We started off exploring the Summer Palace, which translated means the Gardens of Nurtured Harmony. As we walked around, I kept being reminded of Olmsted’s Central Park with its blowing willows, organic paths and pools of water. The palace’s central feature is Kunming Lake. Emperor Qianlong, who started work on the property in 1750, traveled and transposed elements of other landscapes. There was Hangzhou’s causeway and a mini Suzhou. Everywhere we saw images of the dragon and golden roofs, both symbols of the emperor. There were also phoenixes, representing the power of the empress. Empress Dowager Cixi spent much of her time at the palace. She seemed like quite the control freak with an unmatched superiority complex.
In Beijing we set up visits with three of the top Landscape Architecture School’s in the country. At Beijing School of Forestry, Bi Ran’s alma mater, we gave a talk and sat in on an evening lecture by Sun Xiaoxiang. At 90, he is the oldest ‘student’ of Landscape Arch. and still very passionate about it. According to him we should be five things; a poet, a painter, an architect, an ecologist, & a horticulturalist. I have much to aspire to.
We paid visits to and talked with students from Peking University, connected with the firm Turenscape and watched a lecture on boundaries at Tsinghua University. Both programs had strong focuses on sustainable design.
The 2008 Olympic site is still very much buzzing with activity. The giant infrastructure is still used for sports and its shear size brought people like us there to gawk. Is this what the future looks like? Side-note; apparently it is a practice in schools and many workplaces to begin the day with a series of exercises, common to the entire country. We watched on and tried to take part as a group of waiters did them in Bi Ran’s first plaza design.
Tiananmen Square, the largest square in China, is across the street from the Forbidden City. It was the imperial palace from Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty to Puya of the Qing Dynasty; 1402 to 1912. If you’ve watched the movie the Last Emperor, its that one. Now the colors are less intense but the buildings themselves are still just as grandiose. Many buildings were rebuilt after 1860, when Anglo-French forces burned much of the imperial palace as well as Summer Palace.
Culture is rich in Beijing. We visited many market areas where traditional practices such as jade carving are passed on to family members. We visited a 100-year old peking duck restaurant, silk stores, a Chinese medicine shop and chopstick manufacturers.
The Beijing Botanical Gardens are incredible. They have a rich diversity of plants, are well laid out and have a greenhouse with an excellent tropical and arid plant collection. We came in time for the rose festival and of course, we stopped and smelled them all.
The art/industry district 798 etc. was the last stop in Beijing. It’s a place where old factories have been converted into art galleries and studios and other factories are still running. This culture clash is a must see.
Traffic made more sense in Beijing. The subway infrastructure was older, dating back maybe to the ‘90’s, and there were plenty of crosswalks and trained drivers. To date, Xi’An’s traffic is the most insane I have seen.
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