Back3 =)

Once again, if you have not read the posts back=) and back2=), please read those first. And a HUGE thank you to those who have been bearing with these harbin posts! I know they aren't exactly interesting... I decided to blog about the trip because I didn't want to forget the experience. So continue bearing k?

Continuing on the 27th- we left Jilin for Changchun 长春, which means long spring, or more poetically, everlasting spring. Wonder why the city was given that name since the whole city was literally covered in snow. Even with the heaters on full blast, no one on the bus bothered taking off the huge winter jackets and ear muffs. Every breath we took was accompanied by mist. I think the word 'cold' must have run through our minds about a hundred times at least during that mere 2-hour journey.

-Anyway, upon arrival, first stop- Film City! Sounds grand doesn't it? But it's not as glamorous as it sounds. I didn't even know 1% of the actors' and actresses' faces displayed there, as the studio is really really old. We saw how people used to film those old chinese opera-style dramas where the gods and goddesses are supposed to be fighting in the sky. Turns out all they did was to film the gods fighting, then film the background, then put the film together. Remember inside Monkey Goes West, there's a scene of them fighting underwater? The director actually was filming through the glass of an aquarium! LOL. Somehow I always thought they used more high-tech stuff. Ah well, guess this is what people mean by innovation. We also saw how they created the sound effects, by using watercans, tin foil and other ordinary tools. Here's the model they used everytime they took a far shot of the imperial palace:

See the very tiny moon hanging at the top? That's what they use to film the night scene. Too bad the lights masquerading as stars aren't visible in the photo.

-Some people in our tour then requested to go shopping, which of course, made the majority of us very happy XD However, what we didn't realise was that there was basically NOTHING touristy to buy in Changchun. Add in the fact that darkness (let's not call it night since it wasn't that yet technically) had fallen and so had the temperature. With the wind blowing strongly, walking on the street was a torture! I seriously admire my grandma for her endurance. To watch her walking on the street, a little bent figure (her posture's fine, it's bent to fight the wind) wrapped in layers and layers of clothing, her scarf flapping, with the wind buffeting her, was really... something else. Anyway, we ended up in Wallmart, shopping for chinese-style junk food and instant noodles. I saw a shop that offered manicures for 5 yuan!! I was all ready to plunk my money and fingers down when I looked at my watch. Time for dinner... sigh. And you should know by now what happens after dinner. >.< Did I mention I love china TV?? It's like Astro, but with everything in mandarin.

YES, another day down! On the morning of the 28th, we visited the 伪满皇宫, translated literally as the Fake Manchurian Palace. Why fake? Allow me to air a bit of the history I learnt from the tour guide XD (that is, whatever I could glean, they speak so fast I tell you!) This palace was built for the use of Emperor Pu-yi and his spouses. Emperor Pu-yi was the last of emperor of china. Chosen by the empress Ci-xi on her deathbed, he ascended the throne at the age of two, becoming the youngest emperor ever of China. Then the revolution took over and he was forced to abdicate at the age of 6 I think. He then had to move to Tianjin or something. Sorry... attention drifted away then. Anyway, throughout his teenage years he was always plotting to restore the Qing dynasty, so when the Japanese came he thought he had hit jackpot. He supported the Japanese as they took over China and eventually was made emperor again. Sort of. Many people considered him a puppet emperor, and hence the palace in which he stayed during the Japanese reign was considered fake in that sense. At least that's my interpretation.

His living room, if I'm not mistaken
The room in which he cut his hair
This is how Pu-yi looks like.
His mansion was very big, with living room and bedroom for every wife, from 1st to the 3rd. 4th and 5th hadn't come into the picture then. But every room looks roughly the same, so I didn't want to bore you. And myself. =)

He had 5 wives, but he was only in love with one of them- his 3rd wife, Tan Yu Ling. I'm too lazy to type out what I learnt about his wives as most of it is written in Wikipedia so I shall just borrow from there =P

As quoted from wikipedia:
In 1922, at the age of 16, Puyi married two women. His first choice for wife was Wen Xiu (1907–1950/51), whom court officials deemed not beautiful enough to be an Empress; Wen Xiu was designated as a concubine, and eventually divorced him in 1931. Puyi's second choice, a Manchu named Wan Rong (1906–1946, a.k.a. Radiant Countenance), became the Empress; she later became addicted to opium, and died in a Chinese prison.

His third wife was a Manchu, Tan Yuling, whom he married around 1937. Although only a teenager at the time of marriage, she died mysteriously five years later while being treated for an illness by a Japanese-occupation doctor.

In 1943, Puyi married his fourth wife, a 15-year-old student named Li Yuqin (1928?–2001), a Han. She divorced him in 1958. She was diagnosed with cirrhosis in 1995 and died six years later at the age of 73.

In 1962, he married his fifth and last wife, a Han nurse, Li Shuxian (1925–1997), who died of lung cancer in 1997.

The Emperor had no children. According to "Newsweek" correspondent Edward Behr, who wrote a book on the last imperial emperor of China, "There is no doubt in my own mind that Puyi was bisexual." And Puyi's Japanese sister-in-law once claimed that "the Emperor had an unnatural love for a pageboy. He was referred to as the male concubine." End quote.

An interesting fact to add from my tour guide: Apparently the emperor never slept with any of his wives and Wan Rong, unable to stand the loneliness, committed adultery with one of his ministers. When Pu-yi found out he sent her to Coventry and thus she turned to opium.

After WW2, he was captured by Russians(I think), sent to prison and later was sent back to China for reeducation camp. Poor guy-literally from riches to rags.

Little Pu-yi on his throne

This is a wax doll of him depicting his life at camp.

Oh... and one last point about Pu-yi- he was English-educated. And He loved cycling. The tour guide seemed to think it was important that we know that... so I'll make sure you know it too... hehe...

Wow I sound like some big Pu-yi fan here! Here's the most beautiful part of his palace- His garden. Although it was in winter and his swimming pool was frozen, it was still breathtakingly stunning.

Looks like something out of a painting doesn't it? The poets must have been looking at this when they wrote out their lines.
The white at the lower part of the photo represents the swimming pool.

And it started snowing!! Very light snow though, which explains why you can't see it.
My favourite trees in the whole wide world- 柳树! (At least that's what I think the trees in the background are =P) Sorry, again I don't know what it is in English!

I love the way my mum looks here, though she should be leaning on my dad instead if we were going for a more romantic feel.

Since everything was just so lovely here, we all just HAD to put our faces in the photos... hehe... so here are some of them... skip them if you don't want to see =)

Not quite the romantic feel I was going for... Probably they were shy =P Are you itching to come here with your special someone yet? Imagine walking hand in hand through such scenery~
就算外面有多冷，你的心一定很温暖。
More...
... and more!
Guess it was too cold for Grandma to smile. Poor thing...

We then reluctantly left the palace and set off for lunch. Snow fell heavier!! So when we reached our restaurant, the first thing we did was to...

... take photos! =) =)

See the snow?

And for lunch, we had Korean BBQ! Which was really good, though it's so funny to go to China and eat Korean food. The BBQ was nice and piping hot, which is more than one can say for most of the other meals we had so far. But anyway, food's food right?

For ONCE my table of 9 SAPU everything clean off the plates.
Here we are:

This is the waitress who welcomed us into the restaurant. Bro wanted to have a photo with her as he thought she was pretty. Boys.
China girls are so so tall!!! UNFAIR.

And... a single photo of my brother in the light snow fall.
Think he's handsome? =P

And that's it for the city tour of Changchun. Next stop- Harbin!

But that's another story altogether =)

On a side note:
"It's painful to see you two like this..."
"I always admired how you two maintained it..."

............
I was touched. Thanks.