Temple of Heaven in a Heavenly City

One thing you can say about these Chinese - they sure have interesting architecture.

Most amazing is the size of all the royal compounds to be found within the precinct of Beijing, and all are cities within themselves.

The Forbidden City is only one example. One can gain insight into the enormous power of this great empire by visiting the residences of those who held that power: the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven.

(The attached photo is from the Temple - Penelope took it. She is definitely getting better at handling the reflex camera with the big lens).

The greatness lorded by the Empire's royal dynasties over the individual has been replaced by the current communist regime, in which the individual is but a tiny cog in the social machinery. 

Huge buildings and piazzas are designed to make the state apparatus feel big and the individual feel small. Today, people wear uniforms or armbands of one kind or another - giving them a defined place in the larger apparatus that rules supreme.

But is that a bad thing? Does the individual in such a system forfeit his/her own identity in favour of the larger system or does he/she, with a defined position, entrench his/her identity?

By critiquing subjugation of the individual to the larger system, am I just looking to capture, retell and reinforce my own prejudices and preconceived biases against communism?
That is, of course, the downfall of the casual tourist.

I feel safe, the people here are (on the whole) friendly and I don't feel the dark state apparatus that I was brought up to expect of a communist country. So let's keep it all in perspective.

Apart from that, I am just dealing with little Penelope.

Relationships are difficult at the best of times and traveling is a good way of seeing whether two people get on. She had a good sleep last night and was feeling better today, so we had a good day, hiking 15km through a valley called Three Gods Head Mountain. (Well I hiked; she came along for the ride, peeking out of the top flap of my pack. Chivalry is not dead!)

We are already on to a new city - Luoyang - nursing my sore thighs.

I am typing this on the guest computer in the hotel lobby while P has a shower; I hope she finishes washing her hair by the time I finish writing this and get back to our room!

Check you later

Al