The Forbidden City (Imperial Palace) in the heart of Beijing is the largest and most complete imperial palace and ancient building complex in China, and the world at large. Its construction began in 1406 and was completed 14 years later, having a history so far of some 580 years. Twenty-four emperors from the Ming and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties lived and ruled China from there. Most of the buildings in the Forbidden City were rebuilt many times, although they maintained the original architectural style.

Today Art Museum is the first private nonprofit museum, located in the Apple residential area， Chaoyang District . I was so happy when told that Tim Yip’s solo exhibition will be open there.
Tim Yip was born in Hong Kong, he is an art director, costume designer and production designer. Since his early work on A Better Tomorrow (1986) with director John Woo, Yip has worked as designer of production and costumes in a handful of feature f

ilms. He was awarded the Oscar for Best Art Direction at the 2000 Academy Awards for his work on Ang Lee’s internationally successful romantic fantasy,Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

The exhibition is a self-cleansing process, especially his sculptures: “Floating Leaf” and “Kui”. Yip has said:”Night is the shadow of day;

wind is the shadow of air; stones are the shadows of mountains; and mountains are also the shadows of stones. And yet dreams are the shadows of waking;dreams are the underlying currents. Ghosts are not the shadows of men, but variations of men. The created are the shadows of the creator.”

the sculpture ” floating leaf”

It is a kind of personification. The leaf wants to run forward, but it is too heavy; it seems vigorous, but it is corrupted

the sculpture “kui”

Kui, Actually, is a one-legged monster from a Chinese bestiary, which presents a fascinating pageant of mythical creatures from a unique and enduring cosmography written in ancient China.It is said that Huangdi the Yellow Emperor, the legendary ancestor of the Han Chinese, made nine drums from Kui’s skin and defeated Chiyou during the battle between the two chieftains around 2,500 BC.

Renovations on the 700-year-old Confucian Temple at the Guozijian Street in Dongcheng District drew to a close recently. The historic site will be ready to receive visitors in 2008.

The Confucian Temple is part of the Imperial College．Originally，it was called Confucian Temple of Imperial College or Capital Confucian Temple．Actually，the Beijing Confucius Temple is not the only Confucius Temple in China．There is one in Qufu，Shandong Province，which is Confucius’ hometown．The Confucius Temple in Qufu is much larger in size．yet the Social position of Confucius Temple in Beijing was much higher than the Confucius Temple in Qufu．This is because the Emperors of the Yuan，Ming and Qing Dynasties all came to Beijing Confucius Temple to pay homage to the ancient sage Confucius．So in hierarchal ancient feudal society，no other Confucius Temple could equal this one．

Construction of Beijing Confucius Temple started in 1302 and was completed in 1 306 during the Yuan Dynasty．The Imperial College was built to its west side where it was considered the highest educational college at that time．Later．it was rebuilt in 1411 during the Ming Dynasty，and in 1737，during the Qing Dynasty．From 1906 to 1916，ten years were spent to enlarge and renovate the temple to make it what we see today．The Confucius Temple houses many precious historical and cultural relics including the Qian Long stone drums，the inscribed boards，stone tablets inscribed with the full texts of the thirteen Confucian classics，and stone tablets bearing the names and origins of scholars who passed the palace examination．To better protect and utilize this historical site，in 1981，the Confucius Temple was turned into the Capital Museum，and in 1988，it was designated as one of the major national historical and cultural sites under the national protection of the State Council．

48 hours hiking along the footsteps of an Empire, two days through 276 years . Here buried 13 emperors, 23 Queens. either buried aspirations and legends. Those past years, Land and beauty, love and hate, countless stories waved in the wind...

Hiking along Ming Tombs one by one sounds a so good idear. One winter morning, I started my hiking along Ming Tombs.

First of all, here shows some imformations about Ming Tombs(Shisanling) :

The Ming tombs lie in a broad valley to the south of Tianshou Mountain in Changping County, about 50 kilometers northwest of Beijing . To the southwest of this valley, a branch of the Yanshan Range suddenly breaks off and forms a natural gateway to the 40-quare-kilometer basin in which the tombs were built. This gateway is “defended” on each side by the Dragon and Tiger hills, which are said to protect this sacred area from winds carrying evil influences. Thirteen out of the 16 Ming emperors are buried in this peaceful valley.

Although Beijing has been the capital of China for five dynasties, the only imperial mausoleums in the immediate vicinity of the city today are those of the Liao and Qing emperors are in the northeast China and in Hebei Province respectively. The tombs from the Jin Dynasty were destroyed at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and since the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty had no specific funeral rituals, there are no extant burial sites from this period.

Dec 1，Hiking beginned at Sacred Way (Shendao) at 8 a.m. , passing by Deling, Yongling, Jingxing, Changling, Xianling, Qingling, Yuling, Maoling, Tailing, then arrived Kangling at 6 p.m. Today we took up my quarters at Kangling village.

Dec 2，Starting from the Kangling village 9:00 a.m, passing by Dingling, Zhaoling, arrived the last SiLing about 12:30 p.m., ending about 30 kilometers walking.

In Central Mausoleum Road, looking back Yongling…

how many stories buried inside those past years …

Two donkeys guard the Mausoleum

the moat before Xianling dried up …

The Kunlun Mountains, Qinghai Lake, Yellow River, the source of the Yangtze River …

All these beautiful names all from the same province of Qinghai. Starting a travel to Qinghai with courage, wisdom, and dream, more and more surprises following with you when your footprints getting more and more further inside Qinghai .

(1) there is a small village, her name called HuaLung

On July, yellow floweres and green barley full of any corner in the world

long road as far as possbile