Words and Pictures

Do you ever wake up in the morning and feel like it is going to be a bad-hair day? Just can’t do a thing with it? That appears to be the case with this ferocious lion-figure in the emperor’s garden area of the Forbidden City.

One of the reasons why the Forbidden City has lasted so long is because a good portion of it is made out of stone, marble or masonry. The buildings all rest on stone foundations, but they are built of wood and have all two frequently burned to the ground. The stonework however is disappearing more [...]

If you are lucky and get a clear day in Beijing, the view from Coal Hill is stunning. This was taken a few years ago and I am certain there are more and taller buildings there now, but the contrast between the undulating tiled roofs of the Forbidden City and the rigid “skyscrapers” of the [...]

For many years I thought the Forbidden City was “red”, but in my heart of hearts I knew it was not an ordinary red. Eventually I learned that it is called ashes of roses. The materials used to make the paint are local to the area and have been used for hundreds of years. The [...]

No I haven’t vanished off the face of the earth. In fact, I have seen more of the earth in the last two weeks than I have in some time. We just returned from a 4100 mile road trip through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and back home again. [...]

I really can’t count how many times we have walked the courtyards and corridors of the Forbidden City. Yet each time I can’t help but think about the history of Beijing and the events, both small and great that took place there.
For hundreds of years the Forbidden City was the seat of imperial power [...]