We had an early breakfast and Jerry was off to interview another possible Chinese distributor in the morning.  The interview went very well and the company seems to have a lot of experience selling products similar to those ICS makes.  Jerry arrived back at the hotel in time for our meeting with May at 1 PM.  Jerry says no more business for the rest of the trip so we can spend the remaining time just being tourists.  May and her driver wisked us off to Tainanmen Square which sits in front of the Forbidden City.

We have all seen pictures of Tainanmen Square but you have to see it to believe its size.  May says up to 1 million people will gather here next Monday for their May 1st Labor Day holiday.  Several very large government buildings surround the Square and the Mao reviewing stand on the North is the new gate to the Forbidden City.  As part of the preparations for May 1st, the Square now has a large picture of Sun Yat-sen on it.  Sun Yat-sen was a 1900’s revolutionary who became China’s first president after the revolution in 1911.  A picture of Chairman Mao will also be put up before Monday.  May says the the government now believes in giving equal mention to all of China’s former leaders and acknowledges some of Mao’s errors.  As part of the preparations for the Labor Day holiday, many buildings have pots of flowers on their steps, flower beds are being planted and flags are being flown from many of the buildings.

The Forbidden City is a walled .8 km x .9 km area that was originally the palace and buildings used by the Ming and Oing Emperors until they were dethroned in 1911.  The city is arranged in walled circles, an outer defensive layer with moats still on two sides, a inter layer for official visits and an interior private living areas for the emperor and his wifes.  At one time it held 9,99 rooms.  The Forbidden City was opened to the public after the communist revolution in the 1950s.  Some of the buildings are museums, others have snack shops but most are empty.  Over half have been restored and the others are being restored for the 2008 Olympics.

May took us to a restaurant that specialized in Peking Duck for dinner and then on to The Red Theater to see the Chun Yi-The Legend of Kungtd show.  This is a great show that combines dancing, martial arts with swords, ballet and acrobatics to tell a story about a boy becoming a Buddhist monk.  The staging and effects were excellent and it is a sold out show that anyone coming to Beijing should not miss.  The video clip is from the Temptation scene.