Beijing is the Capital City of China. It is not the largest city with the population of 24 million, but the most powerful city for the political reasons.
Downtown
The hotel was located right in the heart of Beijing. We strolled the Beijing Pedestrian Road in the evening. There was a rumor that the police was checking IDs from foreigners, but we were able to get by without being checked.
Beijing Pedestrian Road was quite small compared to Nanjing Tong Ro in Shanghai.
Hutong District
It is located in the western part of Beijing where the northern people's culture has been preserved. We visited a family to hear about their family story and rode a tricycle rickshaw.
Jade Factory - We visited a jade factory that was supposed to be "reliable." Jade is a royal gem stone. The King in Chinese letter with a dot in the middle turns into the letter meaning jade. If you put the jade into a four-wall box, the letter becomes a nation. We learned about how jade is made. Soft jade down to 3.4 is used for carving and hard jade up to 8 is used for gem stone. Depending on the minerals absorbed, jade's color changes from white to green, purple,pink and even black.
Really?
Great Wall is the highlight of our tour to Beijing. Its length is reported to 13,000 km or 8,000 miles. Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of Qin Dynasty connected them all 2,200 years ago. Its purpose was to protect China against the northern invaders, mostly Mongols.
The wall was so long and its sections were built of the materials available in the region. For example, Beijing wall was built of stones since they are ample while in the Gobi Desert the wall was built of clay and straws.
We climbed on the wall section that was one of four locks where the enemy soldiers were taken in and killed. It was a circular shaped trap and killing field. The wall that I chose to climb was so steep in certain areas and it required good strength to climb up to the fortresses. The view up there was panoramic. I climbed almost to the top of the highest wall of the lock.
We drove the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Compound. But we just passed through. We did not get to see the Water Cube or Mushroom Stadium.
Tiananmen Square - I got so sick that I could not go. So I ended up skipping the visit to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Summer Palace.
Giant Panda - We visited Beijing Zoo to see the giant panda. They look so unique and thus charming.
Peking Duck is another signature symbol for Beijing. Although I was sick, I could not skip the last gathering and last dinner of the tour group. But I could not eat the Peking Duck dishes and settled for a large bowl of white porridge.
The tour guide, Louise from Xi'an, did not speak perfect English but did her best in meeting the needs of everyone on the tour. She said that Chinese young girls are looking for 7 C's from their prospective husbands. Condo, Car, Career, Cash, Cook, and Cute. She said she has one one C (Cute) from her husband. She made a big laughter. I am sure it was half joke and half truth.
Overall, the China Tour was satisfactory and we enjoyed it. - Jeffrey
