Beijing 2024 - Forbidden City Clock Exhibition - Part 1

 

Finally! After escaping the maze of courtyards, we found ourselves back on track visiting the not-to-be-missed halls! One of them is the clock exhibition hall. I think Chinese character signage are so much cooler than the western alphabetical ones. Just look at it! It's almost art!

And so we enter the realm of time...... Clocks and clocks of wealth being displayed here.

It was surprisingly very western! Most of the pieces were from Europe. Most of the pieces were gold in colour. And a lot of elephants were featured. I guess there are no elephants in China? I just googled that, and apparently China do have elephants, at Yunnan area. That made total sense since Yunnan is near Thailand area....

I must say, I saw more European clock here in China than I ever did in any of my visits to Europe! Noted that I haven't been to many places in Europe, but still, the amount of clock found here is overwhelming! So many that it needs two blog entry!

Another elephant clock here. I like elephant clocks, cause they reminds me of the elephant world in Discworld. Maybe there were some truth in the stories. Maybe our universe is indeed carried across space by 4 elephants? Wouldn't that be cool?

A very French looking piece of timepiece with what seems like a twin goat? So pretty.

Another elephant?

Every piece found here are so elegant. 

So much details. A true piece of art. Do people even make clocks like these anymore?

Some info behind this boy clock. Whimsical looking isn't it?

Or a classic looking Greek clock piece?

A whole house of a clock? This one reminds me of a LV luggage :)  I bet this clock is more expensive than any LV luggage!

Beijing 2024 - Forbidden City Other Courtyards - Part 2

More couryards, sorry! All of them were nearby, so we visited all out of obligation! But remember, all their names are different as shown on the door sign! 

Hey, isn't this the same picture I posted in the last blog entry??? Lol.

Inside the cool hall with writings all around.

Nope! It's not the same hall cause the  writings and signs are different!

I am just amazed how much words meant to the kingdom! Civilisation! How far they have come to-date! Now when you think of China, you don't think of great literature. You think of TikTok!

Here is a garden outside one of the smaller courtyard. I love it cause it's petite and secluded with no one there. I guess even the tourist got tired of visiting all the corners of the palace. You do need to walk a lot to cover all these grounds! We spend a whole full day there and I bet we missed a few corners ourselves too!

Lovely giant jar of water. They are there in case there is a fire, water is readily available since most of the structures are made of wood. But when the water is calm on the surface, it looked really serene just being there in the quiet garden.

Unique corner of a courtyard. I can't even tell if this is just an optical illusion! They way the wall seems to curve!

Silhouette shot, from a hall looking out into the garden. Love the doors so much! Why don't people build doors like these anymore? Don't they have laser technology to do these now? 

Another interior moongate.

A picture of a moongate with lovely characters on top of it. Something about quietness?

Beijing 2024 - Forbidden City Other Courtyards - Part 1

There seems no end to the different courtyards that can be found in this palace ground! Feel free to skip ahead if you started to find all these boring. Heck, even I'm kinda running out of words to described all these courtyards. And this is only the first major attraction that I've visited since I landed in Beijing! Don't get me wrong, I felt grateful and happy to be able to visit all these places, and I love it when I am there physically. I love all these photos, and there must be a reason why they are all in my blog now! Hahaha. But let's proceed on with more courtyards for now!

Small ones, big ones, they are everywhere!

Look at the same of this one. I find it rather hard to remember their English names. Perhaps the chinese ones are easier to remember? Some official information for your reference above and below.

Who on earth comes up with these names???

Inside one of the 'studio', beautiful wooden carvings. I love wooden structures.

Everything just feels very rich and polished. 

I always thought that Chinese have no taste in interior decorating. This trip to China totally changed my perspective of that instantly. I thought to myself, maybe they kept all the good stuff inside the royal palace or among the rich nobles? The colour scheme here were totally my type!

Love these shades. The chair? Not so much.

I just love these dark rooms with natural lights shinning in. All those carvings and glass? Their shadows and silhouette was everything that made these halls shine! Love them! Ah, maybe that's why they made it into my blog entry! Ownself answering ownself's question, lol.

Beijing 2024 - Forbidden City Opera House

 

One of my favourite place to visit was the Royal Opera House. Favourite cause I was recently involved in a Taiwanese Opera Troupe, so seeing this culture from the royal perspective was totally something! Also, I don't really do too detailed of a place I visit, so that there are still some element of surprise when I actually visit the place. So this Opera House was one of the surprise for me.

It's 3 storeys tall. Oh, sorry, let me explain, the STAGE is 3 storey tall. The surrounding areas are where the audience can sit to enjoy the play. And the whole place is the opera house. Very different from Western Opera House where everything is confined to a single building. Here in China, it's a whole compound. 

Here is the front view. Wow! Can you imagine all 3 scenes being played out in each different level? I bet they use the ground in front of the stage for other sort of performances too. I wouldn't know where to focus on!

The corridors running around the Opera House. I guess servants will run around here serving teas and snacks during the play? 

The sitting area. It's almost like a full day or a few day's affair. One could practically live here!

Some official information about the place.

And of course a photo of us in front of the Opera Stage :)

Beijing 2024 - Forbidden City Treasure Gallery - Part 2

 

Continuing on the Treasure Gallery, we saw tiny porcelain bottles. 

A kind of metal basket? Love the colour. Aqua light blue, with a pink lotus. 

I think this is more incense? Cause the cover has so many carving on it that allows the smoke to come out from? I'm just guessing of course. There are descriptions on these exhibits. I just don't read them most of the time. Learning about things in details is for when you're reading or watching a documentary. When on site, I prefer to admire and feel, to totally soak in the atmosphere and history of the place and items.

Love this little piece, especially the bonsai plant that is coming down to the miniature mountain in the clouds. The plant is fake though, since this was inside a case. But the placing of it is just so pretty!

More jade pieces. I'm not really a fan of jade, but I do admire beauty when I see one! Was this natural jade that is green outside and white inside? How do they carve it so delicately?

Green items! I love emerald or minty green. I would literally booked a hotel if it has Emerald in it's name! 

Red jade? Is that a thing? Pretty! I would put my enemy's heart inside. Yes, cause my enemy has a small heart! Hahahaha.

Tea set! Almost translucent! Made of almost white jade! So elegant! AHHHHHH!

  

Translucent cup with it's pretty cup stand! for sake or wine?

So many beautiful pieces! I'm lost for words.

I'm usually not a fan of these jade trees. Maybe cause those you found in South East Asia are usually cheap looking with wires and fake stones? But those in the palace, wow. They looked legit!

They don't look cheap at all. Each leaves and petal were made of real precious stones, cut into perfect shape.  And no cheap looking wire holding them all together either. So very different from what I've seen from where I come from..... Travel does widen one's horizon, and changes one's perspective of things. 

So delicate and life-like!

Writing tool set! Even these are made of jade. Do people actually use these? Won't the ink stained the jade? Or maybe I don't know the nature of jade that well..... HA!  So much to learn!