Explore the great cities of the world!
Make no mistake. Beijing is not the cosmopolitan city that Shanghai is. (Unlike in Shanghai, I was often the only white person in sight on the subway in Beijing. I got stared at in Beijing at times. This never happened in Shanghai.) Regardless, imperial Beijing is where the history is. This is why the most spectacular sights I saw on my 2015 trip to China were for the most part in Beijing. [Read more…]
The language issue was a challenge during my trip to China. And I did have some culinary frustrations. But China exceeded my expectations in so many ways. Perhaps my expectations were needlessly low. It didn’t help that my phrasebook had some helpful expressions such as, “What time does the hot water come on?” and “There is a rat in my room.” I read so many warnings about China before my trip. I was sort of expecting the worst. But those [Read more…]
Back in 1934, the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists of the KMT and the Communists of the CPC was in full bloom. In October, the KMT overwhelmed CPC forces in southern China. The CPC began a long, slow retreat of over 5,500 miles to northwestern China. This “Long March” (actually a series of retreats) took over a year and cost many lives. As many as 90% of those who initially escaped the KMT didn’t make it. But the CPC grew in isolation [Read more…]
Welcome to Day 7, the day I fell and hurt my back. I was afraid the rest of my trip could be in jeopardy. It was also the day I paid an emperor’s ransom for some goofy pictures of me. Despite some mishaps, it [Read more…]
In the early afternoon, I left the Forbidden City through the northern Gate of Divine Prowess knowing that it would be incredibly hard to top that experience. Nonetheless, I still had a whole lot of Beijing to [Read more…]