Who would have thought that time could travel by this fast? It seems as though we only left LAX a few days ago, but we have had two months of extravagant adventures and made friends that we will never forget. As our group of thirty-six students said goodbye to Jinan and all of the good times and great friends we made there, we looked forward to an amazing week in Beijing, and then a month of in Vietnam. We knew there were many sights to see in Beijing such as the Great Wall, the Summer Palace and Tiananmen Square, only to name a few, we had to make as much of our time as possible. It seems as though Beijing is everyone’s favorite place on this trip so far, and who can blame them, a city with amazing people and so much history, it is hard not to fall in love with a place like this.
One of the most interesting elements of Beijing is its diversity. It contains so much interesting history, and yet the modern western influence is indefinitely extensive. During our seven weeks in Jinan we became more or less accustomed to primarily Chinese influences, so upon our arrival to Beijing we were pleasantly surprised. For example, “Bar Street” is one of these concentrated areas of Western influence which dot Beijing. It which included everything from wineries, underground graffiti garages, and an American Apparel outlet. However, the Western element appreciated most by the students was the food. Chinese cuisine is very interesting and, although we grew to appreciate the new flavors, it took a while for many of us to adjust to the intense change in our diets. In Jinan there weren't very many ethnic options when it came to eating so, accordingly, we ate Chinese food most of the time. Beijing was different. Beijing had Mexican food!
Since our Study Abroad group is mostly composed of native Californians we are accustomed to having authentic Mexican food available to us daily. This was something that we all missed since coming to China and when we found Luga's in Beijing, it instantly became our new favorite restaurant. Luga's was a small place located just off of Bar Street above a wine tasting gallery. They had nachos, taco salad, fajitas, and live music. What more could you want?
On one particularly memorable night (Sage and Mary's birthday) they had an open mike night and we got to listen not only to our resident musicians perform (Britton and Brek!) but also experienced some traditional Polish music and dancing provided by a group of performers who were traveling through the city. All in all Luga's was definitely a very memorable part of our Beijing experience.
Of course, there was more to Beijing than Mexican food! We spent the week seeing the sites. One of our first stops was Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen, literally translated, means the "gate way of heavenly peace." When the Tiananmen Gate was built in the 1420's during the Ming Dynasty it served multiple purposes - including protection for the Forbidden City as well as establishing status for the Emperor and astonishing the lower classes (serving to help keep them in line!). However, upon visiting even hundreds of years later, we were just as dazzled as a peasant in the 1400s might have been. Tiananmen Square as a whole has witnessed many historical events from the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in October of 1949, to the deadly Tiananmen Square Protests in 1989. To this day an enormous portrait of Mao is still placed above the dead center of the Gate.
One of the things that stunned us all was the amount of people in the square. Large enough to hold one million people, Tiananmen Square hosts literally ten of thousands of tourists a day through the Gates. One of the most anticipated sights in Beijing (smack in the middle of Tiananmen Square) was Mao Ze Dong's Mausoleum. In the months prior, both in and outside of class, we learned (some experienced) Mao's enormous power and influence. So, when we learned we would see his embalmed body in Beijing we were very excited. The line to see Mao ousted the worst line in Disney Land. Fortunately, because you were only allowed to glimpse Mao for about 30 seconds, the line only took about a half hour. There were no cameras or bags allowed inside, and for 3 kuai you could purchase a yellow flower to lie at the feet of an enormous marble Mao statue. Inside the mausoleum was very strange. Guard's stood at alert in every corner, two inside the glass room housing Mao's glass coffin. Mao, a very small man, looked more wax than human, but not so bad considering he’s been dead 33 years.
The Peking Opera (also known as Beijing Opera) may be regarded as one of the city's most prevalent art forms. This form of traditional Chinese theater was extremely popular during the Qing Dynasty, but it still pulls in crowds from all over the world today. Peking Opera is a combination of music, dance, mime, vocal performance, and acrobatics. The performers are the only focal points of the stage, with the minimal use of props and background. Every movement they make, whether it includes dance, combatics, song or speech must be expressed in unison with the music. During our time in Beijing, a few students along with one of the professors decided to get a little taste of the Chinese theater. The theater room was primarily filled with other foreigners, considering it was in a hotel, but the show seemed to be as authentic as any other. The form of Chinese used is so traditional and articulated in such a way that even native Chinese speakers may not understand the dialogue. To solve this problem, subtitles in both Chinese and English are available on either side of the stage. Peking opera varies on length depending on the story and number of scenes, but the one we attended ran up to about an hour, consisting of two parts. The first was a story about a King and his Queen dealing with the nearing siege of his Kingdom. This required only two performers whom conducted a variety of song, dance, and vocal performances. The other scene was a story about a band of thieves stealing silver from the imperial bank, along with their battle against the imperial guards. This part blended both acrobatics and martial arts together in unison to music. Peking Opera was unlike any other theater production I've seen before, so if you're tired of Hollywood and looking to experience a little Asian culture, it may just be the thing for you.
Two other highlights of our time in Beijing were the Forbidden City, and the Ming tombs. The Forbidden City could only be described as the embodiment of the pinnacle of ancient Chinese power. The Palace of the Emperor was an amazing sight for us to see. We saw exquisite Rooms with shrines, and thrones, and huge courtyards where you could see the entire city of Beijing because the Forbidden City was on the highest piece of land. The architecture was also breathtaking. There were huge decorated ceilings, with all kinds of colored decorations, as well as huge pillars carved from stone. There was a beautiful garden with lush plants and trees, and a huge rock statue with a stairway built in that lead up to a small hill that was said the Emperor walked up once a year to pay respect or worship. The rock statute had two dragons on either side perched on a turtles back. When the Emperor would climb up, he would pour water down a certain spot at the top, and water would flow through the statute and shoot out of the dragons mouths like a fountain. After the Forbidden City, we went to the Ming Tombs. This was a huge sight with I believe twelve or thirteen tombs for different emperors of ancient China. We went into the Tomb of the Ming Emperor who had the place built in the first place. His mausoleum was deep in the hills, and as we walked in I expected to see all sorts of treasures, and things that the Emperor had been buried with, but I was surprised to find some boxes that they were supposedly buried in, and his throne. As we walked through we saw enormous stone doors and several anti-chambers connected to his tomb. When we left, I found that there was a small museum exhibit outside and I found inside, all of the spectacular treasures I was expecting inside his tomb. There was gold, and ornaments, and weapons, and jewelry as well as his impressive crown and the empresses’ silk robes. Everything you would expect an Emperor to be buried with. These two sights were definitely high lights to be remembered of our stay in Beijing.
Our studies in Asia would not have been complete without visiting the most notable landmark in all of China: The Great Wall. The Great Wall, which spans over an enormous 4,000 miles across northern China, was used as a barrier to protect against foreign invasion. This was our first excursion when we arrived in Beijing. One week before our visit to the Great Wall we finished our classes on the History of Modern China. This class was a helpful precursor in visiting the Great Wall.
Knowing the history behind the extreme struggles the Chinese have had against foreign invaders made the trip to the Wall that much more fascinating for our entire group. Because the Great Wall can be very crowded in sections close to the city of Beijing, we were lucky enough to visit a section that was further from the city with fewer tourists. The section we were able to visit is named Matianyu and was primarily used to defend the capital and the imperial tombs. We walked around the wall for an hour and a half viewing the picturesque scenery that surrounded us. After walking around the Great Wall, we were able to slide down the mountains near the Great Wall instead of walking. For a mere 40-Yuan, we hopped on metal toboggans and speedily slid down a metal slide that lasted a solid two minutes. How many people can say they slid down the mountains of the Great Wall of China in their lifetime?
Aside from our day trip to the Great Wall, a few students and our guide from Shandong University, Jiaqui, climbed the Great Wall to watch the sunrise. The mountains were close to freezing at five o'clock in the morning, but the trip was well worth it. They went to the Badaling section and managed to be the only people on the wall to watch the sunrise. At times, it seemed almost surreal being on the Great Wall and knowing that our trip to China was coming to a close. The Great Wall was the beginning of the end to our amazing experience in China.
The words “Still the rain kept pouring, falling in my ears, and I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain?” sang by Creedence Clearwater Revival years before many of us were even born couldn’t have been a better theme song for our entrance to Vietnam. As we landed Friday night on a soaking wet runway in Vietnam’s Hanoi airport, we were greeted by our guide, stuffed in a bus, and brought to our “luxurious” hotel.
[below] View from the front of our hotel; Chau Long Street, Hanoi (sans precipitation)
Although it had been a long day of travel some students couldn’t resist the spring rolls and rice served for a late night (1:30 AM) snack for a mere three USD. Rising early (8 AM) for breakfast the following morning we were saddened to hear that our scheduled city tour had been postponed a day due to rain. However, after devouring numerous omelets and spring rolls, students hit the flooded streets in sandals, ponchos, and whatever other rain gear they could find in order to explore the lifestyle surrounding our new home.
We then got a chance to share these stories as we gathered that night for our welcoming ceremony dinner, a wonderful candlelight (due to the rain causing power outages) meal with all new dishes from those that we had become accustomed to in China. As full as can be we returned to the hotel where some would hit the sheets for some much needed rest, while the others hit the streets again to check out Hanoi’s rainy Saturday nightlife scene, one which we will not have long to experience.
On the whole, China was good to the 2008 SBCC study abroad program. Sure a couple kids got food sickness, ripped off in markets, or suffered twisted ankles in dimly lit areas, but as we begin our stay in Vietnam and bid our farewells to China, it is safe to say we all value the experience and impact that the country has made on our lives.
- Shane B., Cody Z., Tarah B., Marina N., Kyra D., Kevin E.
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