It was getting late when our plane took off from Tokyo to Beijing. We managed to get a glimpse of Mount Fuji in the setting sun.
The next day the sun was shining through the smog. Our bus tour took us to the temple of Heaven Park. Dancing in the park seems to be a favorite thing to do in China.
The temple itself is of interest from a structural point of view. It features massive vertical logs.
Here is the lake at the Summer Palace.
After a long walk along the shoreline, we were rewarded with a ride on a dragon boat.
The Ming tombs and a jade factory, then off to walk the Great Wall. By any standard, this is the real deal.
There are five ring roads around Beijing. This one goes past the Bird’s Nest. We saw fancy new roads everywhere we went.
Tiananmen Square is surrounded by government buildings east and west. The Forbidden City is to the north.
Most GPS coordinates show up exactly as expected. The coordinates for Tiananmen Square generated by my camera point to a location several hundred yards to the west. I suspect that there is a reason for this.
The Forbidden City is straight out of The Last Emperor.
We rode in a bicycle-powered rickshaw to a home visit in a neighborhood threatened by the possibility of being replaced by high-rise apartment buildings. Urbanization is one of the stated goals of China. The neighborhood that we visited contains single-story closely-packed houses with neighborhood showers and toilets. Property values are surprisingly high.
Grand Circle normally includes several school visits on each tour. In Beijing we visited the Kung Fu School, which includes martial arts as well as a traditional curriculum. Students vary in age from 3 to 25 years. Tuition is approximately $30,000 US per year.
Next, a Cloisonne factory. Start with a copper pot, solder on some copper wire, apply numerous coats of color, polish until smooth, and out comes one very expensive vase.
Off to Shanghai. A three-hour flight delay made it a late night.