Lonnie8

The trip also included visits to the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace among others. The above pictures are just a glimpse of what we saw. The Great Wall was built between the 7th and 8th centuries. Was it was all connected, the wall extended for a distance of 6,700 kilometers. The section we climbed, near Bejing, runs for 629 kilometers and has 71 passes and 827 wall towers. The Chinese have a saying that is " He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a real man" .

The design of the buildings was very similar to those of Korea except that the coloring had a lot more golds in it. The ancient Chinese people had high regards for their kings and queens and it showed by the magnitude of the buildings.

We also had a chance to go to a pearl farm and a jade factory. They told us that the prices were very cheap compared to other places, but if they were cheap, I would hate to see how much this stuff cost at other places around the world.

Well, that is it for the pictures for now. There are more stories and pictures to share, but will save them for when I get back home. Hope you enjoyed a brief look into my latest explorations.

For more information about China,

This year's trip brought me to China for five days. The trip was truly amazing and I want to go back for sure sometime in the future. The first stop was the Temple of Heaven (above right). It is also known as Tian Tan. The Chinese built many temples to worship other gods, apart from the god of heaven. They included the gods of earth, wind and war. The Temple of Heaven was built on a central axis. At the southern end is a square wall representing earth and on the northern end, a semi-circular wall representing heaven.



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