明朝から歴代皇帝の宗教儀礼の場だったという「天壇」。
数字の九を基本マジックにして、精密に設計されたそうです。
いわば中華帝国最高のパワー・スポットだったらしいのですが、私はその場にたたずんで、その巨大さにただただ眼がくらんだのでした。
The Temple of Heaven(Tiantan) is said to have been the site of religious ceremonies for successive emperors since the Ming Dynasty（15th century）. It was apparently meticulously designed using the number nine as its basic magic. It was apparently the most “power spot” in the Chinese Empire, but I was simply dazzled by its sheer size.
言わずと知れた、万里の長城・八達嶺。
これは明代のものらしいのですが、もともとは2000年前の始皇帝の時代。総延長はなんと、日本列島よりも長い！
北方異民族の侵略がいかに脅威であったことか。しかし近代には、南方の海から「日本」という異民族の侵略もあった。小さな列島国家との地政学的な違いを痛感します。
The famous Great Wall of China.
The wall in this photo was apparently built during the Ming Dynasty, but it originally dates back to the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang 2,000 years ago. Its total length is an astonishing longer than the entire Japanese archipelago!
This shows how threatening the invasion of north foreign tribes was. But in modern times, the invasion of a southeastern foreign tribe called “Japan” came from the sea.
This continental nation makes me keenly aware of the geopolitical differences between it and small archipelago nation.
東京ドーム６２個分の広大さという「頤和園」は、湖も山も「人工」。今の姿は清朝の全盛期ですが、中華帝国の皇帝とそのファミリーのための作庭だったというのだから、２１世紀の「常識」ではなかなか理解困難。
ただ、景観は確かにまことに素晴らしい。
ただし、アヘン戦争以来の西欧や日本からの蹂躙、屈辱の歴史を考えますと、現在の異様な「膨張主義」は、逆に、その「反動形成期」とも考えられます。
相手側の「内在的な論理や感情」を読み解く知性、その努力や工夫の必要性を感じます。
The Summer Palace is the size of 62 Tokyo Domes, and both the lake and the mountains are “man-made.” Its current appearance dates back to the height of the Qing Dynasty. As it was created for the emperor of the Chinese Empire and his family, it is difficult to understand with 21st century “common sense.”
However, when you consider the history of humiliation since the Opium Wars (mid-19th century), the current bizarre “expansionism” can also be seen as a “reactionary period.”
However, the scenery was certainly magnificent.
In diplomacy, I feel that it is necessary to make intellectual efforts and use ingenuity to decipher the other party’s “internal logic and emotions.”