Beijing – Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, The Great Wall (May 7-11)

Beijing was the first city where we traveled to China. The most impressive places in Beijing were The Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and The Great Wall. First, we went to The Tiananmen Square. It is the largest city square in the world. There was a huge picture of Mao Zedong in the middle of the square, and also a music fountain around it. We went into the Forbidden City through the Tiananmen Square’s main door. Forbidden City was way more massive than I expected. It took quite a lot of times to get through the whole Forbidden City. The one interesting thing that I found was that the roofs of the all traditional Chinese houses in Forbidden City were all painted yellow. It is because gold (yellow) is the king’s color. Also, the whole building was made out of wood, not a single nail was used when it was constructed. After we went through all the way back to the Forbidden City, we climbed the small hill, where we could see the scene of whole Forbidden City. There, we could see the National Centre for the Performing Art dome as well. Next day, we went to the great wall. The great wall is one of the seven world wonders in the world, and it is about 13,000 miles long. The uneven shaped- stairs and the altitude made me harder to climb but, the scene from the top of The Great Wall was amazing. I could understand why it was called ‘The Great’ Wall.

Xian – Chinese middle school, The Ming City Wall, The Muslim snack street. (May 13-15)

Xian is well known for a historic city. In Xian, we first visited the Chinese middle school to experience the Chinese education system. I was really impressed by the all the welcomings and the performances that Chinese middle school students prepared. It was interesting to look around the school inside, where was really different than the American school. We also learned how to write ‘thank you’ in Chinese, and wrote a card in Chinese for a mother’s day. Next day, we went to the Ming City Wall. I rode a bike around the city wall, which is about 14 km. It was interesting to see traditional buildings inside the wall, but urban buildings outside of the wall. After rode a bike, we went to the Muslim snack street. People mostly sold the lamb meat. I could also see the fried banana, which was really interested, and fried squid and crabs as well. Also, I could see many thick yogurts. It was fun to look around and try new food that we could not easily find in America.

Chongqing- Zoo, Cigarette Factory, Hotpot, Scene (May 19-21)

In Chongqing, we visited the zoo. I could see many cute pandas. After we visited the zoo, we had an opportunity to visit the Chinese cigarette factory. The factory was full of huge machines and noise from it. I was amazed by the speed of the process of making and packing the cigarettes. There were more machines than the labor. On our free day, we wet to one restaurant to eat hotpot. We struggled a lot to choose the vegetables and meats that go into the pot. However, all the Chinese people really tried to help us. Even the people who were eating hotpot in the restaurant came to us and recommend the menu. The hotpot was divided into two different area; non-spicy part and spicy part. Chongqing is famous for the spicy food, so the spicy part was extremely spicy. At night, I strolled around our hotel to see the night scene.

Lintong -the terracotta warriors museum (May 14)
Huangshan- Hushan mystery cave, Xinli’s hometown (May 25)

In the Huangshan, we visited the mystery cave. The cave is called‘mystery’ because no one knows when it was built, and whobuilt it for what purpose. The colorful lights in the cave were cool. We took a bus for a while to go to the Xinli’s hometown, where the rural area in China. Xinli introduced the structure of the Chinese traditional house. The most impressive thing was the solar water heater. Each house had the solar water heater in its roof. It was really a rural area but the fact that the solar water heater was used not only here but also all around China was impressive. At Lintong, we visited the terracotta warriors museum. There, we could see almost 8000 terracotta soldiers that were buried with the emperor. Old Chinese people buried dead emperor with soldiers because they believed soldiers would protect the emperor in an afterlife world. They were all created differently; each soldier has the different face and clothes. They were also painted, but the paint was faded now.

Shanghai- Shanghai Tower, Disney Land. (May 28- June 2)

Shanghai Tower is the second tallest building in the world. It is about 2073 ft tall. Shanghai tower is famous for its eco- friendly construction. It also has the fastest elevator in the world; 75km/hr. I could feel its speed as I took it; my ears could feel the pressure. The night scene from the top of the tower was absolutely great. Next day, we went to the Shanghai Disney land. It was completed just this year April. Everything was clean and nice. My favorite ride was the Tron. At night, we watch the lights show projected on the Disney castle. I stayed in Shanghai for about a week more after this program, so I had more chances to look around the Shanghai. I could see the busy city life as I took the subway or bus. The Shanghai City itself is beautiful.

By Lois Jung
lpj5079@psu.edu