September 1st, 2007: Flight to Xian, City Wall, Tang Dynasty Show, Asia's Largest Fountain

We got up bright and early to fly to Xian. We arrived and went to the hotel for a few minutes, then we went immediately to the City Wall.-it surround the entire old part of the city. The Bell tower is in the center. The wall is fairly large. It has a draw bridge and a moat. The wall was originally used to protect the city, for Xian use to be the capital and the home of the emperor.




The Tang Dynasty show was actually a Dumpling Dinner/Cultural Dance Show. The Dumplings were awesome! The show itself provided a glimpse of the time with ladies in elegant dresses with dancing and music. The mask dance was my favorite.





Here in Xian, we also went to the largest fountain on the Asian Continent. It was time to music. We ran and played in. It was good 'ole splish splashin time.




A)The wall was built to protect. The show was to reflect on the old ways of the Tang Dynasty with China's past.

B)It showed the amount of work that had to be part in to perform such an art. Be it building a wall or dancing with music.

C)Dancing is not very popular in my background. Music is though. I have a high respect for there style of music. It's so unique.

August 31st, 2007: Tiananmen Square, Hutong Bike Tour, Lama & Confucious Temple

Tienanmen Square was kind of bland. It was the location of a large protest in 1989. It is the largest square in the world.

The Hutong tour on bike was definitely a dive into old Beijing. We had dinner at a local home in Hutong and heard about the hostess' husbands late medals and such.-they were on CNN. Everyone knew their neighbors, that's for sure. The beams above every doorway defined where and what social class you are. It also defined what social status your children could marry into. Cross-Social status marriage were frowned upon. The 2 seater bike ride was unique. It took us threw the original city of Beijing.


The lama and Confucius temples were red and based on Buddhism and the Chinese respect for Confucius' knowledge.I never knew about all the different statues "Gods" in Buddhism. It is a completely opposite 180 type of religion.



A)Tienanmen Square is major political place for China.

B)This showed me how much respect they have for there leaders. For example, Chairman Mao's picture, the memorial, the China Museum.

C)They reflect on there leaders as we do ours. They have the Mao picture/Memorial--we have Mt. Rushmore and Lincoln Memorial, which is the same in that regard.

D)The Hutong was enlightening to see how people really lived. Tienanmen Square, it was cool to finally see.

August 30th, 2007: Temple of Heaven, Tai Chi, Market

2 Corinthians 4:16 "so we do not lose heart. though our outer nature is wasting away out inner nature is being renewed day by day".

The temple was very open. We went exploring. It was very peaceful and unique once again.
There was a singing lady and man, the hitting of the face and more.

As for the Tai Chi, lets just say my energy did not match the Tai Chi Masters. :) The Market was fun. At the temple there was earth, earth, earth, earth, the Temple, earth, and more Earth, and one extremely clear/bright blue sky. This is where the Emperor came to pray. Everything at the temple was very open and welcoming and natural. This is where most people, still today, go to in order to help focus and center their energy.





A)This just reaffirmed that the emperor had a greater faith than himself. For he went their to pray.

B)People of all cultures have some type of faith-faith in something larger than life.

C) Though we probably have faith in different beings. Our two cultures (The US & China) and my beliefs and the belief of the emperor and his people ALL believe in a higher calling of unknown possibilities.

D)The temple was very elegant. Tai Chi did not do anything for me. Bargaining at the market is alot of fun.

August 29th, 2007: Great Wall, Silk Factory

Phil. 4:13 "...Christ, Strengthens me."

I have always wanted to see the wall. I was so excited. It is a total of 4,000 miles long. It was SO cool! The wall began in the Quin Dynasty for unification with the Emperor Qin Shihuang.

There was a little market at the base of the moutain where the wall stands. There were so many people who raided me.
Oh boy!, that wall was a beast to climb back on.--I definitely bought an "I climbed the great wall t-shirt". The wall is very large. The lift was cool.

After the wall we went to the Silk Factory. That was awesome as well! There's the bug that makes the caccoon-then they soil it the caccoon-then spin the silk off-then make stuff. Everything was of high quality. I got a comforter cover and pillow cases--hmmm. soft.

A) To build a wall to protect China for many different aspects. One main reason being war. The took prisoners and males from every family to build the wall. It took 20% of the population to build the wall. It was a serious blow to the economy. The silk is respectable and one the few ancient customs and practices still in use.

B)The Chinese must have patience. It took forever to build the wall and silk making is a delicate process.

C)It makes me think that they have the largest and longest wall protecting their coutntry. In retrospect, the US has the longest and largest unprotected border in the world with Canada. The US would never take time to build that.

D)The wall was impressive and mind-blowing. Silk is cool. China was cool.