Tiananmen

Official welcome by NCUT (North China Technical University) Vice-President Li. discussion of our planned activities. Toured the campus. NCUT has a championship women's softball team.

Tiananmen [Heavenly Peace Gate) Square. Walked the length of it to Tiananmen Gate , the entry way into the Frobidden City, which we will see tomorrow. Along the way, we passed the Mao Mausoleum. We decided to visit. Had to leave a dean and a colleague to guard back- and fannypacks, water bottles, etc. All of us were admitted into the mausoleum except one, for wearing flip-flops. Susan and I had seen Mao in the 80s. You could buy flowers and place them before the glass behind which he is laid out. There was a large number of these flowers bought by those paying their respects.

We visited the gate where Mao and his guests reviewed the parades. Also, he proclaimed the People's Republic here in 1949. His huge portrait still is displayed here. There were waiting areas with upholstered individual chairs for the dignitaries, for their comfort before they needed to stand before the crowds.

It started to rain as we got near the gate and when we started onto it, the rain came down hard. We shared umbrellas, but some of the umbrellas protected our packs & bottles, which we could not take with us. The dean again guarded the collection, but he was soaked when we returned, choosing to keep the stuff dry. As we walked back across the square, we all got more-or-less wet.

We got from the dean later this evening a herbal remedy to mix with hot water to drink to protect us from catching cold. Not an unpleasant tasting treatment.

The dean bought us a nice lunch of six or so plates of cold appetizers, about ten or more plates of hot food, including a Chinese cornbread and corn soup. Steamed bread and watermelon.

My nom de plume, Tianshanski, I took from the Tianshan Mountains (Mountains of Heaven) of northwestern China, that our group crossed two summers ago, albeit in a bus.