Tuesday 23 September

Queued round Tiananmen Square for quite a long, shuffling time to get into the MAOsoleum - he looked like a waxwork and had very little body under the covering blanket - very serious atmosphere, lots of yellow chrysanthemums (we did wonder if they were removed at the end of viewing time and resold to the next lot .. cynics as we are, but nothing is wasted here). He's been dead for 32 years, but portraits of him still adorn the money, and he's very popular. Easy to be popular when you're dead ...

Then we were allowed into the Forbidden City - along with what seemed like the entire population of Beijing, who have sharp elbows, don't know how to queue, and have no compunction in barging anyone aside.

Oops - dinner calls - more sometime later ...