Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Muslim Quarters

Today was our last day in China.  It was a rainy and dreary day.  First, we visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a Buddhist pagoda.  We had a volunteer tour guide who was very knowledgeable and interesting.  The interior of the pagoda was a library.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Buddhist god

Many of the places we visited in China had lion statues out front.  You could tell if the lion was male or female by what they were holding.  A male would hold a ball, either in its mouth or under its paw.  A female would have a baby cub.  Charlotte was an expert at identifying the lions whenever we were out.

Male lion

Female lion

Baby cub lying on its back facing its mother

 Then we went to the Muslim Quarters to see a house.  It was in the courtyard style we had seen throughout China.  This particular house was for a wealthy family.  They would have had around 20 servants working for him.  We also watched a short shadow play.  I think it was supposed to be funny, but it was in Chinese.

Then it was off to the airport.  We had a great time on our trip, but we were all tired and ready to go home.  The security at the Xi'an airport was more intense than anything we had experienced before.  First, it took them 3 tries to clear Charlotte through immigration.  I think they have a machine that compares your picture to your passport picture, but since Charlotte was only 3 when we got her passport it was having problems.  Then, they were very thorough with checking our liquids.  They took my hand sanitizer (flammable) even though it was well under the 3.3 oz maximum.  They ran several of our bags through several times and we all got a complete pat down.  We had a relaxing flight home and were happy to sleep in our own beds that evening.

City Wall and Terracotta Warriors

Today we visited the Xian City Wall and the Terracotta Warriors.  We started at the City Wall, built to protect the city.  Back before people had clocks, the bell would ring throughout the day to signal when to get up, lunchtime, and when the work day was finished.  We rented tandem bicycles and rode around to see the sights.

Ready for a bike ride

After the City Wall, we drove to see the Terracotta Warriors.  The Terracotta Warriors were built by Qin Shi Huang, the same Emperor who built the Great Wall, starting in 221 BCE, .  The Chinese believed in an afterlife, so Emperors were often buried with their warriors, servants, and jewels to serve and protect them.  Qin had servants build an entire army of terracotta warriors, estimated to be 8000, to protect him.  Each warrior is unique, their facial features gave details about what region of China they came from.  Many of the workers were killed after the project to maintain the secrecy of its location.  The warriors were made off-site, but any worker who was involved in digging the mausoleum or transporting the warriors to the final location were killed.  The Army was not discovered until 1974 when a farmer digging a well dug up part of a warrior and contacted the government.  There is evidence that other farmers found pieces of the warriors in prior years, but did not turn them in.  Once the Terracotta Army was discovered, the entire village was seized by the government.  The farmers were given housing in the nearby town, but without their farms, they had no way to make an income.  The other farmers were angry with the farmer who found the warrior.  Even though the government has made millions of dollars off of visitors to the Terracotta Warriors museum, the villagers received nothing.  When President Bill Clinton visited in 1998, he encouraged the Chinese government to find a good job for the farmer who had discovered the Army.  Now, the government pays him to sit and sign books about the Terracotta Warriors.

It is amazing to see the thousands of warriors in rows and the amount of detail each one has.  There are 4 different pits.  Archaeologists have been working on putting each one back together.  The warriors were all painted, but as they are exposed to air, the paint fades.  They have left a large section of the warriors covered, until they can figure out the technology to preserve the paint.  Reconstructing the warriors is a very tedious and time-consuming process.  They find the pieces of the warriors, label them with their exact location, and move them to a separate area to reassemble them.  Instead of using glue, they use water to put the pieces together, preserving the look of the warriors.  They wrap it in saran wrap until it is dry.  Once the warrior is finished, he is returned to his original location in the pit.  Our guide, who visits the warriors often, said he rarely sees workers working on the warriors.  He said even once they come up with the technology to preserve the paint, the Chinese government will not be in a hurry to finish the warriors.  Once the warriors are finished, a visitor would have no reason to make a return visit.  While it is a work in progress, people will be interested in returning to see new things.

One pit of warriors.  The mounds between the warriors were used to lay boards across to cover the warriors.

Location where the well was dug, right on the edge of the pit.  They could have easily missed it.

Working on the warriors.  They are numbered and color-coded so they can be returned to the correct location.  

Kneeling archer-this is the only found warrior that was 100% intact.  It is considered to be very lucky.

Bronze horses and chariot.  They are half-sized scale models.

Overall, the warriors were just amazing.  I was really glad we got to see them.

Beijing to Xi'an

We had one last morning in Beijing and it was busy.  First, we visited the Beijing Olympic Park to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube used in the 2008 Olympics.  Both buildings are very unique and I am glad I got to see them.

Charlotte and Tommy with one of the Beijing mascots

Bird's Nest

Water Cube

Nearby hotel with IBM offices at the top.  Apparently this is the only 7 star hotel in China.  President George W. Bush stayed there when he came for the Olympics.  The hotel is shaped like a dragon.

After the Olympic Park, we went to the Summer Palace.  The Summer Palace was a summer retreat for the Emperor.  It now also has a large recreational park adjacent to it.  Many locals, especially retired persons, visit the park to spend time with friends.  We saw people dancing, singing and playing instruments, playing cards, knitting, practicing calligraphy and doing tai chi.

Practicing calligraphy with big paint brushes and water on the ground

Once inside the palace grounds, we saw many beautiful buildings.  We were fascinated by the story of the Empress Dowager Cixi.  She was one of the favorite concubines of the Emperor, and she gave him a son.  Her son, age 5, became Emperor when his father died.  Sometimes when a young child would become Emperor, the Empress would become Empress Dowager and rule until he came of age (and often would keep their control until much later).  The Empress Ci'an, the "official wife" of the Emperor allowed Cixi to be the co-Empress Dowager with her, an unusual move.  You could see the female influence in various places.  The phoenix is the symbol of the Empress, the dragon the symbol of the Emperor.  One of the buildings has phoenix and dragon statues in front of it.  Empress Dowager Cixi placed the phoenix closer to the entrance, signifying it was more important.  Empress Dowager Cixi ruled from behind the scenes for 47 years (Ci'an died after a few years), during her son's reign as well as her nephew, her son's successor.  We saw the building where she imprisoned her nephew for years when she didn't agree with his policies and wanted to keep her power.  Then, he died, by poisoning, the day before she did.  Some people suspect she was poisoned as well.

Phoenix

Dragon

The Summer Palace overlooks a lake.  We took a dragon boat ride across the lake to finish our trip.

Decorative marble boat

Dragon boat

After the Summer Palace, we went to the train station to go to Xi'an.  We took the bullet train instead of flying.  The train seems so much easier since you don't have to go through security and worry about liquids and such.  Also, the time is about the same when you consider you have to get to the airport early.  We enjoyed being able to look out the window at the scenery on the trip.  We had a great time in Beijing and were excited to go to Xi'an.

We had to say goodbye to our tour guide, Albert, when we left Beijing

The Great Wall!

We were very excited to be visiting the Great Wall today.  First, we visited the Temple of Heaven.  The temple was built during the Ming Dynasty.  The Emperor used the temple to pray to the heavens for a good harvest of crops.  There was one ceremony in the Spring and one in the Fall.  It was beautiful.

After visiting the Temple of Heaven, we had a long drive to the section of the Great Wall we were going to visit.  We visited the Mutianyu section which our guide was proud to tell us was the same section Michelle Obama and her daughters visited when they visited China several years earlier.  The hill up to the wall was quite steep.  We walked up a big hill and then took a cable car the rest of the way.  There were people who hiked the stairs the whole way, but we were glad for a ride for part of the way.  

     We were lucky it was a nice, clear day.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  We had a great view.  Our guide gave us two choices of which way to go, we could go to the left which was slightly shorter, but the end had a steep set of stairs and was more challenging, or we could go to the right which was a little longer with an easier terrain.  Charlotte immediately said she wanted a challenge.  We are used to hills and steps, so were fine with that.  On the way back, our guide told Tom that most people choose to go to the right.  The kids both did great!  Charlotte needed a few rest breaks on the final set of steps at the end, but I was happy to take those with her.  Tommy was too busy counting the number of steps to take a break.  It was much easier going down!  

  

The Great Wall was built starting in 220 BCE by Qin Shi Huang to provide protection from invading Mongolians.  The wall was extended and improved during the Ming Dynasty.  It is amazing to think this whole thing was built by hand.  It is estimated over 1 million people worked on the Great Wall, over 700,000 of them were prisoners.  They say that 10 steps equals a life, meaning for every 10 steps you take, someone died building the Great Wall.  Most of them were buried inside the wall.  Tommy told me at one point he thought maybe he saw a skeleton, but I told him it wasn't possible.  

The cherry blossoms were beautiful

We took many steps that day, but were so glad to have seen it.  Even though it is just a wall, it is an amazing sight, especially when you think about how many years ago it was built.  Our guide told us that there is a Chinese proverb that you are not a man until you have walked on the Great Wall.  He congratulated us on becoming true men (and women) that day.
After the Great Wall, we ate hot pot for dinner, another must eat in Beijing.  You get a pot of boiling water on your table and you order raw meats and vegetables to cook in it.  Then you dip the food in sauces and eat them.  We tried beef, chicken, and squid, a requests of Charlotte's.  The squid was easy to lose in the bottom of the pot and got chewy if we left it in too long.  We didn't like hot pot as much as Peking duck, but it was a fun experience.

hot pot

Beijing-Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Rickshaw and Acrobats

Our first day in Beijing was a busy one.  We started at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  I was amazed at the security to get into Tiananmen Square.  We had to go through 3 different security queues as well as through a metal detector to enter.  The square was massive.  It can hold over a million people.  We saw many guards and policemen patrolling the area to make sure there are no demonstrations or protesting.  Our guide told us all about the history of Tiananmen Square and how Beijing is the political center of China, but of course he did not mention the massacres that occurred there in 1989.  Just like how he referred to the pollution as fog, there are some things you are not allowed to talk about openly in Communist China.

In front of the famous building with Chairman Mao's portrait in the background.

 Tiananmen Square is adjacent to the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty, starting in 1420.  Many of the historic buildings we saw were built during this time period.  They were definitely busy and spared no expense.  The Forbidden City housed the emperor, his family, and his servants.  It also served as a place for the Emperor to have political meetings.  It is named such because ordinary people were forbidden from entering it.  The main entrance to the Forbidden City had 5 gates, or doorways, to walk through (3 in the middle and 1 on each side).  When the palace was in use, only the Emperor could use the middle gate, it was forbidden for others to use it except for the Empress who could use it only once in her lifetime.  Also, 9 is a very lucky number in Chinese being the largest single digit odd number.  The door to the entrance had 81 (9 x 9) metal discs.  We were told to touch one as we entered for good luck.  The number 9 (and 81) was reserved exclusively for the Emperor.  Others were not allowed to use it for their houses.  We also noticed our hotel didn't have a 4th floor.  The Chinese word for 4 is very similar to the word for death, so it is considered bad luck.  Skipping the 4th floor is similar to US airplanes not having a 13th row.

5 entrances to the Forbidden City

Chinese buildings have a different layout than I am used to.  In the US, we would expect to see a wealthy, historic family build a large mansion containing many different rooms.  In China, it was more common to have a central courtyard or courtyards with many different buildings, containing one or two rooms each, surrounding the courtyard.  There would be separate buildings for the Emperor, the Empress, male children, female children, concubines, servants, teachers, etc.  The location of the rooms would be based on rank and convenience

Intricate stone carvings outside one of the buildings.  The dragon is the symbol of the Emperor.

Even the ceilings are elaborately decorated

After the Forbidden City we ate lunch.  Chinese eat everything family style, where you choose many different dishes put on a lazy susan in the middle of the table and everyone shares.  It is a great way to try something new because you don't have to worry about not liking the one dish you ordered for yourself and having nothing to eat.  All the food we ate on our trip was delicious.  After lunch, we went to see a hutong house.  Hutongs are slowly disappearing as they are torn down to build apartments and high rises.  Hutong neighborhoods are very community based, everyone knows their neighbors and they look out for each other.  We took a rickshaw to get to the neighborhood.  It was definitely a highlight for Tommy.

Hutong are traditional houses built around central courtyards.  They often do not have their own bathrooms, but share public bathrooms with their neighbors.  The courtyard is surrounded by several buildings with separate rooms for the parents, daughter, son, kitchen, and sitting room.  It is traditional that the son and his wife would live with the parents after they are married.  The elder parents would help care for grandchildren when they are little and the son and his wife would take care of his parents when they are elderly.  That is why it is so important to Chinese couples to have a son.

Central courtyard.  Lots of rabbits

Daughter's bedroom

Sitting room

After visiting the hutong, we went and saw the Chinese Acrobats.  It was a great show.  We were amazed at how flexible they were and all the amazing tricks.  One favorite was the motorcycles.  They had a wire mesh steel sphere, probably 30 feet in diameter that they ran motorcycles inside of.  We were amazed when they brought out the second one to put inside and they were able to drive so quickly without crashing.  By the end of the stunt, they had put 8 total motorcycles inside.  Tom was on the edge of his seat.  Another favorite was the girls riding bicycles.  By the end of their stunt, they had 15 girls balanced on one bicycle while the girl rode around in small circles on the stage.  The show wasn't very well attended, but they perform 3 shows every single day.  We went to the middle show, before dinner.  I assume the evening show is most popular.
After the show we went out to dinner for Peking duck, a Beijing specialty.  They slice a roast duck right in front of you.  Then you dip the meat in the sweet plum sauce and put it along with cucumbers and onions inside a thin pancake wrapper.  You wrap it up and eat it.  Delicious!  We have had Peking duck in Hong Kong, but it was especially delicious here.

Peking duck

Taro pie for dessert.  Taro is like sweet potatoes.  It was good, but seemed to have cheese on top which was a strange combination

It was a very full, but fun day!

China!

We are all excited to be returning to St. Louis this summer.  We wanted to take one last family vacation during the kids' Spring Break before moving home.  We decided to go to Beijing to visit the Great Wall and to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors.  I knew the trip would be much more educational (and less fun) than many of our other trips, but I just didn't want to leave Hong Kong without seeing those things.  We were also concerned about the pollution, especially in Beijing.  We made sure we had pollution masks available and decided it was worth the risk.  This trip was also different for us because it was the first time we used a tour company.  I didn't want to go on a big group tour with strangers, but in my research, I found several companies that provided a driver and tour guide for just your family or group.  The one I chose was targeted to families.  I wanted to work with guides that were used to children and their limitations and were used to recommending kid-friendly activities.  We were able to take their list of recommended activities and add and delete things to fit our preferences (we made sure to add a Chinese Acrobat show and a visit to the Water Cube and Bird's Nest used in the Olympics).  I was really happy we chose to use a tour company.  We were able to see so many things and got so much more out of having someone explain everything we were seeing and able to tell us the history and cultural significance than if we had just walked around these places on our own.
The day we flew into Beijing, the pollution level was hazardous, the whole sky looked foggy, you could barely see the skyline.  I was really concerned how the rest of our trip was going to be.  Luckily, when we woke up the next morning, it was quite windy, which seemed to blow the pollution away.  Also, we were there over a holiday weekend (Monday was Tomb Sweeping Day), so factories were most likely running on a reduced schedule.  We ended up with several very clear days, especially the day we visited the Great Wall.  We were very lucky.

Uncle Justin and Lilia visit!

We were excited that Uncle Justin and Lilia stopped by Hong Kong for a few days after their visit to Japan.  Unfortunately, due to illness and bad weather, we weren't able to go out and see too much, but they were still able to fit in visiting the local markets and trips to several restaurants.  We also had a great time visiting with them at home.  Tommy and Charlotte really enjoyed the extra attention. Justin and Lilia had bought several kits in Japan for Charlotte to make.  The kits contains ingredients to make candy that looks like sushi, ramen, a Bento box, and mushrooms.  Charlotte loved it.  It combined two of her favorite activities, cooking and doing art projects.  Overall, it was a fun visit and we were glad to see them.

Charlotte and Uncle Justin concentrating on making ramen

Lilia and Charlotte working on the pieces of the Bento box

Ramen

Chocolate mushrooms