Eric's Beijing Diary

I took Martha and Grace with me to the mountain today. We went up to the old temple ruins again with Michael and a friend of his. We met an old guy there who told us that the temple had actually been destroyed by the Communists long before the Cultural Revolution, sometime between '49 and '51. We examined an old stone tablet that dated it to the 29th year of the reign of Qian Long's son. I am confused about that, because I didn't think Qian Long's son reigned for 29 years. Anyway, I would guess that it dates to sometime in the first half of the 19th Century.

On a sunny Saturday you can expect to see lots of people, but if you stay out of the park (which I usually do), you can avoid the crowds.