Qin She Huang

Yesterday we had a great breakfast here at the hostel, scrambled eggs, muesli, fruit, toast. Off we went on our tour with Zza-Zza our pretty fair English speaking guide, in a van with Angelina, a Chinese-American from California volunteering in a medical center in Beijing for the past 6 months, and a French couple who are here for their 5th time, from the Provence area of France. We drove out and then walked, walked, walked until we entered Pit 2, the least interesting and developed of the excavations at the Terra Cotta Warriors. Back in 250 BCE there was a guy who declared himself First Emperor - Qin She Huang - who was either a bad guy or good guy depending on how you look at it. Good:  He unified the 6 areas of China into one unit (lots of warfare for that! and I'm sure millions killed!); established a common currency; standardized the Mandarin language; connected the individual pieces of wall into the Great Wall (anyone who died during this got buried right in the wall - no big ceremony!).  Bad:  He declared himself First Emperor (hence, Chin, his surname, became China), prepared his tomb by conscripting 8000 artisans to mold, paint thousands of warriors, chariots, horses for the afterlife - and then wanted to keep them secret so he killed the artists when they were finished. They knew it so they painted the faces as each other and sometimes inscribed their names on the shoulders or somewhere of the warrior they were creating. They were created of terracotta clay in 3 parts, bottom, midsection and head and then assembled later. They were hollow, fired and then painted brilliant colors (all of which has faded within 1/2 hour of being exposed to air 2000+ years later!) They were arranged in front of his hill/pyramid shaped tomb (it hasn't been opened since he surrounded it with a moat of mercury - they are thinking of opening it in 20 years or so). Walls divided the rows of 4 abreast soldiers - archers, generals, infantry , charioteers. Pit 2 has some of the horses but many are on loan to various museums around the world. And you could see the broken pieces lying askew as they were found. Many German artisans especially work at night on restoring more. It will take another 50 years or so. BTW, in 1976 a Chinese peasant was digging a well and punched through to the first horse that was found! He was at Pit 1 and, for a price, you could buy his heavy book, and get an autograph. We sneaked a picture (last trip he wanted to charge me just to take his picture) and passed on the book. He made his fortune with that digging, although he was paid only 10Y by the government but later relocated to another farm, given a house, and has spent his time autographing at the site! Pit 1 was the piece d'resistance - rows and rows of upright restored (but not colorful) warriors in position, each face completely different. She said they painted all 56 minority group warriors in the mix. We took lots of pictures.

Anyway, these clay soldiers were buried under grass mats, and then soil to hide them. During one of his inspections Qin She Huang died (at 55) because he thought mercury would give him longevity - instead it killed him early! So some of the warriors were missing heads! Then his successor wasn't successful, the warriors were plundered and knocked over (but not the tomb because of the mercury moat), and then covered up for centuries into grassland, farms, etc. Until 1976! So this has now surpassed the Great Wall as top tourist destination (trap!) in China! Considered the 8th wonder of the world, said Zza-Zza.

Oh, another bad: Qin destroyed ancient texts telling history prior to this, killed 450 scholars who disagreed with him on this, and was generally a despot!

So you decide!!

But China remains endlessly fascinating!

Our bus let Pat, Marilynn, Angelina and me off at the East gate of the city wall, used to surround a palace, like the Forbidden City. We rented bikes there to bike around the top of the wall and look down on both the old and outside the new. Marilynn and Pat hadn't biked in years but since there was no traffic and it was flat, albeit bumpy, they did great! After about an hour or so, we reached the South Gate and descended to what looked like a reenactment of a Tang Dynasty (the one where Xi'an was capital and seems like the apogee of Chinese civilization - around 600 AD) changing of the guards, with soldiers in costume doing marching routines. There were some drummers performing as well. Little unexpected perk!

We walked with Angelina to the Starbucks by the Bell Tower where we were to meet Joyce at 5:30. The 4 of us then wandered to the Muslim quarter and ordered dinner of lamb veggies, etc. Then shopped along the way, buying more turtles (I'm up to 4 now for Jackson!) heading for the Great Mosque (it was closed so back tomorrow maybe).

Today after breakfast we head for the Shaanxi Museum and the Big Goose Pagoda by local bus. Another adventure!

Boogered! - our new verb

Joyce, first, and now me have come down with a cold. So when we're passing around shared nuts, eating off common plates with chopsticks, our new word, thanks to Pat! is "Is it boogered already?"  :)  That means did you put it in your mouth or put your hands on it already so it's filled with your germs!!! It reminds me of the cootie thing we used to pass around! It makes us laugh when we all say, "Oh, you boogered that!!"

Pat's entry

Hi, all,

We left Beijing today and had an uneventful trip to Xian. Because of Ctrip foulups, we had to take two different flights an hour apart, but we rendez-voused successfully. My old black polartec pulled off my backpack and got left on the plane, so we wasted at least an hour trying to retrieve it. It was one of the end of school CCA rejects of about 10 or more years ago, and the only thing in the pockets were hand gel, wet ones, and toilet paper, so it was hardly worth the effort, but it is warm and useful, and replacing it would have been a pain. We took shuttle bus and then walked to the Hun Tang Inn, which is a very nice hostel with very new, clean rooms and good food. It is near the main Bell Tower square and the Muslim district, which is a lively place. It was sad to leave Beijing, because our Hostel had such a wonderful location--near to everything.

Yesterday we had a fantastic day on a private tour to the old Beijing streets by pedicab and then visited the house of an 82 year old woman. Then we toured the Forbidden City, the home extensive home of the Emperors. It was awesome.

Tomorrow we take a tour to see the Terra Cotta warriors and some emperor's tomb. The warriors are the thing I have most anticipated, so I hope I am not disappointed.

Shopping for pearls....

Hired driver Lee again and he showed up right on time at 9 at the hostel. He took us in the traffic to Hongqoia (sp?) market, the Pearl Market. I was amazed I remember where Sandy's place was on the 4th floor. She wasn't there (has had a new baby boy) but the girls took good care of us. I was there to buy a couple of pair of pearl earrings, but all 4 of us ended up buying several things. I first heard about Sandy on my way to China the first time from a stewardess who gave me her name and location. She would buy pearls and take them home and sell them for huge profits. On the Datong trip, I spoke with Derrick who worked at the American Embassy in Beijing for a couple of months. His mom was a stewardess and he said many of them would do it. They don't have to go through customs. So it's hugely profitable, they frequently make more money selling pearls than in their regular job.

Lee then was waiting for us as we came out. No time for lunch, but we gave thanks quickly at the Temple of Heaven for our wonderful trip so far and headed to the airport. No luck trying to change our tickets to all be on the same flight. So Joyce and Marilynn headed off together on the first flight and were waiting for us at the baggage area when we arrived. Non eventful flight, weren't sure if we were looking at pieces of the Great Wall from the air but it was a pretty clear flight, so maybe.

Great sweet and sour chicken for dinner at the hostel with a draft Tsingtao! Walked around, got cash at ATM to pay for Terracotta Warriors trip today. Good night's sleep!

Last day in Beijing

We have decided a guardian angel is watching over all of us on this trip! Things have been so terrific and fallen into place, even though sometimes we're making it up as we go along.

Yesterday we met Andy, one of the guides from CCC and the last weekend Datong trip, at the KFC for our tour. It was a private one, just the four of us, for the group price! We started out in pedicabs touring through the hutong area that is being preserved by the government (it's actually OWNED by the government but the woman whose house we visited has lived there for 63 years - she is 82.)  These narrow streets show the really active life of older Beijing. Pat and I rode together and I wondered whether the old guy pedaling would be able to move us, but it turns out there was a little electric motor he switched on as he went along so he didn't do much of the work.

They let us off and we spent about an hour with this lady in her 2 room plus bath home. It was about 625 sq. ft. and she pays about 500 RMB ($75/month) including elec., water, heat, gas. She has a son and a daughter - we asked her which of her children visit her, spend more time with her - she says definitely the daughter! The daughter had done a beautiful looked like a painting of peonies but was really a cross stitch hanging, given her a big flat screen TV, digital picture frame, etc. The daughter has a son, who is currently studying in a California state school, and the son has a daughter. The woman had worked as an accountant for the government and been given a chance to rent this home. It can pass to her children with no increase in rent and she doesn't have to worry about being displaced by urban renewal, like so many had been to get ready for the Olympics. We asked her how she kept in such good condition and she showed us some of the exercises older people do (she used to do tai chi but her knees aren't good enough, she said). She loves living in her old neighborhood where all of her friends live, even though probably her children could set her up in a high-rise flat!

We then walked around the neighborhood, trying lotus root (yummy!), peanuts, and a delicious kind of egg/veggies pattie. We had Andy write the names down in Mandarin and pin yin (our alphabet to help pronounce!). We passed several children and of course stopped to take their pictures, always making their grandparents (usually the caretaker) proud!

Then the pedicabs picked us up and dropped us near a main street near Tianamen Square. Andy added to our tour by taking us to this very old but updated and famous in China pharmacy, where many people were filling prescriptions. He inquired and I purchased two medicines, one for my drippy nose and one for general (to help my sore throat). We then walked down the newly renovated pedestrian way, with an old trolley (used to be many of them in B.) running down the middle. All this area (near our hostel) has been completely renovated since my 2005 visit. It is such a great location to be staying!

We walked the largest square in the world (Mao had to make it bigger than Red Square!) as Andy pointed out the Hall of Justice, different reconstructed old gates where the original city wall had been (was torn down by Mao to make the first ring road) and headed toward the Gate of Heavenly Peace, with Chang'an Rd. going by. Huge picture of Mao hanging (you've all seen the picture)  We went in the first of many gates to the Forbidden City (built by the Ming dynasty  around 1500s and continued to be lived in by Qing, the last, dynasty from 1700 - 1900s. Pu Yi was the last emperor (see the film The Last Emperor) to come there at 3 and lived there until about 26, when he was pushed out, by the warlords around the time of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, revolutionary leader around 1920s. Pu Yi was lucky he wasn't just done away with. In the meantime, the powerful eunuchs, who were the workers in the FC, had squirreled away most of the treasures. Then they set a fire to cover up their theft. So mostly the FC had been stripped by the time WWII came around and no one lived there. Many of the buildings have been beautifully restored!

We went to a side restaurant where CCC had ordered another delicious banquet for us - sweet and sour chicken, chicken and peanuts, pork shredded, etc. When you see our pictures you will swear we ate our way through China! On my first trip here that year I always told people (not here, of course, but at home) that the food and the banquets were my LEAST favorite thing about China but that has changed. It was all been delicious!

Of course, the generous, helpful, cheerful people still continue to be my FAVORITE thing about this country!

After lunch Andy gave us the history and took us to a couple of side museums (ceramic and jade) that I'd never seen, and then the standard Hall of Harmony, etc., etc. It wasn't near as crowded as when I'd been here two other times. Andy agreed.

Outside almost at 4:30 cab drivers and pedicabs were waiting to rip off tourists to get back to the start of Qianmen stop but we hopped a bus with Andy for 2 quai (said instead of Yuan) and we left him back at our subway stop, with lots of hugs, promises to visit us in America, and a huge tip!! Well earned!

Marilynn went with me BACK to Ctrip (5 subway stops and then a bit of wandering but we found it) and paid for my PauPal-cancelled flight from Guilin to Shanghai. I THINK we are finally all set. The girls from before at the desk saw us walk in and I was sure they would grimace, after our long, and sometimes loud sojourn there when we arrived in Beijing trying to straighten our flights out). But they were charming and helpful and we got back in time to meet up with Cecily Deng, my Chinese "daughter" - Lily is her mother and one of the gracious hostesses in Yangzhou, and I tutored her for an English speaking contest in Nanjing my first year here. She is a grad student here and working an internship at CCTV. She wants to be a journalist, but is now job hunting for any kind of a job come September. She will go to Geneva in January for an internship with the UN. She had spent last July and June in DC at Georgetown and an internship but we had only spoken on the phone on her way home from Chicago in August. We visited for a couple of hours (she had already been visiting with Pat and Joyce before we got back). It was lovely to see her, and she went on her way (Qin Hong had called her to try to help me with the ticket thing! She hasn't seen her former teacher for 6 years but that doesn't stop Qin Hong!!! They take such great care of me!!!)

I tried the Chinese medicine but I think Pat's Mucinex was the best help for my sleep. We are packed and ready for Lee (our driver from 2 days ago -Pat called Peter to make arrangements for today) to take us at 9 to the Pearl Market and then the airport - on our way to Xi'an. Marilynn and Pat went out early to see the changing of the guard in T. Square. I've seen it twice so didn't need to go again.

More from Xi'an, the former capital during the Tang dynasty and a Muslim (the Uighur minority group) area of China with the terracotta warriors!

We made the local paper!!

Learning Taichi from Ding's father

http://www.yznews.com.cn/yzwb/html/2011-11/04/node_380.htm

China Culture Club

This is a little digression about the China Culture Club, harking back to 2004-2005 when I was teaching in Yangzhou. I would take the Thursday night train overnight to Beijing to visit Virginia from Texas who was also in the same program teaching spoken English. She had an apartment on the 18th floor of a big high rise and room for me on the couch. I spent maybe 15 weekends here with her. I would get a soft sleeper, like the one we just rode from Y. to B. - comfy compartment with a door (shuts out the smoke from the smoker in the corridor!) with 4 beds. I would always get a lower bunk (more expensive) so I didn't have to climb down during the night. This time I had an upper bunk but managed. Anyway, it was usually me and 3 Chinese guys! Never had a female compartment-mate on all those trips. The train was smooth, no stops between Y and B. Jiang Zemin, the previous president of China, was from Y. and went to Y. Middle School where I taught. Before Hu Jintao took over, J. Z. made sure this Y. train station got built and this beautiful train was running!

When I would arrive in B. it was 6:30 a.m. and Virginia would be busy teaching that day. So I would take my suitcase to this bike rental place south of Tianamen Square and leave it for the day, taking off around B. on a bike. Wandering the hutongs (the narrow, one story home areas around central B. - many of which were torn down for the Olympics!) was one of my favorite things to do here. Then I would meet Virginia in her apartment at the end of the day.

She discovered the China Culture Club, an organization started by a Chinese guy named Feng Cheng whom we traveled with several times. It's purpose is to provide activities with local guides to help ex-patriots living in B. various elements of Chinese life, like classes in feng shui or foot massage, etc. Or take you on guided trips locally or away from B. Our first trip with them was to the ice festival in January of that year. We would travel both ways by train, overnight, stay a couple of nights in a hotel, see the magnificent creations out of ice with colored lights inside - from the pyramids, to the Great Wall, done to scale and big enough to slide down or walk inside! Amazing! Check it out on google - Harbin Ice Festival! We also saw a huge swimming pool cut in the ice of the river, with an ice diving board and crazy Chinese diving in the freezing water. There was also a side trip to a Russian dining room (it's very close to Russian border), Russian cathedral, and a nearby Siberian tiger reserve - where you could buy a live chicken to throw off the bus to them!! I opted out of that!!!

Anyway, Feng Cheng had given us 2 train tickets in B. and said don't lose them!  Of course, the day before our return, I couldn't find my ticket! I told him and Rex, the other guy in charge. Rex spent a 1/2 day at the station trying to get me another ticket. No luck! But I'd paid already for the bunk! so Feng Cheng's plan was to give me HIS ticket, he bought a 2 yuan boarding pass - where you could come aboard to help someone get settled and then get off. Then he stayed on and spent the night avoiding the conductress (is that the female name?) who stopped everyone for their tickets! I was SOOOO nervous all night, couldn't sleep! I knew in the a.m. you had to show your ticket before leaving the station. I had nightmares about Chinese jails, etc.! In the morning Rex had the plan. He gathered the tickets from 10 of us, put us in a group and herded us out the gate by holding up the tickets and saying this tour group was with him. Of course, for the 10 tickets, there were 11 of us! I was sweating bullets!! Afterward, Feng Cheng said I would make a HORRIBLE criminal because I looked and acted so guilty!!

So on the trip to Datong this weekend, where Feng Cheng didn't go, because he is busy with a new baby girl, I was telling this story to Andy one of our guides. He laughed (since he knows FC and Rex) and said I should write a book. Andy was to meet with us today for our scheduled hutong/Forbidden City day trip. So we were looking forward to seeing him again as he was a delightful, bubbly guy, working for CCC for 3 years since being out of University. And his English is excellent!

When we returned yesterday from our trip to the Great Wall/Ming Tombs and around the Olympic venues with Lee, our hired driver, there was a message saying our trip today had been cancelled due to lack of registration (I guess it was only the 4 of us). I immediately wrote CCC an e-mail asking for Andy's e-mail to contact him directly and maybe hire him anyway. Marilynn called (at the desk through one of the girls there) CCC and was told it would be 2800 RMB ( a LOT more) to hire a private guide! So we were wondering what to do when Marilynn got a call from CCC at the desk from Andy saying, because I knew Feng Cheng, they were making an exception and they would do the trip just for us, for 400 RMB apiece! This is the way China runs - on guangxi (not sure of spelling!). It means you do for me, I do for you, basically! You run into it over and over. You can't just PAY someone for things, it has to be arranged with a series of obligations back and forth!! At least that 's what I think happened!

So we'll see! It's 5:30 a.m. and it's my chance to write on the internet so I'm an early riser anyway. We're supposed to meet CCC at the local KFC for our tour!

Oh, and I STILL have to go back to Ctrip office today to pay in person for my flight from Guilin-Shanghai on the 16th!! It was cancelled because I still couldn't straighten out PayPal. DO NOT recomment PP for anything!!!! Aargh!

Hugs to all!