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3/19/2015.  To get around Chinese internet controls I've been using a VPN (virtual private network) which makes me look like I'm based in Hong Kong, not Beijing.  On the day I couldn’t take the kids outside because the pollution count was pushing 400 (anything 100+ is deemed unhealthy) we watched that banned documentary "Under The Dome."

What the Chinese themselves know is another story.  Here’s the conversation I had yesterday with Candy, my guide to the Forbidden City.  Her English was great, her mind a trove of imperial Chinese minutiae, and she was eager to please.

Me: “So what do Chinese people think of Tiananmen Square?”

Candy: “Oh, they love visiting. Taken together with the Forbidden City, this is the #1 national tourist attraction.”

Me: “No, I mean, about the massacre.”

Candy: “The what?”

Me: “The massacre. 1989.”

Candy: “Oh, that! Yes, well, most people don’t know about it.”

Me: “How can they not know, if a million people were there, and thousands were killed?”

Candy: “Noooo, not a million.  Just a thousand.  And maybe a hundred people killed.  I just learned about it in 2007 myself when a client asked me and when I didn’t know, he shared some articles with me.  Then more Americans hired me and they always ask.  But in reality, it was a student revolt that got unruly, so of course the government had to take action.”

Me: “So, what percentage of the population would you say knows the story?”

Candy: “Ten percent, at the most.”

Me: “Intellectuals?”

Candy: “No.  Just government officials.  Drivers and tour guides.  People who come into contact with Americans.”

A few moments later, somewhere between the Palace of Heavenly Purity and Palace of Earthly Tranquility, taking in the long views of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and Hall of Mental Cultivation, Candy declares “You know, the Forbidden City was built over 14 years by one million people!”  It was tempting to reply that it was actually just a thousand.

Here are some pictures from our outings to the Temple of Heaven, The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and finally, today's trip to the Great Wall. We concluded our visit to China on the upbeat.  It was spectacular, those serpentine curves going up and down the mountains.  We went up by chairlift and came back down by toboggan.  Max and I tried to video the thrilling ride down, but of course there were guys posted at every hairpin turn to enforce that we didn't do just that.

The Temple of Heaven.  We had a child-size mask for Francesca but she wanted mine because the air made her eyes burn.

Emperors would pray here for good harvests, so newlyweds come for fertility blessings.

Tiananmen Gate, the main entry to the Forbidden City.  Candy said that Mao's eyes were painted to resemble the Mona Lisa--always watching you no matter where you stand.

The photos above and below were shot at 10am in Tiananmen on a day when the pollution was 350, a level the U.S. Embassy called "hazardous."

Here I am looking directly at the sun.

I took these three from a taxi.

The Great Hall of the People, which seats 10,000.  Where the Communist Party convened this week and last.

Mao is buried in that yellow building.

Our day at the Great Wall, the "Mutianyu" section:

The Mutianyu section dates back to the 6th century.  Supposed to be the best preserved length of the Wall.

We ended up walking a mile of the 5500 miles.