Shopping under the streets in Jinan.

On part of the Great Wall.

Check it out--summer gardens

   I wouldn't mind chillin' here.

     I had been to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall before but it was different this time because I had studied a lot of Chinese history this past year at Berkeley (Asian Studies 10A, Chinese history seminar, and 20^th Century Chinese Politics).  I definitely appreciated the historical background of these sites much more.  For example, the last Qing emperor, Puyi, was the first to begin a Western-style education and I saw the places where he studied and slept in the palace.  Much of the Forbidden City is undergoing restoration so the largest building structure in the middle of the city was completely covered with the same green scaffolding that the Chinese use for any construction.

       That's another thing I've noticed.  Because of China's immense economic growth, everywhere I go huge cranes are working on huge apartment and business buildings.  Especially in Beijing I would see many new beautiful buildings and apartment complexes and I was like "Shoot, I wanna live there."  Every city we've visited so far, Beijing, Jinan, Qufu, Weihai, and Tai-an, I've seen new construction everywhere.  At one point, I could count about 25 cranes in just one area of new development.  China is for sure becoming a huge economic trading partner but I see millions of people here just going on with their lives even though it seems so incredibly complicated.

       From meeting the people here and learning more about their lives, I��ve started to think that the political atmosphere here is perfect for the common American.  This is just an exaggeration of course, but many Americans don't vote or exercise the privileges that a democracy offers.  And when they don't exercise these privileges, the decisions of the government don't truly reflect the will of the people.  However, in China they don't have this problem.  The people dont have to do anything cuz the oligarchy within the Chinese elite get to decide everything!  And the amazing part is that the Chinese don't mind because they're going on with their lives anyways.  They don't want to overthrow the government because they're too concerned about getting work done, making money, feeding their children, and hoping they stay healthy.  Sounds a lot like what a lot of middle class American want too.  So, Americans, I offer the idea of moving to China where you can live the same lifestyle, but not have to worry about the demands of a democracy!  Haha.

I¡¯ll first start in Beijing where we spent the first three days.  I have written a bit about Beijing in a previous entry, but I forgot to mention that our time in Beijing was with a huge group of about 4000 overseas Chinese students.  The Chinese government holds this conference every two years to introduce Chinese culture to Chinese youth from all over the world.  The basic theme of the conference is ¡°China is big and great!  Admire our long history and rich culture.  Come back soon and do business here and make China even more powerful than it already is!¡±  I have to admit that they had great entertainment and went through a lot of work to make our stay as enjoyable as possible.

       The opening ceremony took place in the Great Hall of the People next to Tiannamen square.  The Great Hall is basically equivalent to the U.S. capital building in Washington D.C.  It looked surprisingly larger than I had remembered it four years ago¡ªhave I gotten smaller?...possibly.  It probably looks larger because I actually got to go inside this time.  I thought that Chinese government would be more strict about the admission of visitors, but we were a pretty decent sized group after all.  After all 4000 students went through security, they sat us in a huge performance hall.  Then the entertainment started.  Almost every aspect of Chinese dance, song, and acrobatics took place on stage: Dragon dances, Chinese opera, Tibetan dance, and one of my favorite performances, the Er-hu¡ªa single stringed musical instrument which was played by this insane musician.  I didn¡¯t know so much music could come from just one string.  The rest of the kids seemed to like it too.  After that, well, we DID Beijing!

In China right now.  The flight was incredibly long and our layover in Shanghai made it even longer.  Our tour group is staying at this huge resort outside of Beijing and the buildings are like a mini version of the Forbidden City.  So far all we've seen is our hotel, but there's a lot to see here.  They designed the buildings to look just like the palace buildings in the imperial city.  They've got spas, pools, restaurants, athletic centers and a water park is under construction on the east side. 

Last night we couldn't sleep and we were walking around outside at about 2am Beijing time, and it was still hot and muggy, about 85 degrees outside--it's gonna be that way for most of the trip.  We at last night in the hotel's restaurant and had a bowl of noodle soup for $1 US.  I like those prices...  There's a natural hot springs in the middle of the resort so we'll probably check that out first.  We just got here so not much is going on yet.  It's just me and my brother in our hotel room and we get free internet in here, so we're just chilling.  Plus it's too hot outside anyways...and it's only 9am!  Well, I'm off to the hot springs.

Remember that guy at my internship that looks like Peter from the Family Guy? (See June 22nd entry) Yea, he quit.

I won't look at pianos the same way ever again--at least, not after reading that book last week.  I just finished reading a book called The Piano Shop On The Left Bank and I realized I was just so engrossed in it.  It wasn't anything fancy or complicated, or dramatic, or exciting, but it just appealed to an interest of my own, a passion that I shared with the author. 
    It's a memoir about the author's visit to a piano shop and the ensuing meeting with its owner. The author develops a friendship with the piano shop owner and begins to learn about the majestic instruments that are sprawled throughout this quaint, secluded shop in an obscure alley in Paris.  He eventually decides to buy a piano of his own and continue to his study of the instrument that he had started when he was just a boy.  I don't know what was so special about this book but I couldn't stop reading it. It was probably the sentiments that I had myself since I played the piano, in addition to the unique look into Parisian culture.  But, anyone who has ever studied the piano, must seriously read this book--quite an enjoyable read indeed.