What is Forbidden Might Actually be Within

I sure did visit and experience the Forbidden City today. I love old, historical places such as this, and you know how I get all intellectual about the rhetoric of power and philosophy and the movement of entire populations over time. This place was absolutely no exception. Obviously any National Geographic guide book will tell you the details, so I'll tell you the obvious. Today at the Purple Forbidden City (as it translates exactly from Chinese), I witnessed several things that NG doesn't share.

We walked in expecting God knows what. Sixty RMB hardly broke my bank for admission. The first thing I saw was... a group of Chinese students. They were maybe 6 or 7 years old, and were all wearing a matching white t-shirt with orange visor. As a highly qualified tour guide shuffled them through the historical masterpiece, the kids whined and dozed off and found every excuse in the book to not participate. It reminded me, though, of my 1st grade field trips to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis or the old-time city of Connor Prairie. They twiddled their plastic Chinese flags, sang songs that had been stuck in their heads all day, and found a simple and seamless way to make the ancient and majestic Forbidden City seem like another boring mathematics lecture. With the eyes of an ambitious world traveler, I was infuriated and disgusted. But with the eyes of an observationist, a student, I was awed. This was old hat to them. It was nonchalant. It was, "When can I go home and play?" For me it was an experience, a witnessing, of a lifetime. For them it was another day at school.

After wandering the walls on the city for more than a couple of hours, the question in my head was this: How could anyone rule an empire like China from within a city of just over 720,000 square meters in size? The truth is, they can't. Forget the 3,000+ concubines harbored in the city. Forget the "Gates of Heavenly Peace," or, "Pleasure," or, "Mental Cultivation." It can't happen. There is absolutely no way anyone could have the means, the knowledge, the resources to maintain power for any length of time. That's what brought me to the realization that what actually might be forbidden about the Forbidden City is power. What the kids in the tour were exemplifying was the fact that, at any given time, a palace is the absolute worst idea a ruler can have. When you rule a people, you must live and die amongst them. There is no other way. There is no other path. No one is invincible, or indivisible. The body will concede. The body will die. What will live on, if you're lucky, is the City. The City, which marks your separation from the body for which you governed. For me, while the city was beautiful, it was incredibly inefficient.

Enough mind-bending rambling... I'm off to bed. Goodnight you all! Or should I say, good morning?!

XOXO