Yan'an and Beijing

 Founding members of the CCP with Mao in the center.

March 29, 2026

Before we left Xi'an, we took a long day trip by fast train to see the patriotic site of Yan'an. Yan'an served as the headquarters for the Communist party from 1935 to 1947. Mao and his associates lived in cave-like dwellings while they formed the ideology that would shape the Party in the years to come. It was also the location of the end of the Long March.

Entrances to some of the homes where the CCP leaders lived.

These cave-like homes are called yaodong. They are dug into the side of the hills and provide excellent insulation. They are cool in the summer and retain heat in the winter. They include big, arched ceilings that make the small square footage feel spacious. They are inexpensive to build and require local materials that made them suitable to the area.

A bed inside one of the homes.

We are seeing many "red tourism" sites because Karl is teaching a course on Chinese nationalism. The government has put a lot of energy into creating a "usable history" to tell the Party's story in a way that fosters national identity and serves as a way of instructing the population in their ideology. There were many Chinese tourists and no foreign tourists. Interestingly, all of the signage was in English and Russian.

The entrance to the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Museum.

The museum is short on artifacts and long on narrative. There was very little English, but we had two guides: one who spoke in Mandarin and another who translated for her. Our English guide has been with us for much of our time in Xi'an. The most interesting thing about him was learning that he idolizes Mao. On the bus coming home, Karl talked with him about how we have heard that most Chinese say Mao was "70 percent right and 30 percent wrong" in the choices he made and the policies he implemented. However, our guide feels that Mao was 100 percent correct. Karl tried to persuade him that if Mao had resigned before the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution, that could have been a true statement. However, the guide feels that the Cultural Revolution was a necessary party of China's modernization and needed to happen. 

Entrance to the Great Mosque of Xi'an

Our final excursion in Xi'an was to see the Great Mosque. It was founded in 742 AD in the Muslim Quarter. It was such an interesting blend of traditional Chinese architecture and Muslim characteristics. The magnolias were in full bloom too!

Example: this gate has Arabic writing with lotus flower embellishments.

This bride and groom were taking photos and allowed us to take a picture of them.

We met this family in the mosque. The son and his parents were visiting from Xining (where we got on the train to Tibet). They were very interested in hearing that we had been to Xining and went to the mosque there too.

We took the high-speed train from Xi'an to Beijing. It took over four hours to make the trip, and it was a crowded train where we were not all sitting together. Karl traded with someone to sit across the aisle from me but it turned out the person he traded with was only on a short part of the leg. He ended up having to move several different seats before the journey was done.

We got up early the next morning and had a full day visiting Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. We had hopes of seeing Mao in his mausoleum but they recently closed it for renovation. This was our third visit to Tiananmen and the one with the most heightened security yet. We had to make an online reservation before we came, and pass through at least three security checks. The first time Karl visited, there was no security. There was a small patch of lawn surrounding a statue and the local tourists were more interested in looking at a lawn mower.

The Forbidden City was a very busy place. It is not the height of tourist season yet, but there were sure lots of people. Each time we have visited, more of the Palace has been restored and open.

New to us this visit, was the jade, jewelry and treasure exhibits. It took a while to make our way up to view the items. The collection has 2 million objects with only 10,000 items typically on display. We did not have the time to see even a fraction of of them.

Crown jewels of an empress.

After touring the palace, we hiked up to the top of a hill in an adjacent park to look down on the complex. No wonder it is called a city. It has over 980 buildings and is the largest collection of ancient wooden buildings.

On our way back home, we stumbled upon the site commemorating the May 4th movement. It re-energized Karl. The rest of us were ready to find dinner and rest our feet!