The Emperor Rests

After some discussion, it was decided to proceed according to plan and visit the Tomb of the Emperor with a promise to be dropped off at the Silk Market afterwards for round two of our Negotiation Skill training. Many of us, now armed with a better knowledge of prices and techniques for dealing with the Chinese salesgirls, wanted a last chance at getting the great bargains.
The tomb, as expected was very imposing and quiet. Impressive buildings in restful gardens that contained tombs for thirteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Only two of these are open for visitors and we only actually visited the main tomb, that of Tu Tee, or Chang Lee as he was known. We entered the gardens through the Door of Impeding Benevolence making sure that the men used their left foot, women their right, to cross the threshold without stepping on the threshold so as to impede all kinds of bad things happening to each. The immediate courtyard contained two small enclosed buildings on each side. These were ovens to be used to incinerate all papers used in ceremonies or burials as required by beliefs. All buildings had yellow tiled roofs, the color reserved for the emperor. Emperor Tu Tee or Chang Lee, or rather his statue, sat imposingly at the center of the next building, the Palace of Impeding Benevolence, a great Buddha-like image that occupied the center of a large hall in a rather tall building supported by ancient sandalwood columns of immense proportions all impeccably preserved. The Emperor’s clothing and artifacts were exhibited all around the hall in glass cases. Armored suits, crowns, tunics, jewelry and quills full of arrows were carefully preserved and displayed. The objects corresponded to a person of a quite different size than the one portrayed by the statue and it was explained that they belonged not to Chang Lee but to a lesser emperor of the time period whose tomb had been unearthed and studied. Chang Lee’s final resting place has not been dug yet. All tombs had to have a tree-covered hill built to mark the site as that of an emperor. The actual burial site lies eighteen meters deep at the foot of the hill, marked by an obelisk shaped as the handle of a huge sword buried in the earth to the hilt and surrounded by a yellowed roofed building.
Superstition rules the life of Chinese people. We left the burial site through a side pathway as you must be careful never to retrace your steps when walking around burial sites. When you stepped over the exit threshold at the Doorway of Impeding Benevolence (being careful to use you left foot if you were male) you had to shout “I am back!” to leave behind the spiritual world for sure and avoid carrying around evil spirits with you all afternoon. A real drag when you still have to go shopping at Silk Market, our next and final stop for the day.
Armed with sharpened negotiating skills and the will to stand our ground at our pre-established price point we separated into small tactical units of three or four each to launch a multiple sided simultaneous assault on the doomed young female sales force that did not stand a chance against such formidable army. The ensuing battle was so fierce that it even resulted in several of us being physically thrown out of the famous back rooms where the most prized possessions were carefully guarded by the very best of their disguised elite force armed with Gucci, Coach, Rolex and Louis Vuitton catalogs. One of our units met with a representative of the other side at a small café to negotiate and, as goods were finally rendered for inspection, they were astonished as suddenly the man took off running like a bat out of hell and all merchandise and catalogs were seized by the Police. Never giving up lost ground, they later met the same individual who arranged for a second round back in the comfort and privacy of our Hotel. Word got around of the expected event and many were in attendance in the room of one of our group when the man showed up armed to the teeth with new catalogs and selected goods. Shortly thereafter the Police and members of the Hotel Staff also showed up, again to take away all merchandise and the offender al well. Most of us stood our ground at the battle grounds of the Silk Market where hard battles were fought until late. Closing dinner had been scheduled by 10:00 pm and we barely had time to shower the Great Wall of China sweat off our backs to manage being there just a few minutes late. A few very hardy souls stayed afterwards to exchange pictures in USB devices. We estimated the number of total pictures taken by our group at a conservative 20.000.
The next day we did manage to be only 45 minutes late leaving in our bus to the airport, a smiling Sonia leading the group and I think glad to be rid of us early as it was her birthday.