Philosophically, I mean. Think about it: We're starting to walk under a gate built by Chinese emperors, adorned by the picture of a man who tried to destroy the Chinese identity associated with pre-Communist China, and what should I see to my left as I walk into the forbidden city? This. Modern Capitalism, meet Imperial China and Maoist Socialism.

Lastly, we walked through the Forbidden City. It's an enormous complex, and we only scratched the surface. Jeremiah Jenne, my history professor, gave us tidbits of historical data behind the sights as we cruised around. I'll be heading back there at some point.

The experience of walking through the Beijing metropolis, Tian'anmen, and the Forbidden City was definately an eye-opener in terms of understanding Chinese identity. It's more complex than one might think. Westerners are bombarded with stereotypes about what China is. We see Confucius, Chairman Mao, and Ke Kou Ke Le all on the same plate, and we see no way to really reconcile the obvious philosophical and cultural contradictions we're presented with. But that question's going to require another post later. This one's gotten too long anyway.

I got over to the old Summer Palace yesterday, and the Beijing Zoo today, so I'll be posting pictures of those soon. Hope everyone back home and abroad are well!