Beijing Impressions, Day 5 continued

A quick rant first: there's a standard way of writing Chinese words in Western characters, known as Pinyin. Among other things, it includes accents that indicate the correct tone for each syllable. As a result, you know exactly how to pronounce any given word, once you've seen it written down.

But here's what drives me nuts: almost all of the signs I see around town (including street signs) completely omit the accents. As a result, the Pinyin is almost useless, because you have no idea how to pronounce the words, and the pronounciation matters. I'm sure there's some good reason, but it still sucks.

Anyway, after the Great Wall, I headed over to the Ming tombs. All of that dynasty's emperors are buried in this one valley, which is just overflowing with these tombs. A necropolis, I believe is the term.

Anyway, they all follow the same basic pattern. It's a bit like a mini Forbidden City, actually; a series of ever more imposing gates and halls. But at the back, there's a Soul Tower that houses the emperor's grave marker. And behind that, the tunnel plunges straight into the mountainside, and that's where the tomb is.

The one I visited had actually been excavated, so you could go inside. It was pretty impressive, actually, and vaguely Egyptian. A few hundred feet down, there are these rooms carved out, and lined with white marble. Unfortunately, the Chinese didn't mummify their dead (and fuck you, Brendan Frasier), so the coffins were in pretty bad shape by the time they found them. Those are replicas, but everything else was real. It was a surprisingly interesting excursion, on the whole.

Noticed on the way home: peaches must be in season around here. The roadside stands are crammed with them, and Charles gave me a bag when I arrived.

Tomorrow should be a fairly lazy day, with any luck - I'm just going to wander around town a bit, hit anything I may have missed. Boxing is tomorrow night. Stay tuned.