Honor the Flag, Honor the Sacrifice
Sommer and Sydnie took this picture today in the Zhongshan Park which is a former imperial altar and now a public park that lies just southwest of the Forbidden City. The name “Zhongshan Park” was named after Sun Zhongshan, or Sun Yat-Sen in stupid Taiwanese spelling of sounds. He is a major politician and a Chinese revolutionary who co-founded the Kuomintang party (nowadays a party in Taiwan) and served as its first leader. Known as the Father of Modern China. He is remembered in Taiwan and is called Father of the Nation there, but he is also remembered in mainland China too, we credit him for overthrowing the imperial system, he is respected as one of the major founders of the new China, a figure like Washington to the US. People here, in general, have great respect for him. You can get the whole idea from the last picture, this is the portrait of him placed right before the People’s Hero Monument during the National Day of the People’s Republic of China.
Today I took Sommer and Sydnie to the Tian’anmen square to honor and salute the national flag, and bow to the Monument to the People’s Heroes, to pay tribute to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country.
These pair of stone lions were artifacts of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), oh my gosh, a thousand years ago ….. In Zhongshan Park (a former imperial altar), there are about 304 category A (at least 400 years old) trees, 308 category B (at least 200 years old) trees and 7 thick and stocky ancient cypresses of the Liao Dynasty (916-1125), which means they are probably 1000 years old.
