The Summer Palace and a trip to Xi'an

Today I visited the Summer Palace which is a sprawling oasis. In fact, once inside it is easy to forget where Beijing is. The park is filled with buildings and park space as well as temples. The park was built in 1750 making it one of the "newest" sights that I had seen in China, and shows a great example of imperial garden style. The whole park is quite large and I spent the better part of 4 hours there before it was time for me to get back into the city to get ready to leave for Xi'An.

After I returned to my hotel I went out to the Beijing West Station, which is the largest in Beijing. There were quite literally thousands of people at the station and after finally getting into the station I found my way to the waiting room where I would wait until my train was called. I travelled on China's newest type of overnight train which was a Z-class train. The majority of the train was filled with tourists, including a large group of teenagers from the UK on an exchange. The journey lasted about 12 hours. I was in a rather nice compartment that included 2 beds and a bathroom. I arrived rested and refreshed in Xi'an ready to start exploring.

A Visit to the Temple of Heaven

Today was a rather low-key day. I started off in the morning by going to the Temple of Heaven in the southern part of Beijing. After doing a little research I found out that the temple is one of 4 great temples in Beijing and is associated with Taoism. The temple grounds are huge and include massive amounts of park space that quite a few people used to just sit and relax or to practice playing classical Chinese instruments and singing.

My Second Day in Beijing

I just arrived yesterday in Beijing and met up with a couple of high school friends who are also studying in China this summer. Today we went together to visit the Forbidden City and get a glimpse at Tian'anmen Square. After walking through the large gates with Chairman Mao looking over us we walked around several courtyards until we came to the entrance of the Forbidden City. After stepping inside the walls, it felt much larger than I had ever imagined. It truly was a city in itself (as overly simplistic and redundant this sounds) and I remarked to my friends that I thought it would be so easy to get lost. The whole city is laid out symmetrically with hundreds of buildings, as well as courtyards and gardens, each displaying quite well traditional Chinese architechture. In many of the buildings, the space had been converted into gallery space highlighting everything from calligraphy to dress and weapons from throughout Chinese history. It took us about 4 hours to walk around it, and even after that we only left because our feet were getting tired, not because we had seen it all. We had thought about going to another site, but I decided that I would see it tomorrow.

Dong Fang Mountain and Temple

After a short bus ride and hike up Dong Fang Mountain today we arrived at a Buddist Temple. The temple is over 1000 years old and is currently inhabited by about 100 monks. Despite its age, it is very much in use and that was easily seen by the new buildings everywhere as well as the construction workers walking around. It was quite an impressive sight and the area contained many buildings, each more interesting the the previous. Although I wish I could write more, I know so little about the temple or the history and most of the time we were all just walking around. I was pretty amazed at what I was seeing and the amount of work and history exhibited by the temple.

A visit to a dorm

The very first visit we had in Huangshi was a visit to the girls' dorm. Today was my first time to catch a glimpse of the boys' dorm, a huge complex housing about 2000 people. It was very surprising to see this many people living together as it's almost twice as big as Haverford. As I passed by each doorway I saw people either sleeping or playing computer games. This week is exam week, so most students don't have very much to do. Those who were sleeping were doing on the floor where it was much cooler than on the bunked beds. Each room houses 4 people along with a bathroom at the end. The room I was in was quite roomy compared to the other room I had been into previously and seemed that each student had their own personal space. One observation that I have made however is that students are very neat and clean and organized. Then again...all the rooms I've been in have been pointed out because of their cleanliness.

A visit to the Jing Jiu factory and an iron mine

Today was a day off from everything. We headed off with some teachers from the English Department to the Jing Jiu factory. While the company produces everything from red wine to water, what they are most known for is an alcoholic beverage made with traditional Chinese herbal medicines. According to our teachers and guides, this medicine is often used by men and older people. Our visit consisted of a short tour around the various parts of the plant where we saw step by step how they made the famous spirit. The process starts out with tons of herbs that are brought in and cut and crushed. From there we weren't able to see clearly, but a liquor is made that sits in large vats for about 5 months before it is ready to be bottled and sold on the market. The drink is then bottled and shipped all over China.

The second visit of the day was to a local mine. The mine is not used very much anymore and much of it serves as a tourist destination to view how mining was carried out. The area around Huangshi had many mines for coal, iron, copper, and gold. The mine that we visited had been used for iron mainly during the Qing Dynasty. The mine was also used by the Japanese while they occupied the area and there are still buildings standing that date from that period.

A Small Calligraphy Lesson

Today we visted Professor Zhang at his house where he taught us a little bit about Chinese calligraphy going over the history and many different styles. We were able to try our hand at it, but I have to say that mine did not come out very well. Writing in ink made me horribly nervous and next to his writing, mine looked like that of a 4-year old. After all of that Professor Zhang wrote each of our names in the style that we wished. I asked for Kaishu style, which is one of the most common forms of script and is still used frequently today. After writing our names, Professor Zhang gave each of us a bit of his own work that I've displayed here.