Immediately upon exiting the Forbidden City we came to Tiananmen Square. Our tour guide Liu asked us not to ask him about the famous "tank man" picture. He claimed that he had never seen it and that it had never been released in China. Either way, it was an interesting place to visit with quite the tragic history. I have a hard time understanding Chinese domestic policy, but Tiananmen brought it all to a head. Cliff thought the picture of Mao was pretty cool (to see.) I felt faintly ill, but that is just me.
There is the famous painting of the Chairman. We learned from our tour guide that this painting is redone every year. The government wants to keep this fella looking crisp and clean. Liu joked that he seems to be getting younger and younger as the hair line fills in a bit each year...
This is how Lilia feels about it all. What a face.
Don't these kids look YOUNG? Everyone in our group wanted a picture of the Chinese Military Guard. Liu joked that while we were snapping pictures of them all they were thinking about was how they would love to have their picture taken with that (pointing to Lilia) chubby American baby!!!
I'm sorry I don't have more to say about the square. It was very large and surrounded by important government/ party buildings and I guess there is a Mausoleum to Mao at one end. We walked by it but didn't go in.
After visiting the square we made a quick stop at a small silk factory. It was really cool! We got to see how they make silk and learn about the development and lives of silkworms. In the picture below we are being show the developmental stages of the silkworm.
In this room they are actually boiling the cocoons and unwinding the silk thread.
There are the cocoons, just bobbing around. After the demonstrations in this room we were escorted into another room where we were shown how silk is used to make quilts and bedding and pillows. They also had a gift shop where we bought... water bottles. Ha! We also bought a couple of silk prints, but I wasn't really that impressed with their prices for clothing and dresses. Chinese silk dresses and clothing have never been my favorite. Fun to look at, but not really my style.
Lilia thought is was so cool that she fell asleep. She slept like this all the way to our next stop - a jade museum and lunch!
JADE! Oooohh ahhh. So did you know that in China women are traditionally given a jade bangle when they get married rather than a diamond ring? I had no idea! And apparently the green colors that we Americans are so accustomed to seeing and wanting are actually not the highest quality of jade? I guess the rarest and most expensive jade is actually white. Who knew?
This museum was HUGE. We only saw a fraction of it.
I thought that this was pretty amazing. Look at all of that detail!
A huge white and very expensive cabbage. Yes. After all of this we motored on to the Great Wall! See the post below!!!
There is the famous painting of the Chairman. We learned from our tour guide that this painting is redone every year. The government wants to keep this fella looking crisp and clean. Liu joked that he seems to be getting younger and younger as the hair line fills in a bit each year...
This is how Lilia feels about it all. What a face.
Don't these kids look YOUNG? Everyone in our group wanted a picture of the Chinese Military Guard. Liu joked that while we were snapping pictures of them all they were thinking about was how they would love to have their picture taken with that (pointing to Lilia) chubby American baby!!! 
I'm sorry I don't have more to say about the square. It was very large and surrounded by important government/ party buildings and I guess there is a Mausoleum to Mao at one end. We walked by it but didn't go in. 
After visiting the square we made a quick stop at a small silk factory. It was really cool! We got to see how they make silk and learn about the development and lives of silkworms. In the picture below we are being show the developmental stages of the silkworm.
In this room they are actually boiling the cocoons and unwinding the silk thread.
There are the cocoons, just bobbing around. After the demonstrations in this room we were escorted into another room where we were shown how silk is used to make quilts and bedding and pillows. They also had a gift shop where we bought... water bottles. Ha! We also bought a couple of silk prints, but I wasn't really that impressed with their prices for clothing and dresses. Chinese silk dresses and clothing have never been my favorite. Fun to look at, but not really my style.
Lilia thought is was so cool that she fell asleep. She slept like this all the way to our next stop - a jade museum and lunch!
JADE! Oooohh ahhh. So did you know that in China women are traditionally given a jade bangle when they get married rather than a diamond ring? I had no idea! And apparently the green colors that we Americans are so accustomed to seeing and wanting are actually not the highest quality of jade? I guess the rarest and most expensive jade is actually white. Who knew?
This museum was HUGE. We only saw a fraction of it.
I thought that this was pretty amazing. Look at all of that detail!
A huge white and very expensive cabbage. Yes. After all of this we motored on to the Great Wall! See the post below!!!
3 comments:
These are great photos. Thank you so much for sharing! Sounds like a fun time.
I don't care if it's lower quality. I like the green jade. The white jade is pretty though.
Beautiful pictures. I love the one of Lilia on Clifford's lap.
Miss you guys.
Oh, China. How I love and loathe thee all at the same time. We've been back so many times now that it feels a little bit like home. I'd love to get posted there again.
I miss those duck pancakes. Sometimes I get the weirdest cravings....
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