During our orientation on day one we were told to always keep in mind several things: 1. This is China. (TIC) Things are going to be different. People are different, customs, etc. 2. English is a secondary language. So, not only will you not find a lot of people who speak English, when you do

talk to people or see signs with misspellings, etc., don’t be too judgmental. 3. Americans are ROCK STARS in China. Chinese people will not be shy about grabbing you, petting you, asking

you for a photo, etc. And, as several folks found out, small blond American women and tall Black American men attract HUGE crowds!

4. Chinese people have no concept of personal space. They just don’t understand that standing SO CLOSE to you is uncomfortable.

5. Chinese people don’t watch out for you… if they want a photo, they’ll walk in front of you to get the best shot. If they need to pee, they will cut in line in front of you if you don’t move fast enough.

6. Vendors will haggle with you and hassle you. I had one vendor in Shanghai that literally left her shop and ran in front of me, yelling the whole time about how I must come in to her shop!

7. Stay with the group, stay on schedule, etc. Not only for efficiency but for safety. 8. Our tour manager’s name was Stone and all of our drivers would be known as Jack because their Chinese

names were too hard to remember and pronounce properly. Stone’s wife was Gem and their son was Rocky. Our other tour guides were Jessica and Scotty.

9. We would receive a lesson in Chinese every day. (Even though my most frequently used phrase was “Sorry! Sorry!”) Anyone who missed the bus boarding time would be forced to sing (into the mic) in front of the whole bus. The threat worked and only one person ever had to sing! Stone sang some songs but he had a great voice and loved it so that didn’t count!

10. Chinese people have a different idea about cleanliness than we do. It was strange to see all the public art, green and flowers, and people sweeping the sidewalks and streets (with willow branches!) and picking up litter and hosing down sidewalks and then going in to a restaurant and seeing the questionable conditions.

11. Restrooms are called “happy rooms” because you are happy when you find one! The majority of happy rooms have squatty potties, not toilets. And bring your own tissues or toilet paper. Also, don’t flush paper anything down the stool… even in the Shanghai hotel we were expected to use the waste can. If you ever needed to find a happy room in China, all you had to do was follow your nose! Public outhouses were scattered throughout the cities. It cost One Yuan.

12. You’re in China, try some different food and activities but DO NOT EVER drink water from the tap. The tour company and the hotels provided bottled water. We also avoided any fruit that didn’t have a hard exterior and all fresh vegetables… this was hard to do as we saw MANY vendors with these goodies! Due to the influence of the French and English in China, pastries were abundant and wonderful!

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Immediate Culture shock: the mass of people! The traffic! The slums… the high-rise buildings… the public art… Women’s shoes! Women’s clothes! People wore their backpacks on their fronts. Even in their suits and finery for a wedding. Shouting, horns honking, no place for cars to pull over for emergency vehicles so they crawl along with their lights and sirens on, waiting for an opening like everyone else! Our guide said that in order to drive in China you need a horn, fast reflexes and a brave heart! Another guide said that traffic signs in the US and UK are rules to follow, suggestions in Europe and decoration in China! China = 1.351 billion people (compare to India = 1.237 billion people and United States = 313.9 million people) 92% are Han; 8% are other ethnic groups – 55 total. To become a Chinese citizen, both of your parents must be Chinese, you must be able to speak the language and you must look Chinese. On our flight over to China, the airplane was packed and there were about 15 babies on board. I snarkily asked our tour manager if these women flew to the US to have their babies and returned home afterwards and he said yes. He did not explain but I learned later that it was because of the one-child per couple rule… if a child is born outside of China then the rule doesn’t apply to them. The rules about smoking in China are very lax until you get to places where there are large crowds. Then, you have to go through security and the ONE thing they always take is your lighter so you can’t smoke there. ARGH! I think I went through 10 lighters and learned to hide matches whenever I went out! It took me a couple of days to notice but I was the only woman I saw smoking in China. When I went into the smoking lounge at the Beijing airport with our tour manager, I got a lot of funny looks! We saw VERY FEW “homeless” people and they didn’t panhandle. China is NOT handicapped accessible. Count yourself lucky if you are in a hotel or restaurant with air conditioning. The smog wasn’t as bad as we expected it to be but everything (including us) felt grimy every day.

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The flag of the People's Republic of China is a red field with five gold stars. The red represents the communist revolution; the five stars and their relationship represent the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The first flag was hoisted by the People's Liberation Army on a pole overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, at a ceremony announcing the founding of the People's Republic. Chinese knotting: this is very popular and the knots are usually red with attached tassels. However, knots are made in a rainbow of colors. They can vary in size from earrings to huge sculptures. The art is thousands of years old. There are many types of knots; the "mystic knot" pattern with its repetitive pattern evokes one of the fundamental truths of Buddhism and the cyclical nature of all existence. In essence, knotwork serves to create an atmosphere of well-being, good luck and health, longevity and harmony. Some knots are actually pillows that you stuff with money or a wish for a gift or keep a wish hidden inside for yourself. Cranes = longevity Peonies = wealth Lotus = purity Bamboo = resolve Plum = vigor (because it blooms in the winter Chrysanthemum = optimism and joy Moon gates = round doorways that frame a view from inside The concept of Feng Shui guides everything in Chinese life. The “imperial” look of architecture in China can be traced back thousands of years although the “pagoda” style was influenced by the arrival of Buddhism in China about 200 BC. The roofs of historic buildings are most often covered in terracotta tiles. Any wood used in building was usually painted and/or carved and often quite intricately done. While the design of buildings and their layout on a lot adhere strictly to Feng Shui principles, the gardens are more “free style” with the goal being to provide calm spaces. The Chinese also use the “sky well” and courtyard layouts to include nature as much as possible in both living and commercial space. The “penjing” style is the portraying of an item or area in its natural beauty and harmony. A “bonsai” tree is a form of penjing, sculpting a type of pine tree to bring out its inner beauty.

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Chinese food… Thank GOD for pastries, cereal, toast, hard-boiled eggs, watermelon, coffee and tea or breakfast would have been very difficult for us! Each hotel had a breakfast buffet and there was always something unique available to try… we did NOT try the century eggs* or sushi or anything else we couldn’t identify. I did try the bacon which was very different and I liked it. There was Spam on every buffet, too. (shudder!) Lunches and suppers were served “family style” in each restaurant we went to except for the Mongolian grill we visited in Xi’an. All the soups, noodles, rice, tea and main dishes were set out on a glass lazy susan and each person could help themselves. Most of these meals were like eating in any Chinese restaurant in the US except there were no egg rolls and no fortune cookies. Besides tea, we were offered glasses of soda (I missed my Diet Dew!) or a glass of water poured from large bottles. Our second night included a meal of Peking Duck: a good chef can carve off 720 pieces of the right size for wrapping in the flour “pancakes” with cucumber, celery and bean sauce. Neither mom nor I cared for it. HOWEVER, I did have three shots of rice vodka… a toast to the group by our host turned into a challenge and I got caught in the middle of it through no fault of my own! (No, really, that’s exactly what happened!) Anyway, I am usually a “two-beer Charlie” but only got a little buzz and a great night’s sleep. The next morning, I woke up feeling like a million bucks! Wish I could remember the name of that stuff! * made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice hulls for several weeks.

Food I tried included jellyfish (body = soft, tentacles = crunchy), black Chinese mushrooms (slimy), bok choy, shrimp flakes (sort of like shrimp flavored Funyuns). We did not try any kind of creature on a stick although there were plenty of opportunities!

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Beijing = 13.8 million; historical records date to 4000 BC; settlement since 2500 BC; has almost always been the capital. First Stop: Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing named after the Tiananmen gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) which was built in 1415 during the Ming Dynasty. Tiananmen Square serves as the public space for The Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the fourth largest city square in the world. Outside China it is best known in recent memory as the focal point of the Tiananmen Square protests, a pro-democracy movement which ended on June 4, 1989. (Do you remember the photo of “Tank Man?”) 2014 is the 25th Anniversary of the protests… Our tour manager made a passing comment about the protests but that was all. It is still unknown how many (250? 1,000? 2,500?) people died when the Chinese government cracked down on the protest. Today, China controls the internet and the media so people there have very little information about what is called a “political disturbance.” Accounts are banned from textbooks and anyone who talks about it is subject to imprisonment. (Using the Internet in China is interesting due to the filters and “firewalls” but if you work at it, you can access the “free internet.”) Mao Zedong’s tomb is located within the square. The Monument to the People's Heroes is a ten-story obelisk that was erected as a national monument of the People's Republic of China to the martyrs of revolutionary struggle during the 19th and 20th centuries. It is located in the southern part of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, to the north of Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Our very first trip out and mom and I got separated from our tour group when a group of Chinese pushed their way in front of us. It only took us a minute to spot our tour manager’s green “Gate 1” flag but we did panic a bit! These photos do not do justice to the size of the crowds we encountered… it was an eye opener!

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The dragon and phoenix are important symbols in China. A tradition in China says that the Chinese people were decendents of dragons. Dragons traditionally symbolize power, particularly control over water, rainfall, hurricane, and floods. The dragon is also a symbol of good luck. The Emperor of China usually used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power…because the Imperial dragon is made up of parts of many different animals, this symbolizes the many parts of China brought together as one. The Emperor’s dragon had five claws on each foot; other dragons were only allowed to have four claws. In yin and yang terminology, a dragon is the male yang and complements a female phoenix yin which came to symbolize the empress when paired with a dragon as a dragon represented the emperor.

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Construction began in 1406 on what would become the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was designed to be the center of the walled city of Beijing. There is an “Inner Court” (surrounded by a wall) which was the residence of the Imperial family and staff and the “Outer Court” which was the seat of political power in China and it is surrounded by the outer wall. Construction lasted 14 years and required more than a million workers. There are a total of 800 buildings; 9,000 rooms. The Guardian Lions are about six feet tall and very imposing! The term “foo dog” has mistakenly been applied to the beast by the West. “Foo Dog” was a mis-translated Japanese term although some sources say that the ancestors of the Chow Chow dog breed were the inspiration for the overall look of the guardian lions. Asiatic lions were once quite common throughout Southwest and Central Asia and other sources say they are represented by the guardian lions. The lions represent wisdom, valor, and family. The Ming dynasty was the first to occupy the Forbidden City. After being the home of 24 emperors – 14 of the Ming dynasty and 10 of the Qing dynasty – the Forbidden City ceased being the political centre of China in 1912. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, some damage was done to the Forbidden City as the country was swept up in revolutionary zeal. During the Cultural Revolution, however, further destruction was prevented when Premier Zhou Enlai sent an army battalion to guard the city.

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Details from the inner court… the large dragon heads on the corners of the wall were decorative but the smaller ones that lined the walls served as storm gutters. The Ming Dynasty was famous for its bronze work which was used in many places in the Forbidden City. The number three is symbolic of Heaven in Feng Shui so there are many examples of things done in three or multiples of three. For example, the large gate doors to the inner court have 81 bronze studs.

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Building details from The Forbidden City. All the painting is done by hand and very intricate. 1. Yellow is the color of the Emperor so all but two roofs in the Forbidden City bear yellow glazed tiles. The library at the Pavilion of Literary Profundity has black tiles because black was associated with water, and thus fire-prevention. Similarly, the Crown Prince's residences have green tiles because green was associated with wood, and thus growth. 2. The main halls of the Outer and Inner courts are all arranged in groups of three – the triagram representing Heaven. The residences of the Inner Court are arranged in groups of six – the shape representing the Earth. 3. The sloping ridges of building roofs are decorated with a line of statuettes led by a man riding a phoenix and followed by an imperial dragon. The number of statuettes represents the status of the building – a minor building might have 3 or 5. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10, the only building in the country to be permitted this in Imperial times.

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Other items of note at the Forbidden City: carved marble pillars, a large bronze water pot and a lantern. Since the Forbidden City was constructed mostly of wood, there were many large water pots collecting water to be used in case of a fire. My first “squatty potty” experience was at the Forbidden City… and probably the cleanest one, too! Notice anything unusual about this tree? It’s really a radio antenna!

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After leaving the Forbidden City, we took a dragon boat ride to the Summer Palace. Originally built in 1161, it served as a refuge for the emperors and their families. Kunming Lake is man-made and is actually part of a moat system that circles the compound. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times, the last time in 1888 when it became the home of a dowager empress who took the money allocated for building ships for the Chinese Navy and built herself the Marble Boat. Actually, it’s wood, painted to look like marble. This was her private lounge. The Long Corridor is a covered walkway, with more than 14,000 pieces of artwork inside. It was built in 1750 and is 2,400 feet long. It was built by the request of one of the emperors so his mother would have a place to walk that was protected by the elements.

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Also in Beijing, we drove by the 2008 Olympic Village and stopped for a photo op. I had to take a photo of the very practical stairway… two smooth sections on either side of the steps allow people to push their bikes along or for motorscooters to ride! We also saw the entrance pillars to the Olympic Village as well as the dragon building…Pangu Plaza was designed to look like a dragon with a rearing head and trailing humps…the larger front building is a 45-story office tower and there are four 23-story connecting buildings serving as the body and tail of the dragon.

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Here’s a very cool Mickey Ds! And the koi pond in our hotel; it was fun playing “tag” with the koi fish!

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Nearly all pearls sold in the open market are cultured because they are much easier to produce and harvest than natural pearls. Chinese pearls account for approximately 96% of pearls sold everywhere in the world. Even most pearls sold as Japanese were actually grown on Chinese pearl farms. Today China is the only commercial producer of freshwater pearls, producing 1,500 tons each year. The variety of fresh-water pearls in China fascinated me! I have never seen anything like them… some of the pearls were as big as a quarter! A large necklace like the ones shown here was VERY heavy. Most salt-water pearls come from the South China Sea. This was our first “shopping” excursion. The sales clerks followed us like flies and you couldn’t even stop to LOOK at something because someone would be in your face trying to get you to buy “it” or something else. It was also starting to become clear to us that good quality merchandise was not “cheap” as we had so often heard… anything that was cheaply priced was cheaply made.

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Jade is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of gemstones, but the only pure forms of jade are jadeite and nephrite. Jadeite is quite rare and in its emerald-green, translucent form is referred to as Imperial Jade or "gem jade.“ Jade comes in a rainbow of colors, determined by the minerals included and the process of forming the stone. Jade was being mined as early as 6000 BC. In the history of the Chinese empire, jade has had a special significance, comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. Jade was used for weapons, decorations, religious items, and for grave furnishings for high-ranking members of the imperial family. China has been mining jade, the “Stone of Heaven,” for so long that high-grade supplies are running out. That’s why you’ll see so much jade from other countries taking over the world market. In fact, jade production is booming in British Columbia as well as Central and South America. The top photo shows the craftsman at work creating the ball-within-a-ball piece illustrated on the table. The photo of the table also shows some agate. The sales people here were not as pushy as the ones in the pearl shop… AND, we had gotten much better at saying “I don’t want it!”

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I was looking at the jewelry at the shop and a very pretty blue “cat’s eye” pendant caught my eye ;-) It was unique and the more I looked at it, the more I thought I’d like to have it. I was a bit rushed in the purchase as I was the last one getting on the bus so I paid a bit more for it than I hoped I would. The clerk kept trying to tell me that it was “blue jade” but I thought perhaps it was an agate or other sort of stone that fell under the jade umbrella. I did some research when I got home and I’m fairly confident it is a form of quartz/agate called Cymophane. As I learned more about the perceived benefits of wearing Cymophanes, I decided I was supposed to have my pendant because 1. I’m a klutz 2. I’m diabetic 3. I have high cholesterol 4. I get migraines and 5. I have bad knees! Here’s what I found on several websites about crystals: Cymophanes, or Cat’s Eyes, have long been stones of protection, often being used as talismans to protect the wearer from the “evil eye”. Cat’s Eyes are luck-bringers and protect the user from mishaps. Cat’s Eye increases your perceptions of others’ intentions and enhance your own intuition. It is a prosperity stone, often increasing its strength in bringing financial success over time. Physically, Cat’s Eye will help with eye disorders and enhance vision, especially at night. It can also regulate blood sugar and cholesterol levels and is said to alleviate headaches and mobility issues. Technical aspects: Cymophane, or Cat’s Eye, the chatoyant variety of Chrysoberyl, contains inclusions along the parallel axis, creating the appearance of a cat’s eye. Chatoyancy in French literally means “cat’s eye”. One of the most striking attributes of Cymophanes is that, when turning the stone, the “eye” seems to be moving.

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Every photo I’ve ever seen of the Great Wall showed that it was built in the mountains so I was quite surprised that the Juyongguan Gate was so close to Beijing, which didn’t seem very hilly at all. As we got closer, the small hills started to rise and suddenly the wall and the gate rose ahead of us… less than an hour outside Beijing. As early as 770 BC the Yan State built fortifications here. This section was linked to the Great Wall of China between 386-589 AD. The pass is one of the three great mountain passes of the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China. Qin Shi Huang conquered all opposing states in the region and unified China in 221 BC, establishing the Qin Dynasty. (Pronounced “CHEEN” and the derivative is now the name China.) Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the wall sections along the former state borders. However, he also ordered the building of new walls to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's northern frontier. Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, transportation of goods along the Silk Road, and the control of immigration and emigration. The defensive characteristics of the Great Wall include watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, and signal towers (which used smoke and/or fire).

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The continuous main section of wall measures 5,500 miles. This is made up of 3,889 miles of actual wall, 223 miles of trenches and 1,387 miles of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. An archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 13,171 miles. This portion of the Great Wall is 26 feet tall and 16 feet wide. Up to 25,000 watchtowers are estimated to have been constructed on the wall. Maintenance of the wall continued by subsequent emperors after construction, some with more enthusiasm and some less. Many sections of the wall are still regularly maintained but other sections have nearly disappeared due to erosion, vandalism and people taking the stones away to use in new buildings.

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Can the Great Wall be seen from space? Yes! But not without the help of optics. We were very lucky in that in had rained for several days before we arrived in Beijing but by the time we made it to the wall, the smog was starting to creep in. Here you can see it starting to rise up the side of the hill to the left…

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And now you can see the small primary gate being overtaken by the smog.

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Despite the smog, we got some awesome views and had a great time! We did hike up one section…most of that was uphill! You can see the wear on the stones from millions of feet. Many places did not have handrails and the steps were unevenly placed so we moved very carefully! We made it to the top of the FIRST hill… NO WAY were we going to go beyond that! On our way back down, we were practically accosted by an elderly Chinese couple who took turns posing with us and taking our photo with the wall in the background.

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This was the view looking back from the top of our climb to the main gate. You can begin to appreciate the work that went into building The Great Wall. All without the use of modern equipment! Padlocks of Love: Padlocks are fixed to a fence or a pole or metallic chain/string alongside a wall, etc., at a public place, to symbolize the eternal love of a happy couple. They hang a padlock after inscribing their name or initials on it and throw the key away so that their love is locked forever. Some couple use two inter-twined locks, each lock bearing their name/initials. Besides lovers, often family members and close friends also put such locks at these places, to lock their relationship forever.“ (You see these all over.)

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This is also looking back from our hike… you can see how dark the sky is with smog. You can also see the complex that was built outside of the gate to accommodate the tourists, including vendors, a restaurant and snack shops.

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Other views…

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Signal towers past the main gate.

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This is a view of the hills on the other side of the wall. If you look closely, you can see the horizontal lines on this mountain and others throughout China. In an effort to grow the agriculture of China, the leaders of the Cultural Revolution forced the implementation of terracing. Unfortunately, the crops failed and the mountains have reclaimed the fields but you can still see the terraces.

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After our return to the main gate, Mom and I passed over the inner buildings of the compound which included the Zhenwu Temple, which was built in 1425. Look behind the blue roofs and you’ll see a row of trees growing out from the wall. Trees and other objects in and near Buddhist temples will often be draped in red ribbons which are usually inscribed with a prayer or symbol then tied to the tree with a prayer from the supplicant. Most of the ribbons tied in this way are red which symbolizes summoning or subjugating, one of the five colors of the Buddhas. The other colors are white for pacification, yellow for prosperity (as in, the color of gold), blue for forcefulness, and green for all other. Black symbolizes the absolute destruction of a demon or enemy. From the inner court, we could look up at the wall and appreciate the many layers laid by hand! Yes, it is true that workers who died during the construction of the wall were buried inside it. In fact, in many places, erosion has begun exposing their bones. The government is now starting to remove them and repair the wall.

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Once we crossed the road, we found fewer people and enjoyed exploring a bit. Wherever I go, I enjoy noticing and capturing the details.

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There was a group of students coming back to the gate from a hike… we don’t know how far they had walked but they looked beat! There was going to be a marathon along the Great Wall that included this gate the weekend after we left… thousands of people participate each year.

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When we left the wall, we visited the pandas at the China Zoo. The place was packed with people, it was dirty and the two pandas were in enclosures that looked like they hadn’t been given a thought after the pandas were put in there. I did get a couple of cute photos, though! Pandas are much smaller than I thought they would be. This is also where we learned to look for the “Grandma” happy room! We headed to the public restroom and mom was pushing open every door saying, “Handicapped? Handicapped?” because usually a stall for the handicapped would have a toilet. As we were looking, the bathroom attendant (there was ALWAYS an attendant in public happy rooms and many private ones) started saying, “Grandma! Grandma!” and grabbed Mom by the arm and showed her the private “handicapped” toilet room! Jackpot! From then on, we learned to ask for either the “handicapped” or “grandma” happy room!

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Near the enclosure for the panda on the right was the Red Panda which caused quite a stir when he pounced against the glass of his enclosure at the crowd standing there!

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One of the things that really struck me was the amount of “green” in China… flowers, shrubbery, trees, grassy spots and the amount of public art. And the government pays for and maintains all the public spaces. I have lots of photos of these. China is in the midst of a construction boom… tearing out the old and creating new. The newest buildings in China are fabulous, bizarre, among the most famous in the world for their strange look and height.

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The trees in this photo are called camoflage trees! The bark really is multi-layered and each layer is a different color!

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Mom and I were both fascinated by the amount and type of traffic… very modern bullet trains to bicycle rickshaws. The electric scooter was very popular… but they were dangerous because they rode on the sidewalks and you couldn’t hear them coming! The vehicle on the right is called a “happy bug.” I found out there was lots of “Happy-ness” and “Heaven” and “golden” things in China… cliches are over-used everywhere! We also saw many cars parked on sidewalks and enjoyed trying to figure out how the cars caught in the middle of the lines would get out! Public transportation is everywhere in the three cities we visited and taxis can be hailed with a wave or whistle. We saw many taxis that had plexiglass surrounding the driver.

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There were miles and miles and miles of cable! Strung through trees and …

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Coiled into piles on poles!

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From Beijing we flew to Xi’an, which once served as the political center of China and is still called the Western Capitol. One of the oldest cities in China, the history of Xi’an goes back more than 3,000 years. Xi'an (shee-ahn) is the starting point of the Silk Road and has become the technological center of China and is home to the Chinese space program. About 8.5 million people live in Xi’an. The hotel in Xi’an was definitely the nicest of the four we stayed in… I had to take a photo of this… there was an ashtray and matches on the table right next to a sign that said, “No Smoking” AND… the ashtray was adhered to the table! I still haven’t figured that out! There was a water feature in the lobby of the hotel with this sign above it… and just to make sure you didn’t enter the hotel naked, there was this sign. The two white statues at the bottom of the grand staircase were carved to look like marble and lit from within. Even the electrical outlets in China are happy! The neighborhood our hotel was located in wasn’t the nicest… we were told not to wander off alone and never past 11pm. It was so strange being in such a fabulous facility but not feeling safe to explore too much. We did venture against traffic one afternoon and explored the neighborhood a bit. It was fun to walk through some of the shops and see all the goods and food being sold along the curb and on the sidewalks by street vendors. In China, vehicles have the right-of-way, not pedestrians, so you feel like you are taking your life in your hands when you cross the street… and traffic signals are few and far between. To cross the street in Xi’an, we hooked up with a lady who had a small child because we hoped she wouldn’t do anything too stupid while trying to cross! To get back to the hotel, there was a man carrying several shopping bags and he was moving pretty slow so we shadowed him across!

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The three statues were located in the Shanxi Provincial History Museum we visited in Xi’an. The two tiny dog statues were dated to 220 BC and were found in two different areas. The third is the “guardian lion”… a huge statue in the lobby of the museum. Below are photos of the modern Shar Pei and Chow Chow.

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More from the museum…

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Our first morning in Xi’an, we visited a park that was bigger than Central Park in New York! It was filled with people doing their daily exercise, sharing some games, and enjoying the beautiful day. We enjoyed the “theatre” production at the amusement park and everyone is invited to join in… Stone gave us each a red fan and showed us the dance steps. There were people playing hacky sack and I found a ride that I had to capture for my coworker Wanda!

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More views from Xiangaing Park.

At one of the pavilions in the park, children were scrambling up the nearly vertical sculpture then sliding back down… so, the adults in our group gave it a try, including Mom! It was VERY slick so one of our tour members was kind enough to catch her at the bottom! I fell in love with the “Snow Pine” trees! There were people scattered around the park doing tai chi, singing, dancing, playing chess… wherever you went in the park, you could watch or participate. There were vendors everywhere, of course, but it was a lot of fun and the beauty of the park was breathtaking, too!

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Lacquer has been an art form in China for thousands of years. The original Chinese ancient lacquer ware was made using a natural lacquer obtained from sumac but more recently comes from the lac tree. Lacquer can be black or red, the color determined by the process of distilling the sap of the tree. The deep color and sheen comes from applying many, many layers of thin lacquer to each piece. This lacquer factory featured hundreds of pieces in different styles including paint, carved and inlaid pieces… the inlay could be just about anything, including mother of pearl. We also witnessed a wedding celebration at the restaurant where we had lunch one day in Xi’an. As soon as the ceremony was over, they lit thousands of firecrackers!

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Starting in Beijing, I took photos of different street lamps… Xi’an also has lots of interesting lighting! It was also the first time… but not the last… that I saw the “topping” of trees. This really surprised me because the Chinese have such a reverence for trees… you’d think this would hurt the tree, but I guess not! Remember, I took these photos from the bus!

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The Terracotta Army is a collection of earthenware sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, the same man who united China and ordered the changes to the Great Wall. It is a form of funerary art buried with him in 210–209 BC to protect the emperor in his afterlife. Some experts say about 700,000 workers contributed to the project. It was started when the Emperor was 13 years and finished 11 years later. His tomb was completed 25 years after that. The figures were discovered in 1974 by a local farmer who was digging for a well. He was actually at the museum there signing autographs for a fee. Unfortunately, although he is revered, he is not wealthy… the government confiscated his land and paid him a tiny fee. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. There are four pits discovered so far with three containing than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. Other terracotta non-military figures were also found in other pits and they include officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. Every figure differs in facial features and expression, clothing, hairstyle, and gestures. Many of them held weapons, most of which were lost to looting or decay. The mausoleum is actually a squared off hill, a mile from the pits and has not been excavated although some ultrasound and other testing has been done. The ground of the mausoleum is also very high in mercury which may confirm that the rivers and lakes of China were recreated within the mausoleum using mercury. The mausoleum does contain some statuary but evidence points to them being likenesses of dancers and household staff instead of soldiers. Until about 150 years before Qin became emperor, the common practice was to actually sacrifice all the emperor’s household and military and bury them with the emperor. It was only abolished because China needed more agricultural workers and couldn’t afford to draft farmers into the army!

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The floor of each of the corridors was paved with bricks. The largest pit has 11 corridors (each 10 feet x 10 feet) and holds approximately 6,000 statues. A building was constructed around the pit to preserve the statues which were originally individually and brightly colored. One note I found states that the color started to fade within minutes of being exposed to the air. The ceiling above the sculptures was held aloft by wooden beams… you can see indentations in the ground of the beams and the reed mats that laid over them. Unfortunately, the beams and walls caved in, smashing a majority of the sculptures. There is evidence that looters had found one of the pits hundreds of years ago and tried to burn down the site after looting. This may be what caused the beams to collapse. Along the outside of pit, there is a single row of soldiers looking outward, rather than forward. This is the defensive wing.

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The sculptures are being reassembled from fragments found at the site. Here are some of the statues that have been rebuilt or are in process.

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Signs I found funny… a window at one of the pits… The spear thrower and the kneeling archer… one of 160 archers in the pits. There are several statues within a museum on the site… this is where I learned not to be shy about walking in front of people to take a photo or to walk in front of someone who walked in front of me – no one was mad, they just made room! The stone armor plate… this would actually be too heavy for someone to wear into battle and is probably ceremonial.

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Two one-quarter scale bronze chariots pulled by four horses each were found in the pits and have been carefully restored. The back door on the closed-up cart still works! These were found near the back of a line of soldiers so it is thought they represent the carts that came along after a battle to carry the injured and dead from the battlefield.

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Arriving in Shanghai… anybody know what those little statues at the airport are for???? Shanghai = 24 million people, the largest city proper by population in the world. Evidence of human occupation in the Shanghai region dates to 5,000 BC. The two buildings you can barely are the second and sixth tallest buildings in the world! The tallest is the Shanghai Tower at 2,073 feet tall, 121 stories; second in height only to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which is 2,717 feet, 163 stories tall. The Shanghai World Financial Center at 1,614 feet, 101 stories. This building has a Park Hyatt hotel in the 79th through 93rd floors… the second highest hotel in the world. Shanghai sits on the Yangtze River Delta on China's eastern coast and consists of a peninsula between the Yangtze River and Hangzhou Bay. It is bordered on the east by the East China Sea. The city proper is bisected by the Huangpu River, a man-made tributary of the Yangtze. The historic center of the city, the Puxi area, is located on the western side of the Huangpu, while the newly developed Pudong, containing the central financial district was developed on the eastern bank… giving the city a distinct split personality. Of the three cities, I enjoyed Shanghai the most!

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When we arrived, it was not only smoggy, but a storm was moving in. The clouds did move away but the smog remained although it didn’t look as bad as it did in Beijing nor smell as bad as it did in Xi’an! These were the only rice paddies I saw in China… there was lots of winter wheat and many small vineyards. The Chinese spoken in Shanghai is a different dialect than the Mandarin spoken throughout much of China… even our tour manager said he had a hard time communicating in Shanghai! The Chinese language is very complicated. The written language has about 20,000 characters, but only about 2,000 are commonly used. The spoken Cantonese language has four tones; Mandarin has nine tones. That makes it difficult to learn… I found out that when I tried to say “Thank You!” to someone in Shanghai, she quickly corrected my pronunciation. I later learned I may have actually called her a dirty pig! Sorry! Our hotel in Shanghai looked very nice on the outside and in the lobby but the hallways and rooms were very dated. Our toilet wouldn’t flush and we had it worked on several times. We learned to follow Chinese ways by not putting paper down the stool. We made good use of the public restroom in the hotel!

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One of things I enjoyed was that our tour manager and tour guides shared stories about their lives and Chinese culture during our bus rides from point to point. We learned a little political history and theory (question: is China communist? Socialist? Capitalist? Answer: all of the above, depending on who you ask) as well as what life was like day to day. Chinese telephone numbers have eight digits. There are several models of Chinese-made cars and trucks. You’d think with space being at a premium and traffic being so bad that there would be lots of Mini Coopers and other tiny cars but we didn’t see very many of them. Plus, “petrol” was running about 9.20 Yuan a liter (that’s $1.53 a liter so $6.00 a gallon +/-) so it was even more surprising to see so many SUVs and large cars. Minivans usually belong to businesses, not soccer moms! We also learned that in the larger cities, the numbers on your plate determine when you can drive so if your plate ends in a “one” for example, you are not allowed to drive your car on Mondays.

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Our first night in Shanghai featured a boat ride around the harbor. We got to see all the new buildings in the financial center as well as the colonial buildings at the Bund lit up with amazing lights! Even some of the tour boats were “decked out!” We drove through a residential area afterwards and saw a guy walking down the street in pajamas… evidently this has become such a common practice that China has begun an advertising campaign to stop it!

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More from the harbor tour

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Contrast between the old and the new… opposite sides of the harbor. The lights on many of the buildings changed and there was even a laser light that would track patterns over the other buildings. I have LOTS of photos of the harbor cruise because the view was always changing. It was breathtaking!

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With some time on our hands, Mom and I walked around Shanghai a bit. We discovered a beautiful park behind the hotel where doctors and nurses from the nearby hospital came to walk, relax or meditate. Notice the propped up tree branch… everywhere we went, we saw tree branches and entire trees, sometimes, supported with care rather than being trimmed or removed. Although this may look like a private home, it is a business behind the grotto. While we were enjoying the park, we saw several birds flying through the trees. Later on, it occurred to me that I had seen very few “critters” in China. I believe I saw one stray dog, three or four on leashes and the few birds in the park. It was really odd to me to not see more animals, especially with all the green spaces! I have been in other large cities and seen flocks consisting of hundreds of pigeons and don’t remember seeing even ONE in China! Also, I know that the Chinese attitude toward pets is different, but I expected to see more than one stray dog… keeping a dog in China is also very expensive, not only for the vet costs but for licensing, too.

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Our itinerary got a little shaken up due to the visit to Shanghai by Russian President Vladimir Putin and others for a summit of Asian states. Russia’s main goal was to seal a deal for exporting natural gas to China. We didn’t see all the “fat cats” but we did see several motorcades. First Stop: the Temple of the Jade Buddha. It was founded in 1882 with two jade Buddha statues imported from Burma. The story says that an abbot from Mount Putuo went on a pilgrimage to Tibet and Burma. Intending to ship a total of five Buddha statues, the two largest could not be lifted onto the boat and so were left in Shanghai and the temple built to accommodate them. The temple complex was completed in 1928. The temple is in active use and there were many people there offering prayers. Our tour guide Scotty explained some of the rituals. The burning sage and incense smell was so strong at times our eyes and noses were burning. The sage is for cleansing… the smoke of the incense carries prayers to the object of the prayer.

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There are several buildings within the temple complex and several chambers inside each of those. Our first stop was the grand hall which contained the golden statues of three famous Buddhas: the central sculpture is of Gautama Buddha, the left Amitabha and the right Bhaisajyaguru. Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni or “the Supreme Buddha” is the man upon whom Buddhism was founded. He lived and taught approximately 480 to 400 BC in the Himalayan foothills. “Buddha” means the “awakened one.” Scotty explained that “Buddha” is not a name, more like a title or a master’s degree in the teachings of Buddhism. Although it is hard to define Buddhism in a single sentence, one definition I found states, “Buddhism seeks to help sentient beings end their suffering through the elimination of ignorance and craving by way of understanding and the seeing of dependent origination, with the ultimate goal of attainment of the sublime state of nirvana.” I think Buddhism simply means understanding, accepting, learning, growing and moving on.

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The sitting Jade Buddha is 72 inches tall and weighs three tons. Photographs of the Jade Buddha and the red room are strictly prohibited… I snagged these two images from the Internet. A smaller reclining Buddha (representing Buddha's death) was also housed within the complex. The more famous larger reclining Buddha is made of marble, donated from Singapore. When you see a Buddha with his hand touching the ground, that indicates the connection he feels with the world around him. This is his moment of enlightment.

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A large golden statue of Guanyin stands at the northern entrance to the Great Hall, with Shan Cai at her side and sculptures representing the 53 teachers of his life above. Guanyin is the “enlightened being” associated with compassion and is usually depicted as a female. The name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means "Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the World."

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Behind the temple, there is a Buddhist monastery with a garden and Koi pond. Avalokitesvara is a Bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. According to Tibetan Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is one of the four sublime states a human can achieve in life (the others being an Arhat, Buddha, or Pratyekabuddha).

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From the Temple, we got on the bus and drove to the Bund. Along the way, I snapped some photos. The trees are Gingko Biloba trees. They can grow over 100 feet tall and live more than 2,000 years! These trees are braced to help them withstand typhoons. Gingko trees are native to China and are a unique species, with no known living “relatives.”

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“The Bund” was the financial center of East Asia during the late 1800s and early 1900s, located within what was the Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. (“Bund” means embankment) During the 1940s, after the Communist Party took over, there was a shift in the uses of the buildings and some fell into disrepair. There was renewed interest in The Bund in the 1970s and 1980s and some restorations continue today. Financial institutions are beginning to move back in and there are many hotels and restaurants in addition to offices in many of the buildings. The Bund is comprised of 52 buildings, some original, some new, varying in architectural style. For more information about the buildings along The Bund, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund.

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To help protect the area from typhoons, a large levee was built between the main row of buildings and the river in the 1970s and 1980s. The top of the levee is 30 feet above street level and serves as a public space. The wall of flowers is actually a sculpture… each flower sits within it’s own individual pot in its own holder in the wall. A series of drip pipes waters the structure. There was a policeman stationed in the front of the “Shanghai Bull” to keep people from climbing on it… one guy tried to put his kid on the bull’s head and received a sharply whistled rebuke! If the bull looks familiar, it is a brother to the “Wall Street Bull” and the Amsterdam Bull by artist Arturo Di Modica.

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Our next stop was a silk rug shop. We saw the silkworm cocoons and saw how they dyed the silk. We watched a woman weave a rug using a stencil guide (notice what the silk is wound on!) and saw another sculpt a rug. Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of the domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori (Latin: "silkworm of the mulberry tree"). These creatures are not found in the wild and depend solely on humans for their existence. The cocoon is made of a single thread of raw silk from 1,000 to 3,000 feet long. The fibers are about 10 micrometers (1/2,500th of an inch) in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk. At least 70 million pounds of raw silk is produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion pounds of cocoons.

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The “Silk Road” was a very important part of China’s development. This trade route opened about 200 BC and crossed Europe, Egypt, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Java-Indonesia, Philippines, Viet Nam and China. Parts of the Great Wall were built to accommodate and protect the route. In addition to silk, the trade route allowed the sharing of cultures, spices, art, technology, jade and gem stones, and domestic goods. Buddhism arrived with the Silk Road, too. The Silk Road stopped serving as land route for silk about 1300 AD due to the fall of the Mongol and Byzantine empires. The disappearance of the Silk Road was one of the main factors that stimulated the Europeans to reach China by sea. When he sailed West across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, Christopher Columbus was searching for an alternative trade route from Spain. Unfortunately, politics, the bubonic plague, and other factors contributed to the eventual demise of the “Silk Route.”

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“China Town” or “Old Town” is not really the oldest part of Shanghai. It was built about 400 years ago… it is a shopping, living and trade area. The merchants here are very aggressive, bartering down to the “nth” and I had one lady literally chasing me down the sidewalk trying to get me to come into her shop! The place was packed… there are many Chinese tourists here… and, just like the malls in America, the teens come out to see and be seen.

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Just as we were giving up hope to getting in, Putin and the other dignitaries ended their tour and we were able to visit Yuyan Garden which was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) by a government official ~ 1600 to provide a place for his aging parents as a sanctuary. It covers ~five acres and every stone was carried in and set by hand to resemble the mountains in the area. Instead of one large building, it is a series of small buildings for dwelling, worship, working, and resting. The complex was built around a man-made lake so you had to use bridges to reach each building. Even the plants and pathways were works of art!

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Our last stop was to visit an acrobatic show which was marginal in talent. However, it was held in a fabulous new hotel with a shopping center in the basement, including a grocery so it was fun to wander there before the show! After the show, we drove back to the hotel in the rain, glad our entertainment was indoors! The next day was free day in Shanghai so Mom and I did a little exploring of the local shops in the area. After a short rest, we hooked up with a couple from our group and found a Burger King! We tried to make it to McDonald’s because they have a menu with more Chinese fare, but it was closed for remodeling.

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Shanghai has lots of green space and lots of public art! Even the underpasses in parts of town get a special treatment!

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In the heart of Shanghai, surrounded by modern buildings and a pedestrian mall is the Jing'an Temple, "Temple of Peace and Tranquility.” Although the original temple has a history dating to 247 AD, the current building was converted to a plastics factory during the Cultural Revolution. In 1983, it was returned to its original purpose. The concrete balls are to stop vehicles from driving and/or parking on the sidewalks. It was in this neighborhood that I tried to buy Tylenol. You have to buy all drugs from a pharmacy, prescription or not. It took a bit of doing but finally one of the staff located a small box for me… I will never forget that it’s “Ty-lone-o-LEE” in Chinese!

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The “lama” Temple in Beijing. Old, new, green, smog… pushy people, happy people… familiar food and new tastes… it was an experience I will never forget!

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