Dear family and friends,
Our group reunited for two full weeks of touring mainland China after a
very independent month in Hong Kong. We started our tour in Shanghai and enjoyed visiting traditional Chinese gardens and art museums. It was delightful to realize the breadth of our knowledge of Chinese art after our month-long art history course in Hong Kong. On one especially fun morning, we got to explore a Chinese rock garden, following the winding path through "transparent" rocks and contemplating the view of nature we encountered at every turn.
Christmas celebrations dominated our days in Shanghai. On Christmas Eve, we ate a turkey with chopsticks, sang carols, and performed a hilarious pageant. A few of us stayed up late to read aloud from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The next day, we all called home to share Christmas greetings with our beloved families. Although we all missed our usual traditions, it was fun to experience a secret Global tradition on Christmas Day!
On the night of the 25th, we took an overnight train to Tai'an. The next day, we took gondolas up Mount Tai and felt transplanted into a scene typical of the landscape paintings we studied in Hong Kong. The foggy, mountainous scenery was breath-taking and we took our time exploring tangential paths. At the summit, we came upon a Taoist temple with a large shrine covered in gold padlocks. People inscribe wishes upon these locks and attach them to the shine, throwing the keys away so their wishes are forever connected to the lucky mountain.
We visited Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius, the following morning. The complex was beautiful with elegant architecture and ornately painted, colorful wooden beams near the roof lines. We were pleased to tour Qufu because we've been studying the influence of Confucianism on society in both China and Korea. After a three-hour train ride that evening, we arrived in Beijing.
Tienanmen Square was the first stop on our itinerary, followed shortly
thereafter by a tour of the Forbidden City. Our excellent guide, Tony,
shared many enlightening details which captured our attention. That
afternoon, we visited the Summer Palace. The weather was as far from
summer-y as we could imagine and we shivered despite our many layers of
long underwear and newly-acquired winter coats and hats. We're
unaccustomed to the cold after so many months in warmer countries!
We greatly appreciated our free day the next day. A large contingent went ice skating in the morning before parting ways to explore Beijing in smaller groups. Most of us reconvened the next afternoon to see pandas at the zoo, shop at an extensive indoor market, and to attend an impressive acrobatics show.
On the 31st, we spent the day at the Great Wall of China. The cold wind
blew fiercely, but we still loved walking along the top of the wall. Some stretches of the wall were surprisingly steep and difficult to climb, an effective defense mechanism to guard against a Mongol invasion. In the evening, most of the group went out dancing to celebrate the start of the new year.
The year began with another fun-filled day, this time touring the Temple of Heaven, a house in a typical Chinese village, and an art museum. A cheesy but entertaining Kung-Fu show filled our final evening in China. We excitedly flew to South Korea the next morning, thrilled to settle into our last destination for several weeks in Seoul.
Love,
Global 2007-08
Our group reunited for two full weeks of touring mainland China after a
very independent month in Hong Kong. We started our tour in Shanghai and enjoyed visiting traditional Chinese gardens and art museums. It was delightful to realize the breadth of our knowledge of Chinese art after our month-long art history course in Hong Kong. On one especially fun morning, we got to explore a Chinese rock garden, following the winding path through "transparent" rocks and contemplating the view of nature we encountered at every turn.
Christmas celebrations dominated our days in Shanghai. On Christmas Eve, we ate a turkey with chopsticks, sang carols, and performed a hilarious pageant. A few of us stayed up late to read aloud from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The next day, we all called home to share Christmas greetings with our beloved families. Although we all missed our usual traditions, it was fun to experience a secret Global tradition on Christmas Day!
On the night of the 25th, we took an overnight train to Tai'an. The next day, we took gondolas up Mount Tai and felt transplanted into a scene typical of the landscape paintings we studied in Hong Kong. The foggy, mountainous scenery was breath-taking and we took our time exploring tangential paths. At the summit, we came upon a Taoist temple with a large shrine covered in gold padlocks. People inscribe wishes upon these locks and attach them to the shine, throwing the keys away so their wishes are forever connected to the lucky mountain.
We visited Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius, the following morning. The complex was beautiful with elegant architecture and ornately painted, colorful wooden beams near the roof lines. We were pleased to tour Qufu because we've been studying the influence of Confucianism on society in both China and Korea. After a three-hour train ride that evening, we arrived in Beijing.
Tienanmen Square was the first stop on our itinerary, followed shortly
thereafter by a tour of the Forbidden City. Our excellent guide, Tony,
shared many enlightening details which captured our attention. That
afternoon, we visited the Summer Palace. The weather was as far from
summer-y as we could imagine and we shivered despite our many layers of
long underwear and newly-acquired winter coats and hats. We're
unaccustomed to the cold after so many months in warmer countries!
We greatly appreciated our free day the next day. A large contingent went ice skating in the morning before parting ways to explore Beijing in smaller groups. Most of us reconvened the next afternoon to see pandas at the zoo, shop at an extensive indoor market, and to attend an impressive acrobatics show.
On the 31st, we spent the day at the Great Wall of China. The cold wind
blew fiercely, but we still loved walking along the top of the wall. Some stretches of the wall were surprisingly steep and difficult to climb, an effective defense mechanism to guard against a Mongol invasion. In the evening, most of the group went out dancing to celebrate the start of the new year.
The year began with another fun-filled day, this time touring the Temple of Heaven, a house in a typical Chinese village, and an art museum. A cheesy but entertaining Kung-Fu show filled our final evening in China. We excitedly flew to South Korea the next morning, thrilled to settle into our last destination for several weeks in Seoul.
Love,
Global 2007-08