Monday,May 5, 2008
Beijing
As mentioned before, there are bronze cauldrons sprinkled all over the Outer Court, for the purpose of dealing with fires (remember, these buildings are constructed from ancient wood). The cauldrons closest to the Hall of Preserving Harmony are the most impressive thus far, but show scars of heartaches past.
See the scratch marks? They aren’t from careless bumping or normal wear and tear, but from the bayonets of Allied soldiers during the occupation of Beijing, used to scrape the gold gilding off the bronze as part of their personal plundering.
Sometimes, war creates more casualties than we realize.
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