Good Bye China

  Beijing, China
Sunday, July 27, 2008

Today was our last day in China. It has been an amazing trip, but I am feeling every mile and am ready to return. That does not mean, however, that we didn't make the most out of our time today.

This morning Rachel and I parted ways for the day, as she went to spend some time with her cousin living in Beijing. I met up with Yufei and a friend of Yufei's (Fang) to go to the Summer palace. It was lovely and amazing to see that every little peice of every design had a meaning. Yufei and Fang explained much of the symbolism behind the animals and shapes in the artwork. The visit also had somewhat of a bitter twinge to it as the origninal palace had been burned to the ground (along with 4 others) by the Anglo-French forces during the Opium wars. It boggles the mind to think of what was lost. The Emperess Dowager Cixi, who reigned until 1904, had the summer palace reconstructed along with a few of the relics that had been saved.

Me and Youfei at Summer Palce

After that we climbed the steps (which my legs are still rebelling against since the Great Wall) of the Tower of Buddha's Incense to check out the amazing view. We started to run short on time though, so we hopped aboard a dragon boat across the lake and caught a bus back to Yufei's house. Her mom had made a lunch of rice, steamed shrimp, vegtables, spicy eggplant, and chicken soup. So good! It was really nice to have some home cooked Chinese food after all the heavy oily food of the restaurants. Her mom is a great cook, not to mention a really interesting person. She does not speak English, but Yufei was telling me that she has won several awards for her progressive work in the local government.

After chatting with her parents for a bit and watching a bit of the news on TV, Yufei and I headed for the capital museum. We could have spent a week in there, but they closed at five, so we spent most of the time in an exhibit about the growth of civilization along the Yangtze river. I enjoyed that after having taken a boat down the Yangtze myself. They had found evidence of human beings living along that river as long as two million years ago. Another exhibit was about the history of sports in China. Right now Beijing is everything Olympics. Even at the Summer Palace there was an exhibit about the Olympics, which showed photographs and old advertisements from past events (including the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis -  same year the Olympics were there). So needless to say, the Capital Museum dedicated a whole section to sports in China. The fact that China is being recognized on the international sports scene represents their growing power and influence on the world stage. It seems every palace, temple, and museum in Beijing now finds a way to remind visitors of this fact via the coming Olympics. It is a very exciting time to be in this city.

After the museum we met up with Rachel again, and by that point we all went home. Rachel and I called it an early night, which was much needed. This has been the trip of a lifetime and I have loved every minute, but it is time to go home to St. Louis. Good bye China! You are an amazing country.