20250826 Tuesday, August 26, 2025 Shenyang Forbidden City, Beijing Park Qingzhao Mausoleum 

We awoke to broken cloudy skies with filtered sun. We boarded a bright green 34 passenger tour bus and headed to Shenyang’s Forbidden City. Also known as the Mukden Palace, it was the Shenyang Imperial Palace of the latter Jin Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. Built in 1625, the first 3 Emperors of the Qing Dynasty lived here until the collapse of imperial rule.

It is an extremely popular spot with local tourists who packed the site to the degree of discomfort only previously experienced at the Vatican. The temperature was in the mid 80’s and the clouds had disappeared, allowing the sun to bear its full radiance on us. In most of the buildings, you had to squeeze past small windows with views while constantly being shoved and cut in front of shamelessly. 

While it is undoubtedly a site of great cultural importance, it was not an enjoyable experience, even with an English speaking guide with private ear pieces who guided us through the complex over an hour.  

Like in Seoul, there were many women dressed up in traditional costumes and make up for photography purposes.  

Having survived the Shenyang Forbidden City, we took the bus to Beijing Park and the Qingzhao Mausoleum.  The visit here was in stark contrast to the Shenyang Forbidden City.  While this is also a popular park with locals, it was nowhere near as crowded, and was much more enjoyable on all levels.  It is a huge site with lakes, gardens and paths for walking, and pedal cabs.  It was funny that there were signs posted everywhere saying no fishing, no swimming, no diving, and even no hammocks.  Yet we saw people fishing, swimming, diving and even in hammocks. Tom says in China, everything is negotiable.  

The park was beautiful, clean and well maintained.  It was very pleasant to walk on the level paved paths, which had plenty of shade from trees.  The Qingzhao Mausoleum is architecturally very similar to the Forbidden City, but has additional elements including a huge burial mound surrounded by high walls.  Unlike the Forbidden City, the Mausoleum was not crowded at all.  We could walk leisurely and explore the buildings to our content with no pushing or shoving.  

Walking through the park on the way back to the bus we saw a hedgehog going about his business with park visitors all around him.  There was also a huge lotus garden.  
We had lunch at Wang Houyuan Dumplings, which had much more than just dumplings.  We had another huge feast which not only included many different varieties of dumplings, but also many other dishes with meats, veggies, tofu and even a spectacular squirrel fish.  

Most of us entered into food comas after that lunch and slept on the bus as it took us to the Liaoning Provincial Museum, which was about 12 miles south of the hotel.  The museum had just closed, but we walked from there to Shenyang’s Central Park where there is a large permanent amusement park.  There, we watched a local circus under a big air conditioned tent.  

The circus was quite cute, and appeared to be one large family.  There are 3 young girls in their teens who do trick horse riding and rope flying acts.  There is also what appears to be a younger brother who appears to be about 10 years old, who is learning the trade.  They had him slug by a neck strap and were spinning him like a top from the central rope, but the centrifugal force was so great that his shorts and underwear flew off, leaving him entirely bottomless to climb back down the rope and retrieve his shorts and underwear.  There were also two older males in their 20’s who did a double wheel balancing act.  The circus also had a non-Chinese magician and assistant who did several acts.  It was a very entertaining show.  

The evening was quite pleasant with a temperature in the 70’s and low humidity.  Ben, Janet, Franklin and DaQing took a DiDi (Chinese Uber-like ride service) back to the hotel, while the rest of the group went to check out a night market in search of regional dog meat cuisine.  The DiDi ride took about 35 minutes and cost less than $5 USD.  

Ben, Janet, Franklin and DaQing went for noodles at a place right next door to a KFC and has a logo that looks like a Chinese version of the Colonel.  

Tomorrow morning we leave Shenyang on a high speed train for our guided Beijing tour.  There is a lot more of Shenyang that could be explored in future trips.  We have truly enjoyed the hospitality and graciousness of Tom’s Shenyang relatives and feel blessed to now be related by marriage.  And we have also enjoyed getting to know DaQing’s family better and have also enjoyed his generosity and help throughout the trip.  We are sad that the family part of this trip is wrapping up so quickly.  Ben does have a cousin in Shanghai, and since the ship overnights in Shanghai we may have an opportunity to meet that cousin.  She has a son who has been studying in the US who speaks English, so we shall see how that plays out.