May 8th :
The first day in Beijing we visited the Forbidden city. It used to be the main capital and the palace for emperor. Since, common citizens could not get into the huge palace, we call the area as forbidden city. Focusing on the engineering design, the palace was constructed with wood and stone for 14 years in the ancient time from 1406 to 1420. The stones on all the gate are 9 columns and 9 rows, because Chinese thought 9 represents the biggest number which is the symbol of royalty. The main buildings were constructed through a central axis. The feature interested to me is that no trees are planted inside the city. The emperor was afraid that the fire may burn down the trees and the building and thieves or assassins may climb the tree to sneak in and out. The pictures are the front and back side of the forbidden city taken from the Jing Shan park behind the city. Now the city is open to the public as a scenic spot.
May 9th :
We climbed the Great Wall in PingChang, one of the districts in Beijing. It is too tall and long that I didn’t get to the top. The engineering of Great Wall has more historical meaning than technology. The length is 13000 miles protected the ancient China territory from the west to north. It was constructed to defend the enemy from wilderness. Beacon towers were built every several miles so that it could pass on a message by firing day and night. The construction process is rough and brutal. Citizens at that time were forced to labor for the emperor. No technology or tools were developed in ancient times, people carried and built the bricks by hands for several years. The Chinese words on the right picture belong to a Chinese poem, basically said ‘a man who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man.’ It represents the Chinese culture of national spirit. Chinese people should be proud of their nation.
May 14th :
This is my second time came to Xi’an as a tourist. Xi’an is famous for its Terracotta warriors’ museum. It is one of the eight wanders in the world. The warriors were made at the same time as the Great Wall. Before the death of the emperor, the emperor wanted to buried with all his wealth and treasure. Therefore, he made those statues for guarding his afterlife. They were buried with Emperor’s funeral. All the warriors were made differently with iron armor and weapons, but now those materials are all faded. The warriors are larger size than the actual people which would make the descendent think the emperor’s army are unbeatable. The tomb was filled with quicksilver and traps because the emperor wanted to avoid his tomb being stolen which made the excavation work much harder. Also, as two thousand years passed, some of the statues have already broken once they are excavated. Therefore, for the protection of those precious cultural relics, the excavation has stopped to prevent the underground statues from corrupting by the outside environment. Even though, there are three pits exhibiting to public. Lots of our students bought warriors souvenirs for their family collections.
May 16th:
We took the cruise from Yichang to Chongqing for five days. On the second day the cruise arrived at the famous Three Gorges Dam. Three Gorges Dam is the world biggest dam. It was designed one hundred years ago and finally finish construction 20 years ago. The main purpose of building the dam is to control flood. Because of the dam is huge, it affected the local people to remove their old city and migrate to a new one. However, the dam still saved million people who lived at the downstream near the Yangtze River. The secondary purpose is to provide electricity. It generates one ninth of the electricity in China. The picture on the right side is the third section completed recently which provides a lifting device for ship transferring through the dam.
May 28th -31st:
In Shanghai we been to the Shanghai Disneyland. It is the theme park was open in last 2 years. Although it was not bigger than the one in Florida, the new ride called TRON is only built in the Shanghai Disneyland. Going to an amusement park in China is a pleasant experience. We visited the Shanghai Tower which is the right building in the second picture. It is the world second tallest building with 632 meters tall. We took the elevator to the top of it and view Shanghai night scenery. The last day in Shanghai we went for a walk to the bond. We took a small group picture at the bond. It is the most prosperous location in Shanghai with all the tall buildings and neon lights. I thought the greatest moment in China was the last several days in Shanghai, an international metropolis like New York but safer and more modern. There are still lots of places I never been to and lots of people I never met in the world. Thanks for the great opportunity PSU provided for studying aboard in China!