The Great Wall of China

The closer you get... 

... the greater it is!

This is one situation when neither words nor pictures adequately describe the magnitude of this man-made world wonder.

Original construction began as early as between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. It has been estimated that as many as a million workers died during the Qin Dynasty period of wall-building, before Caesar was Rome's Emperor or Christ was born.  Most of the wall we see today was (re)constructed during the Ming Dynasty to protect against the raging Mongolians during the 14th Century.

The entire wall with all of its branches is over 13,000 miles long.  When humans first launched themselves above the atmosphere the astronauts were surprised to see that this artificial structure, forged with bare hands before the days of combustion engines and bulldozers, was clearly visible from earth orbit.

I am so honored to have the experience of standing on the face of all that history!

Off for a little hike...

After many days in the city it's time for a little country sight-seeing.  I and another CLS student are by the maker stone; my host mom has the orange hat.

Note the novel refrigeration system.

What's that behind that great wall of trees...???

It's the GREAT WALL of CHINA !!!

Panjiayuan and the virtues of Haagendaz

Panjiayuan is a flea market that was originally established illegally back when China was struggling to adjust to the economics of a new Communist political system. Old wealthy families would sell Ming vases on the black market to raise cash. The market has since been legalized and most of the very valuable pieces are gone, but there are still many treasures available for the discerning customer. I bought a TinTin comic book in Chinese, the exact same one that I have in German, for 16 yuan, which I bargained down from 60. Not too bad!

Haagen Dazs is a deluxe experience in China, you have to wait to be seated and they give you a cup of water with lemon in it and the attendants wear spiffy uniforms. 

CLS on the move! Ingrish, anyone?

Beijing is always filled with people in motion.

Our group of Critical Language Scholars is so happy to join the crowd.

We're also happy that we're not the only folks having issues with meaningful translations.  We encountered several instances of a new language throughout the day, "Ingrish".

Hands-free head gear

Why would you need an umbrella on a smoggy/sunny day?

It might come in handy if the rains that the Emperor was praying for would come as desired.  

This is the room within the temple where the Emperor had to pray for forgiveness for the sins of the people in order to invoke plentiful rain so there would be a good harvest.

Americans are everywhere!

究竟如何，美国进入我们的婚纱照吗？

(Exactly how did that weird guy get into our wedding picture??)

The Temple of Heaven

We believe we have history, but there are no edifices on this continent of an age to rival Tian Tan, the Temple of Heaven.

It was built in 1420 AD!

MAJOR SWOOSH!!!!

What does the party want the people to have?

The sign tells all!

Patriotism   Innovation   Inclusiveness   Virtue

High finance in Beijing

 Just near Beijing University, one of our inveterate students takes on a street vendor

and treats himself to a ten kuai "Rolex", procured completely on his own via his command of Mandarin!

Hunger Games in China too

If you thought it was only a fad in the Western world, uh uh.  Advertisements

for the Hunger Games, movie only, are ubiquitous right now.  Too bad the books

haven't been translated into Chinese yet!

谷歌 -- and that means Google!



The only question I have is,
How do you know which color to put on which part of
谷歌  ?

Beijing on a sunny day

I walk over this overpass every day.  Today was a relatively NON-smoggy day.

Beijing is considered to be the world's 16th most populated contiguous urban area,

with approximately 14,170,000 people as of 2011.  For comparison,

New York City was ranked as the 7th most populated contiguous urban area, and Los Angeles

is considered closest to Beijing, at #15, with 14,940,000.

I've never seen this much smog in NYC, but I can say that Beijing gives LA a run for

its money in the smog department.

And you thought your homework was hard!

This adds a whole new dimension to the concept of reading. 

The chalkboard lists our lessons -- just for the day. 

I am in the lowest level of class, since I have had only two years of

formal Chinese at the University of Texas - Dallas, all that they offered. 

This is my sixth language, so I am well familiar with what it takes to achieve fluency,

but I can definitely say 学习中国是到目前为止最难的。

(Learning Chinese is the hardest so far.)

 -- You got that, right??

My new diet plan

Silkworm chrysalises -- to eat

Scorpions that are alive yet have been skewered on sticks and are still twitching -- to eat

Seahorses too, already dead -- to eat

See what I mean???!!

In the market

So many people, so many colors, so many new things to see and try and do!

"Hu" Alison

Me standing where Hu Jintao likes to make his speeches, from the balcony of the temple

adorned with a 20 foot tall Chairman Mao.

This is truly a vista of power!

How big is it??

Tiananmen square is 880 m x 500 m, or 440,000 square meters, about 100 acres,

one of the largest open-air squares in the world.

For contrast, the largest city square in the United States is Millennium Park in Chicago,

not even one fourth the same size, at only 99,000 m2.



Tiananmen Square

You get the feeling of the power and magnitude of China up close...

A very clear day in Beijing

This is the view from my classroom window. 

Most days in Beijing are smog-covered.  This is a very clear view.

Where did the forks, spoons, and knives go?

The first meal: 

The 7up is obvious, but the other comestibles might require learning a new way to eat.

Which is more intense, the student, or the 主体材料 ???

 

John's teacher gave him a copy of the Chinese version of... Can you guess???
If you said "St. Augustine's Confessions" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" you would be correct!

Not a commercial for Apple computer... this is the group of CLS students off to China!

 

The excitement is building as we wait in the airport to board the plane for the long trip across the Pacific. 
But are we bored?  No way!