Beijing

Last weekend a group of students from my university, including myself, took an overnight train up to Beijing.  The train was very nice and elegant.  I rode in a lot of sleeper cars in Europe this summer and none of them were half as nice as this Chinese bullet train. I was pleasantly surprised. I even had my own TV!

When we got to Beijing, we went to Tienanmen Square, where the Chinese military massacred many unarmed students during a protest in 1989. We were told not to talk aloud about the massacre because most of the Chinese don't know what happened there. The government denies that it ever happened and it's been kept out of their history books. We were also able to go into the Mausoleum where Mao's body is preserved. It was a bazaar experience.  Mao is solely responsible for the widespread famine, over-population of China that began during his administration.  He was also their first communist leader.  Members of the communist party would buy flowers outside the Mausoleum to lay next to Mao's body.  Conversely, those who hold Mao responsible for the detriment of the country were having their lighters and other destructive objects confiscated at the door.  Personally, I thought his body looked fake.  It wouldn't surprise me one bit if it was just a wax figure they're trying to pass off as the real guy.

Just across the road from there is the Forbidden City, which was at one time the Chinese imperial palace.  The people who lived there were either a part of the imperial family or servants of the emperor. All men living within the gates were castrated and all the women would sleep with the emperor and bear his children. Supposedly, if you watch "The Last Emperor" it'll tell you all about it. Today, only a small portion of the city is open to the public and many areas have yet to be discovered.  The architecture within the city is gorgeous and many of the rooms remain untouched.  The furniture is dusty, but exquisite.



Later, we went to the US Embassy. It was totally boring. Apparently, it's the largest embassy in China and the largest embassy the US has anywhere in the world.  I didn't think it was all that great.  We were given a presentation on working in foreign affairs by a woman who clearly hated her job. I thought I might want to work in public diplomacy, but I was wrong.

That night we went to a street market with one of the most eclectic food selections in the world. I ATE A SCORPION! And it wasn't bad. It tasted like shrimp, and I love shrimp! I did get the stinger stuck in my tongue though. Many of my friends tried different foods like tarantula, crocodile, snake, and gecko. I'm not quite as brave.

After that fun and filling dinner, I went to the Chinese opera.  It is unlike any other opera I've seen. The songs were incredibly high-pitched and squeaky. Thankfully, they didn't sing all that much.  It also included acrobatics, which made it the most exciting opera I've ever seen.

The next morning we all went to the Great Wall.  We took a ski-lift up and it was absolutely breathtaking!  I've never seen anything so beautiful and my pictures definitely don't do it justice.  The best part was the toboggan-slide that we all got to ride down the mountain!

That was by far the best part of the trip. We had a chance to see the Olympic Stadium later that day, but it really wasn't all that exciting. They don't use it for anything anymore. We had a traditional Peking duck dinner in a private room as a group at a beautiful market downtown. It was completely lit up with Christmas lights for the holidays. There was a Starbucks there too! The menu was different though, do I couldn't get my chai tea.

 

Our last day in Beijing, we went to Summer Palace and the zoo.  The palace is almost as beautiful as the great wall. Apparently it burned down once and the empress used the money that had been set aside to build a navy to rebuild the palace. Then Japan invaded.


The Beijing Zoo is one of the largest zoos in the world. We saw a dolphin show and a huge tank of dancing whales! They also have one of the nicest panda reserves in the world, so we got to see baby pandas play on a playground. It was so cute!


Before we got on the train back to Nanjing, we went to the Silk Street Market where we bartered for pearls and bags. It is a lot of fun to barter with the Chinese and it gave me a chance to practice my Mandarin.
Now I'm back home and have a few tests next week. Hopefully school will die down soon.