Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Online Photo Albums
Other students' photo are also posted online. I make no representations about what they may or may not contain.
Jen Album 1
Jen Album 2
Jen Album 3: The Evening Shots
Alli Album
Brent Album
Alain Album
Nick Album
Diane Album
Kim Album 1
Kim Album 2
Kim Album 3
Kim Album 4 (Night Life)
Kim Album 5 (Night Life)
Jen Album 1
Jen Album 2
Jen Album 3: The Evening Shots
Alli Album
Brent Album
Alain Album
Nick Album
Diane Album
Kim Album 1
Kim Album 2
Kim Album 3
Kim Album 4 (Night Life)
Kim Album 5 (Night Life)
Friday, June 8, 2007
Online Photo Album of China Pictures
You can see all of my photos from China in one place online by clicking HERE. There is a useful slideshow feature that is great for viewing all 250 of them! After you open the above link, click on the gray "view pictures" button, then click on "slideshow." It takes about 8-10 minutes to run through them all.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
The Journey Home
Saturday, June 2, was our last morning in Beijing. We all got to sleep in for the first time of the trip, but got up early enough to capitalize on the hotel breakfast, which ended at 9:30 am. A couple of us ventured off into stores for last minute gift purchases, and then we packed up and got our luggage and rooms squared away. The bus left for the Beijing airport at 1 pm local time, our flight was at 4:20 pm local time from Beijing to Chicago. We arrived in Chicago at 4:00 pm local time after a 13-hour flight, then had only a brief layover before boarding what seemed like the shortest flight ever: a 2-hour jaunt from Chicago to Philly. While saying goodbye to everyone at the baggage claim, it was incredible how much we had all bonded over only a two-week period, but I guess being the only English speakers in a different, foreign nation will do that to you. All in all, it was a phenomenal trip - the experience of a lifetime. I hope you've all enjoyed keeping up to speed with the trip via this blog.
Silk Market and Peking Duck
On Friday, after our tour of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, we stopped at the hotel and then quickly reboarded the bus to head to the Silk Market - a similar market to the Pearl Market we visited on Thursday after the Great Wall. A few of us ventured a couple of blocks offsite to take advantage of a foot massage spa that our tour guide recommended (only $18 US for 90 minutes) and then we headed back for the famous Peking Duck on the 6th floor of the Silk Market at a branch of best Peking Duck restaurant in China, visited by Bill Clinton each time he's in Beijing. It was our last official Chinese meal, and it was delicious.
Tiananmen Square
Just outside the Forbidden City rests Tiananmen Square, the giant, historically-infamous public plaza that can hold 1,000,000 people and is surrounded by government buildings and national museums. As a visitor, you really are awestruck by the enormity of the place's size and the mass of people gathered around inside it. From beggars missing limbs to vendors seeking to capitalize on tourists' dollars, and from Chinese school children on field trips to European and American tourist groups, it is a phenomenal pilgrimage of persons from all backgrounds. Not surprisingly, there is no recognition of the 1989 protests that took place there, and our tour guide, a Chinese citizen, made no mention of that historical event either. At one point as an aside, our professor pointed out to a couple of us the location of the tank incident.
According to Wikipedia:
"Tiananmen Square (Simplified Chinese: 天安门广场; Traditional Chinese: 天安門廣場; Pinyin: Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng) is the large plaza near the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen (literally, Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. It has great cultural significance as a symbol because it was the site of several key events in Chinese history (See below: Events). Outside of China, the square is widely known for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
"The square is 880 metres south to north and 500 metres east to west, a total area of 440,000 square meters, which makes it the largest open-urban square in the world.
"The Tiananmen was built in 1417 in the Ming Dynasty. In 1699 (early Qing Dynasty), the Tiananmen was renovated and renamed to its present form. During the Ming and Qing eras, there was no public square at Tiananmen, and instead the area was filled with offices for imperial ministries. These were badly damaged during the Boxer Rebellion and the area was cleared to produce the beginning of Tiananmen Square.
"Near the centre of today's square, close to the site of the Mao Zedong Mausoleum, once stood one of the most important gates of Beijing. This gate was known as the "Great Ming Gate" (大明门) during the Ming Dynasty, "Great Qing Gate" (大清门) during the Qing Dynasty, and "Gate of China" (中华门) during the Republic of China era. Unlike the other gates in Beijing, such as the Tiananmen and the Qianmen, this was a purely ceremonial gateway, with three arches but no ramparts, similar in style to the ceremonial gateways found in the Ming Dynasty Tombs. This gate had a special status as the "Gate of the Nation", as can be seen from its successive names. It normally remained closed, except when the Emperor passed through. Commoner traffic were diverted to two side gates at the northern and eastern ends of today's square, respectively. Because of this diversion in traffic, a busy marketplace, called Chessgrid Streets (棋盘街) developed in the big, fenced square to the south of this gate.
"In the early 1950s, the Gate of China (as it was then known) was demolished along with the Chessgrid Streets to the south, completing the expansion of Tiananmen Square to (approximately) its current size."
According to Wikipedia:
"Tiananmen Square (Simplified Chinese: 天安门广场; Traditional Chinese: 天安門廣場; Pinyin: Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng) is the large plaza near the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen (literally, Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. It has great cultural significance as a symbol because it was the site of several key events in Chinese history (See below: Events). Outside of China, the square is widely known for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
"The square is 880 metres south to north and 500 metres east to west, a total area of 440,000 square meters, which makes it the largest open-urban square in the world.
"The Tiananmen was built in 1417 in the Ming Dynasty. In 1699 (early Qing Dynasty), the Tiananmen was renovated and renamed to its present form. During the Ming and Qing eras, there was no public square at Tiananmen, and instead the area was filled with offices for imperial ministries. These were badly damaged during the Boxer Rebellion and the area was cleared to produce the beginning of Tiananmen Square.
"Near the centre of today's square, close to the site of the Mao Zedong Mausoleum, once stood one of the most important gates of Beijing. This gate was known as the "Great Ming Gate" (大明门) during the Ming Dynasty, "Great Qing Gate" (大清门) during the Qing Dynasty, and "Gate of China" (中华门) during the Republic of China era. Unlike the other gates in Beijing, such as the Tiananmen and the Qianmen, this was a purely ceremonial gateway, with three arches but no ramparts, similar in style to the ceremonial gateways found in the Ming Dynasty Tombs. This gate had a special status as the "Gate of the Nation", as can be seen from its successive names. It normally remained closed, except when the Emperor passed through. Commoner traffic were diverted to two side gates at the northern and eastern ends of today's square, respectively. Because of this diversion in traffic, a busy marketplace, called Chessgrid Streets (棋盘街) developed in the big, fenced square to the south of this gate.
"In the early 1950s, the Gate of China (as it was then known) was demolished along with the Chessgrid Streets to the south, completing the expansion of Tiananmen Square to (approximately) its current size."
The Forbidden City - Beijing
Friday morning we had our last corporate visit to Zurich, an insurance and financial services firm. Then we quickly hurried to the Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing.
According to Wikipedia:
"The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China. It now houses the Palace Museum.
"The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms. It covers 720,000 square metres. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world."
The Emperor's Bedroom at the Forbidden City (below).
According to Wikipedia:
"The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China. It now houses the Palace Museum.
"The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms. It covers 720,000 square metres. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world."
The Emperor's Bedroom at the Forbidden City (below).
The Great Wall of China
Thursday. The one day that it rained significantly on our trip was the day we were scheduled to be outside all day at the Great Wall, but the rain deterred what would be an otherwise giant crowd, and added a mystic to the ancient structure by covering the surrounding mountains and valleys in a misty fog. The drive to the section of the Great Wall we toured was about an hour north of Beijing, eventually including winding curves with partial mudslides and no guardrails, all traversed seemingly with ease by our driver, despite his being hampered with a 50-foot bus for a vehicle. Luckily, you can always count on China to provide a plethora of vendors for all things necessary: I bought a sweet Hello Kitty-inspired umbrella for the equivalent of $1.50 US, which kept me relatively dry all day.
By way of Wikipedia history, the Great Wall "is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties. Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC, the most famous being the one built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. That wall was much further north than the current wall, built during the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains.
"The Great Wall is one of the existing megastructures and the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles)[1] from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass."
We were in the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which Wikipedia describes HERE: "The 'North Pass' of Juyongguan pass, known as the Badaling. When used by the Chinese to protect their land, this section of the wall has had many guards to defend China’s capital, Beijing. Made of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall is 7.8 meters high and 5 meters wide."
Being on the Great Wall was a phenomenal experience. Traversing the Wall was quite a workout, at times the grade was so steep that your face was about a foot from the ground due to the intense need to lean forward while walking up.
If you look in the center of the picture below, you will see a line of little white pill shapes - those are the tour buses, indicating how far up the wall we hiked.
After the Great Wall, we briefly stopped back at the hotel and then ventured to the Pearl Market - a 10-floor building filled with 10'-by-10' booths full of bootleg and black-market designer goods, each occupied by 1-4 small, young Chinese girls trained with a wickedly harrassing sales technique. You go through the aisles of booths, each filled with Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Chanel bags, Polo shirts, designer shoes, etc. with the small vendors grabbing at your arms and spouting their few words of English as you: "Lorex Watch" ... "Parada Bags" ... "Polo, Polo, Polo." It's not for the squeamish, but you can get some amazing deals. There are four floors of pearl vendors, and, according to those on the trip with knowledge of pearls, the intelligent buyer can get pearl jewelry for 5% of the US price.
By way of Wikipedia history, the Great Wall "is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties. Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC, the most famous being the one built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. That wall was much further north than the current wall, built during the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains.
"The Great Wall is one of the existing megastructures and the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles)[1] from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass."
We were in the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which Wikipedia describes HERE: "The 'North Pass' of Juyongguan pass, known as the Badaling. When used by the Chinese to protect their land, this section of the wall has had many guards to defend China’s capital, Beijing. Made of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall is 7.8 meters high and 5 meters wide."
Being on the Great Wall was a phenomenal experience. Traversing the Wall was quite a workout, at times the grade was so steep that your face was about a foot from the ground due to the intense need to lean forward while walking up.
If you look in the center of the picture below, you will see a line of little white pill shapes - those are the tour buses, indicating how far up the wall we hiked.
After the Great Wall, we briefly stopped back at the hotel and then ventured to the Pearl Market - a 10-floor building filled with 10'-by-10' booths full of bootleg and black-market designer goods, each occupied by 1-4 small, young Chinese girls trained with a wickedly harrassing sales technique. You go through the aisles of booths, each filled with Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Chanel bags, Polo shirts, designer shoes, etc. with the small vendors grabbing at your arms and spouting their few words of English as you: "Lorex Watch" ... "Parada Bags" ... "Polo, Polo, Polo." It's not for the squeamish, but you can get some amazing deals. There are four floors of pearl vendors, and, according to those on the trip with knowledge of pearls, the intelligent buyer can get pearl jewelry for 5% of the US price.
Beijing Traffic and Guangzhou Hotel
After the Summer Palace, we set out for our five-star hotel, Guangzhou Hotel Beijing (lobby pictured below), but in order to get there, we first had to navigate Beijing rush hour, which consists of 3,000,000 cars and 8,000,000 bicycles - one of the worst cities in the world in terms of traffic jams. I don't know how our bus driver tolerates it.
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