It's winter in Beijing, and the trees are barren, leafless. It's brown all around. The grass is brown; the trees, the mountains seem lifeless, but awake. Winter has not been my favorite season, unlike fall where there is so much color, and spring when the flowers are blossoming. But winter for all its cold crisp air can be welcoming, if only for the change in temperature. It is especially good in the morning with the sun streaming down your skin, warming up your bones which are covered from head to foot in layers of coat, sweater, thermal underwear,stockings, socks and boots.
We head off to the Forbidden City, and I remember The Last Emperor (1987 Oscar Best Picture), and the Gong-Li, Jet Li movies of recent. We spend half a day on this city. I could have stayed longer, but they close at 4:30. I walked the Forbidden City for 3 hours, and indeed, I was bitin. The walls, the intricate plastered ceilings and columns, the doors, the palaces where the 108 concubines lived, the gardens, they tell so many stories. In fact, it's enough to conjure one's own 14th century concubine (not emperor, or an empress) story.
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